Owner Builder SLC - Slow and steady progress

[Foxer]

ahhhhhhh man and it was so close!!!

What are your temps going to be during the heat of the day? You might need to really water what is there to slow down it's curing.

Yes, I did start watering it today. Temperature is 60 today during the day, 40’s for the next 3 days and then into the 50’s and 60’s. It is getting into the low 30’s/high 20’s at night, but I am covering and heating it to keep it above 40.

Next week once they’re all done we should have so really nice weather, which will help. Hopefully everything goes well Monday!

 

[Foxer]

Gunite is done, and it feels really good! This is a big milestone and now it feels like we're going to slowly start getting things back together versus tearing things apart . When it was all said and done, it ended up being 72 yards of gunite, which was right in line with what I'd calculated. Also, I was talking with the owner, he said they have 3 crews and do about 600 pools a year! And only about 10 of those are owner builders, the rest are all pool companies.

Also went and met with the plaster company this morning, they're a PebbleTec applicator. We initially liked the Pebble Sheen cool blue, which was unavailable, so at least as of right now we're going with White Diamonds, with some added blue flecks to get it closer to the cool blue. Like many others, we're still not totally sure, and may change our minds.

Now I'm working on scheduling the tile/cover guys, which I think should be done in the next couple of weeks. In the mean time I'm cleaning up around the pool (forming and gunite), getting the ground ready to start working on the pavers, and finishing running some electrical/gas that needs to be done still.

Here's some pictures of the finished gunite. I'll have to get the timelapse together and add that later.



Obligatory kids in the newly finished gunite

 

[Cena_sea]

That pic with the kids in it--this pool looks huge!

 

[kimkats]

SWEET!!! That looks great! Have you started bonding with it yet? aka watering it to help slow down the curing.

It is time for your set of links! The first set is all about what to do and ask about to get a great plaster job. The second set is all about how to care for your pool after you get the plaster.

Plaster links:
Ten Guidelines for Quality Pool Plaster Best one of all
All Plaster Finishes Should Last 20 Years
Not All Color Pigments are Good for Pools How to pick a good color for plaster.
A Plastering 'Watch List' | Professional Watershaping | Watershapes
Trouble Free Pool
Trouble Free Pool

Pool care links:
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels

Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Trouble Free Pool
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Now is also a good time to be thinking about getting your test kit! Test Kits Compared

Kim

 

[Foxer]

Haven’t posted any updates for a while. Been making small progress on getting the ground leveled out around the pool so we’re ready for pavers. That should be getting started in the next couple of weeks.

Had some guys out today leveling out the gunite to get ready for the cover track, which will be installed Friday. After that I’ll get the coping in so work on the deck can start.

Here a picture of the coping. Due to a manufacturing mistake each piece ended up being 3-1/2” this instead of 2-1/2”. I was pretty worried about it being too thick, but I think it ended up looking good.



Also finally made some decisions on tile. Now I’m just trying to find someone that can order it. One of the hassles of being an owner building is not being able to buy direct from places like NPT. Here’s a picture of the waterline tiles, step tile and plaster.

 

[Cena_sea]

The coping looks awesome. Precast concrete? That mistake turned out great.

 

[kimkats]

That looks great! I am going to ask how many inches the step to the top of the coping is. I would try it out to see if it too high to be done by some one smaller. If so then think about having a small "stepping" set put in the corner for those that might need it.

LOVE the tiles and plaster picks!!! What color grout will you be using? White will make each tile stand out. A light to medium gray with make them all kind of flow together. You can't go wrong with either one. I just want you to plan ahead.

Kim

 

[wireform]

I think you need them to correct that one on the left not sitting level.

 

[Foxer]

Yes, it's pre-case concrete. @wireform I should have mentioned it's not actually set. I still need to get the cover track in. I just wanted to get an idea of what it would look like

@kimkats The step is about 7 inches from the top of the bond beam. That leaves just enough room for the waterline tile. I don't think I could add another little step in there unless you mean something else. It is going to be about 11 inches from the coping down to the step.

Haven't even thought about grout yet - good call. The paver deck is going to be a light grey, I'm thinking we'll probably do something similar for the grout, but I guess we better look at colors.

 

[kimkats]

It is going to be about 11 inches from the coping down to the step

I am thinking the actual step from the top of the coping to the shelf/step. See how big a stretch it might be for people young and old got get in and out of the pool.

