Yes: Pools are worth it....

[Poolflood 845]

When you moved in, did you get a home warranty?  Usually they will cover the replacement.  

It's probably not leaking from the cord.

Imho have 2 new lights pulled that are LED (color changing) if you want to spend the money.  Or have tech come check out the lights and wiring.  Those are 120v lights by the looks of them and the GFCI and all that shit needs to be right.  

I'm changing my LED lights this fall to new 12v LED lights.  There's a manufacturer that has Burnt Orange as one of their colors.

[joe dirt 285]

On 8/7/2020 at 1:09 AM, williemackgarza said:

My depth is 7 ft at one end and 4.5 ft near the spa.
I pretty much owner built mine and havent added up all the costs.
Original pool builder quoted us $70k with the spa, salt and chiller. That did not include my deck of conc/travertine, waterfall, and slide. After the dig/rebar the PB took forever. So,got rid of him and took over.
3 weeks since gunite and Im almost all full of water. Slide shipped today, need to kool cote the existing brown deck and concrete sidewalk from the spa to the slide location, so need to tie up a few things but we are ready to swim. Gonna take a break and get it done in Sept.

badass!

we’re nearing two weeks now since rebar and rough in plumbing. builder said we were on the schedule for gunite this week, but tmrw is friday and not a fuckin peep. 

[Poolflood 845]

44 minutes ago, joe dirt said:

badass!

we’re nearing two weeks now since rebar and rough in plumbing. builder said we were on the schedule for gunite this week, but tmrw is friday and not a fuckin peep. 

Gunite is fucked this year.

[Buzzrock 14902]

When you moved in, did you get a home warranty?  Usually they will cover the replacement.  
It's probably not leaking from the cord.
Imho have 2 new lights pulled that are LED (color changing) if you want to spend the money.  Or have tech come check out the lights and wiring.  Those are 120v lights by the looks of them and the GFCI and all that shit needs to be right.  
I'm changing my LED lights this fall to new 12v LED lights.  There's a manufacturer that has Burnt Orange as one of their colors.

They are 120, and you can get color changing LED bulbs for them (I already have one for the big light). I just gotta fix the water problem that is tripping the GFCI in the spa light.

[Poolflood 845]

13 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

 

They are 120, and you can get color changing LED bulbs for them (I already have one for the big light). I just gotta fix the water problem that is tripping the GFCI in the spa light.

 

Yeah I know.  Again 120 and tripping gfci screams call a tech.  But then again I'm very cautious in that regard.  

[Fudbelty 2787]

Who says Surly is useless shit? I just happened to open it up while laying in bed and this thread made me remember I didn’t turn the water off to the pool.

[williemackgarza 1826]

badass!
we’re nearing two weeks now since rebar and rough in plumbing. builder said we were on the schedule for gunite this week, but tmrw is friday and not a fuckin peep. 

Gunite is crazy busy right now.
Scheduled into oct from what I hear

[joe dirt 285]

14 hours ago, Poolflood said:

Gunite is fucked this year.

 

11 hours ago, williemackgarza said:

Gunite is crazy busy right now.
Scheduled into oct from what I hear

so i’ve heard. i’m just hoping i’m one that’s already booked before oct haha. talked to the builder this morning and he seems to think we can get it done by end of wk next wk. 😒

[MonkeyDoughnut 10227]

If in Houston area, Gunite crews have been hit hard with COVID to workers I'm told... that with demand has pushed them way back. Only a few companies/crews for entire area.. crazy

[williemackgarza 1826]

I know last month, one of the gunite companies here, part of custom crete, had to send a couple crews to houston to finish up some big roadwork project because of crews being down in Htown (I guess it coulda been covid related).

[Buzzrock 14902]

Yeah I know.  Again 120 and tripping gfci screams call a tech.  But then again I'm very cautious in that regard.  

I’m about at that point just because I just want it done. I don’t even really care to have a light in the spa. Maybe I can just disconnect that relay.

