Our Very Own CEMENT POND in the Concrete Jungle (Orlando area)!

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It's been a long time, but we are finally at the stage where tomorrow we get our Stonescapes Tahoe Blue put into the pool. Acid wash is Saturday and then we start the fill. It took the screeners a month to come out to our project, but the screen looks great and it's looking like an additional room to our home now.

I have a question for anyone who is willing to share ideas with me. The project foreman, of course told us to use a pool maintenance company (theirs) for at least the first year so that we "stay within the warranty." I am planning to use the TFP way of cleaning my pool and treating it like my baby. Why let someone else have the fun?!? Anyway, my question is, am I being crazy? Do most new pool owners get pool care done by someone else? Is it really that easy to mess up a pool to the point that warranty is no longer covered? I'm new to pool ownership all together, as well as this being my first build. Not sure what to do here.

Thank you to anyone who can help lead me in the right direction!
 
I will tell you that I have not heard of many people who have "won" any warranty work no matter who took care of the plaster as most of the problems are covered under "usual outcome" dealing with streaking, mottled looking, etc.

What you can do is ask your PB what parameters he wants you to use. You should also look up the care suggested by the manufacture of your plaster. Here is one example of new plaster care:

https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/npconline.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/Docs/startup-card-current-rev3_wa.pdf

Let us know what he says and we can go from there. It has helped in the past to show a PB the great test kit the PO has AND show him you doing the tests. They would just text the test results and what Pool Math says to do and the PB okays it.

Kim:kim:
 
I would say that in general, more people than not use pool maintenance services. However, probably 95%+ of the people who visit here end up maintaining their own pools. Most people find TFP out of frustration of someone else taking care of their pool or, they tried doing it themselves with Pool Store assistance. Both can be recipes for green/expensive/frustrating experiences and pools that need to be drained with some regularity.

Taking care of a pool is really pretty easy with the knowledge found here. It is absolutely something I think you can and should do yourself. I've been maintaining ours since day 2 and love doing it.
 
Hey Ohana4 - First thing we learned (the hard way): Don't under-estimate the acid demand for a new pool and test the water frequently. Our pH spiked and was quickly WAY higher than it should have been. Make sure you have plenty of acid on hand.

We thought about hiring a service after the issues we experienced, but pool service companies only come once a week and you really need to be testing once a day. What's the point of paying someone else if you have to do it yourself the other 6 days of the week anyway??

Keep records. My wife is testing on her own now, but still goes to Pinch-A-Penny to get a nice free test with print-out. We buy the acid from them - it's walking distance so very convenient for our needs.
 
Great advice from everyone, and we plan to follow the TFP way of life from the start, after learning from so many others who switched over from other methods. It’s all a little bit confusing still, and I know it’ll become super simple as soon as a few weeks have gone by, but right now, I’m trying to dig into the cobwebs of college chemistry and try to make sense of all the cause and effect of which chemical does what.
Also, I’m not sure if everything applies to all pools or do the things we add differ if we have the salt water generator in our salt water pool? I do wish there was a “Step 1” type of instruction manual. Haha. We ordered our Taylor K-2006c test kit and it should be coming by Thursday. In the meantime, we are allowing the PB to do their regular start up and just playing with the test strips they gave us. The pool finished filling this morning, and the pool guy came today to fire up the pumps and show us how to brush. He dumped about 5 jugs of muriatic acid in there too. He’ll be back on Wednesday or Thursday he said. Can’t wait to find out what he dumps into the pool then. Strangely, they keep telling us we can start using the pool by next week. Everywhere I’ve always read, I see not to swim for about a month. Not sure what to do there, but I’m leaning towards the safe side and going with a month.
 
Here is a "starter" link:

TFPC for Beginners

Salt should wait 30 days after first fill.

If the water is balanced AND your PB says it is okay then you can swim! With the 5 jugs of muriatic acid it is going to be a while for it to balance out. It sounds like he is doing a "hot start". That is one of the good ones.

Most PB are not used to PO knowing that end is up. Wait until he sees your test kit!!! He will be blown away with how much you know!

Kim:kim:
 
ohana4 said:
Also, I’m not sure if everything applies to all pools or do the things we add differ if we have the salt water generator in our salt water pool?
Click to expand...

To put your mind at ease, there is no difference in the chemicals needed to maintain a pool with a SWCG versus one without. Only some of the chemistry targets are slightly different, that's it. All a SWCG does is add/create chlorine, the same as adding bleach or with pucks (but without the extra additives of pucks).

Your question is one that comes up all the time...so you are in the norm. I think it's interesting for TFP to note that there is such a different view/aura/mystique of a "saltwater pool" by the public (newer folks to pool chemistry). I think it's honestly in the term "saltwater pool". I wish it didn't exist. All pools should just be pools, with some have SWCG's for adding chlorine, and some doing it other ways. But this probably won't change. All of this is to say you are doing great! You'll be over the learning curve in no time and all will be clear water and sunshine!!!
 
