swimming pool!

Some more recents pics . . . .

After a one day delay due to weather forcasts, the gunite is being applied to the pool. The weather really wasn’t as bad as predicted, just a little rain, and today we have blue skies with billowy clouds.

My neighbor was watching the process and she said she didn’t know whether to admire the guys for all of their hard work or think they were stupid for not finding a better job. It looks awful–they blow pressurized concrete onto the bottom and sides of the pool. There was a lot of “dust” or steam or something billowing up in the air while they worked so they must be breathing that stuff in. I could see them getting concrete sinuses! There were always at least 2 cement trucks here at all times–one waiting and one dumping. They apply several layers and smooth it out. Then we have to water it down 15 minutes twice a day for 10 days. That is when we would like a little rain to do the job for us.

Tuesday we wet test the spa that we are considering. 5-6 person capacity to hold those visitors with a little waterfall. One seat is called the cool-down seat so your feet/legs are in but you are up out of the hot water. We have to pick colors for the spa–possibly gray around the outside and maybe a speckled interior. We need to see the real thing rather than just pictures.

P.S. even tho that last pic was rotated before I uploaded, this is how it came out. Oh well.

It always helps to talk with the big boss. Mike, the owner of the pool company we are using, was able to show us pictures with the larger track for the pool cover and said he was willing to use the flagstone we wanted. He thought they could cantilever it a bit out so that you really wouldn’t notice the track that much except when you are at eyelevel in the pool. Also the larger track is much sturdier, meant for commercial applications. So we are back to the original plan. The Landscaper was happy about that also.

Yesterday they started on the rebar and it looks like they are finished with it today.  Next is the inspection and then on to the gunite!

The plumbers have been working hard and installing a lot of pipe in the pool area.  They have hand dug a ditch from the pool to the back of the garage where the pool equipment will go and to also connect in to the power supply.  These guys work HARD!  The whole site is very muddy from the rain–the bright side is that there isn’t any dust blowing around.

Yesterday we picked out tile for the water line.  It is glass tile with a green, blue, gold pattern.  You are never quite sure how it will look until it is installed.

We ran into a glitch about the pool cover.  The flagstone for the decking is not strong enough for the normal track installation of the pool cover, so we have some choices:

don’t use flagstone for the coping so we can use the thinner track which is less obtrusive, or use the thicker track

use flagstone but have a thicker track which raises the pool about an inch which may or may not be a problem with the decking to the house

use concrete for the coping which would allow the thinner track for the cover

use brick coping which allows the thinner track but doesn’t really go with anything else in the yard

We are leaning toward the concrete which can be colored to look more the like the flagstone.  Of course, all of this comes with a price–the only thing that doesn’t add on to the cost is the brick coping.  Any opinions out there?

Next comes the rebar and then the first inspection which could be as soon as the end of the week.

Bright and early at 7 a.m. the first worker arrived to begin digging the pool. It will take about a day and a half–as long as it does not rain tomorrow. There is a huge mound of dirt in the backyard and they have only dug down a little bit. The dirt looks fantastic from a gardener point of view, but it is being hauled away.

Today we marked out the pool location with day-glow orange paint in the backyard.  They hope to begin digging on Wed or Thursday.  An archeologist has to be present in case they unearth any Chumash native american remains.  We expect it to take a day or two.  I’ll take some “before” pictures tomorrow for the record.