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lemonspinner

Pool Build in Richmond TX

lemonspinner
13 years ago

Thanks to all who contribute to this forum, the information here is invaluable.

We moved into the house last month and are building our first pool. We have three small children and if anyone has input on the mesh fences I would love to hear it.

Please feel free to comment on any aspects of the pool, I welcome any ideas. The specs are:

Freeform

Perimeter 130

Max width 25

Max length 49

Area 863 sq ft

Depth 3 1/2 to 7

Travertine coping

River Rok finish

2 Intellibrites in pool, 1 in spa

Whisperflow 2 HP

DE filter 60 sq ft

Caretaker in floor cleaning system

400,000 BTU heater

Freeform spa with spillway with 8 jets, 1 1/2 HP air blower

Stacked stone raised beam on spa with 3 scuppers

15 ton rock waterfall with jump rocks and 3 lights

Easytouch 8 with SWG

5 bubblers in sun shelf

swim out shelf in deep end

They are suppposed to dig today, but no one here yet :(

Here is the builder's drawing:

[IMG]http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz251/lemonspinner/King_Mary_Ellen7_001.jpg[/IMG]

The slide will not be there.

Here is where it is going:

[IMG]http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz251/lemonspinner/DSC_0028.jpg[/IMG]

Comments (45)

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Let's try the photos again:

  • domingos35
    13 years ago

    i would get the pentair intelliflo

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    He said that the whisperflo is a better option with the infloor cleaning system.

    They are finishing the dig today, plumbing and steel tomorrow and gunite on Sauturday!

    They're going to put a third light in the pool as well.

    I'll keep posting photos.


  • mudn
    13 years ago

    That's a huge pool!

    Funny, I was staring out the window wishing I could drive the bobcat too.

  • king_michelob
    13 years ago

    In no situation is a whisperflo better than an intelliflo. They both have the same (or EXTREMLY similar) impeller. Cheaper, yes - but I suspect your PB simply doesn't want to have to calibrate the more intelligent intelliflo and teach you how to use it. I recently replaced my (shot) whisperflo with an Intelliflo and I could not recommend it more highly.

    Lovely home by the way! Where exactly in Richmond is that? (I live in New Territory)

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks King Michelob. We are near Katy. If you want to stop by and see it send me an email.

    I have discussed it with my builder and he is open to changing it to the Intelliflo. Which version would be better in my situation?

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago





  • travis_turner
    13 years ago

    That hot tub is going to rock. If you don't mind me asking, who is the builder?

  • lbridges
    13 years ago

    The original post asked about mesh fences. We had babyguard install ours and it seems to work quite well.

    Two things to mention:
    1. They want a small fortune (relatively speaking) for a swinging/self-closing gate (locally fence is between $10-11 per foot, gate is ~$400 for 3' width). We opted not to get one as my wife & I are kind of paranoid about clever little ones. We raised 4 of our own, and had 13 foster children over the years. Now grandkids are coming. Our concern with the gate is that it appears if kids work as a team they could get through - which means they will get through eventually. We also alarmed our patio door with a little battery powered thing from Lowes that can be turned on/off (my wife is very paranoid about downing instances).

    2. Make sure they understand where you want the fence placed: any specific code requirements the community requires (ex: my town requires a 36" setback from the water while the county requires only 20"); Any specific places you want entry areas placed (they make double holes so a section can be rolled back and pole temporarily placed); any angles you want the fence line to make for aesthetics (requires more poles), etc.

  • womanowned
    13 years ago

    You have one pump for all of this? I would definitely switch to the Intelliflo VS3050 - 4 speed variable (3 HP) pump. If you are getting the Caretaker infloor cleaning system, I bet the Caretaker designers recommended a separate pump to operate it. You should ask your PB for a copy of the design and specifications. Your electricity bills will be out of sight with just the one Whisperflo 2 HP. It is an energy efficient pump, but you are asking it to carry quite a load.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks so much for the information. It's possible I may have misunderstood how many pumps there will be- I was more focused on the design than the mechanics. I'll definitely talk to him about switching to the Intelliflo VS and look into whether a second pump is recommended for the Caretaker.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    OK, I talked with the builder. He has a 2 HP for the main circulation, a 2 HP for the waterfall and a 1 HP for the bubblers. We are going to switch to the intelliflow VS.

    So now my question is, if I use the intelliflow VS how many pumps do I need and should they all be the intelliflow VS or should some remain the whisperflo?

  • sharoncbrn
    13 years ago

    Good luck with your pool. You have a beautiful home and lot. Look forward to your updates.

  • jsldh
    13 years ago

    Awesome house and your pool is going to be beautiful. Can't wait to see your updates!

  • trhought
    13 years ago

    lemonspinner...fabulous pool. I like the large yard, trees and pool...it is going to look great when finished.

