Richmond TX new build; 2 days in and Gunite is already done

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ocmagnum

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Bronze Supporter
Oct 14, 2017
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Richmond, TX
Ladies & Gents,

I had previously posted to get some input on our build and all your comments were truly appreciated. Here is a link to my previous thread about to sign contract; would love some feedback.

Well the fun started on Tuesday with the dig and steel being done. Yesterday they were doing the plumbing stub out and Gunite was scheduled for today, but because of the rain today the PB moved it up to yesterday afternoon/evening, so in 36 hours we went from "normal" backyard to already have the pool shell in place. I'm truly impressed. Because of the heavy rain in the area today, my first personal "bonding" session will likely have to wait until tomorrow.

Friday is gunite clean up and plumber is coming back on Monday, followed by the electrician on Tuesday; rocking right along.

See anything that we need to address?

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Thanks!
 
Hey there 'almost neighbor' :D. That was quite a bit of rain today.
It's amazing how fast it can go initially but our experience was that the progress really slows down after the gunite is done. When we built ours recently, during the first week they dug on Monday, put rebar in on Tuesday, completed gunite on Wednesday, and did all the plumbing on Friday. After 5 days we had the shell in place and all the equipment plumbed on the pad. Then it was at most 1 job per week and it was not until week 6 when we got to fill the finished pool. Hopefully yours goes quicker!!
It's certainly amazing to watch the progress.
 
Thanks Guys; it was definitely the right decision to move the gunite up, quite the storm yesterday afternoon here and I hate to think what might have happened to our "dirt hole".

Would love to hear your thoughts on a decision we are struggling with; we currently have standard white lights in our build contract, but are debating whether to upgrade to Universal ColorLogic Low Voltage lights (with 100ft cords). With our 2 pool lights and one spa light plus the corresponding low voltage transformers, we are looking at an about $1600 cost increase, so certainly not cheap.

We love the idea of colored lights, but are questioning how much we are actually going to end up using them. Especially since we will already have 3 Brilliant Wonders LED descents with color lights that might give some "mood" lighting. On the flip side, we went for nice options (within our range) like travertine, upgraded tile, complete automation etc and it would be a shame if the white lights "cheapen" the overall feel of the pool.

Any feedback from folks that have/have not gone with the color lights and wish they would have chosen differently? Or if you have them, do you actually use them quite a bit? And what about reliability? They don't have glowing reviews on Amazon, but builder is warranting them for three years, rather then the one that appears to be standard.

Thanks in advance!
 
Personally I love the look of colored lights in a pool. Quick question, how far is the edge of the pool from your windows? We are here in League City and we have a 10 ft easement. Currently reviewing a few designs and the distance from house to pool is a major concern.
 
Personally I would go with basic lights for the pool/spa. If you have 'ambiance' lights for your water features I doubt you need the same for the pool. Unless you plan to entertain outside without the pool being used. Plain lights are better for the pool being used at night.

We have a much more basic setup but do have the Pentair GloBrite color lights. Rarely use them. One has failed and had to be replaced after at most a couple hours of use.

Take care.
 
tldude876 said:
Personally I love the look of colored lights in a pool. Quick question, how far is the edge of the pool from your windows? We are here in League City and we have a 10 ft easement. Currently reviewing a few designs and the distance from house to pool is a major concern.
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That was one of our major concerns as well, but since we have no back neighbors and our easement therefore is 15 ft, we really didn't have a choice unless we went with a very narrow pool. At the closest, where the master bedroom window arches out, it's just a little over 2 ft from the house. For the other sections probably about 5 feet, but haven't measured to be honest. We (i.e. my wonderful wife) appreciate that it might mean some more window cleaning is required, but not having any back neighbors makes up for that in our mind :)

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mknauss said:
Personally I would go with basic lights for the pool/spa. If you have 'ambiance' lights for your water features I doubt you need the same for the pool. Unless you plan to entertain outside without the pool being used. Plain lights are better for the pool being used at night.

We have a much more basic setup but do have the Pentair GloBrite color lights. Rarely use them. One has failed and had to be replaced after at most a couple hours of use.

Take care.
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Thank you Sir, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Plus I assume we could always retrofit the color lights, if we were so inclined.
 
ocmagnum said:
That was one of our major concerns as well, but since we have no back neighbors and our easement therefore is 15 ft, we really didn't have a choice unless we went with a very narrow pool. At the closest, where the master bedroom window arches out, it's just a little over 2 ft from the house. For the other sections probably about 5 feet, but haven't measured to be honest. We (i.e. my wonderful wife) appreciate that it might mean some more window cleaning is required, but not having any back neighbors makes up for that in our mind :)

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The current design has us at 3ft from the master windows with a 11' wide pool. We are on a diamond shaped lot and could possibly put the pool towards the side of the house but I'm not too sure I like that approach. Decisions decisions. Good luck with the build.
 

