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Brew

Brew 3049

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On 10/4/2021 at 4:17 PM, BTW said:

Okay, I finally go a formal proposal from the peacock paver people.  And holy fuck it's expensive.  The pavers themselves actually aren't that bad, but shipping is adding 40% to the cost.  Plus the labor to put them down looks like it's going to be quite high.

So now the wife wants to do Teak decking instead of having the hardscape everywhere.  Something like this picture that she found on the internet:

Pre-Oiled-Teak-Swimming-Pool-Decking.jpg

Does anyone have anything like this at their pool?  Do you love/hate it?  Are we crazy?

Teak looks great when taken care of which is a process, not so much when it ages. However, I can’t see any way that true teak would in any way be cheaper than a stone alternative. I’ve never seen it used in that large a layout or around a pool either.

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BTW
BTW

Here are some after pics for the project.  We started last September and have been swimming since Easter.  Pavilion/outdoor kitchen have recently been completed.  Sectional in the pavilion is incomple

Tailgate
Tailgate

Weather was a big slow down with the rain we had last year. Also removing an in-ground floor system I didn’t realize was installed was the other big delay...I don’t want my pool to look like it has 20

PorscheGuy
PorscheGuy

Before: pool built in the late 70’s. Major structural issues and ancient equipment that cost a fortune to repair over the years and maintain. Also had dated landscaping and flagstone After: wante

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BTW

BTW 370

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The guy at the lumber yard seemed pretty surprised when I called him to get a quote on how many board feet of teak I was needing.  I'm waiting for a price, but if my google searches are close to right, it's still price competitive with the all-in cost of the peacock pavers.

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MonkeyDoughnut

MonkeyDoughnut 10340

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1 hour ago, BTW said:

The guy at the lumber yard seemed pretty surprised when I called him to get a quote on how many board feet of teak I was needing.  I'm waiting for a price, but if my google searches are close to right, it's still price competitive with the all-in cost of the peacock pavers.

I assume you'll have to put in some type of aluminum underlaying and possible concrete under that?  Is that how it's done to keep level and clipped into place?

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BTW

BTW 370

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Yes, My understanding is that we'll pour concrete underneath as a base to lay it on.  Either we'll pour footings and stretch weed barrier between, or we'll pour it all the way across then lay the boards on top.  It sounds like we are leaning toward the latter with drainage channels down the centers.  That way water can flow below the deck out to the curb and doesn't collect under the deck and make mosquito-ville USA

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Brew

Brew 3049

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Factor in the maintenance side of things as teak is a labor of love to keep it looking nice at least in the boat applications I’ve always used it in. Have you looked at the higher end composite decking material? It may be something to at least check out as what we used has a really nice look and has held up well.

It still seems odd to not be doing either stone or finished concrete. I can’t say I’ve even seen a wood decking on an in ground pool that I recall.

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TexasEd

TexasEd 8067

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On 10/4/2021 at 10:05 PM, Dutchrudder said:

Going through design phase with a few pool companies before we decide what to do. Anyone have tips, things they wish they did, anything to avoid? I can share some mockups for feedback once I have them.

Speaking with one builder, they refuse to do salt water installation. Apparently the salt ruins metal and lots of other stuff around the yard, and they don't want the liability of it. They said that chlorine cartridge filters are the most common, but that a DE filter is much cheaper in the long run. Anyone have opinions on DE filters?

  • If you get a spa get jets where you want them.  My wife wishes we had one in the floor for her feet.  She broke her ankle 12 years ago and would love to massage them in the spa.
  • I just started up my Salt Water Chlorine Generator on Saturday.  so far all good.  I run it at 50% production and have the pump down to 1000 rpm for most of the day.  It has been holding chlorine between 4-6 ppm with a heavy load of acorns and crap being dropped in from trees.
  • Definitely get the robot pool cleaner.  I have the Polaris Alpha iQ+ and love it.
  • Don't let them short change you on lights for the pool.
  • Get as much patio as you can around it.  We have a ton and it makes parties fun.
  • Upgrade the tile.  we did (glass) and even though there was more upfront cost it's one of those things you should just do
  • Variable speed main filtration pump.  We have a single speed for water features but wish that one was variable too.  It is running full blast and then I use valves to control the pressure of the water features so it is wasting energy making more pressure than I need.

Filters:

  • I did cartridge because I went salt and did not want to backwash my balanced saltwater out and have to replace salt and rebalance all the time. Cartridge will filter out the second smallest particles after DE
  • Diatomaceous Earth (DE) We had one when I was in high school.  These are the ones that leave white powder in the street when people back wash.  You can bump them between backwashes. After a backwash or break down you add more DE to the skimmers to coat the grid in the filter body.  These filter out the smallest particles.  Some places out west are zoning them out because of wasted water and contaminants with backwash process
  • Sand - Like DE in that you backwash and add sand but is the least efficient at filtering
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boilerhorn

boilerhorn 1398

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Agree w/ everything @TexasEd said on the options.  It's easy to say when it's not my money, but don't skimp on options that are "permanent" (tile, deck, water features, etc.)  On our first pool, my wife designed a small rock waterfall at the shallow end.  It fed a relatively short "stream" leading into the pool.  A raised rock was placed as a step to enable walking on the deck from one side of the stream to another.  I do not have a picture handy, but it was great looking and worth the extra money.

