Fill'er Up!

All the rain was great for our new plants, but not so great for getting to the plaster part of the pool. So, when the plaster guys showed up at the crack of early on a non-soccer Saturday morning, we weren't too annoyed at missing out on a good sleep-in opportunity. We were ready to get on with this already. Dad was completely fascinated with watching the guys get set up and ready for their plastering job. So much so, I had way too many pictures to edit for this part of the pool process...! ;)

Thus the picture of the guys' shoes in the shot above. They wore these spiky platforms on their shoes so they could walk around the plaster as they sprayed it on.

Once they got to what I referred to as a "fondant" stage in the plaster set up, they switched to wrapping their feet in sponges and towels so they could walk around smoothing out the surface of the plaster everywhere. Eventually it was set up enough that they could get around in just their socks.

Voila! Smooth gray finish... Hmm, gray is what we DIDN'T want...

And there goes the water! They wrapped a towel around the end of the hose so the water would fill in gently.

And, by golly, it IS blue!

Now, we get to brush the acid filled water hole in our backyard to make the surface smooth. Oh, the pressure! If we don't get it brushed good and smooth it could be really rough on the feet. This is stressing me out now. It's like being handed a brand new baby and having absolutely NO idea what to do! 8O

But, don't it look purdy?

Ok, I was totally going to title this post "Getting Plastered"... But I refrained... :}~

Something Besides BROWN

We finally reached the point of adding a color other than a shade of brown to our backyard. We were going to do the landscaping and sod replacement ourselves, but... We're so glad we didn't! There are too many other projects we want to do out there, so we'll focus our energy on those instead.The steps were designed with small planting beds in between each stair. I'm NOT a fan of river rock, but I acquiesced due to drainage at the bottom step...


Dad isn't a fan of nandinas, but I like the way they turn colors during different seasons. One of them is a bit scalped at the bottom, but it will fill in eventually. They gave us some anchor plants, so we have room to add all the other things we want around those.

They're still working some of the beds. Hoping to get them finished before the rain hits. It would be really good to get sod in before the rain, but there's a shortage of sod right now, so the delivery has been delayed... Ready to be done with mud so I can let Heidi out in her backyard.

The Stoning Continues...

The stone guys loved working in our backyard so much, they just had to come back and do some more works of art...Once the decking was good and cured, the stone guys returned to finish out the fire pit, steps, flagstone transition and retaining wall bench. Heidi's checking out the work they've done so far...
And then, of course, it rained. A lot. Our pool was a lovely chalky green color. Not quite what we had in mind...

The flagstone transition between the patio extention and the new pool deck came out very nicely.

They put some boulders in place for the bench around the firepit before the decking was poured and then capped them off with a flagstone top. Very creative of them to combine the randomness of the flagstone with the blending of the boulders.

And then for the firepit, they echoed the squares and rectangles of the spa and (of course) stuck another boulder on the end. There will be lava rock along the fire ring inside the fire pit/bench.

Bit by bit, it's coming together.

Next up - LANDSCAPING! :) Adding a little color to this brown mass of boulders and concrete...

All Decked Out

Once up on a time, I had no idea what "decking" was when referring to a pool. To me, "decking" was the wood slatted porch people built outside their back door. So, if that is what you picture when you hear of "decking", let me clarify that we do not have a wooden slat patio around our pool. :) Oh, the things we have learned through this building process... It was exciting to see the forms set for the decking. Ok, every step of this project has been exciting to see.
We trusted our designer with the color suggestion he gave us for the decking, but we still wanted to see what it looked like on someone else's pool. So, we visited two different backyards in the area to see what theirs looked like. We decided we liked the look of the one where they mixed the color into the concrete as they laid it down (as opposed to spraying an acid stain onto the concrete after the fact).

It was interesting to watch how they poured and smoothed and scraped and smoothed and pushed and smoothed the concrete into the forms.

Once it started setting up, they threw the powdered color hardener out on the smooth surface. Then, they troweled and smoothed it and did the whole thing again with more powder.

After it set for a bit, they took rock salt and threw it out on the colored surface to make the pits.

They pressed the rock salt down with their trowels.

The decking is a dark walnut and while it does look good with the color of everything else, we're thinking is going to be a bit hot on the feet when the hot summer gets here. Of course, what concrete isn't hot during the summer...? I'll post more pics of the deck surface after it cures good and the rock salt all dissipates.

The "Quarry"

We were so excited the day the stone guys arrived with LOADS of boulders and flagstone.

When they left the first day, they had managed to lay out these stones - the coping around the spa. And so the stoning began and continued. V.E.R.Y. S.L.O.W.L.Y.
Every little bit was exciting to see, though. The spa began to take shape.

