Owner Builder SLC - Slow and steady progress

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Still no progress outside due to snow. I'm hoping it warms up enough this week to melt it so I can do some grading and get to the excavation soon.

In the mean time, I did get some of the speakers I'll be using out by the pool, so at least I have something to play with now 😀

9C9C2554-5295-40FF-B2B6-CC6A7DFA2094.jpeg
 
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They're monoprice. I've had good luck with my monoprice speakers in my theater, and I'm sure these will me more than adequate. The more I looked at different options, I just couldn't justify something that was double the price for what'll probably be similar sound (at least to me).

Monoprice Sycamore Outdoor 2.1 Speaker System with 8in Subwoofer and 2.5in Satellites (3 piece) - Monoprice.com

With all of the outdoor speakers available what makes our Sycamore 2.1 system stand out? Simply put, it is their great sound and ease of installation. The weather Sycamore 2.1 sy
www.monoprice.com

Monoprice 5.25in Indoor/Outdoor Weather Resistant 70V/100V/8-Ohm Pendant Speaker (Pair) - Monoprice.com

If you're looking for a great sounding speaker that has the ability to mount virtually anywhere and in any way, whether you want to suspend it from the ceiling, mount it, or stand it on
www.monoprice.com
 
Now I understand. The pic you posted was the subwoofer.

I have eight 20 year old faux rock speakers spread around my pool. 4 on L channel and 4 on R channel. More then adequate to entertain the whole neighborhood if I cranked it up.
 
I ordered 2 of the in-ground subwoofers that each come with 2 2-1/2 inch speakers, and 6 of the bigger 5-1/2 inch. Still trying to figure out of 70v or 8 ohm is the better way to go.
 
Foxer said:
I ordered 2 of the in-ground subwoofers that each come with 2 2-1/2 inch speakers, and 6 of the bigger 5-1/2 inch. Still trying to figure out of 70v or 8 ohm is the better way to go.
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When you test them out, please let us know how they sound. I am doing an owner build also in AZ (excavation scheduled end of the month) and am looking at the Monoprice 2.1 system as well for my yard. I have Klipsch KHO-7s I bought over 10 years ago that were mounted on the patio shooting out at my last house, but this time I like my neighbors and plan on pointing everything back towards the house with coverage from multiple speakers.
 
Foxer said:
Will do. Still waiting for the amp, but that should be here later this week, then I'll test them out and let you know.
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Great. What amp are you planning on pairing with them? I've thought about the Sonos amp, but I don't have anything else Sonos and already have a multizone receiver.
 
I went with the Sonos Amp and the 2 of the Monoprice 2.1 sycamore systems and added 2 more satellites to each. I really like it. But I also had a lot of other Sonos stuff already, and I wanted to maintain that simplicity I was already comfortable with.

I really enjoy them. Just finished the second season with no issues.

--Jeff
 
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Sonos is too expensive for my taste :) (and I understand the irony when I'm spending $100k+ on a pool). I'll probably use my chromecast audio to cast music, and use a combination of an old receiver I've got to drive the 2.1 systems, and a 70v amp I've got on the way to drive the 5-1/2" speakers. Although it can do 8 ohm as well, and the speakers support both. 70v will be easier for the wiring, but I just got 1000ft of speaker wire which should be enough either way.

Not really sure how well that setup will work though, if it will really work at all. I'll have to mess around with it a bit.
 
Things feel like they're starting to move. I've got the dig scheduled for the week of the 17th, and have some grading I need to do before that, so it'll be busy over the next week.

Got the amp for my speakers so I'm going to be doing some testing on those as well, and some of the other equipment is starting to show up. Finally starting to feel real after all this time!
 
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Got started on the grading today. Still some more to do, but made some really good progress. Will have a dump trailer I'll be taking some of the dirt/grass away next week getting ready for the excavators to come. I've never used a skid steer before, but I felt like I was getting pretty good at it by the end of the day :)

Here's a couple videos of the progress:

GH010499.mov
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GH010500.MP4

MP4 File
1drv.ms
 
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Small update here. Still working on grading - starting to rethink my choice to do it myself :oops:. The ground being frozen isn't helping either, but hoping to wrap that up in the next week.
 
Foxer said:
Small update here. Still working on grading - starting to rethink my choice to do it myself :oops:. The ground being frozen isn't helping either, but hoping to wrap that up in the next week.
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That video makes it look like you had a lot of work to do, but looked fun. I won't complain about the 4 rolls of turf I had to pry the nails from and roll up for my pregrade.
 
Definitely a lot of fun! But I'm not sure it was totally worth it :D. I talked with my excavator, and he thinks I need to bring the whole area down to where the base for the pavers will be going. Some spots are still several inches higher than that. He's probably right, so I'm working on getting that done so we can get him out to dig the pool!
 
Got the pool forms in place, and the excavator will be out here tomorrow unless we get snow tonight (about 50% chance)! They think it'll take a couple days to get it done, so it should be a fun couple of days.

Kind of a lousy angle, but here it is from above.
 

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Well, I did get delayed by the snow, but the good news is the excavator was dropped off this afternoon, and the crew will be here in the morning, and should be done friday as long as we don't hit any issues with the dig.
 
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Dig - Day 1 complete! Going slower than I expected - that frost line is no joke! There's a section in the shade that's like digging through 18" of concrete until you get down to softer dirt. That was slow going. We had 2 trucks lined up this morning to haul off the dirt, and they sent one away because we couldn't dig fast enough to keep up with two. May end up taking 3 days instead of the anticipated 2.

Also, seems like every gunite pool I've seen has the walls go straight down to the bottom. The excavator I'm using is sloping in the sides in the deep end a few feet up, making it almost like a shallow bowl. Not sure if that's supposed to make it stronger, but I don't love it. I emailed the engineer about it, the plans have a shallow slope from the edge of the wall to the drain, but nothing like this. At the end of the day it's in the deep end, so maybe it doesn't really matter, but I'm curious if anyone else has seen that before, or if I should just tell them in the morning to dig it straight down.

It's hard to see in the picture, but I added some lines. Basically they start about 4 feet up on the wall and slope it down to the orange lines.
Dig1.jpg

Here's a time-lapse of the day's dig
 
Dig day 2 complete. Going to need one more day. Things are moving along, but slowly with the frozen ground. Unfortunately that means more money :( I think if I could have done it next week when the weather is in the mid-40's it would probably have been 2 days. Oh well, just have to work around when people are available.

Should be quick when they're back on Monday though, we got about halfway through the shallow end, so just need to wrap that up, and do the tanning ledge.

Also had them dig straight down, instead of doing the sloped sides. I like it better, so I guess that's good. Getting ready to run plumbing next before the rebar comes. I think I've got my plan pretty much done, but if anyone has any tips, please let me know! I asked in another thread, but how far below the water line should I be putting the microbrites? Minimum is 4", but I'm not sure if I should go deeper than that or not.
 

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