Lyn's Pool Build Owner Builder in Louisiana

Hello All! I have been reading your pool building experiences, and I hope you don't mind if i share mine. I am going the Owner/Builder route after a couple of years of planning. I got a lot of my inspiration from this forum.

We live about 20 miles outside of Lafayette, Louisiana. The area is growing, but certainly doesn't have the number of people and especially the number of pool builders that are in other areas of the country. This has given us a few challenges getting subs to go the owner builder route with us.

Things have been really going well so far. After day 5, we already have gunite. It's quite amazing to see it this far so fast.

Here are our specs so far. . . I say so far, because as owner/builder I've already made quite a few changes during the first few phases of construction.

Pool: 16x32 gunite 4 .5 x 5.5 x 4.5, brick coping and french grey diamond brite.

Equipment:
1 - 011012 INTELLIFLO PUMP WFINT 3.2KW
1 - 188594 QUAD 100 FILTER D.E. / CART 160GPM
1 - 460736 MASTER TEMP HEATER 400BTU NG LOW NOX
1 - 261152 DE VALVE KIT MP SM DE 2” THRD
1 - 520555 CELL INTELLICHLOR IC40
1 - 520556 POWER CENTER INTELLICHLOR
1 - LL105PMG CLEANER GRY LEGEND PLATINUM LESS PUMP GRY
1 - LA01N UNIVERSAL BOOSTER PUMP 3/4HP (NEW-STYLE)
1 - WMO-101 SHALLOW WATER FOAM JET
6 - Waterway Spa Jets (Not sure which ones yet)

Automation -
520509 i9+3 PERSONALITY KIT POOL/SPA COMBO
or (not sure yet)
520507 i7+3 PERSONALITY KIT POOL/SPA COMBO

520641 INTELLIFLO INTELLICOM - Stilll not sure if I need this with the intelliflow?
350122 CABLE INTELLIFLO TO INTELLITOUCH
520139 MOBILE TOUCH WIRELESS ASSY W/TRANSCEIVER
520138 INDOOR CONTROL PANEL WHITE
520136 LOAD CENTER W/BREAKER BASE

Here is a link to the gallery of photos i've taken so far:
http://picasaweb.google.com/LynAskinFamily

Please feel free to chime in. I'm open to any construtive criticism! :)

Thanks for looking!
Lyn

Hi Lyn. We are in Natchitoches. We are also doing the owner/builder route. I see that you built in 2006, but was wondering if you had any advice as to the initial startup after the diamond brite finish? We are supposed to have our Diamond Brite sprayed in the next couple of days from a plasterer in Baton Rouge. It looks like they are supposed to come the day after the initial DB is applied in order to do an acid wash. Did your guy do that? I have conflicting reports regarding when to add salt, when to brush, when to allow the kids to swim? Any advice would be welcome.
Katrina and David O'Con

Lyn hasn't logged in to PoolForum since 2007, so I wouldn't look for an answer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cdocon

I have conflicting reports regarding when to add salt, when to brush, when to allow the kids to swim? Any advice would be welcome.
Katrina and David O'Con

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I would talk with the person that applies the finish and acid wash and ask those questions, so that you stay within the warranty requirements, even if those instructions differ from what you've been told elsewhere. The bottom line is that you'll need to do what the person offering the warranty says to, otherwise if something happens, it's gonna be a really expensive fix....

Great to see other Louisiana folks on the forum!!