SeanB.'s Pool Build

[SeanB.]

Well, barring bad weather, they will be pouring our deck tomorrow. I understand that once the concrete is poured, we need three days with no rain before the top coat can go on. Here's hoping for a dry weekend.

[divnkd101]

This may be a lilttle late but I always use Malibu lighting wire for exterior speakers. It's made for the enviroment. Regular speaker wire will not last as long if burried.

Phillbo, I will actually be running underground conduit x 2. One set for speaker wires and the other will be for landscape lighting/ electricity that I will attach to my PS8. That way if I do have trouble, I can always pull other sets through with little effort.

Sean, I saw your post on the speakers as well. I got 86'd by the one who wears the pants in the family for wall-mounts. She wants rock speakers in the landscaping. So I have compromised and managed to find a set of speakers with built in subs in the rocks. I can't have music without the full range of sound.

Eljefe281 - "I assume that after you typed that you did the Tim Allen grunt." ooh oooh ooooh.

I will try and update my thread tonight with additional pics of tile/coping and equipment and specs. Keep em' coming.:) :)

[Ready2swim]

Well, barring bad weather, they will be pouring our deck tomorrow. I understand that once the concrete is poured, we need three days with no rain before the top coat can go on. Here's hoping for a dry weekend.

Unbelievable...how many days since the dig now?

[SeanB.]

Unbelievable...how many days since the dig now?


The excavation began on the 7th so we are 22 days in, which isn't too bad considering we had a couple of rain delays. Hopefully we'll be putting water in by mid week next week. They originally quoted us six weeks with a guarantee of no longer than eight. I think they will finish well within the 6 week period. I'll have some more pictures tonight.

[SeanB.]

Well, barring bad weather, they will be pouring our deck tomorrow. I understand that once the concrete is poured, we need three days with no rain before the top coat can go on. Here's hoping for a dry weekend.

Correction. I think the guys today will just be getting the ground ready and doing the forms. It's taking them some time to do all the prep, so I doubt the concrete truck will be coming the same day.

[SeanB.]

Here are a few pictures from todays activity. They did the form boards, leveled with sand and then laid the rebar for the deck. I did not have time to take pictures of the rebar but here is everything up to that point.

Laying boards for outline:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Formboards.jpg

Laying sand:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Sand.jpg


Ready for rebar:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Rebarnext.jpg

[Phillbo]

thats gonna be real nice ..... but you do realize you are suporting the illegal alien problem in this country ...














joke.. I just finished a major remodel of my back yard and hired tons of julios from the parking lot at home depot to do the grunt work.

try this for fun stuff http://www.clutchy.com/movies.php?url=awesomestunts

[SeanB.]

thats gonna be real nice ..... but you do realize you are suporting the illegal alien problem in this country ... joke.. I just finished a major remodel of my back yard and hired tons of julios from the parking lot at home depot to do the grunt work.




Thanks

I quite literally would not be able to build a pool, or a house for that matter, in this part of the country if my goal was to totally avoid the use of illegal labor. Besides all the political arguments, hiring illegals actually is not fair to the workers either. Instead of making pennies in Mexico, they are coming here for quarters.

[SeanB.]

Not too exciting, but the rebar on deck was finished today. Hopefully they will pour concrete on Monday:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Deckrebar.jpg

[eljefe281]

Sean, how are things coming along?

[SeanB.]

Sean, how are things coming along?

The concrete crews have been running a little slow. We are scheduled for concrete tomorrow. After that, I'm told, things are going to move along pretty quick. I should have some pictures by tomorrow evening.

Where are they on yours?

[eljefe281]

Coping yesterday and today. Tile today, I believe.

The electricians made their terminations today.

The decking dudes will supposedly be out tomorrow to lay the area drains and set the forming for the deck.

I hope to post some photos this evening. Should be a fun, different look - rectangular, long and skinny, pre-cast concrete coping.

[SeanB.]

They came today to pour the concrete for the deck.

