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Still trying to figure out the picture thing.....

The Color Logics should be covered by the same extended warranty.

The UV on an outdoor pool is, IMHO, wasted money. The sun will provide plenty of UV.

What size is the plumbing?

Do they use flex PVC or all rigid pressure rated pipe?

Scott

2" PVC, pressure rated plumbing.

Good catch on the LED warranty - Missed that one. Teetering on whether or not I want to spend the money for an additional light. The front half of the pool (near tanning ledge) will be lit up by the patio light. I just worry that the "light show" from the LED will not be as good with the light in the back rear corner (landscaping corner). So its not really that the pool won't be lit, just wondering about the show part of it.

Snooped around the board quite a bit on the SWG vs UV vs Ozone topic, and talked to a couple of folks the builder has installed the UV system. The current users I spoke to did in fact indicate that they use less chlorine, so we went ahead and decided to give it a whirl. SWG wasn't an option I was looking at, due to Moss rock waterfall and flagstone coping (+ UV was cheaper!)

This board has been of great help putting this together so far.

We too had to squeeze in our pool between the house exterior, easements, wind currents and radio waves, which gave us a shape much like yours. I call it a Christmas stocking shape, and on the plan, the sun shelf looks like a patch.
Our dimensions are realtively close. Ours is 36.6 x 27.6. I will make two recommendations to you, based on our experience. One is a preference; the umbrella sleeve. The second is a big regret that bothers me still, in the dimensions of the sun shelf.

That is that the sun shelf measurements like yours (and mine) are misleading. Your 10 x 5 sunshelf is not going to be a 10 ft x 5 ft sun shelf. That is the misconception I had with our " 4 x 8" one. Ours turned out to be a glorified step.
The biggest area on this 10 x 5 drawing is more going to be more like 4x5 to 5x5, or not even that with the curves.

Only the outer most point of the edge extend to 5 ft. In that, you will have very little area that actually extends that far. Here is a drawing of your plan with a horizontal line at the outer most point of 5 ft (blue).

The green line in centered on your shelf, cutting it in two equal halves. The pink line represents the PB's mark at the 5ft point. With the length you have, I would consider making the sunshelf to where the middle step is.

I would not put an umbrella sleeve in the shelf if I had to do it all over again. Most umbrella pole lengths are standard sized length. Due to the unbrella sitting lower than the coping, the points of the unbrella are pretty much face level for most people. Definite hazard, especially with the umbrella by the steps. If it is in the coping or deck just outside of coping, you bypass the hazard of the unbrella points in your eye balls.

Sorry to be a downer. I love everything else about our pool.

You aren't being a downer at all. I've been snooping here for a while, HOPING for this exact type of feedback! THANK YOU! Now is a great time for comments, especially since we don't have a hole yet :)

Love the thought on the tanning shelf. Definitely makes sense, and I have already sent a note to the designer about the same.

I see what your saying on the sleeve. In all honesty, the wife and I were planning on putting some extras in anyway, so we might go that route. Main reason for in the shelf coverage would be for the little nieces and nephews. BUT, I hear you, and will talk to the boss and the builder.

Thanks!

I took the photo of the umbrella in the shelf sleeve a while back to demonstrate the hazzard height. After realizing the problem, we now just move the heavy umbrella stand over by the shelf to where it sits on the coping for the shelf shade. A sleeve in the deck might work, depending on direction the sun is coming in.
in pool sleeves accumulate a lot of debris so flush it out periodically.
On deck sleeves, should you get them, ask about sleeve covers. Ours did not come with covers (talk about debris and water getting trapped). We were told we could get them at the hardware store. Trouble is, they stick up about an inch and are a toe hazzard. I guess everything has it's downside.
Good luck with your build. We have a little nephew coming in Octover whose parents live in leage city. Grandparents grew up in Texas City.

I think you need more lights. 1 LED light in a pool that size seems to be not enough to me. I have a 10X20 pool with an additional 10X10 tanning ledge. I have two led lights, one pool size and one spa size. My pools still has two dark corners. As big as your pool and especially since it is L shaped I think you would want more. BTW you will like the light show. My family, friends and neighbors always comment on how good our pool looks. Below is a link to my pool at night. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: LED pool lights

Move the umbrella sleeve to the far edge of the sunshelf (just inside the second step), about 8" from the edge, NOT at the coping edge. This will position the umbrella out over the shelf and a portion of the pool and eliminates the eye gouging next to the entrance off the deck!

