The beginning of an odyssey

[Rattus Suffocatus]

A brief hello since it is suggested.. I'll add more as the next weeks go by.

I moved to the Tucson area from Iowa about a year and a half ago and I made the promise to my wife that I would find her a place with a pool. When she decided to buy a house without one, I figured... whew! I dodged a bullet.

Not so much. We are going to have a pool built on our property, and all of the fun that dealing with contractors/sub-contractors entails. Yes we are getting a late start, even for Tucson. I will go into that in more detail later, but it even involved a small property dispute (on a brand new home even) and we ended up getting more bids than I normally would because of some crazy schtuff (and that I am an engineer and am picky) from some of the contractors.

In the process, my wife and I decided to get a small, "portable" spa instead of building one with the pool. I did that job completely by myself and it went quickly (without a land dispute, either!) I am using it and so far am quite successfully keeping the water balanced (once I burned through a lot of TA). So I hopefully will be able to scale this up in the probably three months it will take to build the in ground. It will be gunite, Pebble Sheen and I am guessing about 13,000 gallons.

Right now, I probably will take a lot of gruff for combining a cheapish titration kit with some of the tests I had left over from a Lamotte Beer brewing water test kit, but the reagents were getting old in that kit anyway (I actually won it at Homebrewcon 2017) so I want to use up what I can as I don't brew often enough otherwise, and I also use an electronic pH meter (that I re-calibrate several times a week to buffered standards). For the spa (currently running chlorine) the only thing I really miss with all of this is the FAS-DPD kit.

However from a practical economic standpoint I will order a TF-100 when I get a little closer to completion of the pool... I'll get the signature updated when I can word it in simple English and have time.

I have, of course, been lurking as a guest for over three months.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

I have a couple friends that live down your way

 

[Teald024]

Hello and Welcome to TFP!!

Congrats on the new house. Many of our members like build threads and can help you and your wife spend your money. We can also offer advice and/or reasure you that what your builder is offering is worth the money. Also they will ask a lot of questions to get you thinking and keep your builder honest.
By the way, the sig is a brief summary of your pool. The build thread lets you go crazy about all the fun details.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Thanks. Well at this point the new house is about 15 months old, and has had several issues. No offense to my Tucson compatriots but the structures here aren't built like the heavy snow load ones back home. It's also amazingly difficult to dig a hole here which will make "dig day" that much more entertaining. I'll try to get all of the technical details together this weekend. I'll have to calculate out the volume as I have never actually received the number despite asking the PB several times for it. It's going to be a free form, so I will have to do some math to figure it out. Once I get it all together I will do an engineer's spec sheet for the signature. Once the dig starts I'll post everything in the new-build construction section, too.

The tentative dig date is two weeks from now or about 3.5 months from when we started to get bids. (The lot mishap cost me a full month.) Time moves slowly here... I'm a little miffed as we probably will be done right about the time it's too cold to swim, even for Tucson. I want to DIY a solar heater, maybe I'll get the project going sooner this way.

I suppose I can add the details about the "portable" spa now in the signature. It's been online for a month.

 

[Oly]

Welcome. There a many upsides to posting a build thread. With so many pool experts here willing to help it will assist you with the process and give you some ideas and options to consider in advance of the construction. There are also some fantastic informational threads about specific pool building processes that you will want to read.
Also when the day comes to finally fill your pool utilize your water service meter to determine exactly how many gallons your pool contains.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Welcome. There a many upsides to posting a build thread. With so many pool experts here willing to help it will assist you with the process and give you some ideas and options to consider in advance of the construction. There are also some fantastic informational threads about specific pool building processes that you will want to read.
Also when the day comes to finally fill your pool utilize your water service meter to determine exactly how many gallons your pool contains.

Yeah, thanks. I have been lurking here as a guest for about four months and have read most of the recent (last years worth) posts in the construction thread (among others). Probably the only controversial thing I am doing is putting in a floor cleaner. From many (more than ten that I looked at in the neighborhood) local owners pools I visited, none of them hate them here and all recommend them, all had them except for one who told me they wish they had one. I don't think I would put one in if I were still in the Midwest but they seem to work for the dusty (and pollen filled, but otherwise pretty sterile comparatively) climate here in Arizona pretty well. I can see the inherent problem with leaves and material like that most other places.