[joe dirt 285]

3 weeks since rebar and still no gunite. builder told us he expected it to happen “very early this week”. 😒

not sure why they can’t trench and lay the rest of the plumbing and other shit while we’re waiting.

after the weekend rain, the hole held some water for a few days. a little frog was in there living it up. fucker got to be the first to swim in our pool. 

[Poolflood 845]

2 hours ago, joe dirt said:

3 weeks since rebar and still no gunite. builder told us he expected it to happen “very early this week”. 😒

not sure why they can’t trench and lay the rest of the plumbing and other shit while we’re waiting.

after the weekend rain, the hole held some water for a few days. a little frog was in there living it up. fucker got to be the first to swim in our pool. 

Builders all over the state are in a bad position.  Builder is at the mercy of his gunite company and quite frankly his gunite company is at the mercy of his crew(s).   Be patient.  As long as builder is covering costs of fixing the hole prior to gunite just know he wants it done as least as much as you.  I know of a pool co in houston market that has close to 100 pools in your situation...  push to have equipment delivered at least.  Equipment manufacturers are having issues as well.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Poolflood

[williemackgarza 1826]

Yep. I waited 1 month for gunite, bug coulda been easily longer. I had to pay cash day of to entice our gunite guy to shoot mine.
Good luck.

[joe dirt 285]

finally got our motherfuckin gunite today. i gotta water this bitch down a bunch over the next week while lady dirt decides on tile and stone. builder says eta is still 4-5 weeks to completion, but it’s good to finally see progress! 

[Poolflood 845]

40 minutes ago, joe dirt said:

finally got our motherfuckin gunite today. i gotta water this bitch down a bunch over the next week while lady dirt decides on tile and stone. builder says eta is still 4-5 weeks to completion, but it’s good to finally see progress! 

Congrats!

[williemackgarza 1826]

Noice! Hopefully your pool equipment is all in at the supplier. That seems to be the next choke point.

[Poolflood 845]

11 hours ago, williemackgarza said:

Noice! Hopefully your pool equipment is all in at the supplier. That seems to be the next choke point.

Pool equipment.  Travertine, waterline tile...

[markersmake 15]

Our dig started 7/27 gunite was 4 days later. Decking coming this week, as it’s all in our front yard..  North Houston. Had a gunite or lack of gunite discussion with our builder at the time they said they had a weekly slot, no matter what.  Can’t wait to jump in. First pool so we are excited.

[williemackgarza 1826]

Congrats mm. Sounds like your pool builders got it going on.

[joe dirt 285]

On 8/28/2020 at 8:05 AM, williemackgarza said:

Noice! Hopefully your pool equipment is all in at the supplier. That seems to be the next choke point.

man i hope not. he said he hasn’t had any delays ordering equipment or tile so fingers crossed.

i ordered a dolphin a30 robot from here on wednesday and it delivered this morning. $899 shipped, while the polaris 280 and dedicated booster pump i removed would’ve cost $1100*. it’s not much in the grand scheme of the total build cost, but i still feel like i won haha.  

[williemackgarza 1826]

I just set in my pentair 930 robot. Damn thing is tha shit. Cleaned everything up quick. Just plug in and its off to the races. Has bluetooth and you can move it with a joystick.
Starting my salt next week.

[joe dirt 285]

they started on coping today and dropped off a bunch stone. it’s nice to see things actually happening now. 

our builder told us yesterday that his plaster guy no longer installs quartzscape, so we’re getting something called microfusion for the same cost. in my 3 second googlings, i see it’s mini pebble and i’m surprised we’re not being charged additional for it. 

[Poolflood 845]

18 minutes ago, joe dirt said:

they started on coping today and dropped off a bunch stone. it’s nice to see things actually happening now. 

our builder told us yesterday that his plaster guy no longer installs quartzscape, so we’re getting something called microfusion for the same cost. in my 3 second googlings, i see it’s mini pebble and i’m surprised we’re not being charged additional for it. 