They should be using a manufactered sleeve, not just stubbing in a pvc pipe. These premade sleeves come in different colors for the upper flange and cap (tan, black, grey, and white). Should flush out nicely with the plaster (or deck) wherever you use them.

I agree on the lights, like Flipp said. With our pool being L shaped, we have two main lights. A third on a separate switch for the grotto.

This is not the best angle to show an L shape, but you can see where the lights are.

One right by the shelf, that illuminates the 27' shallow end, the other under the diving board in the deep end, and then a small one on the bench of the grotto.

I love the look of all the colored LED lights others have. We have the regular ones that have lens covers. Had to pick and choose where the money was spent when we built. I don't dislike having regular lights but they don't have the "cool" factor.

If the big lights are on, the kids put the blue plastic covers on for effect. Usually thought, it is just the small light in the middle, for more embiance.

Here is a better one with the pool shape and also with the umbrella in a sleeve that is in the deck. This sleeve is a few inches from the joint of the coping & deck. We have two more deck sleeves around the pool in order to position umbrellas . You can see one between the shelf and deep in bench on the right (little white spot).

The deck where the umbrella is, is a walkway so the sleeve works better here than an umbrella base.

I think you will regret not getting a variable speed pump that would reduce your operating costs

Sorry for my absence...it has been crazy at work, and then dealing with all this pool stuff. NEVER thought about all the "stuff" that would have to go along with it, especially when we haven't even dug a hole yet.
We signed our contract with the PB on the 7th, closed our loan on the 10th, and will be funded on the 16th. Should have HOA letter on the 16th as well. Then, we can finally get this party started!
We ended up using Capital Bank for our financing. 6.75%, with no closing costs. We were limited on our options due to equity availability, but they add the value of the pool into the house appraisal in order to determine an amount we could borrow. Best deal I could find that would be applicable to our situation.

Utity markings are scheduled for Monday/Tuesday, layout for Wednesday/Thursday, followed by an inspection, then HOPEFULLY, we can get to digging on the 23rd. That's our goal at least.

As you can see from the attached drawing, we took Zoo's advice on the tanning shelf, and moved it our to where the first step/bench was. The PB said that he always double checks on the placement of the umbrella holders, but we are planning on following that advice as well.

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Definitely see what you are saying about the lighting. I am already getting the "look" from the wife on the possibility of adding another though....She wasn't real keen on spending the cash for the LED, but me and the boy were. Now it looks like we are adding another.... What would ya'll guess, $600 or so to add a light? I am thinking placement should be in the steps on on the tanning shelf, then on the patio side of the "L". This should give us strong coverage, and keep away from facing the house. Agree?

Womanowned - Pump - I've read more than I can understand about pumps. Single speed, two speed, variable speed, etc. From what I can see, the 1hp Hayward Tristar Model can be both a single, and a variable....correct? Weird thing is, when I look at the pricing on the net, they are pretty much the same. What am I missing? I have also seen some Hayward Ecostar pumps that all say variable, but geesh, they are more than double the cost of the Tristar. We're only going to be in this house another 5 or so years, and I can't imagine I would get payback on something like that in that short amount of time. Please help me understand what I am missing.

Here's a 3D pic of our project. Boy, do they have some neato software out there!

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Womanowned - Here are the links that I was looking at:
http://www.nextag.com/Hayward-TriStar-Pool-Pump-549904198/prices-html

http://www.nextag.com/Hayward-TriStar-Energy-Solution-595902620/prices-html?nxtg=8c40a50050f-E52D1C1C4DC3B405

I just noticed, one says controller, and one says pump. To achieve variable speed with this model, would I have to have both of them items?

Thanks!

3 of our 4 lines are marked, waiting on the gas folks. PB is coming out tomorrow to set the frame, and if the gas guys show up, we should get to digging on Friday or Monday....Yea!

Question for you folks:
We kicking around the idea of adding facilities (toilet and sink only) to our detached garage to keep the kiddos from running back and forth thru the house (and to keep other "stuff" out of our pool!).

I am planning on having the plumber working with our pool builder handle this for us, but since I have NO idea what I am talking about, I thought I would throw this out there to see what kind of ball park I would/should expect, keep him honest type of thing.

As you are looking at the pic (above), we were hoping to put the bathroom in the back left corner of the garage. The pool equipment will be just outside of the same area (figured this would make the most since, since there will be water and probably some sort of a drain back there (again, I have NO idea what I am talking about). The garage has a concrete floor, and the area is on the raised part of the garage, so I would guess there is ~8" (4" rise + 4" floor) on concrete that needs to be punched thru.

