Constructing 12x24x54 AG on our own... are we done yet?

This post contains time estimate, walkthrough, and eventually the lessons I learn from constructing my first metal frame AG pool. If you're looking for quick tips then skip to topic-specific postings.

Excavation was a bigger chore than we planned (see my recent Excavation thread). I was hoping that was the hard part (time-wise), but it looks like I need to put more time in!


SUNDAY 6/24/2007: Last weekend we got all towers built. Yesterday we got the entire frame layed out and squared.

NEXT: I'm in the process of digging down the tower supports then rails to be level with the ground. It's taking me about .5 hours per tower to dig in and level. That means 3 hours of digging and leveling just for the towers. Rails will be anouther couple hours or MORE if patio blocks are required at each cuff.

I posted a patio block question separately so this thread can be for personal therapy and long reader's enjoyment.

OUT OF STEAM: This weekend we were really hoping to start filling. Unfortunately yesterday the place we were going to get masonry sand from was sold out :mad: . Basically it blew our spirits and incentive to dig everything down on Saturday. Today isn't much better.

"Are we done yet? ... Are we done yet?"
Well, let's just see how far we have to go...

TIME ESTIMATE:
=35h Excavation subtotal
see Excavation thread for detailed breakdown)

3h dig & level all 6 towers
2h dig & level rails & curved cuffs
2h pick up sand (when available)
1h move sand into pool area
1.5h Install wall
2h level sand
1.5h install happybottom (~1/4" foam) & pre-formed pool coving
3h Install pool liner and fill first 4" (bottom wrinkle-free of course :D)
I'm actually looking forward to this task thanks to the clip&fill technique posted several times on this forum.
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=16 hours for frame construction (subtotal)

1h checking during the ~2-3days fill pool with garden hose.
1h cut in skimmer (scary thought cutting liner in, but I'll read instructions very carefully and proceed with caution)
2h install top rail (I need to read to see if this happens earlier in the process)
2h plumbing shopping (identifying needs, getting what I need, making second trip for stuff I forgot).
4h basic plumbing (skimmer->Pump->Filter->Return)
4h buffer (install solar cover + reel, ladder, initial chemicals, light, pool alarm w/remote, SWG , etc. + cleanup)
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=14h final assembly (subtotal)
==30h (frame+ final) expected before we can swim... hey, that's most of a week!!!!

5h solar heater installation (so we don't have to do use wet suits to play in the pool)
4h electrical installation (so we don't over-use our temporary extension cord)
1h buffer
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=10h final plumbing & electrical (subtotal)
==40h grand total

No wonder people can make a living doing this. It takes forever to build a pool! The problem is I have a family and a demanding job competing for my attention. (Sleep is getting up there too.) I need to make friends with some people who enjoy manual labor. (Child labor laws and my wife's chiropractor prevent me from using my most available human resources.)



If you've read this far you can tell I'm getting pretty sick of this project. That means I'm about half done :p. Actually writing this out is useful to set my expectations and to give myself a challenge. Can I beat my time estimates??? Tune in for further postings!

I'll post again once I've made some significant progress. Yes, I'll post some photos too nwmnmom.

Drat... Now we have a storm blow in, thunder and all (which is relatively uncommon in Puget Sound region)... Looks like mother nature is ready to fill the pool before I am.:eek:.


Hopefully the ground won't get too saturated. I used a tarp over part of the area but other parts are getting drenched. It's supposed to be partial sun tomorrow and mostly sunny tues-wed I think. Too bad I also have to work!

UPDATE (and a few questions):
~3hrs digging in all 6 side towers (DONE)
~4hrs locating, picking up, and dumping 2 tons of Masonry sand (also called fine sand... at least in the Seattle-Redmond area).
~.5hr rolling out wall... but it was 6 inches short! :eek:
~2h manually scrunching up small spaces out of the curved section bottom rails... 2 inches were honest gaps, but 4 inches we had to go over the stop bumps in the cuffs (cheating). We tried our best to distribute these on both sides of the round and even took wall apart twice to suck up 2 inches from the far circle. Ugh... I hope this doesn't screw us over when we install the top rails.
2hrs preparing sand including shoveling, grading, checking height with laser level, adjusting, tamping, and brushing (right before laying down happybottom 1/4" foam bottom).
.75hr installing foam coving (no problems) and Happybottom. Note the happybottom roll was barely wide enough to cover width of pool... Pool salesperson told me it would be single folded sheet. Duct tape and extra time seem to be an OK solution (but would have preferred nice wide single blanket.
.5hr Pulling liner over pool and instaling V-bead most the way around.
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=12.75hrs constructing walls and nearly ready to stretch liner for water.

