Planning new build in NY

[newpoolbuild]

Anybody bought from travertinemart.com? How was the quality? After seeing some photos posted here. I would really like to use travertine instead of unilock if the price is not too high. Any suggestions where to buy?

 

[ajw22]

Search on “travertinemart” and you will find a bunch of positive threads about them.

 

[newpoolbuild]

I looove this forum. You guys are awesome Thank you so much,I was up until 1am drooling over beautiful travertine pool decks from ppl on the forum. thought travertine would get more search results, I was wrong. Any suggestions on what kind of retaining wall would match the ivory swirl? And transitioning from my existing u I lick Treo almond grove?

OMG, I am so excited. At this price, I am willing to change PB and wait for next yr if he gives me a hard time. My “smart”husband kind of worked backwards by given our budget first then negotiated all the things we wanted in. We were supposed to finalize and sign contract today. The PB had told us if he doesn’t to the patio and retaining wall he won’t take the job when we questioned the patio and retaining wall be a separate job.

Search on “travertinemart” and you will find a bunch of positive threads about them.

 

[ajw22]

OMG, I am so excited. At this price, I am willing to change PB and wait for next yr if he gives me a hard time. My “smart”husband kind of worked backwards by given our budget first then negotiated all the things we wanted in.

Hard to know if you are getting a good deal when negotiating that way.

Only leverage you have is to walk away and not buy what is being offered when you agree on the price first.

 

[newpoolbuild]

I totally agree w you. After I seen the travertine price and a quote from a mason who did my existing patio. I was ready to get another PB who is willing to excavate and prepare the retaining wall and backfill for my own mason to do the rest. My neighbors PB did that. I don’t have a lot space between retaining wall and pool so we worried about mud slide into pool in spring when all the snow melts. But then this PB is also building my pool house prepping/ install kids playground too. My husband likes 1 stop shop. I can’t thank you and others on this forum enough for answering all my stupid questions.

 

[kimkats]

my stupid questions.

The only question that can be called stupid is the one not asked! If you don't know the answer or are unsure of a answer that was give then please ASK! We will tell you what we think and try to be nice while doing so!!

 

[newpoolbuild]

Thank you. That’s very kind of you

The only question that can be called stupid is the one not asked! If you don't know the answer or are unsure of a answer that was give then please ASK! We will tell you what we think and try to be nice while doing so!!

 

[newpoolbuild]

Any suggestions on retaining walls to match travertine pavers, suggestions on equipment changes? We r signing the contract tomorrow.

PB is adding a 1 step down then 20’x 5’ sun shelf ( play area) then 1 step down. Is bubblers necessary for my kids? I am afraid to ask how much more that will cost. We have no water features in the pool. Should I ask for plumbing/ electrical just in case now we don’t have a diving board anymore ( insurance doesn’t cover). What about diving rock/ water feature? I feel I am not putting the intellicenter to good use the SR smith light is not compatible w intellicenter. I will accept that since the Pentair color changing led don’t get good reviews and it’s more expensive.

Yippee, the PB said yes to travertine pavers! He will use dry method w polymeric sand. We are lucky that he’s pretty open to what we want. Keep my fingers crossed he will not drywall/ tile the inside of the 10’x10’ dressing room, He said no to order extra travertine tiles for the 8’x10’ room. Any suggestions how to make it look nice?

Monday the tree ppl and engineer will be coming to my house. More pictures to come!!!

 

[Rich D]

Here’s a pic from the front view. But it is not showing how steep the slope is. If you look at the sketch and the front view, my property line is the stone wall under the trees. We only have a few trees on our side of the stone wall and that will be removed. the pool will be 25ft away from the stone wall/ my neighbor's trees

It will be a little tricky working around the septic. Is that the tank cover marked with pavers? Where will your main approch to the pool be? Is there a door on the side of the house? Can you take a pic looking from the top of the hill by the septic towards the house? Unfortunately the pics will not give enough information to recommend placement of the pool. There are just too many unknowns with the septic involved. 3' is the usual max fill allowed over any septic component. The more fill placed over the field the less the field can breath.

Can you post a pic of the as-built of your septic system. If You do not have one you really need to get one from the town so you can properly locate the system before any digging. You do not want any equipment driving over your field or tank. Usually regulations even prohibited the stockpiling of material on the system.

What is that huge patio area out back? Have you considered putting the pool out there?

 

[newpoolbuild]

Thank you Rich, my septic leach field is the orange spray painted 6 dots. The 4 pavers is my septic pump. We need to be 10’ away from septic tank and pump. My property goes to my neighbors driveway. So the truck will come from that end.

The big area rt behind the house is our deck and patio. To put put a pool there would ruin our recently built 1400 sft patio and the deck( which is a pain to maintain as of now.