It's going to be two more weeks before the dig starts, so I do have some time to gather up all of the stuff that we got from the PB and edit it for the general public in the meantime. I remembered that I received the engineering drawings when I resolved my land dispute (and had them on my cell phone), so the data in my signature is from that. I'll rearrange it more in the next several days.

I am just a little bit South of Tucson. Technically on Tucson water, but our area is on it's own system and wells and in theory the water is slightly better here than the main system from their water reports. But man, was the TA off the charts when I did the spa... I am interest in what the many Tucson area people on this group have to share with me...

And yes on the actual fill volume. I agree. But as an engineer I would like to do a sanity check on the volume (by calculating it out), because if it's much smaller or greater when I fill it... well.. I am an engineer...and I am picky...something likely varied from the plans....

 

[Oly]

My opinion only and I have no experience with the floor cleaning system.....but to me it seems to be old tec already and relies on a lot of moving parts, heavy plumbing infrastructure and requires high pumping pressures. The robot technology seems the way of the future, is less costly, simpler, and can do a better job for less money.

 

[jblizzle]

I would agree, I got in-floor at my previous house and I would not spend the money to do it again. Requires you to run the pump more and at higher speeds, and dirt/sand will still collect in places and not get filtered out. You could get a top of the line electric cleaner that will do a better job cleaning for probably 1/3 the cost or less.

 

[Arizonarob]

Welcome to TFP.

No offense to my Tucson compatriots but the structures here aren't built like the heavy snow load ones back home.

You are correct, and yet they cover the roofs in cement tiles!
(me thinks the tequila runs heavy in these parts)

It's also amazingly difficult to dig a hole here which will make "dig day" that much more entertaining.

No dirt here amigo, only tan colored cement.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

You are correct, and yet they cover the roofs in cement tiles!
(me thinks the tequila runs heavy in these parts)

No dirt here amigo, only tan colored cement.

One does not dig a hole until one does it here. The caliche is bad but manageable, but those layers of rock.... ugh.... what would take me 30 minutes to do with just a post hole digger in the Midwest took me 4 hours by hand. And I was sore for two weeks. With a digging bar.... I bought a power auger... I still have a lot of landscaping to do. Still stops on the rock layers, that still have to be removed manually with the bar... but it takes the job down to 45 minutes.

The tile roofs, yeah.. and that GD stucco. It's like marshmallow creme if you even need to attach anything to it. But it's all somewhat fire resistant and I suppose that is why it's used everywhere. I now get why every freaking building is brown too, because it would be anyway if you didn't hose it all off daily.

But compared to that last winter I didn't experience in the upper Midwest? Though we did have snow one day at 3300' last winter... ONE DAY....

 

[Arizonarob]

But compared to that last winter I didn't experience in the upper Midwest? Though we did have snow one day at 3300' last winter... ONE DAY....

It came close to us here, too close for comfort.
I knew there was a chance, so I stocked up on bread, milk, eggs, batteries, and filled the bathtub with water. Then my wife slapped me, and reminded me we no longer live in Boston.

 

[kimkats]

DUDE! I like you already! You KNOW you are going to have to share the land dispute! On a NEW?? house??? WHAT in the world???

I can't wait to see your build thread. Make sure to PM me when you start it so I can help you spend your money!

Kim

 

[Arizonarob]

Make sure to PM me when you start it so I can help you spend your money!

DO NOT under any circumstances PM her! We have to keep an eye on her, or she WILL spend your money!!
Kim can post it out in the open, so you have witnesses. Otherwise you’re on your own to explain to the misses why you have a 100ft slide, dancing fountains, (to the song “I’ve got to be me”) flaming bowls, and scantily dressed male dancers on the patio every evening.
You’ve been warned!! ?

 

[kimkats]

Now Rob!!! You KNOW it will be the BLINGYEST pool out there when I get done with it! I just wanted them to PM so I would know when they started the thread so I could be sure to help them out!