Npt/scp probably out of your quartz.  Micro is common substitute now for quartz and mini pebble.  Most of cost is labor/capital, not product.

[Poolflood 845]

40 minutes ago, Poolflood said:

Npt/scp probably out of your quartz.  Micro is common substitute now for quartz and mini pebble.  Most of cost is labor/capital, not product.

Oh and pebble >>>>> quartz.  

[Spur08 382]

How difficult/expensive is it to do plumbing work on a pool after it's built?  Just bought this house and I'm thinking about having an overflow drain installed after having to drain 5 inches out of the pool from the rain last night

[BradInATX 9208]

We've got our build down to two builders. Will probably sign in the next week. This is the first pool I've built so I'd be interested to hear you old grizzled pool veterans' opinions. 26x16 at the widest points. Sun shelf is 6 feet in length and about 6 wide.. Spa will be built into an existing limestone shelf. Bench seating all the way around the deep end, and the three bar stools and bar will face a big TV (in a covered outdoor living room type thing).

I won't have that type of tropical landscaping. I'm in the hill country with cactuses and oaks and snakes. Also I don't have corn fields all around me nor do I live in Kansas, the actual backdrop of the property is greenbelt. It'll probably be mostly xeriscape around the pool since there are already a few badass prickly pears and other native plants visible from the pool area.

A few questions as well as just soliciting general thoughts/ideas/what am I missing type things:
- I'm unsure about the bench seating all the way around because kids will want to jump in somewhere. Wondering if I should only wrap it about halfway around
- Are fire burners worth it, or the type of thing that you use once or twice in the beginning and never again?
- Thoughts on springing an extra $15k to get flagstone extended onto the existing deck (you can see it in the overhead view, the part that is just concrete)?

TIA

Long view

 

Night w/fire 

 

Overhead

Edited September 3, 2020 by BradInATX

[Hate 20106]

I would extend the flagstone if the 15K is within your budget.  I'd only do the benches halfway as they will rarely get used other than as a resting place for your kids and you don't want hem getting in the way of kids jumping into the pool.  I have no idea what fire burners are.  Where is the TV going?

[troph 24781]

All of what hate said and I would just add a fire table near seating areas after the fact. I’ve never seen fire burners like that. Also are those stools? I’ve never seen Those used.  Instead make sure there is plenty of 4-5 foot deep areas around the edge on the house side for adults to lounge.  Adults like shallower kids like deep. Teens won’t swim at all if it’s shallow some it it’s deep but even then maybe not.  Make sure you have enough hot tub jets and pool lights for night time fun.  I’d add exterior Landscape lighting too. 

Edited September 3, 2020 by troph

[Yarbr 123]

I'm a cheap bastard and would just do flagstone around the perimeter and bring the concrete deck to the flagstone perimeter.

[obigbo 8]

13 hours ago, Spur08 said:

How difficult/expensive is it to do plumbing work on a pool after it's built?  Just bought this house and I'm thinking about having an overflow drain installed after having to drain 5 inches out of the pool from the rain last night

Why drain water out of the pool?  It will evaporate at some point and it doesnt hurt if it overflows a little.  When you drain, you lose chemicals.

[Spur08 382]

Why drain water out of the pool?  It will evaporate at some point and it doesnt hurt if it overflows a little.  When you drain, you lose chemicals.

I had to drain abt 5" out after the storms earlier this week and the water line is still at the decking. To not have done that wojld have flooded the entire yard and, maybe, the house.

[Hate 20106]

@bradinatx make sure your pool builder installs a drain to prevent overflow. It most likely won’t be a problem where you are, but we all know how quickly we can get 8-10 inches of rain dumped on us here in Texas. The last thing you want to do is to have to run out in the rain to start draining the pool if it becomes too full. I’d also talk to him about installing a couple of drains on your decking to make sure the water doesn’t pond during heavy rain events. You don’t want standing water on your deck as it will lead to staining.

