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| HURRAY!!! After lurking long and posting some, it's finally my turn. I couldn't have even
began this process without all of the wonderful information and pictures that I found on this forum. It was WAY too overwhelming. I found the post by tresw to be especially helpful. They did a great job of documenting the entire process. So...I am going to attempt to follow their example to benefit all the sequential analytics in the group like myself. If it's too many pics for some, maybe you can skim over a few. I just know that I wanted to see pictures of every step in the process. So, I hope some of you enjoy it. Also, PLEASE provide feedback for anything you see. I am certainly a novice at this, so if you see anything you think I should investigate or ask about, don't hesitate to let me know. Background: After paying off our house, we decided to live a little and finally do some landscaping around the yard. While spending a little time in the yard, trying to make some decisions about what to do with it, the thought occurred to build a pool. We tossed it around for several weeks before calling three pool companies to submit bids for the job. We have decided to complete the following projects, hopefully to be complete by July 4: 1. Pool
Pool Specs: After much thought and several bids, we signed a contract with Pulliam Pools. Below are the pool statistics: Pool Size: 20' X 38'
Kitchen Specs: This is a picture of an outdoor kitchen that looks just like what I want. Mine will have rock columns instead of cedar and will face the pool long-ways.
Although I am not building in the grill, I am getting the KitchenAid beverage station with matching components like below:
Pre-Dig: Since the sewer line and underground electric line went right across my backyard, we had to have it relocated.
Day 1 (5/12/2008) - Excavation: The excavation was a sight to behold. The huge machine they brought in made us feel like we were witnessing some prehistoric creature tear through our yard. Very thrilling.
Day 2 (5/13/2008) - Plumbing & Steel: It was amazing to watch these guys work. They were obviously very skilled and experienced.
Day 3 (5/14/2008) - Electrician installs Copper Wire: I'm not entirely sure what this step was for. I can only assume that this wire grounds all of the electric components to the pool so we don't all get electricuted. My guess.
Day 4 (5/15/2008) - City Inspection: All I can say is - PASSED! I don't guess you want to see a picture of the green tag. ;-) Well, that brings us up to date. Tomorrow they are scheduled to gunite. VERY exciting day. I can't wait. Until then..... |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Congratulations - looks great so far. Too many pictures? Not possible on this site... lol. We love seeing everyone's pictures! Keep them coming! |
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| AWESOME!! Excellent pool layout, you'll be glad you put the step-out in near the slide because the kids will slide down and jump right out to do it again :-) That outdoor kitchen is going to be fabulous! Looks like they're moving quickly on the pool, everything looks good from what I can see. The copper wire you commented on is for bonding. I'm no expert in bonding, but from what I understand it is different from grounding in that you're bonding all the metal around the pool together so that it reduces the shock hazard. Great job with the pics and descriptions, I'm looking forward to watching your progress!! |
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| Looks wonderful so far! Everyone loves to watch the progress on other pools! I used them to stay motivatated when our work was delayed... ha! Green tag? We never got that, just a signature on the permit and lots of questions about our owner/build route. Keep posting! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Fri, May 16, 08 at 18:27
| Day 5 (5/16/2008) - Gunite: Well, the gunite process was really facinating. Those guys, just like the steel guys, are very good at what they do. Obviously a lot of experience there. They came around 7:15 and got right to work and left at 11:30. The foreman told me that they sometimes do 3 pools in a day. Amazing! They put plastic on the back of the house so it wouldn't get concrete on it. They also were kind enough to help me cover my square foot gardens so it wouldn't ruin my vegetables as well. At times, I couldn't imagine how it would possibly ever look like a pool with steps, etc. instead of a big grey blob. But....Voila! I guess things will probably slow down from here. It's been an exciting week. I haven't heard from the scheduler when the next group will be out to work on it. I assume it will be rock/coping and/or tile guys and possibly the electrician. The PB said it usually takes 4 weeks from excavation to build a pool, so only 3 more to go. W00T!!!!
