We Finally Dug Our Ground (Pics)

[Trimom]

I do have to admit, so far it really hasn't been as bad as I thought.

I am so happy for you AND so jealous! I am glad that someone is having an easy time of putting up their pool. We seem to run into one setback after another.

I know what you mean about wanting more time to work on the pool. I am convinced we could get done if I could ship my boys (2 yrs, and 10 months) off somewhere for 48 hours!

[AGP18by33]

Thanks Trimom,
It is hard work and dedication. I am beyond determined to get this thing done by time we are on vacation (to porchville or poolville).
Tonight we layed out our bottom rails so we know where our blocks will go. There is the new picture in my yahoo photo book:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/veteri.../ph//my_photos
It's the last one in there.

Believe me, we have had, and are still having some setbacks. We are missing some screws and bolts for installing the uprights. Customer Service was called and they called back the next day and are shipping them. Also two of our top decorative covers are missing...being shipped with screws hopefully.

Tonight...while we were setting up the bottom rails, we need 10 Plastisol Coated Rails for the sides and 12 Plastisol for the oval ends. What we got was 12 extra painted white rails. They are the same ones that go on the top of the wall under the top ledge. We did get the 10 right ones for the sides though.
We had to just use the white painted ones just to be able to measure for the blocks since they are the exact same size.
I called Customer Service and also sent them an email. I looked on the SwimNPlay website but can't find the part. I also asked them if I can paint them with some kind of protective coating if they can't get the right ones out to me.
I also asked them if they have a quality control department that inspects the boxes for all the right parts.
I did however tell them that we are not quite angry yet as there are still alot of little things that we can do in the meantime while we are waiting. Also that I did get good customer service results with the guy I talked to on the phone. Plus we are being very patient.

Now that we know where our blocks are going to go, we will dig them in tomorrow and laser transit level them all, then set up the bottom rail in hopes that we get results for the Plastisol ones that are needed.

Another setback was having to dig out more of the side because we didn't include the side buttresses in with the measurement predig. It took me about 2 hours last night and my hubby about 1 hour tonight. We only had to go back about 6 inches though because we did include 3 feet added onto the pool width. This meant that the side braces would be right up against the dirt. Not good, had to dig out a bit.

Sorry this is so long. I would just like people to learn from our mistakes to save them time.
We both work daylight and when we get home about 4:30pm...we hit the ground running! My scrubs are off and work clothes are on! We come in when we can't see anymore. GET 'ER DONE has new meaning for us.

Good luck and remember that we all only have to build our pools ONCE if done correctly. I AM NOT doing this again. Our pool company wanted $1,200.00 to build it for us not including the dig and sand!!! No thanks. That will buy alot of BBB, Mikes Lemonade, and floatees.

Best of luck and God Speed.
Rhon
oh...and...GET 'ER DONE!

[hrsdennis]

Rhon, I hear and feel your pains.

I do have a note to add about what you have going on in your backyard.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/veteri...e2.jpg&.src=ph

Anyone here looking for good tips and advice check out this picture. There has been some discussion in this forum as to the pros and cons of blocks under the uprights. I consider them essenstial leveling aids for beginners.

This pool has been laser leveled. That means to me that every one of those blocks is set at the same level. Leveling in between blocks is pretty simple and it looks to me like that was done very well also.

It looks to me like things are shaping up perfectly. Thanks for all of the photos.

Dennis

[AGP18by33]

Hi Dennis,
Thanks for the compliments. We still have to dig those blocks into the ground then laser level them.
We needed to see where they are going exactly so what we did was set up all the rails in the bottom plates as if we were actually going to install the wall.

Now that we know that the blocks are where they need to go...they will be dug into the ground then laser leveled. From that point, it will be easy to level between the blocks or use crusher run if necessary.
Also any more high spots in the actual pool area will be easy to take down as well since we can use the level blocks as a guide.

The picture does look deceiving though probably because I was standing at the higher ground behind the fence and shooting downward.

It is only 6:00 pm now and I wanna get some blocks into the ground because our neighbor is lending us his transit. We really feel fortunate to have Tom as our neighbor. He has been very generous with his equipment and his very expensive tools. Not to mention his time.

Anyways...more pictures to follow. Back to work I go.

Thanks again,
Rhonda

[sevver]

I have been following along, and so far it looks like a topnotch job. There is nothing like a project that is not rushed, you get time to consider things and are able to figure out how to make it right. Laying out the rails first is definately worth it, I just love precision. You are using a laser or a transit to set the blocks? The transit can be questionable if you don't have someone behind it who will tell you that you need to lower it 1/4". The laser can get to be as exact as 1/8", which is just beautiful.

[AGP18by33]

Hello again.
Our progress from tonight is:
We checked our inventory again. Since we have had some missing parts.
All ok so far. We even counted the wall screws.

We duck taped all the bolts on the straps that will be under the sand. We doubled up on this. We already had to buy a new liner because my Aussie "Roo" thought the other new one was a big bag of blueberry Purina or something. Set us back ~$350.00. (Old posts with this story).