Kim

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

As it is I am the cruel guy who is keeping everything in budget. Hopefully my wife will not find this board.

The land dispute. Well I am getting close to 50 myself, so my four kids are obviously older. The youngest being 14. So no, a three thousand dollar fence around the pool isn't in the plans. The PR of Pima County doesn't apparently like that so they decided to make the the last straw for a problem they have been aware of for years. The subdivision we are in was originally platted in 1962, to be, I kid you not, a Baptist Church commune. They never got enough takers from the church to pay back the developer so it went general public. In about the late 70s the building of houses stopped. It took until about five years ago to build again and now little cul de sacs in the middle the streets and alleyways are not fashionable. So in between taking out the cul de sacs and the alleyways, the lot changed. We bought the lot with the house and received a plat with a seal on it and thought nothing of it. I did the spa by myself and had no issue. The pool without an additional fence was an issue because on the other apparently more official county stamped paperwork we didn't get the 768 sqft alleyway lot which in fact was already supposed to be combined also prior to our close. Because of this we didn't own the back block fence, DR Horton did. They ignored this for about four other pools but decided enough was enough and made me the person who had to threaten everyone involved because it really was a fraudulent transaction even though it was stupidity and not conspiracy.

The zoning person really wanted me to add an iron fence to the plans and then it would not have mattered. I told her no, the last thing I wanted was a hole in the ground when I don't own all of my backyard.

So, I lost a month but was quit claimed the 768 sq ft former alleyway lot. I still need to submit the paperwork for the lot combination but at least the permit was approved. I lost my turn in line with the subs and I doubt if I will make my mid August deadline now.

We started late because we had to wait until after we filed taxes. The tax law changes made it really uncertain if we owed anything from my new employers assistance with the move but we were ok.

That and some of the other BS the other bidders tried to pull made that process weeks longer than expected also. For example the, ahem, largest pool builder in Arizona surveyed out lot on a Friday, got a bid to us on late Saturday night and insisted that we sign on Sunday. When we refused they refused to do business with us. It was surreal.

Hopefully all will go better. If not, it really is my wife's project, and I will sit in my spa with a beer and watch her argue with the contractors and subs.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

(Well, you DID ask!).

 

[kimkats]

(Well, you DID ask!).

Yes I did and am glad I did. I use this kind of "story" as a learning experience. What went wrong and how you fixed might be helpful for another person down the road.

I do have to say your story is a first for me!! Can you please share a pic of your yard so I can see what you were/are dealing with. It almost sounds like your lot IS enclosed IF you "own" all of it but since they did not think you owned the alley they wanted you to put a fence up to block the alley area from your yard

Kim

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

I will post a picture when I get a chance. The alleyway does not exist. It was in the 1962 plans, but was manipulated out in the new plans for the typical, brown, concrete tile roof stucco cookie cutter houses that are Tucson (and Phoenix) style now. The fence was at the back of the lot, in what was the middle of the alley in the plans. We didn'toown the lot that the back fence and part of the two sides were on. It was nuts because DR Horton didn't have physical access to that lot. In reality, they were three years past due on the taxes for these slivers and decided probably from the previous dealing with me that I'd light a fire under DRHs rear end. Especially because I have been at war with them with warranty items. The grading is why I allowed my wife to go ahead with the pool. It would have taken heavy equipment and ten grand to fix the lake that is in the backyard every time it rains as it is.

Bad news for me is the additional $150 in taxes that will add in already the highest property tax area in AZ by us owning the lot.

We are moving gravel out of there presently to save some of it (well over $500 worth and my wife posted some of those pictures. I still need to edit some of the plan pictures so I can post them. I should get them up in a new thread this week sometime. I will see if there is some I can steal off of Facebook and post here today.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Okay, hopefully this will work. It's difficult to manipulate this from a phone... Two of the lot this am and a closeish 3D plan drawing.. Where we are moving the gravel from in these photos is about a foot wider than the pool outline.

 

[Oly]

A pool would be the only reason to go into that backyard in the summer.