It occurred to me that I haven't posted pictures in a while, and so much has happened in the last coupld of weeks. So here are the pictures of the screen, the plastering, and the filling of the pool. And the last picture is the whole thing, as the PB was adjusting the RPM of the fountains, bowls and bubbler.

So on Monday, they put a boatload of MA into the pool. I brushed and brushed, and little by little, the pool started turning an irritating shade of green (which didn't alarm me because I have learned so much on this site and knew to expect the pool to be ugly the first few days). Today when he came, he dumped nine 40-lb bags of pool salt into the pool and brushed it around. He said the pool will start making chlorine now and the pool will be nicer. I don't know if I'm imagining things, but it seems to be changing before my eyes! Looking better already.

39731364014_8103891744_n.jpg
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Looking nice. Now you need to put up a privacy fence. Also our pool builder did not add salt till 30 days after filling the pool. [emoji106]
 

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I am surprised the salt was added that soon. Everything I have seen shows a need to wait at least 30 days with new plaster.

I assume you have a proper test kit? You will need to add CYA and start testing your water if the SWCG is going to operate correctly.

Good luck.
 
Yes, I was a little concerned about that fact too since I've read on here not to add salt until 30 days. But I really don't know the reasoning behind it yet, besides the plaster damage. But it literally dissolved with a couple of swipes of his brush. I plan to brush the heck out of it the next couple of days to continue to make sure it's dissolved. Not sure about the SWCG at this point. He has it on and said it'll start making chlorine today. Also he told us to just run the filter 12 hours now instead of the 24 he had it running the last couple of days. He also said no water features until after pool school. Our T K-2006c should be delivered today, so I'm going to have fun learning how to use that. Then I'll have to start figuring out how to use the Pool Math correctly and fingers crossed, not mess up my pool.
 
Brentr said:
Now you need to put up a privacy fence. Also our pool builder did not add salt till 30 days after filling the pool. [emoji106]
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We are not planning to put in a privacy fence at this time. We are on a corner lot and the neighbors behind us don't have a fence. The neighbors to the right of us don't have a house (empty lot). After moving to Florida from Texas, we decided to try the no-fence idea that is so popular here. If it gets problematic, we'll look into it. For now, we get to use palm trees, birds of paradise and other tropical beauties to cover our privacy.

Not sure about the salt added to our pool either. I've read that its best to wait too. But these guys have been great so far. As soon as they turn the pool over to us, I'm taking over everything. Haha! The test kit they gave us is garbage and nothing really changes colors when I dip it into the deep end. I can't wait for my good kit to come today.

As a side note, ever since this screen got put out there, I have a great desire to be out there all the time. When I'm inside, I feel trapped. I just want to be sitting out by the pool with my icy drink and a good book. Actually, I'd like to be IN the pool.
 
You will want to use liquid chlorine to get the FC up to where you want it. SWG are not good a "boosting" FC. They are more for maintaining it at a set level once you get your run times and output sorted out.

Kim:kim:
 
Ok so the construction foreman was here to do a touch up on our coping grout and I asked him about the salt. He said back in the older days when they didn't have the fine, quick dissolving salts, that's when they recommended 30 days because the pellet salts would eat into the plaster. He says it's no problem now because the fine salt dissolves and doesn't damage the pool. Either way, he says they are still responsible for what happens to the pool, so they won't do anything that will cause harm. :salut: Ok with me.
 
riley00dog said:
Interesting about the salt. We have to wait 30 days and brush 4 x a day in that time. It makes sense how your pb explained it. My PB is old school so I have no chance of deviating.
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Don’t worry you will be quite surprised how quickly 30 days will go by [emoji2] and to besides be thankful it is not summertime.
 
Brentr said:
Don’t worry you will be quite surprised how quickly 30 days will go by [emoji2] and to besides be thankful it is not summertime.
Click to expand...

I'm in Australia and it's summer time here... well first day of autumn today. In the middle of our 30 day wait for our concrete to cure and time is dragging. I keep reminding myself it will be easier to learn to care for the water when it's cool with a low (non existent) bather load [emoji31]
 
riley00dog said:
Interesting about the salt. We have to wait 30 days and brush 4 x a day in that time. It makes sense how your pb explained it. My PB is old school so I have no chance of deviating.
Click to expand...

Brushing the beast is no joke. I don’t mind the bottom and steps and sunshelf but doing the sides kicks my butt. Especially in the deep end where leverage of pressure is so reduced. My builder said at least once a day but more is better. I’ve been doing 2-3 times a day. But it’s only been three days. My arms are getting a workout.
 
I'm going to order a wall whale. It's meant to make brushing much easier. Not sure I'll manage once a day let alone 4 times without it. Thinking of taking a couple of weeks off work so I have the time. I have a feeling I'm going to end up going for swim sooner than expected!
 

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