NEXT: Finish liner installation, then start filling!
Today It was 8PM and temp was dropping from ~75 earlier to mid-60's by the time we got the liner in (and ~2' crooked). I lost my nice pre-warmed liner install window, so I'll wait for tomorrow which should also be good. (I pray our two adventurous cats don't jump in to check out the fishy liner, then use their claws to climb back out.)

QUESTIONS:
1. How concerned should I be about having to suck in 4" from curved areas to make the wall connect?
I'm concerned the liner bottom seam or top rail will not connect properly due to the several 1/2" shortened sections this created. I still haven't figured out how we screwed up to make wall 4" short. My only guess is the side towers might be a little more than 12' wide. (I counted on the strap and diagonal measurements when squaring... I assumed the bottom straps would force columns to be 12' wide.)

2. How do I clamp the liner up so I can use the water-stretch technique?
I have 50 clothespins, but they are cheap plastic ones and there's no way they can hold any significant weight.
Do I need to buy a bunch of clamps (with soft/rubberized tips)? (that's my guess)
If yes how many for 12'x24' oval?
Do I just leave V-Bead installed then hike up the liner and temporarily hold it with clamps?
Note I installed the V-Bead almost all the way around just to hold the liner overnight (and help warm it tomorrow morning before I start install around noon-1PM)

That's it. I got some time-lapse video of this stage of construction. We also got a new 8 week old puppy. He loves sand, getting under foot, and pooping right where we decided to build the ladder (ewww!).

I am SOOO looking forward to having a filled pool by 4th of July (friends&family can enjoy it while I install basic or ad-hoc plumbing and check chemical balance). Sometimes I really enjoy this project and the deep senes of satisfaction. However many times I've felt like my time would have been better spent working for a better bonus or spending more time focusing on family. Good news is the entire family is very supportive. We have built some good memories along the way. I choose to stay positive overall... as long as the results turn out well.

Sunday was productive. We got the liner adjusted and started filling as we had hoped. Clothespin trick worked like a champ. Basically I installed V-Bead per normal instructions, then I pulled the liner wall up and overlapped it and secured with one clothespin between each tower.

I have the Ocean Aquarium pool liner which have fish pattern that is really easy to use as depth gague for clothespin technique. I pulled up to Coral fan top for first part of filling, then dropped back to pink fish, then back once more (to yellow fish of somesort) before releasing final amount. I only had two wrinkles. One is minor and the other was trivial to smooth out by hand. (I used an old wave inner tube to lay on so I could smoothe out the wrinkle without making footprints. I could tell the sand wasn't compressed yet with just 3" of water in the bottom.

I had to stop filling almost immediately when I did a double-check on the wall seating within the bottom rail. Two sections had pulled up and I hadn't noticed. I carefully set them back in... no problems, but only because I followed the instructions to double-check (though almost too late:eek: ).

We called it quits with pool water up to the big yellow fish (perhaps 1.5 feet of water). I haven't gotten back in to see if the sand has compressed. We assembled the top stabilizer rail and all column top plates. We are ready to install the top rails next (while filling more).


ISSUES:
1. For some reason the liner filled with one side edge seam hitting right at bottom of coving. I guess I didn't stretch it quite right during initial clothespin filling. I'm hoping this is OK. So far it doesn't look like a showstopper. (Please correct me if I'm wrong!)

2. I haven't researched what piping and connections I need to do the plumbing. I'm probably just going to ask my local Aquaquip pool store for some help and buy whatever parts they carry (ball valves, solar heater bypass/drain valve, etc.) I hope I don't get gouged, but I want to install plumbing on this Wed (July 4th) while every kid, neighbor, and family member starts jumping into our newly finished pool for the holiday.

3. My 9 year old is really itching to get into the pool! Patience grasshopper.:D.

It sounds like you are well on your way! You should be swimming in no time. Make sure everything is level and watch the bottom rail for settling. Would love to see some new pictures.

BTW, we picked up almost all of our plumbing parts at Lowes - a lot cheaper than the pool store, especially on the valves. The markup at the pool store was HUGE for exactly the same thing.

Sounds like everything is going along just fine - you won't notice the floor compressing for quite some time - guessing about 3 months til you find it's rock hard.

Tiny bit of work done today. I got worried that I wouldn't have plumbing parts handy for final install tomorrow, but dw clued me in about the Lowes tip so I didn't buy much at the pool store.
$100 for 100 lbs zeobright filter media (I forgot to order online:( )
$54 dichlor granules (as backup if I don't get bleach today/tomorrow morning... I'll return unused if I get BBB stuff running tomorrow)
$11 Chlor+PH+Alk+CYA strips as quick backup until I order and receive a kit that does more than just Chlorine and PH.