    Regarding pumps, I'd keep the 2HP for the waterfall, bump the 1HP for the bubblers down to a .75 HP pump and recommend a 2 speed or variable speed for the main circulation pump. Both will do the job and drastically lower your energy bill at the lower speeds.

    You may want to even price two 2 speed pumps for your pool...one for the waterfall and one for the circulation pump. You could use two variable speed pumps also depending on your budget.

    We have a similar setup...two 2 speed pumps. The waterfall 2 speed allows a roaring waterfall or a trickling waterfall depending on desired mood. The 2 speed operates our infloor at low speed most of the time and runs daily at high speed for about 2 hours to clean the pool floor.

    We also have 3 bubblers, 3 deck jets and 2 aerators all on a .75 HP pump and this is plenty of power for these water features. Also, we have a 3HP pump for our slide which requires 160 gpm for sliding action!

    Hope this helps.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks for all of the kind words everyone.

    Travis Turner, the builder is Gulf Coast Pool Company.

    Trhought, I'll look into getting a 2 speed for the waterfall.

    They dug the trenches and should be putting the long plumbing in any day now.



  • hawkfive
    13 years ago

    Have you decided on your River Rok finish? It was a very difficult decision for us, because here in south NJ there are not a lot of pebble pools, especially River Rok. And, there were limited pics on the internet. In the end, we went with Granite and love it! It is the perfect color for us, and it feels great on your feet.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I am struggling right now with the decision on the finish. I went to a friend's house and didn't like the feel of the pebble on her sun shelf- it wasn't comfortable to sit on. So now I am thinking of maybe doing diamondbrite or durazzo in a sandy color for the sun shelf and swim out shelf, and doing a medium blue pebble in the main swimming area for the look. I am also thinking of tiling the seat on the spa for the same reason. Does anyone have any other ideas or input on this?

  • typea
    13 years ago

    We are going with Pebble-Fina for our finish simply because we don't like the pebble feel. It looks beautiful but it keeps the bactine and band-aids flowing. This is our second pool and the first was plaster but all the neighbors had Pebble-Tec. In the end I was glad we went with plaster since all neighborhood parties ended up in our backyard and I didn't have to buy stock in Johnson & Johnson. Although I'm not sure that is always a good thing.

    We did look into Hydrazzo and Durazzo both of which are polished marble. Hydrazzo seemed to have more colors to choose from in the pallet we were looking for and may have been a better choice for us in the end. Oh well we are pretty tired of making choices at this point and Fina it is!

  • keithintx
    13 years ago

    Gulfcoast did a good job on ours. I actually need to get them back out to look at some minor diamond brite issues. They have always been responsive. Love the Intelliflo Pump. It returns the cost in a short time due to lower electric bills.

  • king_michelob
    13 years ago

    I have the Intelliflo VF, not the VS, though the VS is a little bit cheaper I wanted the greater control of the VF (3,051 different speeds, not just 4 - I'm a pump engineer so that appealed to me) But both are really good.

    First benefit is of course power savings - the intelliflos are more effient than the standard motors even at the same flow conditions (there are videos on YouTube showing this - do a quick search) But what I like best is that I can turn it down to 2 turns / day and run 24 hours straight for less energy than I was using before for 5 hours. This gives me 24 hours of skimmer operation which really helps prevent leaves and other debris from water logging and sinking to the bottom, and also keeps the water from stagnating which promotes algae growth. Also when the pump's running at low speed it's almost silent - I have to walk over there to make sure it's on! (Also I'm no fan of the standard open drip-proof style motors - stupid for outdoor use if you ask me. Especially after my old pump motor siezed up this winter. The intelliflow uses TEFC [Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled] motors which are far superior)

    My pool looks to be about the same size as yours (maybe a touch smaller) and I have a single pump for hot tub, pool circ, and waterfall, but I would say if you have seperate pumps that are on/off like for waterfall, a single speed pump should do fine. Not sure why you'd need 2 HP for a waterfall pump since there's no head drop on the line, but I doubt it costs much more than a smaller one so it's a minor point. But I've had no problem with 1 pump, and it should be noted the Intelliflow is 3.5 HP I believe when fully cranked up, trust me that thing can really kick out some impressive flow.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks all for the comments. Not much has happened in the past 2 weeks because of rain :(

    The trenches are dug, once the rain stops they need to drain the trenches and long plumb. Tile and coping and rock waterfall will be next (if I can decide on a tile)!

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    After many rain delays, we have the tile and coping on and they're working on the waterfall.