 

[Foxer]

Not sure if I should make a separate thread for this question, since it's only kind of related to my pool build itself. As things have slowed down a bit, I'm trying to figure out how to enclose my equipment, and tie it in to a future shed (probably next year).

The equipment pad is going in right next to my house, and I was planning on mounting the Intellicenter (in blue) and other electrical equipment right to the wall of the house. As you can see from the picture below, the equipment pad (in red) will be between the wall of the house and the shed. Is there a good way to cover the equipment and be able to access it from the shed? Basically extending the shed around just the equipment? It would have to be connected to the house for that to work. Other ideas? I can't figure out what to do here?

 

[kimkats]

How wide will the area between the shed and house be? You will need room to move around while working on the equipment (cleaning the filter and such).

If you want to cover the equipment you can just do a small wooden frame to put some light covering over it to block the sun.

 

[ajw22]

Not sure if I should make a separate thread for this question, since it's only kind of related to my pool build itself. As things have slowed down a bit, I'm trying to figure out how to enclose my equipment, and tie it in to a future shed (probably next year).

The equipment pad is going in right next to my house, and I was planning on mounting the Intellicenter (in blue) and other electrical equipment right to the wall of the house. As you can see from the picture below, the equipment pad (in red) will be between the wall of the house and the shed. Is there a good way to cover the equipment and be able to access it from the shed? Basically extending the shed around just the equipment? It would have to be connected to the house for that to work. Other ideas? I can't figure out what to do here?

What equipment will you have?

Will you have a gas heater? A gas heater needs ventilation for air intake and the exhaust. Even inside that walled in area can be a draft problem for heater exhaust.

You can just do a roof over that area connecting between the shed and house.

 

[Foxer]

@kimkats, Not sure on exact width between the house and shed - that's up in the air still. Probably around 5 feet, but it'll partly depend on getting a feel for moving around the equipment after it's there.
@ajw22, Yes, there is a gas heater - Mastertemp 400k.

I think maybe just a small roof over the top is the best idea instead of fully enclosed.

 

[ajw22]

@ajw22, Yes, there is a gas heater - Mastertemp 400k.

Review the requirements in the Installation Manual for an enclosed area. I think you will need an exhaust vent that goes up above the house roof line and maybe and air intake vent.

See https://www.pentair.com/content/dam...d-users-guide-europe.pdf/subassets/page20.pdf

 

[Foxer]

Interesting, I knew I'd need a vent if it was enclosed, but hadn't thought about need it to go above the roof line (which is quite tall in that spot).

 

[Foxer]

Haven't posted in quite a while. I am making progress, albeit slower than I want. I've been doing a majority of the work lately, and took last week off of work to focus on getting the pool as ready as I can. Some days it feels like I've made a huge mistake taking this on myself, some days it feels like I'm so close!

• I got my gas and electrical run and inspected. Need to schedule the gas company to come out to replace my meter with a 2 lb, but no rush on that.
• Pulling the electrical was much harder than I expected and I hope to never have to do that again. I need 100 amps, and it's about 150 feet, so I ended up using 1/0 aluminum wire. That stuff is thick!!
• Coping is in place (although I still need to grout), and looks good. I was worried about it being too thick since it was made incorrectly to be 3-1/2" instead of 2-1/2".
• I've been laying down the base for the pavers and getting everything ready for that. I rented a small stand-behind skid steer to help move it. I'll probably need just a little bit more, but have had 39 yards delivered so far.
• Still need to figure out how to mount the brackets for the walk on lid for the pool cover. I looked at a friend of mines, and he's got a piece that runs all along the back that they connect in to. I'll have to call the company today about that.
• Tile guys should be here to finish up this week

Here's a picture of where I'm at so far:

 

[Foxer]

I should also add, we went in a spa with Pebble Sheen. I didn't mind it, and actually kind of liked it when we were just sitting, but my wife hated it, so we changed to Bella Blue Pebble Fina. The one plus of that is that it costs about $6k less, so I'll take it!

 

[Foxer]

Started working on the cover box brackets/coping for the lid. Thankfully that's going pretty smoothly. I plan on finishing that up today. I was worried about the weight being an issue - coping is 160 lbs each plus the weight of people standing on it easily gets into several hundred pounds. So far they seem really solid. They are pretty heavy duty, and I'm anchoring each one in with four 1/2" concrete anchors.

 

[kimkats]

They do look solid! Here is hoping they can handle the weight!