Is this doable? Can you run sewer thru the lines located @ or near a pump, or does it need its own line? Can we tie into the pool equipment to get fresh water?

If its doable......
Any guesstimates on plumbing only? I can get a cheap toilet and sink @ Home Depot, so this would be rough plumbing only.

Any input/experiences would be GREATLY appreciated!

You can buy "backflush" toilets that flush out the back instead of down. This would be the way to go without having to demo into your garage floor. Yes you could take it out the back near the pool equipment, but it really has nothing to do with your pool plumbing.

This line would have to be tied into your sanitary sewer, which is most likely in the front yard. The sewer line alone could be in the $1500 to $2500 range. It will definitely be a separate run and will have to be permitted and inspected.

Water lines cant have direct connection to the equipment anymore and are typically installed as fill lines run to the pool itself, not the equipment. So this wont help you either, you would need an additional water line run to the new bathhouse.

Hope that helps

Thanks Kspoolman. That helps alot. I guess I was trying to over simplify things.... Sometimes, when you really want to do something, you make it sound pretty easy in your head, which is usually far from reality. Might be cheaper just to tile the living room floor...... Thanks for the info.

Our pool toilet has been tabled for now. Turns out I can't do what I had mapped out in my head, and don't want to lay out the cash right now, so we will figure that out later.

The builder came out today to mark the layout, and it went very smooth. In fact, he even figured out a way to increase our width in the narrowest part another foot. Very happy about that!

To top it off, I recieved a call this evening, and they have a spot open tomorrow, so they will be here bright and early to dig a hole. Pics to follow.

Pretty excited to get this rolling.

Dig crew was here bright and early to get this kicked off. Started around 8, and was finished up around 3ish. I didn't get to see all of it, stupid work stuff got in the way....but what I did see, I was VERY impressed with. It is amazing what those guys can do with thier machines.

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Steel guys got finished up from another job early, so they decided to pop on over today too.

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Plumbing stubs scheduled for in the morning.
Inspection scheduled for Monday.
Gunite scheduled for Wednesday/Thursday. PB said that they only use Modern Method Gunite, and have for years. He said they were worth the wait. I'll take his word for it.

Clicking right along! Just need to find some patience for me and my crew. I can already taste that cervesa while I am sitting in my tube!

Plumbing stubs completed as scheduled.

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Inspection Monday. Hoping for gunite Wednesday/Thursday.

Not an engineer, but I thought there was some sort of formula about how close you could dig to the foundation of your house relative to the depth of the dig. There was a post on this forum where a rain came during construction and the sides caved out from under the house. Don't want to be "that guy", but just wanted to put that out there.

We originally wanted just a 3' path in between the garage and the pool. 3 of them said that it would have to goto engineering, and the 4th said no, that was too close. We ended up using that builder. We are 4' from garage to water, and as best I can recall, that was a minimum depth without engineering approval. Based on how the patch of grass looks, I am now glad we will be @ 4'. That extra foot is going to make it more comfy to walk around.

Would be interested in reading the link if you have it handy.

Thanks!

yeah, I thought it was 5' to water in LC.
Did the city do a stakeout inspection and do you have an approved set of plans??

As per the placement for the lights, I would do it like this, and put them on separate switches. Having just one turned on (either) gives you a different embiance than both on at once. It gives you options that way.

We too looked into putting a toilet in our out building but that the time, was going to run $1500-$2000 for the sewer line. Maybe down the line, cuz with three teens + friends, it sure would be nice.

I checked on the 4' or 5' thing, and turns out in order to put a pool closer than 5' in LC, you do have to have the plans certified by an engineer, which our PB has done. Just checked it out in my permit packet. Whew....was getting worried there for a minute. So, we have been certified, and city has approved our plans. I think our PB was a former inspector for Pearland, which uses the same codes as League City, so I am going to assume he knows what he is doing (cause I sure as hell don't!).

We decided to just move forward with one light. After talking with the PB, he is very compfortable that the one light, positioned in the corner of the waterfall would light up the pool. He said it wouldn't be a "Vegas" show, but it would definitely light it up. He explained to me that since pool lights make a "V", it would cast the light well in both directions. Good enough for us, plus, the wife pretty much canned the idea of adding another light @ $700 bucks. It wasn't that much to upgrade to LED, but adding a whole other light was a different story.

Inspector was SUPPOSED to be here yesterday for steel, but he was a no-show. Its a shame too, as the PB called me with a gunite opening yesterday afternoon if we had been green tagged. Hopefully he shows up today, as the PB is ready for gunite (as are we!). Nerve racking!