These are weep holes in the floor of the pool to let any ground water come up through them instead of "floating" the pool while it's empty. |
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| I love the way your steps are staggered. I wish I'd have thought of that! |
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- Posted by firsttimepool (My Page) on Sat, May 17, 08 at 7:49
| Love the pool. I agree with smbnobles "I love the way your steps are staggered". I wish I would have done that in the deep end. It would be so much easier for the kids to exit the pool. Can't wait to see more pictures! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Sat, May 17, 08 at 9:19
| Thanks for the compliments on the steps. I was trying to be conscience of taking up pool real estate. I tend to be spatially challenged and I was afraid the pool was going to be tiny. The pool looked much bigger after it was excavated. I think it will be a nice size for us. |
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| My pool *is* tiny, and that little move could have saved me some serious space! Why didn't you come along, like two months ago??? ;-) |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Wed, May 21, 08 at 14:32
| Wow, did things come a halt. Last week was crazy with something going on each day. I'm not sure anything is going to happen this week except for watering, watering, watering the gunite. Our temperatures got up to 99 this week, so we are watering it around 4 times a day. It is really giving us the fever to have a big pool to jump in. I was tempted today at lunch to give myself a big squirt with that nice cool water, but alas, I had to return to work. ;-) I just can't wait for tile, coping, and rock..... |
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| It is a little frustrating after gunite because things happen so quickly up to that point that it has one thinking that the pool will be finished in another week rather than 3 :-) This time of year you probably won't have any rain delays, so yours should get done on schedule. It looks like they did a really nice job on the gunite! |
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- Posted by momof3littleboys (My Page) on Wed, May 21, 08 at 21:55
| I agree, your steps are awesome. I love the kitchen you are planning. Keep the pics coming. |
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| It is truly the most frustrating part of a pool build. With the one I just built, it wasn't as bad, because we had the pergola being built during the lull. It always felt like something was going on. If it makes you feel any better, I have a pool full of water that hasn't been started up, and unfinished decking. :-) |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Thu, May 22, 08 at 15:19
| Thanks for the words of encouragement. After reading some other posts (birdbath's 9 month horror story) I feel a bit like a spoiled child. I vow to be more patient. tresw: Thanks for looking on the sunny side. You are right, I think we're in for some nice weather, so that should definitely help. BTW, my Turbo Twister slide came in on Monday. MAN!!!! Is it huge, or what? I do love the Sandstone color. I think it will go very well with the rock we chose. We took it out of the box and stashed it in the back yard under a tree. I paid extra in my contract to have the PB install it, but if you have any words of wisdom, feel free to share. I do have to supervise, you know. ;-) momof3littleboys: Thanks for your comments. I'm very excited about the kitchen as well. I tried to order the sink and stainless steel components yesterday, but learned that they are backordered. I will try a couple of different places and see what I can find. Color me disappointed. (Ok, again with the patience thing. lol) smbnobles: I have watching your pool thread as well. I really like your project. I LOVE the flooring under your pergola. I am interested in doing something like that on my back porch and possibly in the kitchen. I looked up your future furniture too; stunning. I am just about maxing out my budget with all of this, so it may be Walmart or Target furniture for me for a couple of years. We shall see. I hope they come do your startup soon. It looks just beautiful. Well, I'll keep everyone posted. I'm looking forward to the long Memorial day weekend. Those of you with finished pools...I salute you!!! Have a great weekend. |
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| LOL! It is a monster, isn't it? Wait until you see the assembled slide!! If your PB has installed 1 or 2 before then they shouldn't have any problems. The main thing right now is you want to make sure that they get the waterline stubbed up in the right place. There are diagrams in the instructions that show where it's located (if you don't want to go digging through the boxes for the instructions they can be downloaded off of the SR Smith website too). I don't know if you saw this in my thread, but for some reason the manufacturer does not build a drip edge into the slide. So about half of the water goes in the pool and the other half runs underneath and all over your nice decking! I got some garage door weatherstripping (has a nice convex shape to it) at Lowes and painted it with vinyl paint, then screwed it onto the lower lip of the slide with stainless screws. It works perfect, all the water goes into the pool now! When your PB assembles the slide the gaskets need to be properly set or it will leak at the joints. If they haven't done one of these slides just make sure they read the instructions fully, it spells everything out really well. That's all I can think of for now. We'll do some swimming for you this weekend :-) You'll be telling your own swimming stories very soon! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Sun, May 25, 08 at 11:35
| Hurray, Hurray!!! I was kinda bummed out because I thought nothing was going to get done this whole week on the pool. To my surprise (literally) I came home Friday to a crew working on the tile, coping, and rock. They worked all day Friday and Saturday, but it is done. We are very pleased with it. You never know how all the selections you make will turn out when they actually come together, but we really like it. Here are some more pics. Feedback is certainly welcome.