The boulder weeping wall began to take shape. I watched them place the long, diving-board-shaped jumping rock. I wanted to take pictures of them trying to balance the heavy rock on their bobcat tractor - rock dangling from a chain with 3 guys counter-weighing by hanging on the back of the tractor. I was too scared to laugh at the funny sight. I just knew that big rock was about to crash down into the bottom of the pool.

Sometimes they would lay out stones, cutting and moving them and never mortaring them down until a few days later. Laying aside impatience, we finally discovered that these guys were artists. They would cut and place and rework the stones until they had them like they liked them. They would even take a hammer to what they'd already done and redo it if it didn't look right. I was skeptical at first, but soon learned to trust their judgement and suggestions.

It seriously looked like a rock quarry out there at times with all the rocks and boulders and equipment laying everywhere. And it was SOOOO dusty! Forget trying to keep floors clean in the house because there was a layer of dust on EVERYTHING inside and out.

Every couple of days, the view would change.

The coping stone work would get mortared in. The waterfall steps would start filling in and connecting all the way to the boulder wall.

Finally, the decking was all formed in! It's coming together!

It's Not Swimming Season Yet, What's the Rush?

Having never been a part of building a pool before, this has been quite an enlightening experience. One thing I have learned is that those guys really know what they're doing. And it's amazing to me that the hole I was concerned about here or the gap I was concerned about there actually had a purpose and all those guys knew what it was. I think we've been fortunate to have a team of workers on this project instead of individually contracted units that come when it's their turn to do something new in our backyard. The hole digging guys dug, but then the steel guys had to come and dig some more as they laid the steel after we had to make some minor changes to a few spots around the pool. And the plumbers were working right alongside the steel guys, digging and prepping their specific areas of the pool. The gunite guys knew what was supposed to be where even though there was steel sticking up here and there and the edges looked chaotic to me. And I still don't get why certain areas look the way they do. I'm trusting they know, though.

Bear and Little Girl (with a neighbor) are making use of the "tanning ledge" on a sunny Saturday afternoon... Goofballs! :)
Forms are set for the steel guys to start doing their thing. There were more forms set, but they had to dig out the waterfall steps and more areas for boulders in the back.

Steel is in and plumbing is plumbed. Some of the "funny" holes are starting to make sense. Still trying to figure out where the "water level" is going to be...

These guys made a MESS!! I mean three houses down and all over the yard kind of mess! They were incredibly loud. Their machinery truck took up the whole front of our house. It was obnoxious! SO SORRY, NEIGHBORS!!! :-/

And after a day of blowing and bellowing, we finally have a smooth cement pond in our backyard. And, low and behold, I discover that I have to "water" the thing for a week while it cures?? Seriously?? Oh, the things we have learned about building a pool...

Digging the Hole

For the three people who read this blog (my mom, Sabrina and Linda...) here's the latest news and a few pictures. :)

To the surprise of us all, Dad actually signed the papers to build a pool last month. (Let me pause while you pick yourself up off the floor...) He immediately emailed me a copy of the contract just to prove it. We were all stunned.

While he was gone on a mission trip to El Salvador with Bit and Bear this week they started digging. It's a good thing they did because after his week in Central America, he very well might have torn up the contract upon returning home. As it is, we have a crater in our backyard that will be our long-discussed pool.

Now, I have to wonder if we're just that picky or if everyone is as nerve wracked about the permanence of a pool structure in the backyard? I keep finding things to ask questions about. The placement of this rock here. The height of that step there. The space and color and... This is incredibly stressful!

The digging machine they drove into the back yard was huge! I kept waiting for it to hit something, but that guy was a pro. He didn't even hit his coworkers when they were digging down in the hole along side his big bucket! Bye-bye just-beginning-to-get-green grass... And it was the best grass in the whole yard...

It didn't take long for them to start putting forms up around the edges of the hole. I was amazed at how they could measure and tell exactly where to dig and how deep. Looked complicated to me.

It was absolutely perfect weather to be outside digging a pool.

The digger dug his way to the edge of the pool hole and then started working on the "deep" end. Not really that deep, but it looks that way for now. No diving board for us.
They had to move the maple tree to get the machine in the backyard, but they put the little guy back before they left. Hope it makes it! And they left QUITE a mess! It looks even worse out at the street. Thank goodness they're supposed to fix it all up before they're done. And thank goodness the contract says they'll fix the neighbor's yard, too... They spread their mess a little wide.
We're still in discussion about some details that have come up with elevation, so hopefully we'll have steel and concrete in a couple of days once we get these things figured out... Meeting with the designer in the morning.