It's looking great so far! What is the white in the soil, caliche maybe? We have a grotto with an 11' long waterfall next to it, below is a link to a photo of it. Everyone loves hanging out inside the grotto!

Here is a link that might be useful:

That is caliche bedrock , we are in the Texas Hill Country and this is what you will get after about 4 feet of digging no matter where you dig. All of the contractors that offered bids said the excavation will cost an extra 1K per day due to all of the rock. One more reason why we chose to subcontract it all out. Saved us lots! Your pool is gorgeous! Thanks for the grotto pic. I am sooo excited! Literally counting down the hours!!!!!

I have one of those! A pool at the gunite stage and a cool dog like that!

I'm in the Houston suburb of Spring. Your pool looks like it's going to nice!

Thank you! We're working on landscaping now, we'd be about halfway through if we didn't get rained out yesterday. Please post some pics after you get your gunite, it should be easier to visualize the waterfall and grotto then!

Speaking of landscaping, where can I get a list of pool friendly plants or advice on what to choose? We need to do some really quick make it look good fast for our daughters graduation/birthday pool party at the beginning of June then landscape long term from there...

I looked on the garden side here but didn't find too much. Any ideas for landscaping?

Good morning all! Well, HERE IT IS! They poured yesterday, we are so excited, we all just sat on the patio and talked about it until dark. Amazing how every step keeps making it look larger, especially our grotto, one would think adding the gunite would make it appear smaller...?
Anyhow, take a look at the beginnings of our pool...

It looks fantastic! It's starting to take shape. What is the raised beam along the left, is that your waterfall?

Regarding pool-friendly landscaping, try to get stuff that doesn't put out lots of seeds or blooms that can blow into the pool. After our recent prolonged drought we also wanted plants that are Texas survivors. We're doing a lot of ornamental grasses (Mexican Feather Grass, Pink Muhly Grass, several Liriopes, Dwarf Mondo Grass, Blue Fescue) with a few larger plants for accents (Cordyline Red Sensation, Crepe Myrtle, Pomegranate). We did add a few banana trees to give it an "oasis" look though :-) Not sure how well those will do with our limited watering, but I'm going to try and keep them hand-watered. I'm anxious to see the Crepe Myrtles bloom, one of them is supposed to have bright red blooms and burgandy new growth.

Thanks tresw, we are just excited to move forward. The raised wall on the left will have a planter spanning the length of the wall with Oklahoma stone facing the pool. Our fountain will stretch across the entire length of the deep end and grotto.

Ironically enough, last night DH and I discussed just leaving it as the wall with no planter behind. I am running into a landscaping dilemma if we do have it built, what do I plant there that will still showcase the back landscaping against the fence? We will see. Meeting with our landscaper this evening.

Thank you very much for the plant info, I will start researching those and keep your hints in mind. We would like to xeriscape as much as possible also.

BTW, what color is your pool? We will be going with DB and I am really leaning towards Tahoe Blue

Around my last pool, I planted about four wax myrtles. They looked gorgeous, especially the one hanging over the waterfall, but boy were they a major pain!

The leaves were slim enough to get through the skimmer basket and they were a maintenance nightmare!

This is the only shot I have of my old pool. (That I can find anyway) You can see all the wax myrtles. The house recently resold and I looked the photos up on the MLS, and I noticed that they ripped them all out...lol.

It was gorgeous smbnobles! That is the look that I am trying for, but I guess too soon for action, just getting anxious to get it looking good really quickly then tune it up later. Happy Constructing!

Quote: "I am running into a landscaping dilemma if we do have it built, what do I plant there that will still showcase the back landscaping against the fence?"

I think it would look nice with some low landscaping along it. I really like Liriope for low (12") borders that are hard to keep watered. There's a new one out called PeeDee Ingot that's a pretty gold color that I'm trying out. I have a bunch of the veriegated variety in front that's been in for 8 years and also the solid green variety that most people call monkey grass. They are VERY hardy and can survive on just rainwater. I have some in a planter that the irrigation system doesn't cover and it has thrived with zero watering (other than what Mother Nature provides). They'd be good right next to a pool because they don't drop anything.

"We would like to xeriscape as much as possible also."

Our entire yard is Xeriscaped and most people are surprised to hear that- mainly because it doesn't look like a desert, LOL! There are a lot of beautiful plants, bushes, trees and flowers that are native to Texas that do just fine with very little watering. Below is a link to a good resource for Texas-loving growies. It's not an all-inclusive list, but I like this one because it has photos.