We already have someone relaxing by the pool. |
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| Looks great stonesmama! I like the alternating stacked look with the scuppers, is that blue tile for your waterline? 4th pic down really shows the tie in between all of the stone. Kitty, looks so relaxed, I wonder if she knows what is about to be in it... ha ha. Is your cat a Manx? My sister used to breed them, but she lives in Colo. You don't find them at all down here... We started filling yesterday, water is almost done but we had our first "incident". Our Golden ran up too quickly and knocked one of our 11 mo. old pups into the water, on a step though, the look on her face as she lifted her paw and watched the water drip off was priceless... |
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| Those darn goldens...lol. |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Mon, May 26, 08 at 21:20
| Thanks susannap2. Yes, the blue tile is the waterline tile. I sure hope it all looks good together. As for Sunny the cat, I'm not sure what kind of cat he is. We moved here a little over a year ago and he actually belongs to the neighbor a few doors down. He has really bonded with my family and spends a lot of time with us. He is such a funny cat and has a really neat personality. He is always right there with us, no matter what we are doing outside. I tell everyone he is the supervisor. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he jumps right in the pool when it gets finished. If not, he will surely be right on the edge watching us. Ok, so everyone posts their dog pics, so here is my kitty pics. :-)
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| Aw!!! What a sweetie! Are you sure you want a wet cat though? LOL! Keep us posted on your build! |
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| The stonework looks nice, I don't see Austin Limestone used around pools often but it looks great! It'll look very striking against the blue PT pool finish. Cute kitty, we used to have a few- my wife loves cats but she is horribly allergic to them! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Tue, May 27, 08 at 11:41
| Do you think it's a bad thing to have Austin Limestone around the pool? I know the trend is for the more natural look with boulders and such, but I think this suited our style. Is there a logistial reason there isn't much limestone used? |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Wed, May 28, 08 at 17:45
| Day 17 (5/28/2008) - Electrical Finish I don't really have any pictures, but the electrician came yesterday and finished up the electrical work. They installed the pool lights and hooked up all the wiring to the pool equipment and installed the breaker boxes. The ground is really dug up now and, with the rain we had last night, is a muddy, mucky mess, so I'll have to take some pics later. We can't even leave the back porch now. The scheduler called and said that a crew would be out tomorrow to set the deck forms. I'm very excited about that. Yesterday I met with the job supervisor and added an additional 275 sq. ft. of deck. Gee, what's another $1600 when you've come this far?!?!? LOL We'll be eating beans and rice for a LONG time after this. If anyone has any recipes, forward them along. haha |
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| Quote: "Do you think it's a bad thing to have Austin Limestone around the pool?" I wouldn't think so. Austin Limestone tends to sluff off little pieces over time, but you don't have much of it and it's not in contact with the water so I don't see a problem. I'm sure you won't regret adding the extra deck, I've heard people complain about not having enough but have never heard anyone say they had too much :-) |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 08 at 22:53
| Day 19 (5/30/2008) - Deck Set Ok, one more step toward the end. The crew was supposed to come on the 29th, but never showed up. They had an inspection scheduled for the 30th and the deck pour for Monday. Needless to say it will all be delayed a bit. Oh well. I don't know if it is too optimistic, but I'm thinking it sure would be nice to have water in the pool by next weekend. Probably early the week after that, but I can always dream. Here are some pics.
