Owner/Builder pool in Phoenix (Phase: Start-up!)

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Winter247 said:
"Alright alright alright" (insert Mathew McConaughey voice)... after making them redo it THREE times, I'm finally satisfied with the tile job. It's not perfect, but alas... beauty is not flawless. For anyone reading this who is about to start an OB pool or has already started, let this serve as an example.... DO NOT hesitate to make your contractors fix their work, even if it's multiple times. It's YOUR money and YOU have to live with the results. Take ownership in the project!

Anyway, that being said.. I'll give these guys credit, in the end they at least did what I asked. Even if it took 3 times. I know they (and I) were frustrated, but they got it done.

Next is mesh pool fence, city inspection and interior finish. I gotta say, the interior finish seems like the most nerve-racking part. It's basically the biggest gamble because it's difficult to get real world examples and the applicator seems to be the largest variable. Ugh. Currently we're thinking Stonescapes Tropics Blue with either Touch of Glass or Puerto Rico Blend (whichever allows us to add blue and light blue glass beads). Tentatively scheduled for 2 weeks from now.
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It does look way better. I admit, our tile is not well done either, not straight etc and it triggers me a bit but I realize I am very particular at times; and we are going to inspection hopefully next week so I don't think it's worth the fight. Glad yours turned out so well!
 
surfaceofthesun said:
It does look way better. I admit, our tile is not well done either, not straight etc and it triggers me a bit but I realize I am very particular at times; and we are going to inspection hopefully next week so I don't think it's worth the fight. Glad yours turned out so well!
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It's so tough because you can nitpick it to death, but in the end no pool is perfect. Every owner knows where the little flaws are. Good luck with the inspection!
 
Winter247 said:
It's so tough because you can nitpick it to death, but in the end no pool is perfect. Every owner knows where the little flaws are. Good luck with the inspection!
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We passed and are filling today! Now trying to figure out which cleaning system to get..
 
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Heh. O/B!! a fools errand....until you save 45%!

Thanks for taking longer than me! I'm going to point at your build as "see honey....it could have taken longer!"
On the finishes, its been a few years, but I used a "mini" pebble by Stonescapes IIRC. It is really nice and smooth. I was in my Dad's regular pebble pool a while ago a thought it much too rough.

Great call on the Infloor. I will never own any pool without it.
 
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Winter247 said:
Nice! Congrats! We passed on Friday and are STILL tryng to choose a finish... lol.
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that was our hardest decision. we went with aqua azul by finest finish pools, universal mini pebble, it is gorgeous; almost done filling, a bit murky right now but should shine beautifully when clean
 

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surfaceofthesun said:
that was our hardest decision. we went with aqua azul by finest finish pools, universal mini pebble, it is gorgeous; almost done filling, a bit murky right now but should shine beautifully when clean
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That looks amazing! Nice choice!

Super curious, if you know, how does it feel texture-wise compared to Pebble Sheen or Stonescapes?
 
Winter247 said:
That looks amazing! Nice choice!

Super curious, if you know, how does it feel texture-wise compared to Pebble Sheen or Stonescapes?
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Here it is on start up day after brushing and running pump. Will be even more clear/bright/beautiful once we can vacuum it, I imagine. I dont know how it compares to those interiors, but it is grippy enough without being uncomfortable. I really like it.
 

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Okay..... we FINALLY got our interior finish installed and our pool is up and running! Geesh, crazy the amount of hurdles we've ran into during this project. The biggest hurdle with finish was that NPT ran out of the proper pigment for Stonescapes Tropics Blue. Something that never happens from my understanding by speaking with several people at NPT and multiple installers. Go figure. Apparently there are some other pigments (through different manufacturers) that can be substituted with the NPT Tropics Blue formula. However, based on info I've found here at TFP... using a substitute pigment is a super risky idea. As @onBalance has pointed out in multiple threads, not all blue pigments are color fast and some will fade out significantly. So we opted to wait until the correct pigment was available. When all was said and done, we ended up with NPT Stonescapes Tropics Blue - Puerto Rico blend with additional Cobalt Blue glass, Ice Blue glass and White glass.

Here's a few photos of the finish and the process.

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Currently on week two of start-up. Brushing daily and balancing the water chemistry. I'll make another post about the issues we had with start-up and programming because I believe it could help other owner/builders out there. I'll add some update photos as well in full sun, shade etc. For now, I'm just glad we finally have water in this expensive hole in the ground! :ROFLMAO:
 
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Wanted to post some photos of the water color with full sun since the above photos are on a cloudy day. When we were trying to decide which interior finish to go with, finding good "real" photo examples was difficult. Pool was filled for the first time 17 days ago. Phones tend to auto-adjust color depending on brightness, so some of these the water looks a little darker than in real life, but overall it's pretty close. I'm curious what's going to happen to the color overall once it cools down enough for us to start planting. It'll be nice to get some more green in the mix... palm trees, firesticks and agave in the planter. Then maybe some Italian cypress back behind the spa. Everything I've read says the water color will absorb/reflect a lot of the sounding color. Guess we'll find out!

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