Some people have an auto fill on their pool as well so they don’t have to worry about the water level getting too low. I don’t have that on mine and I have mixed thoughts about it. On one hand, it’s nice to know your water level will remain constant if you go out of town. On the other hand, if you ever do develop a leak in your pool you won’t know it without discovering the physical evidence or recognizing it on your water bill.

[PantsTent 2002]

18 hours ago, BradInATX said:

We've got our build down to two builders. Will probably sign in the next week. This is the first pool I've built so I'd be interested to hear you old grizzled pool veterans' opinions. 26x16 at the widest points. Sun shelf is 6 feet in length and about 6 wide.. Spa will be built into an existing limestone shelf. Bench seating all the way around the deep end, and the three bar stools and bar will face a big TV (in a covered outdoor living room type thing).

I won't have that type of tropical landscaping. I'm in the hill country with cactuses and oaks and snakes. Also I don't have corn fields all around me nor do I live in Kansas, the actual backdrop of the property is greenbelt. It'll probably be mostly xeriscape around the pool since there are already a few badass prickly pears and other native plants visible from the pool area.

A few questions as well as just soliciting general thoughts/ideas/what am I missing type things:
- I'm unsure about the bench seating all the way around because kids will want to jump in somewhere. Wondering if I should only wrap it about halfway around
- Are fire burners worth it, or the type of thing that you use once or twice in the beginning and never again?
- Thoughts on springing an extra $15k to get flagstone extended onto the existing deck (you can see it in the overhead view, the part that is just concrete)?

TIA

Long view

 

Night w/fire 

 

Overhead

That's pretty nice. I'm about 5-6 weeks ahead of you in the process. Should start next week.  Our guy is old-school hand drawn only so we didn't get any cool pictures.  I wouldn't spend on the all flag-stone (we're doing coping only and concrete) but that's a personal preference and/or budget thing.  I agree with the others that all the bench seating isn't needed since you already have a few prime seating areas with the stools and even the sun deck. Looking forward to joining this thread as a pool owner!

Oh, and I sure hope they are worth it... 

[Poolflood 845]

22 hours ago, Spur08 said:

How difficult/expensive is it to do plumbing work on a pool after it's built?  Just bought this house and I'm thinking about having an overflow drain installed after having to drain 5 inches out of the pool from the rain last night

You want to install at equipment at this point.  Overflow at the pool is going to be more expensive.  

You have a cartridge filter?

[Spur08 382]

You want to install at equipment at this point.  Overflow at the pool is going to be more expensive.  
You have a cartridge filter?

I dont know what that means. Literally bought a house w a pool and don't know shit

[Spur08 382]

@bradinatx make sure your pool builder installs a drain to prevent overflow. It most likely won’t be a problem where you are, but we all know how quickly we can get 8-10 inches of rain dumped on us here in Texas. The last thing you want to do is to have to run out in the rain to start draining the pool if it becomes too full. I’d also talk to him about installing a couple of drains on your decking to make sure the water doesn’t pond during heavy rain events. You don’t want standing water on your deck as it will lead to staining.

Some people have an auto fill on their pool as well so they don’t have to worry about the water level getting too low. I don’t have that on mine and I have mixed thoughts about it. On one hand, it’s nice to know your water level will remain constant if you go out of town. On the other hand, if you ever do develop a leak in your pool you won’t know it without discovering the physical evidence or recognizing it on your water bill.

This is what I want to add after the fact

[Poolflood 845]

3 minutes ago, Spur08 said:

5 minutes ago, Poolflood said:

You want to install at equipment at this point.  Overflow at the pool is going to be more expensive.  
You have a cartridge filter?

I dont know what that means. Literally bought a house w a pool and don't know shit

Lol.  Look at label on side of filter - if it's still visible.  Will be DE (diatomaceous earth), sand or cartridge.  If it's one of the first 2 you will have a valve connected to the filter that will usually  have a "waste" option.

