swimming pool!

made in the shade

brogan75 — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:57:02 +0000

At last, the patio cover is done! We love it. It has louvers that can move to either totally block out the sun or let it in, powered by a solar battery.

And we have palm trees . . . .

And here are the stone veneer and walls

Finally, a wet noodle

brogan75 — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 03:43:14 +0000

The noodle finally got a spin around the pool and has decided that it was worth the wait. And the float has been out also. It was named by the Wall Street Journal as the best float in an article that I saw today! So thanks to everyone responsible for them.

There are still a few more things to finish before we can really say the pool is done. Then comes the pppaaaarrrrttyyyyyyyy.

Blue, blue water

brogan75 — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 03:52:43 +0000

The moment has arrived–the pool is filling with water! It took about 5-6 hours to plaster the inside of the pool this morning. It was another one of those messy jobs with lots of dust/dirt thrown in the air from cleaning the pool out before applying the plaster. The color is gray which makes the water look blue. It apparently also helps heat the pool. Once you start filling the pool you can’t stop until it is full or it will leave marks on the plaster. Looks like it might be full in the middle of the night so we will have to keep monitoring it tonight. For two weeks we have to brush the bottom and sides down to get rid of plaster dust so that it doesn’t permanently get stuck to the bottom or sides, making it very rough. Of course, the weather took a turn and is much cooler tonight, probably in the 50s. We’re looking forward to the first dip.

Here are some pics of it beginning to fill:

water at the bottom of the deep end

hard to see but there is water in the deep end

Water is on the way!

brogan75 — Thu, 31 May 2007 04:38:50 +0000

Lots of activity this week. The flagstone is almost all grouted and then it will be washed with muriatic acid. The pop up pool cleaner heads have been installed. Target for doing the pool plaster is either Friday or Monday. And the water goes in immediately after the plaster so we should have a pool very soon. Had a little scare as the filter was not holding pressure–it could have meant a leak somewhere, but it was just a minor problem with the filter–all fixed. So we are coming down the home stretch!

Hopefully coming down the home stretch

brogan75 — Mon, 28 May 2007 21:56:30 +0000

It has been a while since I’ve updated the progress on the pool. The spa was up and running May 7. It has been so nice to relax at the end of the day and watch the stars come out. We’ve had 6 people in at once and there was still room for more!

We are still waiting for the steps we ordered which match the outside of the spa and go across all of one side. These are loaner steps. The top was installed backwards, which they will fix when the steps come. But at least we can get the wonderful relaxing massage effect of the jets!

The flagstone has taken much longer than I could ever have imagined. They almost have it all mortared in and still need to do the grouting. If I had known how long it takes, I might have considered doing something else, although it will look wonderful when it is completed. The flagstone creates so much dust and dirt that it is better to wait to complete the inside of the pool until it is done otherwise you just get lots of dirt in the pool or on the cover. Here are some pics of the current state of things:

We hope to hear that the pool company has scheduled the completion this week and we will be swimming laps by the weekend. Then on to the landscaping, and the stone work in the front of the house, and the inside of the house, and . . . . seems like we are never really done.

One big puzzle

brogan75 — Sun, 06 May 2007 21:45:38 +0000

Last Tuesday they began to layout the flagstone. It is one giant puzzle except that instead of putting the pieces together, they are cutting the pieces to fit. The whole flagstone business is supposed to take 10-12 days! That puts us over my hoped for completion date. Maybe there will be water by Mothers Day.

And the roses are blooming

We’re filling the spa tonight in preparation for the electrician who comes at 8 a.m. sharp tomorrow.

Yeeaaahhhhhhh! Progress

brogan75 — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:59:13 +0000

Today the concrete foundation for the flagstone path, patio, and pool decking was put down. They started at 7 a.m. and left around 2 p.m. Tomorrow the flagstone will be delivered and they will begin to cut and lay it out. We are told it could take 7-10 days to do that–longer than I imagined.

Latest pics:

relaxing by the rebar

arrival of one of several cement mixers

OK, so I don’t have this picture editing thing down. I wanted to overlap the pictures but somehow I can’t get them to move. But you can use your imagination. While you are imagining, think buff flagstone over the concrete . . . and water in the pool!

Another angle

brogan75 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:16:01 +0000

Here’s another shot of it with all of it’s wiring wonders–still looks like spagetti and is not all hooked up.

R2D2??

brogan75 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:08:14 +0000

We have a new addition. Looks sort of like R2D2 and a little sidekick. Installed this morning. Or maybe like a Weber kettle grill.

We’re coping here

brogan75 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 00:05:22 +0000

Pool progress comes in fits and starts and we’ve had a lot of activity recently. Yes, the rest of the tile has been installed along with the coping. Coping is what goes around the pool and decking is what is around the coping. The coping looks like this (and you can see the tile on the wall):

The decking will also be made of arizona flagstone like the coping, but it will be in large random shapes and it will extend out from the coping. The dirt is lower now to allow space for the concrete which goes under the flagstone decking.

Most of the extra dirt in the yard has been removed and the workers are starting to layout the footings for the decking, path and patio. So it is starting to look more like a yard again. The pool people are testing for leaks in the pipes that go to the pool so any can be fixed before the decking goes in. I’m still hopeful that the pool will be done by May 1, but hard to know. In the meantime, we are coping . . . . .

Other recent pictures: