20'x36'
3' to 8'deep
1/2" rebar 6"-8" OC
Diving Board (Salt Version)
Tanning Ledge w/2 bubblers
Grotto/Waterfall
2 skimmers
6 returns
SWG system
StoneScapes Mini pebbles(color ???)
Natural Stone coping sealed
Waterfall will be a mix of Idaho Quartz and Moss Boulders, will have 3-4 outlets plus recessed areas on the sides toward the top for small fire features I will install later
480 Polaris cleaner
2hp speed pump
60 ft2 DE Filter
PDA and Pro Logic controls
2 LED lights
1 LED Spa light in waterfall(maybe)
3-5 umbrella sleeves around pool
560' sqft Salt rock decking
75' of retaining walls with random stacked stone and flag cap
3-4 steps flagstone tied into the current back porch

May be missing a few items. Any ideas or input would be great as I would like to make any changes before the dig starts in a week.
Thanks!

Careful with the plants so close to the pool. Many don't like the salt.

5 Umbrella sleeves seems like a lot, I can't see more than two with this layout.

Where are you located?

Scott

Plants are just their for show from the designer. I plan to have them build up the area there with soil and then plant on top of and behind the low burm. What types of plants do you think would work best with a salt pool, I was thinking some kinds of palms or ferns??

Two of the sleeves will double as Volley Ball sleeves. The other two or three will go in shallow and deep end of pool, will probably keep it around 4 total. Everyone I have talked with said they wish they had more once the pool was built. I have found covers for the sleeves so they wont be open holes.They can also double for Tiki torch sleeves. Easiere to fill them in if I don't need them then to drill them out if I wanted more, plus the PB is not charging for them.

I am in the DFW area about 20 miles south of the Metro-Mess. We have alot of open land around us and tones of cedar and oak trees behind and around us, but none in our back yard.

Thanks again for the input.

I am a strong proponent of sticking with a single vendor on pump, filter and lighting equipment but when it comes to pool sweeps. Hayward's have been problematic in the past with reliability and I don't seen any reason to use theirs.

The two pressure side cleaners I like are the RayVac and the Polaris 280 (with booster). The RayVac would use some flow from primary pump.

Using the RayVac also frees a relay for other uses such as decorative landscape lighting. All it needs is a valve actuator. I suggest putting it's connection in the pool below the garden nearest the house. Putting it on the waterfall side will result in getting the hose dirty.

Having a berm close to the pool may result in soil, mulch, or organic debris like leaf litter getting in the pool. Decorative stone instead of mulch might be considered an option to help keep the soil in place.

Volley Ball and a deep end might not work well. The deep end's slope and pool shape will limit playability.

Are you planning to warm or cool the pool? A heat pump with the cooling option might be worth considering. Aqua-Cal has the best of breed there.

If you go with the dive stand, you might want to extend the concrete on the deep end a bit. Rotating the pool a 10 degrees, while shortening the shallow end's decking would give the area around the dive stand a bit more space for decking. Your artist's rendition doesn't show the dive stand so ask them to put it on. You'll see what I mean.

Hope this helps! Happy Holidays!

Scott

I'd also consider wrapping your steps all the way around the sunshelf instead of just off of one side. In the first pool I built, my steps came off just one side of the sunshelf and I felt like it was always a traffic jam because everyone had to go up and down in the same place.

FWIW, just my .02

We are building our 2nd pool now and my decisions on this 2nd pool are all based on what worked and didn't work the first time around.

Good luck!

Good point Amy on the steps, had not even given that any thought, but I like your idea. We have a 9 yr old and a 5 yr old and a ct full of neighborhood kids so I can see where congestion could take place.

Scott, all the equipment is Hayward and it is the Tri Star 2hp/2speed, the PB upgraded the pool cleaner to the Polaris 480 at no extra cost, any thoughts on that unit? The lights are the Hayward Colorlogic, we are going with 2 of them, will this be enough to really light up the pool well? We really want the pool to light up brightly and full at night.
On the flower bed burm on the back side I did plan to fill out much of it with Colorado cobble around plants and then 1"-2" colored river rock in other areas to fill in the other areas. What I would like is to try and hide the equip. pad some, I did plan to put some cedar trellis on the sides and top of equip. pad the walls would be offset 2-3' on each side and back to allow ample access to the pumps and filter, also these walls will be easy mounted so they can be removed if needed. Will probably have some kind of vine to grow on them as well.
Thanks again for all the input, will post pictures as the process proceeds. Irrigation guys come out tomorrow to shut down the system and get a layout from me of the sprinklers in and around the house and yard.

The reason I like the Ray Vac is no booster pump is required and it costs less.

Scott

Absolutely, I've never interacted with a city, municipality, or township that didn't require one.
Ask you pool builder to drive a stake on the line nearest the house to your finished coping level at this time too.

See ya,
Kelly

Boys up on one side of the track-hoe

Some forms in place, track-hoe resting for the night. Boys thought it was like having a dinosore in the back yard. I really need to get one of these for my next toy!

Equipment Delivered.

Overhead view of finished dig 20'x 36'

View from shallow end.

