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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. Quick updates and a question or two. -The Pentair chiller was / is a great investment. Fired it up Monday afternoon for the first time. Pool temp was 87. Got it down to 82 by noon today. Actually so cool that my wife complained about the temp this afternoon. I was impressed that it could reduce the temp by 5 degrees in 2 days with 100+ temps. Adjusted the settings, and we'll keep it in a range from 85-57 now. -Pentair ScreenLogic, while a great concept and awesome when it works, is basically like using a dial-up modem. Holy crap. I had to buy a Wi-Fi extender with a Cat-5 port because this POS system is so antiquated. It rarely connects via WiFi and is slower than molasses. I now port in remotely, and it's a bit more reliable, but I'm still not very satisfied. Anyone have any insight on ScreenLogic? -We installed landscaping this week. I have two beds adjacent to the pool. Our pool cleaner scolded me for putting in mulch. Se said it's a huge no-no and can ruin my plaster. Anyone else heard this or had first-hand experience? Looks like we'll be putting in rocks instead, which I'm not a fan of...
  2. One of my employees drove down there two weekends ago with her husband and kids. She said they had a blast. I think they rented a cabana for the day, so they kind of had a home base where they could keep their stuff when they swam or did activities. They have camping and glamping options as well if you want to stay overnight. She said it was relatively family oriented and didn't get too rowdy. She said they only saw a little bit of mercury and cyanide coming out of CMC's discharge pipes into the river.
  3. Drumming and guitar for sure. I grew up with my dad's drum kit and guitar in the house. I realized early on that I'm incapable of anything musically related. I'd throw dancing into that category as well. Also auto / small engine repair. I'm pretty mechanically inclined and decent at carpentry, welding, etc, but I've just never really had a knack for turning wrenches.
  4. Yup. My little soiree a few months ago kind of motivated me to take advantage of that firebox for parrilla options.
  5. Hannah needs to check her sources. This wasn't a rat snake in Mueller. This was a blue indigo pulled that climbed out of the toilet near Beeville about three years ago. This was my buddy's family ranch house. He faced a rash of shit when that female deputy had to come save him. It crawled into the vanity and she was able to get it out from there.
  6. A few more pictures of the BBQ project: I used a grinder to get the stone as flat / level / plumb as possible around the perimeter at the fire box opening. I'm going to install 2x2x1/8" angle with mitered corners around the perimeter of all four doors to try to get as tight of a seal as possible when the doors shut. The top two doors will be easy since they're installed on smooth 2-1/4" patio stone. This door and the vertical chamber door will be tougher to get dialed in. I ended up putting another layer of fire brick in the base of the fire box. I wanted to raise the floor of the fire box even with the opening so I could easily scoop out ashes. I'm going to build a heavy-gauge expanded metal rack, but will probably experiment with the fire directly on the fire brick as well. You can see the flat stock we installed at the top of the fire box. That was an afterthought. I went ahead and added that in case I want to cook directly over the fire at some point. You can also see the 1" pipe in the middle. That'll get cut. We ran it through the front side of the stone and it stops in the back side of the stone. I'll insert a pice of 3/4" solid rod through that sleeve and weld a baffle on there. Then, I'll install a handle on the front that will allow for the baffle to pivot 90* so I can regulate heat between the fire box and the main cooking chamber. That plate will be 1/4" as will the doors and lids. This is a better view of the main cooking chamber. You can see the ledge where the grate will sit and the pipe that will eventually be cut back so the baffle rod can sleeve through. You can't really see it in the picture, but I also put a 4" drain at the bottom so I can hose out grease and drippings. That pipe daylights down the back of the hill. Again, not visible in this pic, but I had the masons run the patio stone a few inches past the edge of the rock to give me a 12" area of counter space. The fire brick is offset in the main cooking chamber to allow for the grate to rest directly on the fire brick. Kind of a little ledge on both sides. Total area of the main cooking surface is approximately 32" x 46". Here's a view looking up the vertical chamber. I'm still not sure my flue location / design is ideal. We capped the top of the chamber with the same 2-1/4" patio stone. I had the masons cut a 4"x4" hole in the back corner. I'm planning on dropping in 4" square tubing and building a collar to hold it in place. There's room for two racks. I'm going to try to fab those racks where they slide but have a stop to keep them from falling out. That design is kinda TBD. I also added some 4" flat stock at the ceiling of the vertical chamber. I'm going to weld some hooks there so we can hang sausage.