It will be a little tricky working around the septic. Is that the tank cover marked with pavers? Where will your main approch to the pool be? Is there a door on the side of the house? Can you take a pic looking from the top of the hill by the septic towards the house? Unfortunately the pics will not give enough information to recommend placement of the pool. There are just too many unknowns with the septic involved. 3' is the usual max fill allowed over any septic component. The more fill placed over the field the less the field can breath.

Can you post a pic of the as-built of your septic system. If You do not have one you really need to get one from the town so you can properly locate the system before any digging. You do not want any equipment driving over your field or tank. Usually regulations even prohibited the stockpiling of material on the system.

What is that huge patio area out back? Have you considered putting the pool out there?

 

[newpoolbuild]

Thank you. Do you use SR Smith LED TREO lights? Are they big/ bright or small? IDK why the PB gives me 4, are they small? cuz my neighbor has hayward LED ligtht only 1 big one. It lights up her entire pool.

IDK what kind of returning drains my PB uses. I could ask if he could use the dual suction, its safer for little kids? I will be getting 2 main drains, 4 returns, and 2 skimmers.

You will love your autocover. That is a big one. As I'm sure the line item price reflects. I too have that combo of autocover and winter safety cover. I enjoy that and it works well for me. Our autocover gets more use in Apr, May, Sep & Oct than in the summer months. But both still look in fantastic shape after 7 seasons.

Bluestone coping. I have that as well. It will be hot but it looks great and since our deck is concrete, it's a little cooler than the bluestone. Bluestone coping is fine once it's wet, so I just splash it if needed. Make sure to consider the surface texture/finish of the bluestone, natural cleft or thermal. Thermal is more formal looking and probably expensive (ours is natural cleft). Also confirm the thickness of the coping. Ours varies but is roughly 1 1/4" thick around the pool. Whereas the bluestone that covers the autocover is 2" and it looks better. I highly recommend getting stone to cover your autocover versus one of their metal lid options. Much nicer looking in my opinion.

I like your corner benches in the deep end. We have them in both corners as well.

Are those 4 lights big/full size ones. You will enjoy the color changing. It really adds to the ambiance. Placement of lights? Should be facing away from the house and main seating area if possible.

How many skimmer and returns? Placement?

Highly recommend the following:
Main Channel Drain A&A Manufacturing AVSC Channel Drain Dual Suction Vinyl - Light Gray #558371
Pouralid skimmer covers Pour-A-Lid

 

[JJ_Tex]

Any suggestions on retaining walls to match travertine pavers, suggestions

I havent read your full post, but they did a small retaining wall for our build out of cinder blocks, then used the same travertine pavers as the patio on the wall. The pics are in my build thread below and they did this in the step down by the spa as well as the far side by the tanning ledge.

 

[newpoolbuild]

Thx. Congrats on completion of your new pool I went back and looked your build pics, beautiful pool and travertine decking!!! What color travertine and bull nose did you use? We are leaning twds premium ivory swirl French pattern for both bullnose and paver and the tumble country classic(afraid it would be too much gold/ yellow).

I havent read your full post, but they did a small retaining wall for our build out of cinder blocks, then used the same travertine pavers as the patio on the wall. The pics are in my build thread below and they did this in the step down by the spa as well as the far side by the tanning ledge.

 

[JJ_Tex]

We did light walnut coping (but not bull nosed shape). We were going to also use the light walnut pavers, but there was a lot of variation in the samples they brought including some that had a lot of yellow and others with a lot of grey. We switched to the ivory travertine and are happy with it.

I assume they will do your coping and tile first. I would suggest getting a couple of travertine samples to lay out next to the finished coping and tile before you make your final decision. Good luck.

 

[bmoreswim]

Thank you. Do you use SR Smith LED TREO lights? Are they big/ bright or small? IDK why the PB gives me 4, are they small? cuz my neighbor has hayward LED ligtht only 1 big one. It lights up her entire pool.

IDK what kind of returning drains my PB uses. I could ask if he could use the dual suction, its safer for little kids? I will be getting 2 main drains, 4 returns, and 2 skimmers.

I have Hayward Colorlogic 4.0 lights. Full size color changing LED's. 2 are certainly needed to light my pool to my requirements for all colors. Any colors other than white are dimmer than white.

All main drains are VGB Act compliant these days for new construction. What I'm suggesting is a particular variety which is more attractive than the circular drains, allows debris to flow in easier (because it sits flush with the plaster surface & has larger openings) and sits flat with the surface, allowing cleaners to pass by uninhibited.

 

[Rich D]

Thank you Rich, my septic leach field is the orange spray painted 6 dots. The 4 pavers is my septic pump. We need to be 10’ away from septic tank and pump. My property goes to my neighbors driveway. So the truck will come from that end.

The big area rt behind the house is our deck and patio. To put put a pool there would ruin our recently built 1400 sft patio and the deck( which is a pain to maintain as of now.

I was hoping for a pic from the neighbors looking at your house. And perhaps a few from the street.

Why is your patio a pain to maintain?