We found the lowest block laying on the ground that we laid out using the rails.
We dug it in and leveled that using a regular level. We leveled in every direction even diagonal. We will use this one as a point of level for the transit.
Tom brought over his laser transit and we set in 2 other blocks. It got dark and we couldnt see anymore.
DH just loves that thing cause it beeps. He is 12 all over again.

While using the transit stick...I had the other level and used it to make sure that the transit stick was straight up and down and not leaning backwards or forwards. Then...since some of them are actually a bit below ground level, I place another block on top of that and made sure that it was straight left and right and back and front and diagonal in both directions.

Pictures are in my photo book at yahoo. I am glad people are following this and that everyone is keeping tabs on our progress. I know that if we are screwing up...you guys will let us know. We feel very safe in doing this with you all having our backs. Huge thank you to all.

Link to pics:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/veteri...m?.dir=a97bre2

You know there will more tomorrow. I think we are actually obsessed with this thing. We can't seem to stop to take a break for a day.

The best part of all is that I lost 4 lbs in 5 days.

Thanks,
Rhon

[tenax]

nice work , rhon! as i've followed through all this i can relate..from a roofing standpoint..did my 3500 square ft of shingles roof myself this past may and everyday it was back up on the roof..2 nails in my foot, carpal tunnel in both hands, my bad back to start with , cramps, 2nd degree sunburn..but by god, i was a madman and got it done..i may have had a wee bit more motivation as everytime something was aching and sweat was burning my eyes, i thought of the 15,000 dollars in labour i saved doing it myself (boom province of alberta..it's charge whatever you like days for contracting..if you can even find someone to do the job) i celebrated in a small way after it was done by promptly ordering a pool heater, new pump, pool vac, piping, solar cover and reel and chlorine generator..3,000 dollars later i feel like i had a darn good meal keep the faith and keep sharing your good stories..i suspect you'll also feel like i did when i put on the last shingle..elated..but the aldrenaline will just be gone..and you'll enjoy that vacation so much knowing you did it yourself and that you're going to be swimming in your new pool. (my wife reminds me often that pools, at least in our area of the world, are pretty decadent) darn right

[hrsdennis]

hey Ronda, you got me a little red faced on that one. I could have sworn all those blocks were set and level. Looks like they will be soon though.

Here's a tip surveyors us to keep the sticks level. Use a rocking motion. Lean the stick away and bring it forward. You will see the arrow, the line and then the arrow. Or just listen for the beep tone if you can stand that noisy thing, I shut mine off. Anyway, that truly gets the stick thing down to a one man job.

Keep it up, Dennis

[AGP18by33]

Yeah that beeping gets annoying. I had the tone turned down on it.
We got 6 more blocks done tonight. That laser transit is awesome.
Sure does make things alot easier for us. It's pretty easy to set up
too.
My question though is that we have been leveling the blocks in all directions
with a regular bubble level in addition to the transit. How important is it to really do this? Should we just be focusing on the "depth" level with the transit and if we only do that...will the weight of the pool uprights level out the blocks, left to right, and front to back from the weight of the water?

Another thing I am worried about is one side of the pool is on a sandy clay soil and the other side is clay and rocks/stones. I am afraid that one side will sink.

And one more for the road...we got all the rails for the oval ends. They sent us 24 white painted rails. We should of had 12 of those with a Plastisol coating to prevent corrosion. The painted ones are for the top of the wall and under the ledges since they are not exposed to the elements like the bottom ones. I called CS and also emailed them, hubby also called and left a message too. Since we will be ready for the rails soon, and we don't have them...is there something we can spray on them like Rustoleum or something to protect them?
I realize that they would have to be roughened with sand paper and then primed but is this something we can do and still be safe?
This isn't the first thing the pool company has messed up on. We are currently awaiting our sheet metal screws (we need panhead and got some other kind of sheet metal screw), a truss head bolt, 2 decorative covers that go over the uprights on top, and 4 of some other screw.

Needless to say...if we have to wait for our rails, above ground pools will be obsolete by time we get them. I was so angry when I saw they were not the proper ones...I dropped that "f" bomb so many times that I need to go to Church TWICE on Sunday, crawling on my knees and beg for forgiveness for the stuff that was flying outta my mouth.

I cannot believe the incompetence of some pool companys. Anyways...sorry about all the questions.
I didn't get pictures tonight because I was filty from head to toe and my camera was in the house. Will get some tomorrow though as we will be at it all day again. We are both off and DH is going golfing Sunday.
I can handle that wall by myself right???

Rhon
>^..^<

[AGP18by33]

Well today we set all but 4 blocks. Yeah...almost done. Then the REAL digging starts.
When our ground was dug, the bobcat didn't get it perfectly level which we expected that due to the ruts it creates.
Now when we put in our first block, we used the one that seemed at the lowest point and dug it into the ground level with the surface. We used that block to level the rest with the transit. WOW the high spots are unbelievable. We have some blocks that are probably 6 inches in the dirt. Granted that they are level
but they are deep. It seems the center is higher than the ends.

That is too much dirt to shovel out with hand shovels, plus it is hard compacted clay, so we are gonna get my dads rototiller to break it up and then screed and shovel out the loose dirt.

Any other ideas???
Sorry no pics but we are so filthy from head to toe when we are done.

Has anyone else ran into this problem? If so how did you deal with it?

Thanks
Rhon