  7. We were dead set on the robotics. My pool plumber added the plumbing for the suction for a minimal extra amount (I think $200 or so). At the urging of our pool maintenance company, we switched to the traditional Polaris due to trees in close proximity to the pool. I'm very glad we had that plumbing in place. I'd at least run the plumbing for that dedicated suction, even if you don't install the pump. You never know when you may want to switch back to that style. Plumbing is cheap until you shoot gunite.
  8. Yep. I lined it with fire brick on the fire box, cook chamber and vertical chamber. It was about 400 fire bricks in total. I probably could have / should have done the vertical chamber with steel, but I wanted it to look consistent on the exterior, and I had to take advantage of having the masons on site. The ideal setup would have been to pause masonry, set a steel vertical fire box, then clad it with stone. That would have made it less bulky. I'll take more detailed pics this evening and elaborate on some of the reasons on why I did what I did.
  9. Cross post from All Things Brisket since evidently my search skills suck. Will post updates as I work through the details. Anyhow, I've embarked on a project. I had my masons build this. Yesterday, I set the vertical pipes for the counterweight pulley system. I'm starting on the bulk of the steel install in a few weeks. Getting the doors laser cut next week. Totally winging it so far. Couldn't find anything close to drawings or plans online, but it's basically a single fire box + main cooking chamber (both on counter-weighted pulleys), and vertical chamber. Fire away with comments or criticism.
  10. I couldn't find a dedicated thread to BBQ pits / smokers. Seems like there was one a few years back about a BBQ trailer build. May have been on the old site. I did a search, but didn't find anything. If I'm missing the more appropriate thread, fire away with the neg rep. Anyhow, I've embarked on a project. I had my masons build this. Yesterday, I set the vertical pipes for the counterweight pulley system. I'm starting on the bulk of the steel install in a few weeks. Getting the doors laser cut next week. Totally winging it so far. Couldn't find anything close to drawings or plans online, but it's basically a single fire box + main cooking chamber (both on counter-weighted pulleys), and vertical chamber. I'll post more pics as it comes together. Fire away with comments or criticism.
  11. https://nypost.com/2016/03/07/bmw-admits-regret-over-using-nazi-slave-labor-during-wwii/
  12. I have bad news for you if you drive a Volkswagen, BMW, Honda, Mazda or Mitsubishi.
  13. I enjoyed an awesome lightning show last night at the ranch (western Kimble Co). I had to make a quick day trip up there to take care of a few things. It was ridiculously hot for May. About 6:30, the wind shifted and the clouds started to build off to the west. Awesome lightning to both the north and south. We had a few drops of rain, but not even really a trace. 15 miles north of us at Ft McKavett, they had 1.3". Go figure.
  14. This is me. I ran a sub 20 5K last week. But, I've actually gained a few pounds since mid-March. Feel great, but gotta start backing off the drinking. Been every damn day. Like many, this has been a nice re-boot for our family. Spring is usually crammed full of baseball. I'm still working like normal, but the time back from no baseball is what's made a difference. We're going for walks in the evening. Fishing a few times a week. Swimming with the kids. From a work perspective, this has taught me that I can (and should) work from home more. As a business owner, I've always felt that I need to be present to set a standard of visible leadership. I was always the first one there and the last one to leave. That's going to change. I'm implementing a self-imposed "work from home Wednesday" policy. It'll be a nice mid-week change of pace. I can still work a full day, but be around the house and not lose two hours of my day on the road.
  15. That seems pretty high. I would guess $125/SF for the pool (assuming average depth, normal tile, coping, no huge equipment upgrades, etc). Add $15K for the spa. So, I think your $80K budget is reasonable. Do you have crazy logistical challenges like a steep hill or did you add any other flatwork or outbuildings that would drive the price up?
