And the work begins!! YAY!!!

[hrsdennis]

Aranon, I was thinking of you as I was working today. I had my camera and took lots of photos.

Do you have any photos to post yet? I would love to see how you manage your unusual situation.

Later, Dennis

[Aranon]

Dennis, I'm still waiting for you to hopefully reply to the sand and concrete post.

[NWMNMom]

So we started with a nice protected "nook" in our yard -

Pic 1 is back in April
Pic 2 tractors pushing pulling and blading
Pic 3 Have transit and plate compactor, will level
Pic 4 Straight side supports together

We actually have to bury the patio blocks yet (more hard work and level issues) and just decided to put some things together first - We wanted to save some of the "fun" for the other days ; )

[NWMNMom]

Curved side patio blocks are in, level under base plates and backfilled, rail is on - this part was all evening after work today. We still have a small discrepancy between the second straight side upright and the rest - BOTH are about 1/4-1/2" short from the rest. We will try to shimmy them back a bit more before the wall goes up. Tomorrow, we put some landscape fabric down and thats probably it, our lives have been on hold for over a week already - sand comes Wednesday morning. If all goes well, we hope to get walls up on Wednesday or Thursday and we took a vacation day to get liner in on Friday (79 and sunny expected!) - filling will start then! I have a case of bleach on standby. All the best laid plans....hope Mother Nature cooperates!

[NWMNMom]

Yesterday we were able to fix the upright situation and had the sand hauled in - I really thought Masons sand would be finer than this, and it says "Masons Sand - Washed and Screened" on the bill - $30 a yard and there are stones in it. My sons spent HOURS picking stones out, some almost up to walnut sized.

We carted it all into the center of the pool area and got the wall up and duct taped the bolts, etc.. That went pretty well but it got dark so staking, duct taping and supporting was put up so that we could finish after work today - taping in the plastic vapour liner plastic for the cove, spreading the sand, etc so the liner can go in on Friday....Mother Nature became disagreeable and front rolled in a 3:30 am today so we were out there before the sunrise trying to re-support and brace the whole system from a HUGE north wind gust that pushed the entire East side and NE corner out of the track. No damage to anything and no wall crinkles - knock on wood.

I will be a nervous wreck all day today and until tomorrow when we get the liner in and its filling good. I believe when this is done, I will need SEVERAL blenders of Pina Coladas.

[matt4x4]

One word of advice, don't wait til it's done!
Mine sat through several storms for over a week staked down and never budged, I had one stake per section going.
This worked well for me (in case you have to continue staking it down), get some stiff wire and bend it in a V, then bend the tips so it hooks over the top of the wall and the rope can be connected in the crook of the V and down to your stake, use rope that doesn't stretch (esp. when wet) - this will make a big difference on holding it in place.

[NWMNMom]

Are you suggesting we break out the coconut rum NOW??? May I PLEAZZZZE???? There are NO pool installers for hundreds of miles around or believe me, the loan would have been bigger, a pool installer out and my marriage and nerves no longer at risk. This is a big job and I am just SO worried about doing it right I dream about leveling patio blocks at night....The first frost Pina Colada goes to the hubby for all his hard work and letting me bully him into"...that ones not right, dig it up and lets try it again..." for the 100th time.

A full pictorial of the pool construction has been taken and will continue until its ready for swimming...thanks for standing by with all the great advice so far to all who have helped.