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Wed, Jun 4, 08 at 11:15
| Day 23 (6/3/2008) - Slide Assembly They finally came today to put together our Turbo Twister Slide. We were really excited to see it go up. They are supposed to come on Thursday to pour the decks. I'm not sure when they will actually set the slide. We can almost see water at the end of the tunnel. lol The supervisor almost guaranteed me that we would get plaster next week.
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| Yeah, he doesn't look excited at all. Bet he's dreading going down that thing! ;-) |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Wed, Jun 4, 08 at 18:10
| I know. The poor abused child. He was actually trying it out yesterday. I was holding the slide so it wouldn't tip over and he was sliding down on a towel. We should have water in a little over a week so we are trying like crazy to find distractions to keep us entertained until then. IT'S HARD!!!! |
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| Oh, how funny...lol |
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| Can we see pics of the towel slide? How cute! I understand the impatience, we ALL were the same way! Keep us updated, oh and that is an awesome slide! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Thu, Jun 5, 08 at 22:52
| Day 25 (6/5/2008) - Deck Pour Oh, happy day! They finally came to pour the decks. I was afraid they would cancel since the wind was blowing about 1000 miles an hour all day. Crazy! Anyway, I think they did a great job. It's wonderful to look out there and not see mounds of ugly dirt, sand, and debris. They are telling me that they will plaster a week from today. Oh, what agony!! LOL Let me know what you guys think.
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| Is that river rock peagravel? I have it too, with OK Wister. I think the two blend very well together. I love the look! You must be totally psyched to get decking in! I think out of the whole process (post-gunite), that was the crew that I was most excited to see! Just walked on level ground again was heaven! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Fri, Jun 6, 08 at 16:39
| I think it's river rock peagravel if I remember on our trip to the showroom. I really like the color. What I've seen in the past was more gray, but the reds really show through. We are very pleased. We are going to fill the areas between the deck and the house with Red Aztec Rock. I'm hoping it looks good as well. I just can't tell you how psyched we are to get the decking in. Since the pool is so close to the house, everything has been SO dug up right off the back porch. We have tile floors and they have been gritty for weeks. We just can't keep them vacuumed. Anyway, I can't wait to scrub down the back porch and get things in order. |
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| Oh, I feel your pain. I have hardwood floors and after this, they look sandblasted near my breakfast room doors. :-( |
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| Stonesmama, My favorite day post pool/landscape mess was cleaning off my screened porch. It was so, so filthy! It's great not to have the dog tracking in all the Carolina clay on her paws too. You are so close to swimming! It looks great. Judy |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Sun, Jun 8, 08 at 20:20
| It was great to get the back porch finally cleaned off this morning. We bought a new grill from Sears and got it all set up. Our new lawn furniture is still stacked up in our living room and office until the pool is completely finsished. I don't know if the PebbleTec process is messy or not and I didn't want it all over my new stuff. Hopefully it won't be. We are waiting with baited breath for Thursday/Friday. smbnobles, I can only imagine what this grit did to your hardwood floors. I hope they can be polished up. Your pool sure is looking good. Your pots have inspired me. I found some pretty blue ones to go on each side of my raised beam. I think they will be perfect. Thanks. |
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| stonesmama - Oh, what a beautiful pool! They are building it so fast(I'm the going-on-a-year now Infinity Edge girl). I love the tile you picked out and your aggregate deck! We were going to do flagstone on our deck, then I changed my mind at the last minute and wanted aggregate. Unfortunately, because of costs in other areas, I have to settle for gray cement this year. I'm going to keep your beautiful pictures, though, in hopes that we can someday do the same thing! It is very inspiring - it looks great with your other stone. Keep the pictures coming, PLEASE, I live vicariously through everyone else's pools :). By the way, I love your kitchen plans, too! You are never going to want to be in the house again! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Thu, Jun 12, 08 at 14:33
| Day 32 (6/12/2008) - PebbleTec Application The light just opened up at the end of the tunnel. I've nearly made myself sick worrying that it wouldn't get done, but now, I have a beautiful application of PebbleTec. It is Blue Lagoon with Abalone Shell added. The process was very interesting and took around 4 1/2 hours from start to finish. From my understanding, they will return tomorrow to acid wash the pool. All of the cleanup and slide installation is scheduled for tomorrow as well. It looks like we will have some water to swim in this weekend. BTW, the supervisor told me that we could swim in it as soon as there was a couple of feet of water in the pool. Does this sound right? We are hoping to schedule the start-up on Monday. Is it ok to swim all weekend (just the 3 of us) with no chemicals?
