AL's Pool Project 10-17-06

[No Need]

Well it has been a good first week on the progress of the pool.
Pool Forums is awesome!
Here is a link to pics if anyone wants to take a look.

http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/

[eljefe281]

Great stuff!

Looks like a deep one.

Let us know your location and the specs on the pool.

[SeanB.]

Looks like there's lots of rock there in San Dimas. I'm guessing this is going to be a diving pool. Keep us posted.

[No Need]

The pool is 36'x18', 3 1/2 shallow end 7 1/2 deep. We're putting in a 7' reef area 18" deep,
8' spa with waterfall, groto with waterfall.The pool will have shotcrete with a 3m finish.
We will be using a salt system with 3 pumps. We are hoping to shoot the shotcrete Friday.

[No Need]

Plumbing is finished in the pool, tomorrow they will start with the spa. Hoping to shoot the pool Friday.

[No Need]

Looks like there's lots of rock there in San Dimas. I'm guessing this is going to be a diving pool. Keep us posted.
Horrible soil to do anything with. We had to bring in top soil to plant the front yard.

[No Need]

Today we were able to complete the shotcrete. It's looking like a Pool!

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/11-1-06a.jpg

[No Need]

The rock work is finally coming along.
Here is a couple on new photos. Does anyone else have a rock pool?
If so, let me know what you think.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/11-19-06a.jpg?t=1164573148
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/11-19-06.jpg?t=1164573493

[SeanB.]

Looking good. The slide is going to be great!

[No Need]

Looking good. The slide is going to be great!
The slide and rocks should be done by Monday (hoping). The rocks and slide have been a very slow process.

[LITTLEJJ]

Looks great, can't wait to see the finished product.

[INLANDSMOG]

Who is your builder?

[No Need]

Who is your builder?
Don't ask. :(

[No Need]

The rocks are finally finished. It took a lot longer than I expected.
They did a really good job, it was worth the wait.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/12-6-06-1.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/12-6-06a-1.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/12-6-06c.jpg

[steveinaz]

That is cool!

[No Need]

the coping is going to be poured Monday. The kids are getting excited.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/12-9-06.jpg

[No Need]

Mt cocrete guy was able to finish the coping and fire pit this week.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/12-13-06.jpg

The pool equipmet is in. 2-2hp and 1-1.5 hp Whisper Flo pumps, Salt system.
Monday they will start the tile and flagstone.

[ehorn]

That fire pit looks nice, take some close up pictures of that if you can. I've been trying to get some ideas for a fire pit in our yard.

Thanks!

Eric

[No Need]

Here is a one. I don't know if we're going to use the stacked flagstone on the fire pit to match the pool. It might be too much work on such a small rounded surface.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/12-20-06a.jpg

[No Need]

One more block wall to finish, then I'll finally be able to get my pre plaster inspection.

The stone work is finally done, they only need to add the tile for the pools water line.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/1-4-07.jpg

matching fire pit.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/1-4-07b.jpg

[SeanB.]

Wow, looks great! You've obviously put A LOT of thought into the aesthetics of your entire project. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[No Need]

The stone work is finally done. Calling in for pre plaster inspection for Tuesday. Here is the latest.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/1-18-07.jpg

[ehorn]

Looking good there. I like the stone work, I'm sure you are eagerly looking forward to finishing the pool. Good luck with the pre plaster inspection!

[No Need]

Wow, looks great! You've obviously put A LOT of thought into the aesthetics of your entire project. Can't wait to see the finished product.
Me too.... :)

[No Need]

I'll have water in my Pool today!

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-3-07.jpg

[ehorn]

Hey thats looking good, what kind of finish are you getting on the pool?

If you want to know how much water your pool holds be sure to check your water meter before and after you fill the pool. Would love to see pictures of the pool filling up.

Eric

[No Need]

Eric, it's a 3m finish. We doubled the amount of the of the 3m product.
I'm hoping for a real deep blue color.

[No Need]

The pool is only half full had to slow down the fill. This morning noticed a chip in the plaster right in the middle of the first step, needless to say I'm not real happy about this.
I check out the rest of the pool and found a nice 2 inch long gouge on the side right next to the bottom step.
I called my plaster company this morning, and he is sending out a guy to fix it today! This is the way customer service should be.

AL
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-4-07.jpg

[SeanB.]

Hey, you may want to turn the water back on at a very low flow rate. If you leave it off, you may end up with a permanent water line since it is still curing. As long as the level is rising, even if VERY slow, you should be OK.

