Rogers' Family Build

[drogers]

OK, so I'm a little late on getting this posted, and I'm in a hurry at the moment so this will be a quick one. I hijacked the photo gallery in my wife's blog to upload a bunch of construction pics:

http://baby.kimanddarren.com/v/pool/

Progress so far - we now have the masonry done, so concrete will be going in over the next 8-10 days (forms this week, wet stuff next week). I spent last night demo'ing the ugly green fence in the pics, so tonight I'll post some of the finished masonry without the fence in the way.

More details and inline pics tonight....

[GraceByDesign]

nice pool, cute baby, too!

[drogers]

Thanks Grace, I'm rather fond of him too.

Ok, here are a few pics of the project in order...



Here's what the pool side of the backyard looked like the day before demo. The PO had split the yard in two with the green fence to create a 'secret garden' on the right side, complete with a meditiation bench, waterfall, and frog pond. It was very peaceful, but we never really used it, so....



We dug it up! Not so peaceful now!



Here we are all dug with a few forms and the hot tub plumbing in. We left the green fence in for safety - for now...

[drogers]

Steel! Day dawned with the sound of metal saws and Ranchero music in the backyard - my wife loved it, said it reminded her of our honeymoon. Well, not the metal saws, just the music.




It was really neat to get a feel for what the pool was actually going to look like for the first time.



Oh yeah - my wife parked on the front lawn (which was totalled) 'because she could'...

[drogers]

Next up was the plumbing and gunnite. Here you can see the spa plumbing in (looking forward to that leg jet), and the gunnite starting.



The weekend before they shot, the concrete company's sand got rained on. Their brand new truck that mixed and pumped the gunnite didn't like that too much, so it decided to work really slowly all day. As a result, the guys finished up a little after sunset... My Craftsman 1000 watt worklights saved the day!



After an almost 4 week break (2 weeks for the 'crete to cure, and 2 more for my wife and I to make up our minds on stonework), the masons were at it. This was taken near the end of day 2.



The coping is tumbled Virginia Black slate, the ledger is bitter root (I think, might have been something else tho), and the boulders are Calistoga. Oh yeah, the big oval on the left isn't a kiddie pool, it's our fire pit.

[drogers]

2 hours of work and 2 sawzall blades later, the green fence is no more. A buddy helped me demo it last night, and wow - it really makes the yard feel bigger!



Here's a shot of our baby play area/tanning ledge. It's approx 6x9, will be under 12 inches of water, and have baby barrier along the outer ledge. That way little Noah and pals can splash around without falling into the shallow end. The 2 pipes sticking out of it are for bubblers.



Here you can see the finished fire pit - 5' of gas burning, energy wastin, heat spewing joy...



Forms for the decking go in tomorrow, and after a week of compacting and watering the gravel bed, the decking will be poured. After that, it's hookup, surfacing, water, and swim!!!

[MaryLee]

Wow...that is beautifull!!! Fire pit?? Built right into the pool??? How cool is that?!!

Love it!!

[drogers]

Wow...that is beautifull!!! Fire pit?? Built right into the pool??? How cool is that?!!

Love it!!

Thanks! Gotta admit, the firepit *in* the pool was not our idea, but was originally born of necessity. We were not planning on ripping up any grass to add decking, so we ran out of place to put the firepit, and our designer suggested this. we loved it, and it stuck... Heck, it's pretty much what sold us on the pool!!

Anyway, decking progress pics coming soon...