"BTW, what color is your pool?"

It's a color that the PB calls "sapphire smoke", but I think it's a blend of a couple of 3M crystals that they do themselves. It's kind of a medium blue-grey color. It's quartz plaster, we couldn't do pebble because of all the mosaics (PB couldn't guarantee they wouldn't get all scratched up).

Quote: "Around my last pool, I planted about four wax myrtles. They looked gorgeous, especially the one hanging over the waterfall, but boy were they a major pain!"

Very pretty! I imagine they were a big pain as they're quite messy, the blooms fall off them all summer long. Ours are located well away from the pool (closest one is about 20'), but we still debated about whether the wind would blow a lot of the blooms into the pool. We decided it would be OK based on the prevailing wind direction. I guess we'll see!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.plantsfortexas.com/

Tres, these didn't bloom, but they are semi-deciduous, so they dropped leaves throughout the year. It might as well have been blooms!

We're planting a crepe myrtle too (I love the lavender ones!), but it'll be about 20' from the pool, so I'm not too concerned about it. They make awesome umbrellas!

Oh, I didn't notice you said "wax myrtles". Oops! We have 2 of the lavender crepe myrtles, I love that color! We have 6 total around the yard. One of them was supposed to bloom in two colors, but they put the wrong one in and that landscaper has since gone out of business. The red one I mentioned is Siren Red which is a semi-dwarf version of Dynamite.

Susanna, hope you don't mind the plant talk :-) It passes the time until you can post some more pictures of your great pool!

No no, keep on talking! We literally need to almost start landscaping around the construction as we already started planning our daughter's graduation/birthday party at our house. We can delay that a week or so as invites go out next week, however time is still of the essence at this point. Your conversation gets the creativity going.
Tresw, I was thinking the same thing, possibly something that might trail or maybe Mexican Petunia since they tube and will fill the planter? I like the Liriope idea though.
We have a crepe myrtle that is in the back left corner of the yard behind the grotto, hope it won't cause too much trouble for us...

Any landscaping pics for me all?

Will post pics as the work happens, right now watering my gunite and watching it grow, ha!

Looks great - I'm so jealous of you guys with the cool grottos - can't wait to see more.

We're landscaping ours in the next week. Our yard guy was just waiting on the plumbers to do their work, before he dug up the grass, since it's marked for the utility lines.

Our sprinkler system pipes got reconfigured yesterday. As soon as my husband moves the heads around, my yard guy will be hauling in dirt, and I'll start planting the major stuff. I won't plant annuals until the decking is done, because I don't want them to damage them.

I'm the type of person that likes it done, as soon as the pool starts filling up! I want to be able to sit back and start enjoying it right away!

Quote: "I was thinking the same thing, possibly something that might trail or maybe Mexican Petunia since they tube and will fill the planter?"

The dwarf version would be great for the planter. Sure would add some nice color, plus they attract butterflies & hummingbirds. They might drop a lot of dead blooms into the pool, but the skimmers would probably catch most of that.

I don't have any pics yet, I'm still trying to finish all the prep work. I've only got about 15% of the landscaping in at this point. I'm spending the evenings moving dirt into the planters so that I can resume planting this weekend.

Quote: "I'm the type of person that likes it done, as soon as the pool starts filling up! I want to be able to sit back and start enjoying it right away!"

That's a good approach to take! I didn't want to put the landscaping in until the PB completely finished my yard leveling and the fence guy was done & out of there. The problem is I'm still working on it every day while my kids are splashing around having a good ol' time, haha!

Jmas- thanks, we cannot wait to see the finished product either! We never comprehended how large the grotto will be. The excavation made it look much smaller. We will have a separate pump for the waterfall. The water is supposed to fall in a heavy sheet so that you cannot see in the grotto or outside of it when in it. It will be lit with massage jets also.

Smbnobles-Haven't even contemplated that yet. Need to get that done also. I am with you, when its filled, we just want to jump in and relax!

Tresw- True, we have 2 skimmers on the opposite side so I am thinking may not be too big of an issue but there may be something better out there.
The Texas Plants website has many options and all are gorgeous! I love the cigar plant. Thanks! I will refer back to it often.

Ok, I know some asked for some updates... Here is our progress or where we stand, add to this, we just found out there was a death in the family of the head of our sub cons, makes you stop and take a breath and remember what's important... Here are a few pics of what's going on now...

This is the waterline and coping....

Everthing needs to be inspected by the pups...

