Hi Banana fanna,

What you see on the shelf is the overflow port. It's only comes into play when it rains and the pool fills to near capacity. The skimmer by the "bar end" is the only one in the pool.

If you have any sort of breeze, I'd place the skimmer downwind so that the natural wind pattern helps move the surface debris toward it.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff for your speedy response. We decided on spots for the skimmers and all is well. And yes, one is placed on the north/east corner to collect all the debris from our westerly neighbor's gorgeous, albeit, messy oak tree.

So, as you know, I've salivated over your build for almost 5 years now. Your chronicling of all details will continue to help as I start my build. (We dug yesterday.) Even though my builder is great and keeps me updated on what comes next, it's good to feel educated and to have a place to look at what should happen next.

About your tile and pebble - any regrets? The samples of Tondela and Blue Granite have been on my countertop for almost 2 years now. Unless money somehow starts dropping from the heavens, we're most likely going with a gray paver coping. While it looks nice together, I would kill for a stone coping like yours.

When you're in your pool, do you notice any kind of obvious pattern in your tile? Certain natural-looking tiles can have this obvious pattern once installed - or perhaps it's due to an inept tile installer. Trying to avoid that. It doesn't look like that, at all, in any of your pics - just wondering if once you're up close 'n' personal if you notice it.

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond.

If not too late Fanna you might consider orienting your new pool so that prevailing wind helps carry flotsam to the skimmer

Dale,
If you were floating on a raft in your pool would you be considered flotsam.

Banana fanna,

No regrets on pebble and tile. The Tondela tile has four different tile patterns, and given each tile can be mounted in four possible orientations, it's just about impossible to see a pattern. Also, keep in mind that half the tile will be under water so there is little "pattern" to see. Take a look at the top of the BBQ island. It's the same tile, and even in a large install, there is no clear pattern.

Did you get an estimate on using stone coping? When we built, there wasn't a huge price difference between the various coping options.

If there is one suggestion I'd pass one it's this... If there are money constraints and you're trying to decide what to keep and what to pass on, keep those options which would be nearly impossible to do later. So for example, if you want stone coping, perhaps pass on the high-tech lights. Between the two, the lights can always be upgraded a year or two down the road but it would be prohibitive to remove and replace the coping.

When we built our pool, we used the money set aside for outdoor furniture on other items like the stone banding, step lighting, etc. We figured we could wait a year on the furniture, but it would be near-impossible to go back and add those others items later.

Jeff

You're right. No discernible pattern on your bar top and that really tells the tale.

I read your response to my husband about the coping and he's in total agreement. We've built 2 houses together and he's always been the "if we don't put in the surround sound now before the dry wall's up...so what if the bath tile is $2 more per sq, we'll be sorry if we don't do it now...." person. It's me that's the nervous Nelly.

We're going to the stone yards this afternoon to look at stuff. :-)))