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| I cannot wait to see your final pictures! The finish looks just gorgeous! I hear that the abalone shell will sparkle very well. I assume you are filling already? |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Fri, Jun 13, 08 at 11:52
| Not quite yet. I am anxiously awaiting the crew to come for the acid wash and wrap-up. I expect them any time now. I don't know exactly how long it takes to fill the pool, but thank goodness it's the weekend. I don't think I could bear working knowing it's filling up without me. ;-) |
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| Woohoo! You're on the home stretch now! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Fri, Jun 13, 08 at 17:19
| *-:¦:-•:*'""*:•.-:¦:-•:*We now have about 2 feet of water in the deep end. Almost there!!!!!-:¦:-•:*'""*:•.-:¦:-* |
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| Congrats! I bet your son is beside himself with excitement! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Sat, Jun 14, 08 at 14:35
| Ok, we've been filling up for 24 hours now and still have about a foot or more to go. This morning we ran out and swam from 8:30 until 11:30. It was SO relaxing. I was in heaven. Here are a few pictures of the PebbleTec acid bath and fill-up. My husband said our new Margaritaville mixer will get fired up tomorrow as we spend a wonderful Fathers Day outside.
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| I love that last picture. That's one friendly neighborhood cat! Your pool is looking fantastic! |
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| stonesmama- I am soooooooooo happy for you!! What a beautiful interior finish! You must be thrilled to have water - how wonderful! It's a gorgeous pool, enjoy your weekend in it. Have a swim for me :). Congratulations! |
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| stonesmama...have been following your posts and am so happy that you and your family are finally in...I think you're one of the first to use PebTec new blue lagoon cause I haven't seen many others pics with that color. We love it and have decided to use it for our pool. Would love to see the pool all filled and hope all is going well! |
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| Congrats on getting some swimming in at last :-) We had two pool parties Saturday and fired up our Margaritaville machine for the first time as well, it certainly makes a great margarita!! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Mon, Jun 16, 08 at 21:20
| Thanks everyone for the well wishes. Birdbath, I follow your thread and I am SO anxious for you to get your pool filled too. It is going to be really beautiful. As hot as it is in your neck of the woods, you'll definitely need it! Nutmegri, thanks for the compliments on the PebbleTec. It was very hard to decide on a color where I could find very few pictures. I took a chance and I do love the way it looks. I had the abalone shell added and we sure like the sparklies. My son and I swim around and pretend we are treasure hunting the "diamonds" on the pool bottom. tresw, we still didn't get the Margaritaville mixer out. My husband wants to wait until we get our outdoor kitchen built. I'm glad to know that it makes good margaritas. We got the Fuji model. Well, now to the bad news...My husband and I took off a half day from work to attend the start-up and pool school. The fellow arrived (an hour and a half late), started up the circulation system, added acid and salt, and then the motor blew up. Well, I don't guess "blew up" is right, but it did burn out. It seems that there was a bunch construction garbage in the skimmers that wasn't cleared out. The motor sucked it in and burned out. The guy could not fix it, so he left and said someone would be here early in the morning. Now, I'll have to take off another day some time soon for pool school. I'm a little bummed out. I guess they will replace the motor. I'm really unfamiliar with this whole process. My husband went out and marked the old motor to make sure they put a new one on. I'm sure something like that could at least reduce the life of the motor even if they got it working again. I bet it is expensive to replace. Anyway, hopefully I'll have better news tomorrow. |
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| Oh, no! That sounds like something that would happen to me. Surely they'll replace the motor. That must be super frustrating! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Tue, Jun 17, 08 at 19:37
| Ok, all is well in the world again. They came and put on a new pump and all seems to be working again. The pool looks so clean and clear. No more bugs and spiders floating on top. :P I can't wait until tonight to see it with the lights on. That has been one thing I've really looked forward to. I want to swim at night. Here are some pictures that show the final water color. I really like it.