Good point about DE vs. Cartridge on a salt chlorinator.  However, the salinity/balance challenge is similar after a large party with kids.  You'll typically lose around 1% of pool water when backwashing, so (assuming you add water) a 20k gallon pool would need about another 5-6 lbs to get back to the same balance.  As noted, it'll be another required step in the process.

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BillyBadAss

BillyBadAss 189

Posted
Posted
On 10/4/2021 at 10:05 PM, Dutchrudder said:

Going through design phase with a few pool companies before we decide what to do. Anyone have tips, things they wish they did, anything to avoid? I can share some mockups for feedback once I have them.

Speaking with one builder, they refuse to do salt water installation. Apparently the salt ruins metal and lots of other stuff around the yard, and they don't want the liability of it. They said that chlorine cartridge filters are the most common, but that a DE filter is much cheaper in the long run. Anyone have opinions on DE filters?
 

RE: sanitation - I opted to go with a liquid chlorine pump which I'm going to tee into the pool return and hook up through the pool control system via a relay to a 110 outlet so I can automate adding bleach to the pool. My pool build is not complete yet, so I can't give you a review of the system, but I got most of the information form here: 

https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/stenner-liquid-chlorine-pump-how-to-choose-and-install.169591/

This is the pump/tank I bought ($470) : 

https://www.poolweb.com/products/15-gallon-gray-chemical-tank-with-45mp2-model-fixed-pump-25-psi-10-gpd-120-volt-1-4-inch-uv-tubing

 

They are going to put in a chlorine puck feeder (pvc) tube also as a backup option. 

 

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troph

troph 24902

Posted
Posted
On 10/4/2021 at 3:17 PM, BTW said:

Okay, I finally go a formal proposal from the peacock paver people.  And holy fuck it's expensive.  The pavers themselves actually aren't that bad, but shipping is adding 40% to the cost.  Plus the labor to put them down looks like it's going to be quite high.

So now the wife wants to do Teak decking instead of having the hardscape everywhere.  Something like this picture that she found on the internet:

Pre-Oiled-Teak-Swimming-Pool-Decking.jpg

Does anyone have anything like this at their pool?  Do you love/hate it?  Are we crazy?

We did ipe on our last pool (not our current) and I won’t ever do real wood again. Yes it looks fantastic … at first … and at times … but the maintenance is stupid-dumb expensive and it has to be done a lot and it doesn’t look new like that for very long. We had to oil ours 3-4x a year and wood decking is hot as fuck when walking around barefoot in the heat of the summer. 

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Your Mom

Your Mom 4830

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1 hour ago, fattyflattie said:

Need one of y’all to build some janky homemade pool so I can post pics after that.  That’s really nice @TexEx15

I got you man…  Yours is looking good. I think yours started after mine and I’m still 2 weeks (allegedly) from tile and coping and another week from having the deck poured  

191C5013-0647-4F74-B9ED-6224548239EE.thumb.jpeg.5e6dba476c25b7a9a62726fd0b360719.jpeg

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fattyflattie

fattyflattie 4638

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1 hour ago, Your Mom said:

I think yours started after mine and I’m still 2 weeks (allegedly) from tile and coping and another week from having the deck poured  

We dug sept 2 iirc. Longest wait between “large” milestones was about 7-10 days. Supposed to get the decking done this week, which will be nice. 

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TexasEd

TexasEd 8067

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Posted (edited)

Speaking of SWG I love mine almost a month in.  Kept up with all the acorns and leaves falling and even one of the heavy rain storms.  Working on dialing it back now that the sun is not hitting the pool as much as it was before.

F the service company we had to use for startup that rarely/never put any chlorine in my pool and waited an extra 30 days to put salt in my pool (and then only because I kept bugging them).  This is so much better than dealing with those guys or putting tabs in my pool.

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TexasEd

TexasEd 8067

Posted
Posted (edited)
22 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

Any opinions on IFCs? Got one builder recommending a PCC2000 saying it makes maintenance easy. Seems like a better option than a Polaris.

I considered it. It is a lot more money and repairs have to be done in the pool. Get a robot that plugs in and you can remove it for cleaning and repair. You can also upgrade it in 10 years. 
my robot is so easy to use. It runs every morning and all but the worst times I clean it weekly. I can’t get behind the idea of sending all that stuff to the main filter. It will all be in the pump basket. 
 

acorns and bigger leaves will not go through the main drain and you have to vaccinate them out. My robot picks up acorns and leaves. 