If it's  a cartridge filter the easiest and cheapest way is to install a waste port off of drain plug for the heavy rains.  Adding overflow now will usually run north of 1500 at this point.  It's a do it yourself under $100.  It wont drain pool during rain on it's own but will drain high water pretty quick.

 

[BradInATX 9208]

@Hate - thanks man. I know there is a drainage line for the actual deck itself, but I'm not sure if the pool itself actually has an overflow/drain. That's exactly why I posted that post, because I wanted to get things that I never would have thought about. I'll ask the builder. "Fire burner" is a fire feature I guess it's called, but it's just a propane burner that throws a couple of flames out of the rock/waterfall area. I'll attach a couple of terrible pics, but they should give you a rough idea of the TV layout that you asked about. It's basically a pergola that's going to have a steel roof, and two solid sides, with a bar and outdoor sofa. Showing you a 3d model of that and the sightline.

@troph the stools will definitely get used. My wife and I spend a lot of time in pools and we always post up at those. Especially with a sightline towards the TV mentioned above. NBA from in the pool, NFL from the hot tub. 

And I think just about everyone convinced me to dial back the bench seating some. 

Much appreciated, ya'll.

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by BradInATX

[Hate 20106]

Personally I wouldn't do the fire feature, but that's just me.  If you want to create ambiance, I would work with the pool builder on the lighting.  Spend that money on something that you'll use versus something you won't use very often.  Just my opinion.  Maybe others that have that feature can weigh in on whether or not they ever use theirs. 

[troph 24781]

stools makes sense with where you have the TV and if y'all use them then that's all that matters.

[BottleRocket 644]

I guess I’m dense or something because I don’t understand all of this overflow talk. My wife freaks out every time a big storm comes through and the pool level is full but it’s not a crisis or anything. The water just goes into the yard and drains off just like all the other water that’s not landing in the pool drains. If it’s summertime I’ll just do a few cannonballs and it will all be cool. I mean it’s not like they are intended to be a detention pond or anything.

[BradInATX 9208]

31 minutes ago, Hate said:

Personally I wouldn't do the fire feature, but that's just me.  If you want to create ambiance, I would work with the pool builder on the lighting.  Spend that money on something that you'll use versus something you won't use very often.  Just my opinion.  Maybe others that have that feature can weigh in on whether or not they ever use theirs. 

Yeah that's the debate. Was hoping someone else had them. They're probably the cheapest thing on the pool, though. It's about $1500 for two of them.

[Hate 20106]

Spend the $$ on a bad ass lighting system instead. 

[BradInATX 9208]

2 minutes ago, Hate said:

Spend the $$ on a bad ass lighting system instead. 

For the pool? Or landscape? I don't really have anything around it landscaped yet, figure I'll do that after the pool is in. So in terms of landscape lighting, can't really put lighting in because I don't know what we're lighting up yet.

[Hate 20106]

For the pool.  It won't cost $1500, but I'd put some cool light designs in.  Maybe near some of the water features. Kind of uplighting for the water features.

[El Tri 412]

14 hours ago, BradInATX said:

@Hate - thanks man. I know there is a drainage line for the actual deck itself, but I'm not sure if the pool itself actually has an overflow/drain. That's exactly why I posted that post, because I wanted to get things that I never would have thought about. I'll ask the builder. "Fire burner" is a fire feature I guess it's called, but it's just a propane burner that throws a couple of flames out of the rock/waterfall area. I'll attach a couple of terrible pics, but they should give you a rough idea of the TV layout that you asked about. It's basically a pergola that's going to have a steel roof, and two solid sides, with a bar and outdoor sofa. Showing you a 3d model of that and the sightline.

@troph the stools will definitely get used. My wife and I spend a lot of time in pools and we always post up at those. Especially with a sightline towards the TV mentioned above. NBA from in the pool, NFL from the hot tub. 

And I think just about everyone convinced me to dial back the bench seating some. 

Much appreciated, ya'll.