  16. Ha! Yes we did. Good memory. I forgot about that. The old place was fine, but this one is a whole different level.
  17. Hopefully taking my son here in a few weeks. Need to firm up details. A good friend has this place on the LM at the north side of Baffin. Incredible place.
  18. This is the exact reason we went with a traditional system instead of the saltwater.
  19. Ski Shores had the best burgers in town before Austin Java bought them. At least, that was my opinion after being on the lake all day and drinking 18 Natural Lights in the sun. I went a few years back, and it just looked and felt sterile and contrived. Wasn't the same as the dive joint with a low ceiling, no AC and walk-up window.
  20. That's a good question. I think I saved about 20%. We had some wild estimates from other pool companies before we went this route. We had one company quote us $600K for the pool and pool house. We added a second structure (guest house) and I was able to do it for less than half that amount. It was a unique circumstance where I had access to experienced pool guys for layout, excavation and stonework through a friend of mine. I basically used his guys on loaner for a few months and paid them hourly. He had a big slowdown in work, so it kept them busy and saved me some money. Margins are surely higher in the pool business, but I know I probably paid a premium because I was a one-off client for the work that I subbed out. Pool rebar, pool plumbing, gunite and plaster were all trades that I don't use and didn't have relationships with. That stone work was very detailed and drove the cost up as well. If I had to build the same pool over again, I think I could do it for $20K less. Like I said in the previous post, the start-up and verification that systems were installed correctly was (and still are) probably my biggest hurdle. I'm still not 100% sure on that front. It would be nice to be able to call someone to get it all set up. The biggest thing that my specific background helped with were the schedule / logistics (we did the whole thing in under 90 days... even with the Rona and the rain). We also had some tricky details with the stonework, and I spent a lot of time getting the foundation right, ensuring all of the elevations tied in correctly to the flatwork and adjacent structures (both new) and making sure that everything was cohesive. We also had a ton of drainage to re-route. Building a standalone pool on flat ground in an open area is pretty straightforward with good subs. It's all the other bullshit that makes it challenging.
  21. This is 100% me. My wife is a phenomenal cook, and loves to bake. So, I've upped the miles to offset. Over the last 45 days, I've run almost 250 miles. But, I've eaten dessert probably 43 of those 45 days and consumed alcohol 40 of the 45 days.
  22. We set it up so that the gas heater is primarily for the spa and the heat pump / chiller is primarily for the pool. The intent is that you quickly warm up just the spa for a few hours, but you run the heat pump to increase the temp of the pool during the shoulder months so we can use it longer. That's good to hear about the minimal impact on the electric bill. The chiller portion was an upgrade. It may have been a bad decision, but we'll see. I have yet to talk to anyone who has any experience with it, and the limited reviews that I've seen online are all pretty pour. Definitely a roll of the dice. The pool is 75 right now, so I'm going to crank up the heat pump next week to see if we can get it up to the low 80s. Would like to have a pool in the 82-86 range for the duration of the summer.
  23. They're definitely around Central Texas in the wild. Just not very common. I saw one about six years ago along Onion Creek then another near my house about a year ago. There must've been a decent sized group of them at our deer lease when I was a kid because they were a pretty common occurrence when sitting in the deer stand. I don't think they're endangered, but certainly not common in this area. Cool find.
  24. Bump. Just filled up the new pool this weekend. Got the pumps running yesterday and first round of chemicals in. I GC'd this myself (I own a construction company). All in all, things went well, but I don't have the typical lifeline of a pool builder for some of the technical stuff and routine bullshit questions. Surly to the rescue. -How long before swimming? Pool plumber said a week. Pool chemical lady said 30 days. Plaster guy said a few days. My kids are chomping at the bit to jump in. -Any recommendations for Pentair Screenlogic Connect setup? Both the plumber and electrician weren't comfortable setting it up. -Anyone have any experience with a heat/cool pump? I purchased a Pentair UltraTemp 140K BTU Heat & Cool Pump with the goal of cooling the pool down some during the summer months. Plumber did a great install, but admittedly had no experience using them or setting them up. The pool chemicaly lady confirmed that it is installed correctly, but also has no experience with this particular unit. Anyone have any info / feedback on this?
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