Just getting started:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Pouringconcrete.jpg

They actually poured the concrete pretty quick. They had about 3 guys making one wheelbarrow trip after another with a few more smoothing it out as it was poured.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Smoothingitout.jpg

It took them quite a while to get the deco drains laid in and everything smoothed out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Concretecompete.jpg

Now we just have to wait a few days so they can come and put on the color and texture coat.

Next they will be coming to finish the stacked flagstone around the spa and do another clean up.

[eljefe281]

Slick as a whistle!

[CanuckPool]

Dont forget to keep the concrete wet while its curing!

[geralde]

Sean, just curious...did you compare exposed aggregate for your decking? We are in the mist of the decision...and I am interested in what you think.

thanks..

[Pool_Mike]

Sean, Your pool is looking great. Glad to see that you have a contractors that cares about the work.

Can't wait to see the end results!!

[SeanB.]

Sean, just curious...did you compare exposed aggregate for your decking? We are in the mist of the decision...and I am interested in what you think.

thanks..


To be honest, we didn't spend much time looking into exposed aggregate. We have a couple of friends with pools who did pea gravel decks and we wanted to do something different.

I like sundek for a few reasons:
-We got to choose the color
-The texture is easy and cool on your feet
- It seems to be the most used surface at community pools which leads me to believe it is going to be very durable.
- You can also do many different types of patterns, although we stuck with the classic texture to make it easier on our budget, now and in the future if we resurface.


Having said that, I do like the looks of exposed aggregate when larger flat stones are used; I'm just not a big fan of pea gravel. It tends to hurt my feet after a while and I guess I'm just a little tired of the look.

What type of coping are you using? If you are using flagstone, a nice look can be achieved by using exposed aggegate and adding in strips or patches of the flagstone within the deck.

[geralde]

I just updated my thread with some new pics. Tile and Coping were done. We are thinking of going with Exposed aggregate..over white brushed concrete. I think it will look nicer against the coping. What do you think?

[SeanB.]

I just updated my thread with some new pics. Tile and Coping were done. We are thinking of going with Exposed aggregate..over white brushed concrete. I think it will look nicer against the coping. What do you think?


I think that will go very well with your coping.

[divnkd101]

Sean, Lookin' good. Seems like we have enough people in the Houston area to help break your pool in. When's the party? I'll bring the beer (plastic only of course).

Speaking of deck work, did you ever go out, like I did, and count squares (rebar) to make sure you were getting the square footage as outlined on your contract? My builder has a little modifying/ expanding to do on ours. He was about 150-200 sq.ft. short. They pour in the morning.

[SeanB.]

Sean, Lookin' good. Seems like we have enough people in the Houston area to help break your pool in. When's the party? I'll bring the beer (plastic only of course).

Speaking of deck work, did you ever go out, like I did, and count squares (rebar) to make sure you were getting the square footage as outlined on your contract? My builder has a little modifying/ expanding to do on ours. He was about 150-200 sq.ft. short. They pour in the morning.

The re-sodding party will be in about a week and your all invited. :D

No, that never even ocurred to me - wish it had. I think I will go out and try to measure though. I actually think he fudged it in my favor a little bit, but I'll check to make sure.

Be sure to post a picture once they pour.

[SeanB.]

They came today and did the stacked flagstone for the backside of the spa. Here are a few pictures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Layingstackedstone.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Viewfromtheback.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Anotherfromtheback.jpg


They will be coming tomorrow, weather permitting, to due the Sundek. We will also be meeting with the landscper this week to do our layout and they are sceduled for plaster on Thursday. Unfortunately, the forcast is for rain this week, so we'll see how it goes.

[eljefe281]

Looks great, Sean!