The guys did so much yesterday, and are working so very hard today. After reading of so many issues on this forum, cannot complain too much...

I know the look on that Goldens face! I can tell you just got a "woo-woo". :-)

I didn't know you were using the flagstone as your coping! That's going to look great when it's done. I can't wait to see the pics!

Getting a little closer... They finish laying all of the stone today, tomorrow they pour the cement for the grotto ceiling and start laying the moss rock!

Really, after everything is said and done, we are getting a great pool done in half the time that alot of the PB's around here can do, (Not everyone can or should go this route might I add) we simply placed ourselves up against a deadline.... Can't wait to post the YAY WE ARE FINISHED PICS!
Sun blocks the view a little...

Love the wall! I am so glad we chose this, once we get plants in the planter it will be beautiful!

This is a view from the opposite side of our yard... sorry, rotated pic in photobucket, but won't post updated pic...

It looks very nice Susanna! Are they going to put some kind of a cap on the planter wall? Is the moss rock going around the grotto wall? That will look great!

Thanks tres, the wall has been covered with stone, top and sides, dirt should be brought in the same time we bring in the rock to surround it. I'll have to take pics when its complete... I did take some more pictures but just feel like its overload.
They poured the cement slab for the grotto ceiling yesterday and set the moss rock around the back side, looks gorgeous..
Today was spent finishing up the wall, grinding and acid washing part of the deck while the plumber finished up installing the pumps.
Tomorrow they finish the grotto, acid wash, and hopefully planter.
With any luck plaster and fill Saturday but looks more like Monday... I don't want to cut corners last minute.

btw, what is the going rate for wood fence install/linear foot? Any idea? We got a quote of $1700 for a section of fence that would be about 50 feet. Sounds really high to me!
IT IS SO HOT OUT!!! Temp on my car read 102...

Lookin' good! :-)

susannap2-

Coming together nicely....can't wait to see the grotto with mossrock. Have you decided on plaster finish yet?

Keep the pics coming!

Quote: " I did take some more pictures but just feel like its overload."

Would love to see more pics, don't hold out on us now ;-)

Here are the prices we got for fencing:

6' cedar side-by-side with 3' deep posts: 23.00/ ft
7' cedar side-by-side with 3' deep posts: 25.00/ ft

6' cedar board-on-board with 3' deep posts: 36.00/ ft
7' cedar board-on-board with 3' deep posts: 38.00/ ft

5' ornamental metal 18.00/ ft
6' ornamental metal 23.00/ ft

I actually ended up going with 4' deep posts due to the expansive clays we have here. I wanted to make sure I didn't have a leaning fence in 5 years! Standard post depth is 18" to 24". If you can afford it go board-on-board with two trim boards at the top and a pressure treated pine kickboard at the bottom. Board-on-board looks much more luxurious than side-by-side. The trim boards on top really add a nice finishing touch as well. The kickboard on bottom keeps the cedar pickets off the grass and dirt, this is the #1 killer of fences because over many years time the end grain on bottom soaks up moisture and eventually rots (even cedar will eventually rot from soaking up water). With a treated kickboard you get the durability of treated and the bonus of setting side grain to the ground (doesn't "wick" the water like end grain). Also make sure they're doing galvanized steel posts and not wood posts.

Thank you for the numbers tres, that is what I needed to hear. Went out last night and measured ourselves and comes out to 22.00/ft. We underestimated it by 10ft. so about right, paying retail chaps us though... That's what happens when your husband runs a dealership!
We need to stay with the side by side as our neighbors behind us just refenced the portion that is theirs and putting their house on the market...

Ok, here are a couple of pics, no work was done today so will have more pics by Friday... :)

This is what the back of the grotto looks like

Got a free upgrade on the Tagelus filter, woo woo!
Going with 2 pumps, Challenger for the grotto, and Whisperflo for the pool. Plumbing is actually further along but have not taken pics yet

tresw...you are so right about the 2x6 running board on the bottom. DO NOT skip this. We built our fence in 1995 and it still looks great. I recommend every 5 years that you power wash and stain the fence. We have done this twice now and when our new automatic gate and new sections of fence are added we will do once again. We have to get 24' of 8' high cedar board on board with the 2x6 runner and metal posts for $816 ($34/ft). I think our fence should easily make it to 25 years. Here is the link to our build....we started swimming last Saturday. I will update that thread some day.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pools/msg0421135317904.html?22

The stonework looks great. It is really coming along.

Your golden is beautiful.

Thanks, mom of 3, they are laying the rock on top of the grotto today. With any luck we will get our fill on Monday...