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evansma3 said:
We love our ColorLogic lights and couldn't imagine not having them, it really looks awesome at night. But our original quote came with them included so we didn't "feel" the increase in price of a change order.
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Thank you very much! Can I ask how big your pool is, how many lights you have in and if you have by chance have any pics of how it looks? I can of course find a bunch of pics online, but always a bit difficult to judge how big the pools since normally only showing parts. Our pool will be 15x30 and just shy of 15k gallons. Thanks in advance!
 
Hi. I agree with MKNAUSS. I have the color lights (2 of them, no spa). They look cool and guests love to see them change but other than that they're ok given the cost. The kids love the red b/c they pretend it's blood but it's so dark that I don't want them swimming in it b/c it's hard to see everyone at once. The two lights were in sync and this past year they came out of sync. E.g., one white, the other blue. TO be honest, we don't use them that much either. I don't have automation but this year I'm goint to replace the on - off switch with a TP linke wireless switch so I can control it from my phone. We'll probably use them much more for aesthetics. Given that you have the 3 Brilliant Wonders LEDs I'd save the money. I was thinking to get a swg or a robot but you've got both covered. Your pool is great either way. If you're dying to spend the money and drink beer treat yourself to a kegerator :)

Someone here will know for sure but I don't think you can retrofit the standard light with an led.
 
Our Hayward ColorLogic lights were one of the biggest surprises our our build. We LOVE them. They are awesome. Do them originally is my recommendation.

The ambiance they provide is outstanding.
 
bmoreswim said:
Our Hayward ColorLogic lights were one of the biggest surprises our our build. We LOVE them. They are awesome. Do them originally is my recommendation.

The ambiance they provide is outstanding.
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Thanks for the comment and, after reading your build thread, can I just say that your backyard is absolutely stunning! Congrats. No issues with the lights, still original equipment?

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Nectarologist said:
If you're dying to spend the money and drink beer treat yourself to a kegerator :)

Someone here will know for sure but I don't think you can retrofit the standard light with an led.
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I like the way you think! Thanks for your feedback; bummer if I would not be able to retrofit.
 
Seeing as the pool is so close to the house, will colored lights look funky *inside* the house when you're inside? I keep picturing a blinking red light like a "vacancy now" sign.

Just something to think on... how those lights will be seen inside too.

Maddie :flower:
 
YippeeSkippy said:
Seeing as the pool is so close to the house, will colored lights look funky *inside* the house when you're inside? I keep picturing a blinking red light like a "vacancy now" sign.

Just something to think on... how those lights will be seen inside too.

Maddie :flower:
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That's a very good call out; thanks Maddie. Definitely something for us to take into consideration.
 
ocmagnum said:
Thanks for the comment and, after reading your build thread, can I just say that your backyard is absolutely stunning! Congrats. No issues with the lights, still original equipment?
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Thank you on our backyard. It is a blessing to have.

No issues, in five seasons. One time they got out of sync. Following the Hayward instruction from the manual re-synced them the first try. That was about 3 years ago. I have two of the full-size versions.
 
oc,

If the original lights are standard incandescent 120 volt lights, they can always be replaced by 120 volt color changing LED light bulbs.

Whether you install LED color lights initially really depends on you and your life style. If you party a lot and often have guests then it might be worth the money. If you plan to hang out at the pool at night, it might be worth the money. Etc... If you are like my wife and me, we love to swim and float during the day, but not so much at night. So for us, a standard white pool light is more than enough.

I made this decision before I was very active on this forum.. Since being on TFP, I have noticed very few threads about problems with the standard white lights, but multiple threads about issues with color LED lights.

So for me, they are not worth the money.. but I can see where for others they can be almost be a necessity... :p

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
Week 3 update; despite the freezing rains and crappy weather in Houston area last week, the PB made some decent progress. Both underground plumbing and electrician work done, automation system installed and they started the stonework. They are back today to start coping and waterline tiles. Will add more pictures after I upgrade my account here.

And just to close the loop on the above light discussion, we decided to go for the colored LED lights. We like the look and figured worst case we "wasted" some money, if we went the other way we might have second guessed us every time we took a night swim or hang out on the patio after dark.
 

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