    And this is the stone I'd like to put around the spa and on the raised wall:

  • poolnovicefl
    13 years ago

    beautiful pool!! curious if you have any updated photos. i'm anxious to see what type of coping you went with around your hot tub. love your travertine coping around the pool. we are going with a similiar travertine and my pool builder is saying they can cut the travertine like yours for the pool coping (ours is also free form pool w/ circular hot tub) but coping must be 4x12's (brick like) for the hot tub. thx!

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    poolnovicefl-

    We are going to do the travertine coping around the spa as well.

    Here is a picture of the completed waterfall:

    Here is the spa:


  • cakelady_2010
    13 years ago

    Wow, your pool is gorgeous!

    We are using Gulf Coast Pools also and plan to look at coping/stone today. Your travertine turned out so nice! I'm leaning toward a darker travertine unless it looks too gray. Is yours tumbled? Any new spa pics?

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Cakelady 2010-

    Thanks, yes, we used the lighter travertine but now I wish we had gone with the darker noce. We did decide to use the noce for the decking however, so there will be a slight contrast between the coping and decking. They are still doing the prep work for the decking but I will post a spa pic when I get a chance.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Plaster finally!





    Filling with water!

  • hawkfive
    13 years ago

    Looks beautiful! Did you go with River Rok?

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Hawkfive-

    Thanks! We went with Durazzo Sandy Beach on the shallow and deep end sun shelfs and spa (we wanted something smooth because the kids will be sitting on them) and we did River Rok Harbor Gray on the rest.

    The pool is filling with water now and they are laying the travertine pavers, I'll post more pics soon.

  • trhought
    13 years ago

    lemonspinner....Congratulations.....you'll be swimming tomorrow. Turned out fabulous.

    We filled out pool 3 years ago to the day and remember vividly the excitement of being able to swim finally....the kids could not contain themselves and had smiles permanently on their faces for days!

    The memories in your backyard are just beginning!

    Enjoy!

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The first jump in is going to have to wait- we need to get the electrical hooked up first. But I'm so excited to take those photos!

    However, we do have our first pool visitor. Can anyone identify what kind of snake this is? It looked venomous to me.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    OK, I looked into into it more and I think it's a broad band water snake (non-venomous).

  • megankheaps
    13 years ago

    Beautiful home and pool design. OMG that snake would scare me to death. I live in MD where we do have copperheads (venomous) so that is just one of the many reasons I will NOT have a dark fininsh. I hope you don't see any more of those. Enjoy your new pool and please keep the pics coming.

  • cnr1089
    13 years ago

    Awesome pool! Any pics with water? Trying to decide on River Rok Colors and would love to see how the water looks when full!

    Thanks!

  • sgregor
    13 years ago

    Beautiful!! Love the tile and stone selections!! So pretty. Can't wait to see it filled up!

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    We finally have the decking done. We are waiting on the scuppers for the spa wall and finishing the fire pit. The color of the plaster is still evolving, getting a little darker each week. We went with River Rok Harbor Gray. Here are some recent photos:


    A different view of the plaster color:

    Nighttime white light:

    Nighttime magenta light:

    Nighttime green light:

    First jump in!

    I'll get pics of the fire pit once they finish it today and also the waterfall once they seal the leaks.

  • nosabe
    13 years ago

    Where did you or your builder get the travertine pavers for your deck? And who installed them? Very pretty.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks nosabe, the builder did the decking through their sub Landcomp Pavers. I'm not sure where they got the travertine from but I know they used Alamo Stone for the spa stone, they may have gotten the travertine there as well.

  • classicalone
    13 years ago

    I love your pool, and especially your decking. Did you take any pictures of the decking before the travertine went in? I'd love to see them if you have any.

  • lemonspinner
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The travertine was sand set, I don't have a picutre of the prep before the pavers were laid. However, we do have Woodridge quartzite already on the summer kitchen and veranda. I really didn't like the Woodridge (too orange for my taste) and so I didn't want to continue it around the pool. So we transitioned between the Woodridge and the travertine by having travertine on the step tops and Woodridge on the risers. Here is a photo, nothing has been washed yet so the decking is still very dirty:


    Here is the fire pit:


    They are putting the rock around the back of the waterfall today and getting the in floor cleaning system operational. We have to decide what to put around the fire pit where the concrete is, they have suggested landscaping, travetine facade or spray deck to match the travertine color.

  • friendswoodnewbie
    13 years ago

    Beautiful pool and great pictures.
    We are looking at getting a similar coping. Did you seal the travertine?

  • rob_chillcitty_com
    12 years ago

    landcomp pavers can be contacted at www.landcomppavers.com

    : )

    Here is a link that might be useful: LandComp Pavers

  • DirkSu
    11 years ago

    Beautiful backyard lemonspinner! I was curious as to how your pavers were holding up? I am considering using Landcomp Pavers for a project at my home. I am sure you have had great use of your outdoor space by now. :)