Sandy, our Golden plays momma to the other 2 11 mo. olds. She is such an angel!
Bob, as much as I love the board on board, we need to be uniform with our neighbors new replacement fencing. To top that, we just found out they are selling next month also, shame to lose such wonderful people too. Your pool looks great, I love the waterline tile so much!

How did the grotto come out? Any pics to share?

Hi all! Ok, things have just been crazy around here, evenings at band functions or graduation functions, but the good news is, WE HAVE WATER!!!!
Ok, premature we have a puddle but its filling as I type.
Went with the medium grey plaster, grotto still needs some work on top but for the most part we are nearing completion. The guys started plastering around 9 this morning and finished around 2, there were 5 of them so it went very quickly. Looks good so far, I see some slight issues in some of the stone, but nothing to fret over, noone will notice except me... Here is the latest...

Our puddle so far...

A little closer one of our grotto, you can see where they need to complete the top Tuesday, our foreman of our little operation stayed until 10 last night working on the ceiling and plastering, he worked through 2 lights blowing out, with the grotto lighting then finally called it quits and went home around 10. Looks great in the daylight, but was I nervous!!! He was very anxious to come through on his word for fill today...

And one for the puppy lovers out there, boy is our Golden getting curious about all of this, that is when she isn't chasing lizards...

I will show fill pics hopefully tomorrow, now on to the cleanup, landscaping, irrigation and fencing.
So excited!!!!!!! :)

looks awesome. bet you can't wait to get in.

Thanks Bob, yes we are! My 14 year old is threatening to stay out there with a floatie until its "swimmable", ha!

Well what do you know? Just as soon as I posted, the fence crew showed, said fencing will be completed today! woo woo! Can't wait to see the look on DH's face when he drives up tonight.

Your Golden is precious! My Chloe chases lizards too. She just got in from a loooooong swim. I've been having to give her Rimadyl the past few days, she's been swimming so much!

My lab is just a nut when she's near the pool. She hasn't figure out the step thing yet, but launches herself off of the side! My pool is so small, that I'm seriously concerned that when she gets larger, that she's going to careen into the other side!

I can't wait to see your pool full of water!

We still have the breezeway fence and the rest of our decking to go, but I've gotten a little bit more landscaping in!

And you're right - it is HOT outside!

It's looking soooooo gorgeous! I love your grotto! The style of it is soo unique! I can't wait to see it completed! :)

It looks great! I can't wait to see pics with water. It must feel so good to be so close to done. Enjoy!

Suzanne, lucky you with the pups! So far none of ours are very interested in it. Maybe it's a good thing, who knows? I think that when I get in they will. I just wish we had taken pictures when Bridget(black puppy) got pushed in on the grotto ledge... hilarious! Sandy has figured out she can drink the water, leery past that.

Syntagma, thanks. I am loving the grotto, it definately will be the focal point we hoped it would. We should able to sit about 5-7 adults in it (look out Hef, ha ha!), but the waterfall may cut the number down. I still have not taken any night pics with the lights in the grotto on, they will be dusk/dawn lights...

Momof3, thanks also, yes, it does feel good, but we are still up against the wire to get all done by next weekend or at least party friendly, provided we still have the graduation party. Add to this a somber note, DH's father is succumbing to his 3rd round of cancer, DH flew out this morning to VA. to spend time with him before the cancer takes him. He stopped eating and drinking days ago, but when they told him DH was coming, he ate some ice cream and drank.
My oldest graduates Thurday, I have no idea what is going to happen, taking things literally day by day not knowing when we will all need to fly out... Breaking my heart that I can't be with DH and his dad now though.
Ok, happy thoughts...

Here is the pool filled no startup yet, the electrician is out there right now fine tuning and will start pumps when the plumbing guys show up this morning, well well they just got here.
I am in love with the color already!!!!!

Very nice! That looks like the same color as our plaster, it will probably get a little darker and more blue as it cures. Congrats on getting water! When are they doing your startup? It looks like they're not quite finished with the grotto, are they going to do your startup and finish it later?

Sorry to hear about your FIL. Your family will be in my thoughts and prayers. :-(

Ok so we hit a bump in the road. Seems the plumbers(who werent the ones that showed up this morning, my mistake) didn't realize that we were filling Saturday, they thought we wouldn't fill until yesterday and they put of finishing a section of return valve pipe to tie in to the pump. Well we started the pump today, no damage, but definately a failure to communicate!!! Plaster guys came and went Saturday, call was made to the plumbers but noone mentioned they were plastering and filling Saturday...
At this point I do have to point out that one of the plumbers was there Saturday morning as the plaster crew showed.....