[divnkd101]

Sean, They've done a great job. Hope you are as pleased as we are so far. Like you said before, the end is in sight. Unfortunately, we are on weather delay as well. Plastering has been postponed due the inclimate weather. Who would ever think that we would not wish for cool weather. I know I am not looking forward to the cool weather yet. I want to swim. :D :)

[mkamp1515]

Looks really good. You did a great job picking out the coping and tile. Too bad, in a way, cooler weather is on the way. I live in the Fort Worth area and my pool is now too cold (59 degrees this morning - low 70s in afternoon). It is still fluctuating but I think the swim season is now over for me. I did swim this last weekend though. You have a heater though for the hot tub. If you want to spend the buck$, you can swim year round. Good luck.

Mike

[SeanB.]

Looks really good. You did a great job picking out the coping and tile. Too bad, in a way, cooler weather is on the way. I live in the Fort Worth area and my pool is now too cold (59 degrees this morning - low 70s in afternoon). It is still fluctuating but I think the swim season is now over for me. I did swim this last weekend though. You have a heater though for the hot tub. If you want to spend the buck$, you can swim year round. Good luck.

Mike

Thanks! We had a great salesman who helped steer us in the right direction on some of those choices.

It's getting cooler here now too. I won't be spending the money to heat it year round, but we will heat it for a couple days once it's filled. I just can't make the kids, or myself, wait until next year to try it out.

The Sundek crew is here now, we got rained out yesterday. I'll try to have some updated pictures this afternoon.

[divnkd101]

The Sundek crew is here now, we got rained out yesterday. I'll try to have some updated pictures this afternoon.

Sean, If you can, try and talk the crew into the rolling the paint down. Much better coverage than with the sprayers. Just a tip. My PB jumped the crews @$$ for the poor paint job they did on mine. They rolled it this time and it looks great.:D

[SeanB.]

Deck is done! First they pressure washed the entire deck, then dried it with a blower and then taped off the coping and house to protect from overspray. Then they put down a base coat, the texture and then the color.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/IMG_1734.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/IMG_1735.jpg

I'll try to post a close up picture tomorrow. We had rain yesterday so I'm not sure what that did to the schedule, but God willing, we should be getting plaster tomorrow. We are meeting with the landscape designer on Saturday to work on our plant selection and layout.

[eljefe281]

It's coming right along!

[divnkd101]

OK, don't lie. You took off your shoes and walked on it with your bare feet, huh??? How did it feel?. Neck and Neck we are. My PB called yesterday. Plaster on Friday, weather permitting. They have already done the prep on the pool (Clean it out, drain water, scrape any loose gunite/ mortar). Let's keep our fingers crossed.:D :)

[SeanB.]

OK, don't lie. You took off your shoes and walked on it with your bare feet, huh??? How did it feel?. Neck and Neck we are. My PB called yesterday. Plaster on Friday, weather permitting. They have already done the prep on the pool (Clean it out, drain water, scrape any loose gunite/ mortar). Let's keep our fingers crossed.:D :)

No plaster today. Scheduled for tomorrow, but alas, so is the rain. I think it will probably be put off until Monday at the earliest. They said it becomes a real mess if it starts raining on them mid-way through plastering, so unless it's clear skies, I'm going to ask them to wait - can't believe I just wrote that.

[SeanB.]

Wow, things really went our way today! The weather has been good and the clean up crew showed up around 7:30 am and the plaster crew followed just after they were done.

First, here is the closeup picture I mentioned of the deck surface.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Deckcloseup.jpg

And here is the pool with the plaster finished:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Plastercomplete.jpg

And filling (I can already see I'm going to be cleaning lots of leaves this winter):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Poolfilling.jpg

[eljefe281]

Hey, it's a pool!

And all this time I thought you were building a bomb shelter, like me.

[geralde]

Wow Sean...that looks awesome.

Is that marble plaster...or the 3M product?

[SeanB.]

Thanks all.

It is just white marble plaster.

By my calculations, it's filling at 650 gph and should be done around 8am.

BTW, here's a good tip I got from my pb - it's probably been posted here already but it was new to me... When filling your pool, if you are nervous of overfilling during the night, DO NOT turn the water off. Reduce to one hose and cut back the flow to just a small amount if you think it is necessary. If you turn the water off before the pool is full, you may end up with a ring at the water line - like a ring in the bathtub.