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MonkeyDoughnut

MonkeyDoughnut 10340

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20 hours ago, Quagmire said:

Anyone ever built an enclosure over their equipment ? Would like to get one of those plastic pre fab sheds from Home Depot , but probably bad idea with pool heater. May just do a fence around it and one of those sun shades over the top

I'd just build a fence around it if you're just trying to hide it visually.  No need for the cover over it.

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fattyflattie

fattyflattie 4638

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On 10/24/2021 at 3:16 PM, Quagmire said:

Anyone ever built an enclosure over their equipment ? Would like to get one of those plastic pre fab sheds from Home Depot , but probably bad idea with pool heater. May just do a fence around it and one of those sun shades over the top

I’m thinking about building something in case of another freezeapocolypse so that I can throw some heat to it.  But nothing for the visual. When they wanted to put it on the other side of the yard I looked into some fencing to pretty it up. 

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BillyBadAss

BillyBadAss 189

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Posted

Can anyone tell me what a standard bench depth in a spa should be? 

Our (in progress build) is 24" from the bench to top of coping, 22" to bottom of coping. My wife is concerned she wont be able to sit comfortably since she's not very tall. 

I don't know if this is a standard thing or something I can reasonable raise to the builder as a problem. 

 

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TexasEd

TexasEd 8067

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Posted

 

2 minutes ago, BillyBadAss said:

Can anyone tell me what a standard bench depth in a spa should be? 

Our (in progress build) is 24" from the bench to top of coping, 22" to bottom of coping. My wife is concerned she wont be able to sit comfortably since she's not very tall. 

I don't know if this is a standard thing or something I can reasonable raise to the builder as a problem. 

 

Have them build it to your specs.  You may want some deeper and others more shallow.  Jet position relative to your back is a big deal.  Water line will be about 3 inches below the top of the forms.  My wife is disappointed she did not get more detailed on how to do ours and that we did not include a foot jet.

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BillyBadAss

BillyBadAss 189

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.. another question - for the skimmers they made the "runway" leading to the skimmer slanted down. As in, pool side is 3 or so inches higher than the skimmer compartment itself so water would flow downhill into the skimmer. Every other skimmer I've seen the "runway" has been flat.  Is this some new thing or is there an advantage? 

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Bevo

Bevo 13592

Posted
Posted
On 10/24/2021 at 3:16 PM, Quagmire said:

Anyone ever built an enclosure over their equipment ? Would like to get one of those plastic pre fab sheds from Home Depot , but probably bad idea with pool heater. May just do a fence around it and one of those sun shades over the top

Mine is sunken to pool level with walls on all sides. You can't have the equipment enclosed, but you could put a roof over it like on a patio. I don't know if it would help keep the pool equipment in better condition - maybe a little so things like the clamp around the filter may last longer. Overall, though, I don't think it would be worth the effort.

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PantsTent

PantsTent 2002

Posted
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49 minutes ago, TexasEd said:

 

Have them build it to your specs.  You may want some deeper and others more shallow.  Jet position relative to your back is a big deal.  Water line will be about 3 inches below the top of the forms.  My wife is disappointed she did not get more detailed on how to do ours and that we did not include a foot jet.

Yeah, we didn't think it through and just went with builders recommendation as well.  They did put a two level bench though so 3 jets are one height and 2 jets are the other so that's an option too.

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TexEx15

TexEx15 17563

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Enchubben said:

@TexEx15

nice setup. Have similar kitchen/stone, now considering doing a matching fireplace on the other side after seeing how that looks.

I also need to add an overhead vent over the grill which I’m not pleased about. 

Dim trying to think about a solution for that as well.  Natural wind patterns often blow smoke into my face while grilling.

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Enchubben

Enchubben 5510

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My issue is that the smoke gets sucked inside when people are constantly using doors by the grill and it sets off fire alarms. The overhead fan appears to circulate the smoke under the patio roof.

Its either going to be an adjustable fan on the wall by the grill facing outward if I can find a nice enough looking one, or the expensive vent. Wish I had the foresight to have that pre plumbed/wired in during construction.

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TexasEd

TexasEd 8067

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, BillyBadAss said:

.. another question - for the skimmers they made the "runway" leading to the skimmer slanted down. As in, pool side is 3 or so inches higher than the skimmer compartment itself so water would flow downhill into the skimmer. Every other skimmer I've seen the "runway" has been flat.  Is this some new thing or is there an advantage? 

Until the tile is in place you don't know what the angle will be.  They will put mortar there to get the level they want because it is easier to fine tune the level of the mortar than the gunnite.

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BillyBadAss

BillyBadAss 189

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, TexasEd said:

Until the tile is in place you don't know what the angle will be.  They will put mortar there to get the level they want because it is easier to fine tune the level of the mortar than the gunnite.

The tile is placed, it's about a 20-30 degree slope down from front (poolside) to back (skimmer box). I'm going to bring it  up to the builder when he comes by next, but trying to arm myself with information beforehand. 

edit: perhaps closer to 10-20 degree slope

Edited by BillyBadAss
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