Plumber is installing now, grotto is almost complete, and they are working on the planter behind our raised wall.

You know that saying about when it rains it pours, our water softener went weird a few weeks ago. Went completely crazy this weekend, now it needs service, and I just discovered that when it was installed there is no bypass for exterior water so, I guess its a good thing that we have had no soft water to fill the pool with???!!!

Is the glass half full or empty here???? EGADS!!!!!

So tres, I guess we startup later today or tomorrow, still brushing and added acid, so kosher for now, but not to my tastes...
Thanks Suzanne, seems he won't last but a few more days, glad that DH got time with him at least. Heavy heart here...

I missed the comment about your spouse's father, so sorry to hear that!! My heart goes out to your family, we've lost a dear friend and a beloved grandmother to cancer and it is a brutal thing to go through for everyone involved.

Hopefully they'll get your pump running soon, brushing creates a lot of plaster dust and it needs to get filtered out so it doesn't just sit on the bottom. Make sure you clean your filter frequently (ever 3 or 4 days) for the first 2 weeks. Hope you are swimming soon :-)

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and concern. DH's dad is actually doing ok, seems to have bounced back a little. DH got him to eat much more and lift his spirits, so we wait from here... one never knows, especially the doctors sometimes.

Ok, TADA!!!!
We are complete! Landscaping mostly complete, just need a few more plants and irrigation reconfigure later this week. Here are some pics I took this morning, still trying to get the water chemistry right, giving in and taking it the pool store to test, PH is good, Chlorine stayed low and then this morning it was high, ???? confused so going to the professionals. Also, is it normal to have a dusty film on surface? Is this plaster dust?
Seems to get worse with our windy days last few days... Brushing 2x/day, some days little dust, others its just all over the place.

Tres, I think it is bluing, we love it!

Congrats! The water color is really pretty.

We're almost done too. My cushions came in today, and the flagstone was completed on Sunday. We're just waiting for the acid wash, and I have to plant a few more things.

Have your dogs been in yet?

Thanks Suzanne, we are loving the water color, it keeps changing at least I think so, how about yours?
I am so glad you are mostly complete too! I have a couple more plants going in, sod after the irrigation and for the most part we are done.

Nope, pups are not interested in the pool at all. Although our black pup has been dragged in a few times by my 14yo...
She wasn't scared, but not happy either. So far its a great big water bowl to them, especially the falling water... ha! :)

My Lab puppy thinks it's her water bowl too. I bet my Golden has swam in the pool at least twice a day since it's been filled up. The Lab too, but we limit her swim-time, because it makes them have to pee so much after they're out.

House training is hard enough as it is, without adding a gallon of pool water to their bladders!

I'm fixing to post new pics. :-)

Very nice, congrats!! On the swinging chlorine level, are you testing with strips? If so then get a drop-based test kit, they are much more accurate. If you're using an in-line chlorinator then your chlorine levels won't swing much unless you have a big rain or algae bloom.

"Also, is it normal to have a dusty film on surface? Is this plaster dust?"

Do you mean on the surface of the water or the plaster? It is normal to have a powdery layer all over the plaster for the first 2 weeks. The first week you will wonder if it will ever go away! Brush it towards the drain and keep pushing it into the drain until it's gone (it will seem to reappear in a few hours though). Don't forget to clean your filter every few days, it'll be full of plaster dust.

I so wish the dogs would take the plunge, but oh well.

Tres, I am using the drop based kit, I think that I actually adjusted the in line a too high, I brought it back down and so far ok. It was set at around 2 per our plumber then I pushed it just over 3... I am just worried about the floating chlorine vs. chlorine leve.

Dusty film is on the surface, its been very windy, that's when it seemed to get worse, along with my neighbors crepe myrtle blooms... and I just put 4 in my back yard, nice!
I have also been told by neighbors that there is alot of dust blowing in from Mexico and the neighborhood pool looks the same...

Its not bad, but just bothers the perfectionist in me!

Taking water tomorrow for testing will know then.

I just wish I could oh, actually enjoy my pool, busy running and getting ready for party, vacation, and summer! whew! But our girls are banned until the sunburns are better, ha! Seems they are just too excited about jumping and not putting on sunscreen.

It looks great! Congratulations!

It's been windy here too, Susanna.

So, what's the status on the bar?