Thanks to all for your two cents. Please keep'em coming.

Sorry, I just noticed that questions were addressed to me earlier. I don't use Hayward, but, if the description of the pump does not say it is a 2 speed (or more) then likely it is not. Variable speed pumps do cost more to install, but the payback is usually pretty quick with the energy savings. Typically you do have to have an automated power center to operate a two speed pump, but it is not absolutely necessary. You can set up a time clock with one clock set for lo speed, another clock set for high speed and another clock for on/off. Hey, don't listen to my buddy, poolguynj, on the ozone issue. He is an Ozone hater! You don't get what you need in UV light from the sun here in Houston to provide the sanitation and water quality...maybe that's how it works in Yankee land, but not here in Houston! He is very knowledgeable on pools...just not on the issue of Ozone for pools! I would share the same concern that others expressed about the closeness of the pool to the house, but, if the city accepted it, you should be fine. I ran into this issue when I built one in Missouri City. You might have to get an engineer to certify that the foundation of the house will not be compromised. It's fine, but these city governments put so many restrictions and regulations on pool builders that all it is does is cost you, the consumer, more money to get a pool. Modern Method Gunite is great, by the way, and they have got so much business right now that it takes twice as long at least to get them scheduled than usual.

Pretty excited to see these guys this morning....

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Here @ 7AM, gone by noon.
Didn't get to see the whole thing, but what I did see, was pretty neat to watch.

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Equipment is supposed to be installed sometime mid next week.

Moving right along!!!!

OK, your up Wamaha!

Keep that gunite watered down!

It hit 95 today, that shell is gonna be soaking up that water bigtime.

Congrats.. coming along nicely.

Thanks kspoolman - Actually started the process this evening. Took me about 30 minutes to give it a good soaking. The PB told me I could walk on it mid-day tomorrow, so I am setting up 2 sprinklers (3700 sq. ft range) to run for 15 minutes each, 3x a day.

Does that sound about right?

Yeah, 3x a day ought to do it. Gunite boys say 5x, but thats a little overkill.

I would try to keep most of the water in the shell. Try not soak down your yard. As dry as its been, it would take a while to be an issue, but you dont want to saturate the ground and start building up ground water pressure under the pool. Remember, its a big boat sitting in the ground and CAN float.

After tile and coping and rockwork begin, start checking out and keeping your weepholes clear. You will be shocked how much stuff gets in them and plugs them up. I check my open pools' weepholes about once a week during construction.

Question for PB's and other folks with experience - My sprinkler set up is hitting about 95% of the shell, a couple of the side walls are missing out on the spray. The last couple of days, I have caught the last couple of minutes of the timer and sprayed what the sprinkler is missing, but tomorrow work comes again, and I could only do that in the evening. Is this going to cause major harm to the shell?
Also, there seems to be a small collection in the deep end. I am assuming this is OK, but why is it greenish in color? Just curious more than anything.

I think when I was messing around with the photobucket thingy, I lost all my pics....
Here they are, again.

Final Design

3D Pic

Dig 1

Dig 2

Steel

Steel 2

Plumbing 1

Plumbing 2

Gunite guys

Gunite 1

Gunite 2

After a week of watering gunite...... We finally had some progress yesterday. Plumbers showed up bright and early and completely destroyed the place. They sure are some messy fellers.

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Electricians were out today, and hooked up all the power. Here is a shot of our equipment.

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I thought this was a pretty neat idea. The builder includes a light package in his builds (according to the electrician that works for him). I didn't know it was coming, never owned a pool so I don't know how useful it will be, but it sure is nice to know the PB doesn't cut corners!

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Next week, plumbing and electrical inspection, then the tile, coping, and waterfall.

Moving right along :)

Forgot to move the pics before I posted again.....

Let's try this again.

Forgot to move the pics before I posted again.....

Let's try this again.

A little frustrated with my PB right now..... We were supposed to have tile and coping done last week, and NADA happened. They indicated that there were scheduling issues with the subs, so instead of being ahead of schedule like we were, we are now on schedule (BOOOO). Apparently the crews are so busy right now things are getting bumped back.

Since we are still on "thier" schedule that was provided, so I can't gripe too much, BUT I WANT MY POOL :).

Hopefully, we will make up some ground this week. We are still hopeful for a July 4th swim party.

Building a pool really tries your patience.......

Clean up crew was here BRIGHT an early this morning to pick up a truck load of clay.

I was happy to see these guys shortly after :)

They got all the tile hung today.