Trav and Savannah checking out the dirt.

Boy Jones 2 weeks without work progress...hope it picks up soon for you. with the weather and ten the Holiday's I'm sue that pushed it back some. Does it have to be a certain temp to do the interior work? How many weeks out are you from completion?

as far as completion, not sure on that either. all that has to be done is clean up, interior, sealing stone and rock not necessarily in that order i guess. i'm thinking that all can be completed in a weeks time provided the weather cooperates.

keep the pictures coming!

See ya,
Kelly

Scott

Tile & coping and electrical all went in tis week as well as 80' of retaining wall and steps that are not seen.

Close up of tile and coping

Two very muddy puppies. They are loving all the mounds of dirt and the mud, but hate sleeping in the untility room at night. Will give them both a good bath once it warms up some this next week.
Retaing walls and steps will get done this next week as well as the 6 ton waterfall area.

Tara

Will post some pictures of the finished waterfall when they are done.

Side view of the feature, note the large rock toward the bottom right....will make a perfect adult beverage ledge!

Shot from the top looking over the large sheer slab. They placed the slab to over hang the bench area by 8" so the water sheer will fall just in front of you when sitting under the fall.

One of the retaining walls in chopped mill sap and OK Flag on the cap. Also the stairs coming from the porch.In the design the PB had them all square and straight,I had them round them out the day the forms were put in. I think with all the radius's of the pool squared off and straight steps would have driven me nuts!

Deck forms and rebar go in tomorrow and then pouring of the deck on Turs or Friday. We are about 3 weeks into the build and things seem to be going smoothly.

Do you think it needs more stone? From the top of the fall to the water line it's a 4' drop and 12' wide across.

Maybe I can come up with a little prize for the closest winner.

Oh and to answer the other above question our pool came to $42,000 with the PB throwing in the salt version diving board. I had bids from $65K-$38K all for the exact same pool. I went with our builder due to their time in business and a few people I knew that had used them before. They were not the cheapest, actually they were about in the middle on price and then made some adjustments to get competaive, but did not change any of the design, equipment or scope of the work.

Salt Rock Deck as it is now:

Samples of Salt Deck at PB shop

Hope your pool start up goes well. We are still a little ways out I think.

BTW, the two LED's we put in our pool was the best upgrade we did by far. can't imagine not doing that now.

keep the pics coming. weather doesn't sound like it's going to cooperate for most of the day tomorrow or thursday.

keep the updated pics coming when you have time!

During my build the first deck company my PB used botched the hand seeded aggregate. It was awful with chunks of aggregate missing everywhere. Very sloppy job. My PB stepped up and made them jackhammer it all up and we got another company in to do it right. It was a mess but well worth it for the end result.

Any thought out there on Spray decking and what pattern looks and performs the best???

Thanks to all for the great comments.

Scott

And I like the idea of adding some dark browns mixed or worked into the design.

They did tell me at one time what they could do after the fact but I don't recall what the process was. I think it was re-shooting some gunite along with using some flagstone to extend out the ledge. I'm sure it was more $$ then the PB wanted to do for it so the PB made some concessions on equipment which we felt worked out. The Tanning ledge will hold two chase chairs...but it's tight and kinda blocks the stairs with one of the chairs. I know it was only a few inches, but the wife was very clear during all meetings that she wanted the ledge a certain way and size. For her the tanning ledge was the pool....she did not really care how the rest of the pool went.

To others in the building stage be sure to get your tape measure out during the build and take measurements of those items or features that are size sensitive. If the steps are to be a certain height or width be sure to measure. We did this and I mentioned it to the PB Cost. Manager and he mentioned it to the gunite sub to shoot it out another 12", the sub failed to do this thus the shorter ledge depth. Things happen during major construction projects, even when your on top of them. The good thing is hopefully you have chosen a builder that steps up to the plate and addresses the issues and offers a way to resolve the matter that is workable for the owner.
Now to figure out what what style decking to go with....I hate trying to figure this stuff out. :)

I'm am uncertain what the best way to contact you is but I am going to want you to do my garage floor this summer.

Here's a picture of my last toy, got out of racing about 4 years ago but still love the cars. (sorry about the poor picture, I will try to find some better ones later)

I have never done any "actual" drag racing but have always wanted to. Most of mine was on back streets and the serv. roads out my way back in the day. Thank goodness the street racing stuff was not around when I was in HS....could have been a goner for sure. Funny thing is the cars I have had and fixed up as an adult would blow the cars away I had in HS, but I'm an old fart now and very rarely get them over the speed limit. Weird how that works. I guess it's the love of the sound and feel that really does it for me these days.

Need to paint that 66...wanna project?

Feel free to e-mail me or call and I'd be happy to take a look at your garage.

We also ran a 762ci motor without any power adds in a True Sportsman class and used the 16" slicks.

Been known to stick a small block in there when the money was right.

It was a blast but I'm glad I am out of it as it eats up a lot of money.

I have a few questions for you so I will email you.

Hopefully all this cold winter weather is now behind us.
I'm sick of it.

See ya,
Kelly