[No Need]

Hey, you may want to turn the water back on at a very low flow rate. If you leave it off, you may end up with a permanent water line since it is still curing. As long as the level is rising, even if VERY slow, you should be OK.
I do have the water filling slowly, It's about a foot below where they need to repair it. I was hoping to have it filled by noon, now it looks like mid night. :)

[No Need]

My pool is almost finished! We poured the deck today, now I have to get going on the landscape.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-7-07a.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-7-07.jpg

[GraceByDesign]

Love your pool, especially the wavy lines in the decking... very different and cool!! :D

[divnkd101]

Al,

When's the party??? It looks great.

[No Need]

Thanks for the comments Grace, and the party will when the plaster has cured so I can turn on the heater. :).

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-8-07a.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-8-07.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-8-07b.jpg

[ehorn]

Wow that looks great, I'm sure you can't wait to warm up the water for a swim party weekend. I'm still waiting on getting the gas hooked up to mine so we can spend the weekend swimming.

Are you getting any coatings done to the deck?

Eric

[No Need]

Wow that looks great, I'm sure you can't wait to warm up the water for a swim party weekend. I'm still waiting on getting the gas hooked up to mine so we can spend the weekend swimming.

Are you getting any coatings done to the deck?

Eric

Thanks Eric. The decks are going to be plain old concrete color, no coatings of any kind. The slide, rocks, coping and stone will all have cement sealer applied to give it the wet look.

AL

[No Need]

Well, tonight was opening night for my Pool. My Kids and a Friend of theirs decided to try out the pool tonight, no heat with a pool temp of 57 degrees.
It was a riot watching them dare each other to take the first dive, my 11 year old was the first.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-16-07b.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Fire_Angler/2-16-07a.jpg

[No Need]

Just fired up the heater in the spa for the first time! The spa water temp is 57 degrees, when it hits 100, I'm finally going to get wet.

[skamp]

Very nice. The rock features are very cool!

Steve

[No Need]

Thanks for the comments Steve.
The heater took just under an hour to to heat the spa to 102, faster than I expected.
How long would it take to heat the entire pool to 90 degrees? :)

[skamp]

Thanks for the comments Steve.
The heater took just under an hour to to heat the spa to 102, faster than I expected.
How long would it take to heat the entire pool to 90 degrees? :)

I think the real question is HOW MUCH $$ not how long. :)

Steve

[No Need]

I think the real question is HOW MUCH $$ not how long. :)

Steve

It is suppose to be mid to upper 80s this weekend. I think I'm going to start to heat it up late Friday night. :)

[SeanB.]

I think the real question is HOW MUCH $$ not how long. :)

Steve

We heated ours over Thanksgiving and figured it cost around $80-$100 to heat the whole pool. We really didn't go warm enough last time, so I'm going to say around $100 depending on the size of the pool, etc. So it's not an every weekend thing, but it's not going to break the bank to do it every once in a while.

Next week is Spring Break and I think we are going to heat it for 2-3 days. I'm not sure if it would work out better to let it maintain temp over night with the heater running, or just kick it back on first thing in the morning.

[huskyrider]

I'm not sure if it would work out better to let it maintain temp over night with the heater running, or just kick it back on first thing in the morning.

My suggestion on off season heating is to invert your circulation hours to run at the coldest time of the night. By generating your warm water at night you'll lose less to transfer and let the daytime high temps help maintain the pool temp. Although you'll lose a little it won't be as bad as running the heater during the day and losing your water temp overnight.

I'm turning on our heaters tomorrow night so we can have a reasonable temp for the kids next week while their out of school for Spring Break.
I'll then nurse the temp until we come into the season where they're not necessary. In my area, SE Texas, this is usually around mid April to early May.

See ya

[No Need]

We heated ours over Thanksgiving and figured it cost around $80-$100 to heat the whole pool. We really didn't go warm enough last time, so I'm going to say around $100 depending on the size of the pool, etc. So it's not an every weekend thing, but it's not going to break the bank to do it every once in a while.
Ran the pool heater for two weekends, kept the pool temp at a cool 86 degrees. :) We also ran the spa several nights, the gas bill was an additional $200 over the norm of $100. I thought it was going to be higher.
The pool and spa were fantastic!

On a side note, how much salt would a 20k pool require? I want to get the salt in next week.

Thanks,
AL

[SeanB.]

From the Autopilot website:


Q: How much salt do I add?
A: Enough for 3000 ppm (parts per million) as a starting point. So depending on the initial salt level of your water, you only add the amount needed to establish 3000 ppm. For new pools or freshly filled pools, the salt level will most likely be zero. In this case, 50lbs of salt per 2,000 gallons of water will establish 3000 ppm. For existing pools, the previous usage of chlorine bleach or tablets will have already introduced a level of salt into the water. Have the water tested first then add the appropriate amount to establish 3000 ppm.



HTH
Sean

-----------------------------
Site owner
www.troublefreepool.com