Vermiculite time!!

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8corneflakes

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Jul 13, 2009
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Fort Wayne, IN
Okay guys, we are ready for vermiculite. :party: We have about a dozen friends lined up to be here on Saturday and Sunday to help with everything pool related. Hope they weren't confused about the 'pool party' invitations! I need to know EVERY tip, trick, and secret to get us through vermiculite h*ll. The vermiculite will be here tomorrow, and we are renting a mixer for the job.

Tell me what you've done, what you wish you didn't do and what you would have done if you had to do it over.

Thanks again and again and again
 
Make sure you use a paddle mixer, keep your batches consistent, put alot of string lines in the bottom marking your finished height of the krete and don't work it to much. You can go back the next day and shave off high spots or fill in low spots. Try to have fun, Dan
 
Good luck, cornflakes. I got cold feet on my skill level and contracted it. In hindsight, I think I could've done as well but it was more physically demanding than I thought for the manpower I had available.

Deer hunter obviously knows the drill.

My installer complained continuously about the inconsistency of our batches my friend and I mixed for him. Towards the end we though about leaving him down in the hole and covering him with vermiculite but, well, we knew we wouldn't be able to think of good answers when the police came looking for him so we (reluctantly) let him out. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
Try this for mixing tips.

Troweling is more an art than a science- that's why I never got the troweling tips written up.

What I can tell you is to use a good bit of force to compact it with the float and then use the trowel to smooth it out. You don't want to seal the verm, it should look ~ like a corkboard.

If I can, I'll try to come up with more before you attack the floor :)
 
no kidding! We just cut a check for $1500. :shock: It was for 90 bags and that was after the contractor discount. My pool kit instructions said it would take 40 bags, but the fellas here said more like 80. If we don't use it all, I'm going to go into the bean-bag business!
 
Theresa, PLEASE keep the bags dry! Wet bags totally screw up the mixes!

A drum mixer allows you to make 'less wet' mixes (as opposed to a paddle mixer).

Before you start applying the verm, mark the wall panels with a magic marker at the floor depth, all around - don't be tempted to cheat with a chalk line - the chalk will disappear if the wet verm touches it.

DO do as deer hunter said and run extra strings, so your troweler has reference points every so often. Please see the DIY guide for 'pinning' the transitions and add a few more, where needed.

You can use a 4" level to check the flat work as you go or, probably easier, have a loose string (tied at the proper level) that you can run to another guide string.

It's better to be a bit low on the floor, rather than high - the liner will stretch into a low spot, but could wrinkle on a high spot.

DO NOT!!!! let your strings get buried in the verm :hammer: The string is the only way you have of knowing what the floor level ought be and, if one part of it is buried, your floor won't be ~ flat! Make sure the string is cleared and tight before troweling to that level!

Thank you for making me start the troweling info! I'm gonna pm you my cell # so you can ask any "emergency" questions as you do this while I'm at work :cool:
 
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