Pasadena Pool Build by Owner (from concept to cracks to water)

[Theothermelissa]

Let them look at it. Can you see inside the tubes clearly? I wonder if they could knock out part of the weld and put in something to redirect the water?

Kim - maybe. I tried to take pictures inside the wrong one and one of the right ones.

Wrong - welding on left. Opening for water on right.

Right - welding on top. Opening on the bottom.

The opening is less noticeable in the correct one because there is a small amount of water pooling.

Maybe there is a way to weld shut the side opening and open the bottom in the wrong one. But it will be a tricky bit of welding either swimming or hanging over the edge.

Maybe they can just carve around the back. Free and rotate the tube then re-seal? Would cost us a piece of slate but we have 6 unused pieces in the garage. It would stink of they have to take off the top coping stone.

A few in progress pics to illustrate the construction.

(Is the one on the left wrong already?!)

I am certainly going to be asking them to come out and take a look/ brainstorm solutions.


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[Killer95Stang]

How deep are the baffles inside those tubes? Maybe they can tack weld another plate in correctly about an inch in front of the bad one. Your eyes won't notice the depth difference and the water will probably flow out correctly.

 

[Rosie Hamilton]

The pool is spectacular!! I have no knowledge to help you with the spout problem, but I am sure it's fixable!!!!

I love this pool! I wish it was in my backyard!

 

[kimkats]

How deep are the baffles inside those tubes? Maybe they can tack weld another plate in correctly about an inch in front of the bad one. Your eyes won't notice the depth difference and the water will probably flow out correctly.

I love this idea! I think it would work!

Kim

 

[Casey]

Oh man... It's always something. I'd have them fix it because it should work properly!

 

[Theothermelissa]

How deep are the baffles inside those tubes? Maybe they can tack weld another plate in correctly about an inch in front of the bad one. Your eyes won't notice the depth difference and the water will probably flow out correctly.

That might work. Trouble is they either have to weld while swimming or hanging over the ledge... Not sure if any of these are feasible... I DO NOT want to drain the pool to fix this...


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[kimkats]

I bet they could put a ladder in the pool with some one holding it to keep them safe.............

If only they had put it in right

Do they know about it yet?

Kim

 

[keithw]

An easy way to test a fix for this and this might actually be a pretty permanent fix is cut a piece of solid foam to the right size and wedge it in there up near the top. It if works I would snap out the incorrect metal (it looks to only be held on with two spot welds), cut a piece of salt treated 2x4 to size, paint it black and hot glue it to the top of the pipe near the back.

 

[Theothermelissa]

If only they had put it in right

Do they know about it yet?

Kim

One-mailed them a pic over the weekend (right after we discovered the issue) and I just heard back. They fwd'd the pic to the guy who installed it and are going to discuss options for fixing it.

We'll see what they come up with.


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[emil]

Any updates?

 

[Theothermelissa]

Any updates?

Updates seem good. Mason returned and says it shouldn't be too hard to fix. He will chisel out the spout from behind, pull it out and rotate it. He thinks it will create no damage to the ledger stone and no damage to coping.

He was puzzled by how this happened as he remembers that each one was labeled "top". His suspicion is that it was manufactured incorrectly. But regardless they are fixing it.

Also on his to do list is finishing the coping as we have had the autocover installed. It looks and works great. Allegedly we can walk on it but it's not something I'm eager to test.

A few cover pics:
Closed

Open

Clearing spa with ease

Closer look at clearing spa with ease

Brackets where coping will go

Speaking of coping when the cover guy finished I went out to the driveway to look at remaining coping and discovered this:

There are only four pieces there. From my count we need 10 to finish the job. These small snags never seem to end. So an e-mail is in to the lady to order more coping. Then when it arrives the mason will return and fix the water feature and finish the coping. Hopefully that will be next week.

But wait, there's more. Last week our start-up guy discovered a spot of rust near one of the deepend benches. (Warning terrible picture because the water is so reflective):

We've had someone look at it and they think a rebar tie was too close to the surface and it poked through the shotcrete just a pinch and then rusted through the plaster. Not a huge problem. But still a problem that must be fixed and soon. So we will have to drain pool a few feet (grrr) so they can carve it out. Coat any exposed rebar. Patch concrete and plaster. Sigh. Again, the small/not-so-small snags are killing me. I'm hoping when it's all over I will be able to put the snags behind me and enjoy the pool...