 

we had 3 stools built into our pool and we use them often. I'm waiting for an electrician to come out and wire the outdoor patio area so i can install a TV where the stools are

[Damor 1236]

In lieu of a real fire feature, we installed a couple of the Pentair Magic Bowls:


(not my photo)

It was the first time our builder had used them, so we didn't know what to expect, but we like them a lot and we haven't had any problems with them (yet) after about two years. 

Hassle-free, the kids like hanging around under the spillover, and it gives an approximation of a fire feature without inviting stupid adolescent male mischief.

[HouTex 1866]

I guess I’m dense or something because I don’t understand all of this overflow talk. My wife freaks out every time a big storm comes through and the pool level is full but it’s not a crisis or anything. The water just goes into the yard and drains off just like all the other water that’s not landing in the pool drains. If it’s summertime I’ll just do a few cannonballs and it will all be cool. I mean it’s not like they are intended to be a detention pond or anything.

I had a cartridge filter for my pool at my previous home and on the few occasions I thought I needed to drain water I used an inexpensive submersible pump connected to a garden hose.

[Landomatic 3813]

On 9/2/2020 at 10:04 PM, BradInATX said:

We've got our build down to two builders. Will probably sign in the next week. This is the first pool I've built so I'd be interested to hear you old grizzled pool veterans' opinions. 26x16 at the widest points. Sun shelf is 6 feet in length and about 6 wide.. Spa will be built into an existing limestone shelf. Bench seating all the way around the deep end, and the three bar stools and bar will face a big TV (in a covered outdoor living room type thing).

I won't have that type of tropical landscaping. I'm in the hill country with cactuses and oaks and snakes. Also I don't have corn fields all around me nor do I live in Kansas, the actual backdrop of the property is greenbelt. It'll probably be mostly xeriscape around the pool since there are already a few badass prickly pears and other native plants visible from the pool area.

A few questions as well as just soliciting general thoughts/ideas/what am I missing type things:
- I'm unsure about the bench seating all the way around because kids will want to jump in somewhere. Wondering if I should only wrap it about halfway around
- Are fire burners worth it, or the type of thing that you use once or twice in the beginning and never again?
- Thoughts on springing an extra $15k to get flagstone extended onto the existing deck (you can see it in the overhead view, the part that is just concrete)?

TIA

Long view

 

Night w/fire 

 

Overhead

Just my 2 cents...

I'd lose the sun shelf.  Had them in my last two pools and NEVER used them.  I think they're good in theory but not that great in reality.  If you lay in a chair in there, you're not really in the water so you might as well just lay on a chaise on the deck.  If you lay submerged in the water in there, you might as well just be in the pool for full submersion.  They're pretty worthless, other than as an aesthetic element.  But I'd muuuuuuch rather have the swimming space.

I've never had fire before, but I think it looks cool with the look and feel you've got going.  You may not use it that much when it's just you, but if/when you entertain, it's a pretty big wow factor if you ask me.  I guess it depends on the cost but if it's not too bad, I'd go for it.

Bench seating all the way around on the deep end is probably overkill, but I'd keep the half closest to the house, depending on your furniture plan.  Aside from just a place for your kids to fuck around on, I've found we really use the seats closest to the seating on deck, kind of like your barstools.  If there are going to be chaises down near that deep end (or any kind of sitting area), I can't count the number of times the wife is on the chaise and I want to be in the water with a drink, but still want to be close enough to talk to her.  That was probably the number one criteria when we designed pool number 3...seating in the water that could converse with every seating area on deck.

On the flagstone, I would scrap it altogether and save that money.  In full disclosure, I hate flagstone, so I might be a little bias.  But, from a look and feel standpoint, I don't think you want 3 different surfaces happening.  Plus, keep in mind with any kind of furniture, that bumpy flagstone is going to be less than ideal.  I'd go with much more of a tone-on-tone feel with your decking just to keep it from looking choppy.  If you have to have it, I'd just use it for coping around the pool and the spa and make the rest something that matches the larger limestone. 

Barstools are badass (had them on one pool) for all the reasons you stated.  Keep those.