Since it is a pump system and judging by how the lawn looks on top of the system I am willing to bet there is not much cover over the system. So you might be able to put some fill on top of the field but the tank could be a little deep so that might limit how much fill can go out there and the more I see in the pics the more it looks like you would not want to raise the grade over the septic field. At first look I assumed your back patio was higher then the pool was going to be which is why I suggested perhaps raising the pool. But after looking at all the pics again and making a few assumptions It looks like the pool will already be higher then your back deck, so I do not think raising it any more makes much sense.

I do not see how the will get equipment and materials in and extra dirt out without going over your septic field or tank. I would definitely not want them putting anything on the septic field or driving anything over it if it is as shallow as I think it is. Is there enough room for them to get between the woods and the field? Is there a vent pipe in the woods?

You can also be certain they did not bring those boulders on to the site because they look so nice in your lawn. You can probably expect some extras in the excavation cost if they have to deal with that size rock. I would ask the PB if he has the proper equipment to handle a few pebbles like that. You might end up with a few more lawn ornaments....

Who marked out the septic and how did they locate it?

 

[newpoolbuild]

Thank you for putting in the time and effort to make suggestions. there’s no way to block My neighbor on the side and across the street from 2nd floor window to see the pool. I can’t plant big trees since my pool is very close to septic. Pictures from the street view is hard to tell cuz it’s blocked by the raised septic mound. We hired the septic company mapped the septic lines w camera. I am going to ask the PB to put an orange fence 1-2’ around the perimeter of the septic lines to protect it.

The previous owner had a big wooden deck and pergola. My husband had to lightly sand it and poly it every 2 yrs. it’s very labor intensive.

I was hoping for a pic from the neighbors looking at your house. And perhaps a few from the street.

Why is your patio a pain to maintain?

Since it is a pump system and judging by how the lawn looks on top of the system I am willing to bet there is not much cover over the system. So you might be able to put some fill on top of the field but the tank could be a little deep so that might limit how much fill can go out there and the more I see in the pics the more it looks like you would not want to raise the grade over the septic field. At first look I assumed your back patio was higher then the pool was going to be which is why I suggested perhaps raising the pool. But after looking at all the pics again and making a few assumptions It looks like the pool will already be higher then your back deck, so I do not think raising it any more makes much sense.

I do not see how the will get equipment and materials in and extra dirt out without going over your septic field or tank. I would definitely not want them putting anything on the septic field or driving anything over it if it is as shallow as I think it is. Is there enough room for them to get between the woods and the field? Is there a vent pipe in the woods?

You can also be certain they did not bring those boulders on to the site because they look so nice in your lawn. You can probably expect some extras in the excavation cost if they have to deal with that size rock. I would ask the PB if he has the proper equipment to handle a few pebbles like that. You might end up with a few more lawn ornaments....

Who marked out the septic and how did they locate it?

 

[newpoolbuild]

Thank you, I have a feeling the SR smith lights are not that bright that’s why he’s giving me 4.
We are going to place it on the long side facing the street away on the same side of the patio we will be sitting most of the time.

I have Hayward Colorlogic 4.0 lights. Full size color changing LED's. 2 are certainly needed to light my pool to my requirements for all colors. Any colors other than white are dimmer than white.

All main drains are VGB Act compliant these days for new construction. What I'm suggesting is a particular variety which is more attractive than the circular drains, allows debris to flow in easier (because it sits flush with the plaster surface & has larger openings) and sits flat with the surface, allowing cleaners to pass by uninhibited.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Agree before you start find the as built of your system. You dont want equipment compacting the field it will reduce its lifespan. Only smaller track machines can cross it but I wouldnt even allow that at this point. A physical barrier like a large tarp staked over the field will keep things off and spray paint KEEP OFF on it that's what we do especially with subs on the jobs. By your pics you have a large grade change I assume your septic is a pump up system. If so be careful of the feed line it can settle with equipment run over it. A loaded dump truck is 70k pounds plus. I would also be careful with PB digging for a retaining wall. That's the easy part. Setting the base and compacting properly is not easy and is the most crucial part. You cant do that and just ait and wait for a wall to be built the silt will contaminate the base. This is a challenging build site

 

[newpoolbuild]

Thank you, I ordered samples of all 3 shades of ivory, walnut, and country classic and 4 shades of bullnose pavers. To be honest, I would feel less stressed if we do the patio next spring. But my husband does not want mud to get in the pool w snow and spring rain. I don’t think we will have time to complete the patio before the weather gets cold.

We did light walnut coping (but not bull nosed shape). We were going to also use the light walnut pavers, but there was a lot of variation in the samples they brought including some that had a lot of yellow and others with a lot of grey. We switched to the ivory travertine and are happy with it.

I assume they will do your coping and tile first. I would suggest getting a couple of travertine samples to lay out next to the finished coping and tile before you make your final decision. Good luck.