I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow once it's full.

[divnkd101]

Sean, it looks great. I just spent the last hour outside sitting on my chair watching the pool fill. I'm sure everyone watching our threads, that already have a pool, are thinking back to when their pool was almost finished. Go figure, huh???

[SeanB.]

They are coming to do the landscaping tomorrow so hopefully I will have an updated picture for everyone then, but I just had to take a second to brag on my pb a little.

Of course, like just about every build, we have had a few minor snags but overall things have gone well and as projected. One of the only complaints I had was how our fence was handled.

Our contract included taking down and rebuilding an 8 ft. section of fence. Each additional section was to cost $350. Well, after our excavation I asked the supervisor, at the time, when they would be coming to put back up the fence. Well, he told me they would only put up one section and that the rest of the fence would cost the additional amount - like $700 or more, for about an hours worth of work and no material cost to speak of. If you look at my pictures, you can see I have what is called a "good neighbor fence." It can be taken down and put back up in entire sections witout having to do a picket at a time.

As luck would have it, I happened to catch the fence builders putting up the fence of the house being built next door. They put up the entire fence for $75! So, I was a little aggravated, but decided to let it pass as it didn't cost me much. Also, shortly after, they assigned a different supervisor and things have been going very smoothly since then. He's been far more attentive and effective.

Move forward a month...late last week, the scheduler called my wife to give her an update and said they would be sending out a crew to put our fence back up. My wife asked her if they were going to put back up the whole fence and the scheduler told her, "of course." My wife told her we'd already done it ourselves.

Well, today I spoke with the scheduler who was giving me another update and who has been very nice and she asked me if there was anything else I needed. I told her about the misinformation on the fence and that I felt like I should be compensated for what I spent out of pocket in addition to the service I didn't get that was included in my contract. I told her I would consider it fair if they would replace all the sod in my backyard along both sides and on the backside of the pool behind where the new landscaping will go. She didn't hesitate for one second. She told me they would be happy to do that and sent me an e-mail within ten minutes saying that she had contacted the person who coordinates the landscaping and instructed her of the change and that they will be out tomorrow.

I was almost speechless. Honestly, they just did what they should have done, but I guess I've gotten so used to poor customer service in just about every area as a consumer, that I was shocked to actually get good service.

I expected to have to debate or wait for her to talk to a supervisor or maybe have them meet me somewhere in the middle. Needless to say, I am now very pleased.

Anyway, just in case someone in Houston is looking for a builder, I think they have earned my endorsement. BTW, my builder is Richard's Total Backyard Solutions. They can be found at THIS LINK (http://dev.itechlabs.com/tbs/)

Anyone considering this builder is welcome to send me a pm and I'll try to answer any questions I can.

[SeanB.]

And now for the exciting conclusion...

Pool filled, but still very dirty:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Filled.jpg


After the pump and polaris are running and started chemicals are in (still a little cloudy but we're getting there):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Pumpisrunning.jpg


The landscaping is in, but they still have to come back to do the sod:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Landscaping.jpg

More landscaping (there are also a couple of small Oleaners in front of the equipment, which should eventually provide a screen as well as a small bed by the back door):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Morelandscaping.jpg


The spillway from the spa:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Spa.jpg

edit: hit picture limit, continued in next post...

[SeanB.]

and the rest...

The Polaris 280 in action (this thing really did a good jub on the many, many leaves that were at the bottom of the pool):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Polaris.jpg

And finally, a view from the back:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/saberry/Deckview.jpg


The gas company was supposed to come today to install our new (larger) gas meter, but they called this morning and said they did not have all the necessary parts, so now they won't be back until Wednesday...so much for hitting the spa this weekend. :(

At least we can sit out back and finally enjoy the view. I'll post one more once all the sod is done and it is truely complete.

[eljefe281]

Sean, that looks great! Congratulations!