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| Stonesmama, so glad the pump was replaced quickly...really love the color in the pics...it was so hot and muggy here in Rhode Island today oh how nice it would be to stand under one of your waterfalls...enjoy your first night swim! |
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| It looks really pretty! I'm happy for you! |
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| Is the pea gravel comfortable to walk on? does it get really hot? |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 08 at 15:48
| bsaacks, I am a large person and VERY tender footed. At first the pea gravel seemed very uncomfortable to walk on for me (but not my family). But, I discovered that there were still quite a bit of loose gravel and debris from construction. When it was powerwashed, it is a lot nicer to walk on. Yes, it does get pretty hot, but we've been having temperatures over 100 degrees. On 90 degree days, it is still tolerable. I read your post on smbnobles' thread. I can't wait to see pictures of your build. Good luck with everything. |
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| Your pool turned out pretty. Like the color of the water. |
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- Posted by tracyjohnson1 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 27, 08 at 14:10
| Hi stonesmama I love your pool just looking at your pictures is relaxing to me. How well does your Polaris 280 seem to be working? We are getting the same model with our pool and we were kind of curious. Happy Friday |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Fri, Jun 27, 08 at 21:46
| tracyjohnson1, thanks for the compliment. It's been amazing how relaxing it has been in the pool. We swim every evening and watch the sun go down. We have enjoyed our cleaner we named Bob. The PB set him up to clean for 3 hours a day. He really does a great job. I have to use the brush to sweep off the baja shelf and the benches, but he comes along and vacuums it up off the floor of the pool. The first few days the little bag was very full of PebbleTec pebbles and rock chips from construction. Be sure and empty it every day. It is gross, but the other day we unzipped the bag and there was a dead frog in it. BLAH!! Good luck with your pool. Can't wait to see pics. |
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- Posted by banana_fanna (My Page) on Sat, Jun 28, 08 at 11:11
| Another lovely pool with a blue waterline tile. Would you mind posting the manufacturer and name of your tile? I'm having a devil of a time deciding and finding on a tile color. Natural stone or an earthy blue. I can't pick pebble color until tile is selected. I'm heading over to pool builder today to see if he has a sample yet of Blue Lagoon. It's gorgeous! |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Sat, Jun 28, 08 at 23:02
| banana_fanna, the tile is manufactured by Master Tile and it is called Sol Bel Azu 6. Good luck with your decisions. It sure is tough. My contractor is working on my outdoor kitchen and I'm having to make all the decisions about that now. I don't think it will ever end! Can't wait to hear what you decide. |
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- Posted by stonesmama (My Page) on Mon, May 18, 09 at 23:47
| Here is your example. |
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| I am new to this, I see the pics you posted are gone. You still happy with the pebbletec selection? could you re-post some so I can see what the color looks like? |
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