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[kimkats]

I am glad he thinks he can fix the tube without messing too much up.

Darn and double darn about the rust spot Keep a close eye on all areas just in case.

That cover looks great!

I hope the coping is easy to find and match.

Kim

 

[bmoreswim]

Yes you can certainly walk on the cover but I wouldn't be that excited about doing it in your pool because of the spa and the rubbing it would cause on the corner of the spa, especially the closer you were to the corner while in the pool area.

 

[Theothermelissa]

Progress: The guys came back on Friday and did great work on all the fixes. The water spout seemed to be an easy fix. I wasn't here but it was done by the time my husband came home for lunch. And there was no damage to the slate. He didn't comment on whether it was his fault or the company that built them. But either way it's fixed! And the flow of water on each spout looks awesome (I'll try to get a pic soon). Re: rust - it turned out to be a tiny piece of wire in the plaster. No clue where exactly the wire came from but they were able to get it out without going all the way to shotcrete and they patched the spot. If you look directly at it you can tell something happened (there is about a dime sized plaster patch). But if you weren't looking you would never spot the difference. They also finished the coping on Friday. All looks good.

Today we started the concrete deck. Our backyard is slowly but surely leaving the disaster zone.

This weekend it was hot and thanks to our cover the pool temp got up to 81 degrees. So I was able to float and swim quite a bit and it was lovely. Can't wait for the deck though as we're getting a lot of dirt in the pool. Our dog loves to play catch and she'll drop a dirt filled ball in the pool as you're floating. Yuck. She's been in the pool a little. Won't go near the deep end yet but I'm sure she will soon.

The joyous end is in sight!

 

[kimkats]

Sweet update! So good that you were able to enjoy the pool.

I am so glad the water spout was an easy fix.

Silly dog! Dropping the dirty ball in the pool!

Kim

 

[Theothermelissa]

Our deck was poured last week. We're very happy with it. Sprinklers have started. Sod this week. So close to the end.

Here are some of the latest photos:

All that's left is choosing patio furniture and choosing the plants for landscaping. Re: patio furniture - does any of it last more than a few seasons? Is it worth it to get the good stuff? And what is the good stuff? Any tips on where to buy/ how to choose patio furniture.

And re: landscape - we decided to hire a local gardener to do sprinklers and planting (vs the guy with multiple horticulture degrees and a quote that was higher than our quote for shotcrete, steel and plumbing combined) I really like the guy we chose. But he's not exactly a landscape designer. Or not at all really. He has a good knowledge of how plants grow and what they need to thrive. But isn't super helpful in the layout. We really want to use our landscape to bridge the historic neighborhood we live in with the modern pool we just built. Perhaps an unattainable goal. But regardless it's what we're striving for. Anyone ever found any good tools online for choosing plants/ landscape design?


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[kimkats]

How nice is that! I love it!

How about an art student? Someone that works at the local nursery? If you offer to pay them a set amount for the design and YOU buy and put in the stuff?

Kim

 

[Rosie Hamilton]

I love the deck. I like how you went around the orange tree with the decking! Glad you were able to keep the tree. Armstrong nursery has a special landscape design program that costs $400, but you receive a $100 gift card. it's my understanding it's very helpful. Maybe worth checking into.....

Love the pool!!!

 

[Theothermelissa]

A little more progress:

Sod... check. Re: the rest of the landscaping I checked with Armstrongs as mentioned above and it seemed very promising. But the wanted me to pay first. Then they would e-mail me about scheduling. And they said it could take 2-3 weeks to get me on the calendar and then 2-3 weeks to get my design plans. Waiting 4-6 weeks to get my landscaping done isn't really something I'm okay with. Perhaps if I had started the process a month ago. I'm going with the gardener I hired to a wholesale nursery on Wednesday and we're just going to pick a lot of stuff out. Fingers crossed it turns out okay.

Re: furniture we're considering some of the pieces from Vermont Wood Studios Mission Deep Seating Collection. And the slat double lounger from West Elm.

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[kimkats]

I call dibs on the napping one! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Kim