I'm concerned about the water that's been in the pool for last 2 days untreated. Pool guy said he wouldn't put in chemicals until pump is hooked up and circulating, so I assembled the pump and filter combo that came with the pool. Turns out they provided flexible plumbing so I'm set for now. I'll investigate Sched40 hard plumbing + Solar heater connections after I get pool opened and stabilized tomorrow morning.

My plan is to do the following tomorrow:
1. .5h Get 1gal chlorine and slowly pour in with water filling.
2. 1h Install skimmer and connect flex hoses while filling pool.
FYI: I'm 6 inches away from bottom of return hole (~1.5hrs fill time based on my recent fill rate check (2" in .5hr)).
3. 1.5h Install top rails and resin column caps (so kids don't snag metal railing or bend top stabilizer rail while playing)
4. .5h Once water gets to skimmer I'll fire up the pump&filter, backwash (per pool store guy's recommendation and Filter instructions), then set to normal filter operation.
5. .5h Check chemicals and take first stab at stabilizing pool for use. (I'll require 30minutes for chemicals to dispurse, then measure levels to ensure I'm not dangerously high before letting anyone in the pool.
6. 10seconds Declare pool open for play. Break out the wet suits and floaty toys, and watch the kids swim and play around.
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=4 hours before I'm officially done with fully functional install of our first serious AG pool. I see light at the end of the tunnel for the first time :).


BONUS: Install swg, pool light, cover reel, and other stuff as time permits... we're hosting the family 4th of July party so time will likely be spent cleaning house (and breaking down 1 million large cardboard boxes the pool came in)

Sorry, but I'm not adding time for posting pictures until after 4th of July preparations and party are through. Hopefully there won't be too many bottle rockets and other debris in the pool by the end of Tomorrow. I do expect 4 active kids + misc. adults and neighbors to swim around though.

Remember you'll need a good 1.5" ABOVE the skimmer before backwashing or you'll just suck air because water won't replenish the skimmer fast enough - one way to "cheat" is to remove the weir, gets you an extra 1/2" of fast water.
You can also try to backwash early with the pool vac hose connected into the skimmer (no basket), and held under water, with the garden hose water "sealing" the connection inside the skimmer - flow will be slower, but it should remove the zeo dust as per it's purpose.

If you backwash all your water out and can't go to filter right away due to low water, set the manual vacuum into the pool, connect the hose into the hole in the bottom of the skimmer (no basket), and place your garden hose inside the skimmer - this will keep a seal around the hose while sucking the crap off the bottom of the pool and will give you a little head start to you can stay on track with your tight schedule.

Your Granules won't dissolve very fast (esp. in cold water), so don't measure chlorine within half an hour of dispersing. I'd recommend using bleach to start just so it disperses fast, put in only about 1/2 gal @ 6% for your size pool if people are going swimming, outside of that just worry about your pH. Stabilizer just saves your chlorine from sunlight, alkalinity is rarely an issue - esp with AG pools - unless your hose water is questionable.

Your CYA will need several days to a week before it gives you any sort of indication (very slow at dissolving) - place it in a sock and tie it off the stairs or else it will harm liner.

FINAL UPDATE:
The skimmer went in without too much problems (see related skimmer thread for details). We opened on 4th of July as I hoped. I still have a clear pool despite not using the filter yet. The kids love the pool.

PROBLEMS:
1. We have a 13.5'x23.5' pool! This is blocking installation of top rails. (I'll post details and related questions in separate thread shortly.)
2. First backwash still pending - I'm noodling out where to dump waste water and how to reclaim or put the water to best use. (See related backwash thread for details & status.)
3. Ladder is unstable and hard to raise/lower. I'll figure that out with a little time and enginuity (or more $$$ for better ladder).
4. Water is still COLD!!! Solar panel installation is next as soon as I get filter and top rails done.
5. Deck extension would be great... but I haven't even started designing or constructing it yet... water first:).


LESSONS LEARNED:
#1: Walk through each step you will do and make sure you know how to do each step. If you have questions post questions before you are blocked.

TIP: If you have a question or are stuck remember to search this forum before posting. Often you will find the answer already posted. I recommend 10min "quick search" before posting.

#2: If a measurement doesn't match manufacturer instructions or your expectation stop and figure out why. Fixing before wall, sand, and liner are installed is MUCH easier.

#3: Mark out pool area to excavate INCLUDING 2' extra on all sides. For example, my 12x24 requires 16'x28' are to be constructed properly.

#4: Estimate time you will spend for each step before you begin entire project. You will get much more realistic picture of construction time than if you just plan to take a weekend. Even if you aren't short on time this is useful for planning when you need sand (pickup or delivery), when you should expect to be at each stage, and when to ask friends/family over for a pre-pool party:D.

I am so glad you all are going to have this great pool to enjoy for years to come!!! We want more pictures!!!