And delivered the flagstone. These pics aren't that great due to all the dust, but the flag we chose was Arizona Moss. Should be some pinks, tans, and browns. Should go nicely with the tile and waterfall.

Should finish the flag tomorrow, and get to going on the waterfall.

Getting closer :)

Day two of the rock work did not bring us a finished product, but we were told today that the decking wouldn't start until next week, so its really not that big of a deal. These rock guys are workers! Watching these little guys man handle these rocks was quite impressive. Here's some pics:

Waterfall taking shape:

Waterfall Part Deaux:

Better shot of the coping colors:

It is looking great so far! Thanks for all of the updates.

Thanks Jackty. Glad to know folks are following along. It is pretty entertaining keeping up with all this, and keeps me from worrying about all this scheduling.....

Waterfall and coping are complete.

Waterfall

Completed coping #1:

Completed coping #2

Decking form scheduled for Monday, and inspection Tuesday, and pour on Wednesday. Weather pending.... Kinda figures, we haven't had any significant rain in Houston in 150 or so days, and the week we are to pour our decking calls for 40%-60% showers the majority of the week. Mother Nature has a SICK sense of humour. Not all bad though, maybe it will get us off our water rationing......

Well, as I figured, the rain got us. We did get formed up on Tuesday, inspected on Wednesday (in the rain!), and they are pouring the deck as I type.

Forms:

Plaster was scheduled for Monday, but has already been bumped :( We are set for Thursday now, with a HOPE for an opening sooner.

We have pretty much cancelled our 4th party. Very sad about that, but not much you can do.

All decked out :)

We have been plastered!!!!!
Should be acid washed this afternoon, and start the fill.

It looks wonderful. My niece is looking at a house with an unusual yard. The only thing holding her back is that she thinks a pool couldn't be built in the space. After seeing all the builds on this site, I told her that a pool can be practically built anywhere and anyhow.

Congrats! Acid wash and water for me tomorrow, too!

Thanks Banana! We are pretty excited. It is amazing what pool people can do. Its not as big as we hoped, but it was as big as we could get. We are happy with the way it turned out. And are SO ready for our first swim!

Acid wash guys came and left sometime around noonish. Got it scrubbed up, and dropped a couple of hoses. We must of had some pretty good water pressure mid day, as it is filling up MUCH faster than my math led me to believe. I'm thinking we will be full in about 12 hours. Late night, but well worth it :)

So happy to see this (courtesy of my bride):

And then even happier to see this when I got home from work:

And we are FULL!!!!!

Kinda gross to see what's in the water we are drinking....

Our PB is supposed to swing by today and fire this bad boy up.

That was a fast fill.

Looks like you can get in a 4th of July swim afterall.

Congrats!

Yep kspoolman, I was pretty surprised myself. I did the 5 gallon bucket test to try to figure out my timing, it ended up taking about 14 hours to fill, which was about 3 hours quicker than my math led me to believe.

PB came out Wednesday and dumped about 3 gal of muratic in it, dropped some pucks in the skimmer, filled up the rainbow, and cranked her up.

Initially, there were a few brown streaks and some splotches in the plaster, but between the brushing and the chemicals, they are fading pretty quickly.

I forgot to take pics in the daylight, but I am amazed that the water is as clear as it is already. Its looking really good. Ph is still low (hovering between 6.2-6.8, but I am assuming that is from all the muratic, as I was told we are going to run thru that like water for a while. FC is holding between 2-3.

The single LED light turned out to be OK. Not a vegas show, but the front half is lit up by the porch light, and the colors still filters thru the whole pool. I guess since its so narrow down the front leg it bounces back and forth. Personally, I would have like two lights, but its good enough, and I still have $700 to spend on palms :)

Definitely on for a swim this weekend.

Spray deck scheduled for Wednesday/Thursday, and then we can get our landscaping done.

ALMOST DONE! At least we will be able to cool off a bit while working on this dang thang!

Chems looked good, so we had our first family swim night this evening. Life is good!

Our little oasis is pretty much complete. Still need to do some landscaping, but we might wait until the Spring to do that. Not much use in trying to get something planted if we can't keep it alive...

Updated pics :)

Spray Decking

Bubblers :)

Side view

Waterfall

Items left:
Waterfall - Not flowing real good. Need to fix that somehow.
Paint the weeper pipes
Vacuum
Brown streaks in plaster
White splotches in plaster
Grind some of the flagstone edges
Pool school
Final inspection

Thanks to all for your suggestions and comments thru this. I'm REALLY glad I found this site.

Happy Swimming!