[divnkd101]

Sean,

Looks great. Now I know what I have to look forward to this weekend. Is that Verigated Ginger in the back behind the palm? What is the Outline of Crab grass in the front? Again, it looks great and congratulations. Now you get to enjoy poverty.... ha ha ha.

[SeanB.]

Sean,

Looks great. Now I know what I have to look forward to this weekend. Is that Verigated Ginger in the back behind the palm? What is the Outline of Crab grass in the front? Again, it looks great and congratulations. Now you get to enjoy poverty.... ha ha ha.


Thanks.

I think that's right. It was verigated something. It's supposed to grow out pretty full. I wish I had writted down all the names of the plants we had selected. I think I may still add a sego to the smaller bed too.

[webfeet]

Absolutely gorgeous pool! If you meant Oleander, I think they are poisonous. You may want to check.

[SeanB.]

Absolutely gorgeous pool! If you meant Oleander, I think they are poisonous. You may want to check.

Thanks!

Yes, that's what I meant. Fortunately my kids aren't plant eaters...heck, I'm still trying to get them to eat their vegetables. :D Actually, now that we have the pool, we have a rule that the kids will NEVER be unattended in the backyard, so plant eating isn't a concern, but thank you for yours.

[26theone]

SeanB,

I am also looking to have a pool built in the Houston area. Would you mind posting what your total cost was not including landscaping?

[SeanB.]

SeanB,

I am also looking to have a pool built in the Houston area. Would you mind posting what your total cost was not including landscaping?

Our builder includes the landscaping free on pool/spa combinations over $32k so it was not additional. We paid just under $35k. We were at $32k but added additional deck to bring us up to about 700 sq. ft. It is an 82' perimeter pool with a 7' spa, flagstone coping, and sundek if that helps.

If I had known we were going to spend the additional amount, I would have probably tried negotiating a little harder to get some extras thrown in when we drew up our contract. I'm still very happy with what we got though and think it's very comperable with other area builders. They aren't the cheapest in town, but they do quality work and from what I can tell, only use high end equipment. I never felt like they were cutting corners or giving me cheap equipment only to try and upsell later.

Having a good salesperson can make a big difference. If you decdide to get a bid from Richard's, send me a pm and I'll give you our salesman's name - he was excellent.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[26theone]

Those numbers look right to me. We had a few bids a year ago or so and thats about where ours came in at. We ultimately decided to wait till our youngest daughter got a little older and learned to swim. We will probably start in the early spring since we wont be able to use it from now will probably Mar/April anyway. Also I want my grass to be able to grow back quickly due to the excavation and it has already slowed growing quite a bit.
.
Great job posting your progress with pictures!

[divnkd101]

Those numbers look right to me. We had a few bids a year ago or so and thats about where ours came in at. We ultimately decided to wait till our youngest daughter got a little older and learned to swim. We will probably start in the early spring since we wont be able to use it from now will probably Mar/April anyway. Also I want my grass to be able to grow back quickly due to the excavation and it has already slowed growing quite a bit.
.
Great job posting your progress with pictures!

Not to talk you out of waiting until Spring but the majority of pool companies will offer great incentives for new constuction (I just saw a flyer for a 20% off new construction) during this time of year. Obviously, their season is on the downward slide, but given our warmer climate, allows them to continue building into the winter months. Good luck and keep us posted.

[SeanB.]

Those numbers look right to me. We had a few bids a year ago or so and thats about where ours came in at. We ultimately decided to wait till our youngest daughter got a little older and learned to swim. We will probably start in the early spring since we wont be able to use it from now will probably Mar/April anyway. Also I want my grass to be able to grow back quickly due to the excavation and it has already slowed growing quite a bit.
.
Great job posting your progress with pictures!


You are probably going to want to have those areas re-sodded. It'll go much quicker that way. The areas that get destroyed litterally have no grass left at all. It would have taken quite a while for that to grow back. If you tell them you want that when you sign a contract, you shouldn't have any trouble getting it included at a reasonable price.