My First Project Gloat!!!

[Keith Starosta]

I'm pretty sure I'm safe posting in this forum, due to the fact that I am going to be using my new PC recipricating saw to cut up a bunch of the brush that was cleared away to start this backyard project. :D

My wife has been hounding me since the day we moved into our new house in September of '01 that she wanted a pool. So, I finally gave in and we started looking at our options. We thought we had found our installer, and actually shelled out the down payment for our new in-ground concrete pool. Then we stumbled upon this small, privately-owned company here in Fredericksburg that installs vinyl-liner pools. We loved the look of the product, the warrenty that came with it, and above all.....the fact that it was more than 50% cheaper than the other pool. They started excavating on Wednesday and are more than halway complete.

Below are a Before and Midway picture showing their progress. About the only bummer of this project is that due to where the pool needed to be installed, we lost the four black walnut trees that were growing along our fense. I am planning on salvaging as much of the trunks as possible.

We are insanely excited about this thing. We should be swimming by Memorial Day! :D

The dimensions of the pool are 44'x26'x18', 8.5' deep under the diving board and 3.5' in the swimming area.

[Jim Becker]

Keith, the vinyl lined pool that my parents installed at the house I grew up in still has the same liner and is going strong! And it was installed in 1972...the woman who bought the house from the 'rents about 10 years ago enjoys the pool a lot to this day. Not bad performance!

[Keith Starosta]

I used Sketchup almost exclusively to come up with the design for this pool, along with the concrete decking and the wooden deck that will come later this summer. Here is a birdseye view from the back of the yard looking toward the house. Fun stuff!!

Keith

[Todd Burch]

Good for you Keith! Sketchup - gotta love it!

[Byron Trantham]

Keith, oh so nice! Congratulations! :D

[Jason Tuinstra]

Keith, looks great. So the party's at your house, right? I'll bring the dogs. :p

Now, about those crop circles in the backyard pre-digging. Are you located near area 51 or is there something you want to fess up to?

[Keith Starosta]

Keith, looks great. So the party's at your house, right? I'll bring the dogs. :p

Now, about those crop circles in the backyard pre-digging. Are you located near area 51 or is there something you want to fess up to?

LOL!!!! Jason, those are the remnants of where my son's old pool used to sit. The more pronounced circle was it's "permanent" home, and the other one is where I dumped it over last fall and left it lay for a couple .....errr......weeks. :eek: :(

Keith

[markus shaffer]

Keith,

You're doing it all wrong.. Your pool is the wrong shape and material.. I'm afraid you'll need to start over and use the following photo as reference for your new one..

Okay, well maybe not, but congratulations on the new watering hole..

-Markus

[Keith Starosta]

Keith,

You're doing it all wrong.. Your pool is the wrong shape and material.. I'm afraid you'll need to start over and use the following photo as reference for your new one..

Okay, well maybe not, but congratulations on the new watering hole..

-Markus


Markus,
Don't think the kid next door hasn't already mentioned something like that to me. I basically threatened him with great bodily harm if I ever see a skateboard anywhere near my backyard. :D ;)

Keith

[Chris Padilla]

I used Sketchup almost exclusively to come up with the design for this pool, along with the concrete decking and the wooden deck that will come later this summer. Here is a birdseye view from the back of the yard looking toward the house. Fun stuff!!

Keith
Ha, ha...nice SOLID hardwood fence you have there in Sketch-Up, Keith! :p

Pool looks good...I have one in my back yard. Built in 1979 I guess (still have the orignal invoice from 2 owner's back) and is all concrete...a figure eight is its shape. It is both a curse and a joy to have. I hope you have some kind of automatic pool cover. I have a 250 year old oak tree in my back yard and it would fill the pool with stuff if I let it...wish I had an auto cover....

[Keith Starosta]

Well, it's been just about three weeks since the first shovel went into the ground, and significant progress has been made on our pool. IN FACT, as of yesterday, all of the contracted work had been completed! :) The diving board still needs to be mounted, but that will happen probably this afternoon. The only thing I have left to do now is build the new deck, install the raut(sp?) iron fencing which will separate the two halves of the yard, build the 25' retaining wall on the other side of the yard, and then sod........sheesh, I'm tired already!! :D

The second picture is my 7 year old, Nicholas. He is somewhat enjoying himself these days... :rolleyes:

Keith

[Jason Roehl]

The only thing I have left to do now is build the new deck, install the raut(sp?) iron fencing which will separate the two halves of the yard, build the 25' retaining wall on the other side of the yard, and then sod........sheesh, I'm tired already!! :D

Since you asked on the spelling, it is wrought, as in a low-carbon iron that contains some slag and is resistant to corrosion. Wrought can also mean formed, also often used in reference to a metal. :)

[Chris Padilla]

Hey Keith...how come your grass is a different color than your neighbors? :p

[Keith Starosta]

Hey Keith...how come your grass is a different color than your neighbors? :p

It's a new hybrid that I found which will allow those bare patches to blend right into the existing earth. Very cool, huh?! :rolleyes:

I found a place relatively close to me that will sell me 2500 sq feet of sod for CHEAP! I'm going to go take a look at it before I pull the trigger, but CHEAP is good right about now. Until then, we deal with the dirt. :(

Keith

[Gary Whitt]

"The second picture is my 7 year old, Nicholas. He is somewhat enjoying himself these days..."

He doesn't seem to care that there is unfinished work to be done!!! :D

[Jim Becker]

They did an outstanding job on the pool, Keith. And if the price is right on that sod, you can't beat the "instant lawn" benefits.

[Chris Padilla]

Keith, do you need to have sprinklers redone or anything? That has got to be on the bottom of my list of fun stuff to do as a homeowner.... Looks like you'll need to plant some trees, too! :D

[Jason Tuinstra]

Keith, looks great.

[Bruce Page]

That Sketchup looks pretty neat. I wish my grass looked that good. :mad: :o :D

[Keith Starosta]

Thanks, guys!

Chris, we don't have any in-ground sprinklers to worry about, so all I'll have to do is prepare the soil (actually red clay) and slap down the sod. Being a "brand new" subdivision, there really aren't too many trees to be had anywhere, but we are definitely planning on adding to the two willows and one dogwood we currently have.

Bruce,
I wish the lawn in the front yard looked as nice as the SketchUp lawn does! ;) With time, maybe...

Keith

[jim barter]

Kieth / Great pool.I see the pool pump at the rear .Make sure that it is Ground Fault Protected.Any rebar in the slab around the pool deck has to be bonded as well as the stanctions for the metal ladder and diving board.This bond has to be min #6 AWG and taken back to the panel in the house.If you put a pool heater in, it to has to be GFCI protected or a metal current collector bonded to the house panel.
Have fun in the pool. JIM

[Stefan Antwarg]

So, what are the major differences between the original pool you were going to get and this one. It looks real nice, like other inground pools I have seen. I would never know that it was different. Can you provide ballpark figures on the prices of this and the other one you were looking into? My wife would love a pool, but I have always thought the price was too prohibitive.

Stefan

[Keith Starosta]

Jim,
Thanks for the advice. The pool is completely grounded all the way around the perimeter, as is the filter mechanism. The company (actually, the one guy and his brother) who installed the pool were top notch and extremely professional in their process. I couldn't have been happier or more impressed.

Stefan,
The major difference between the pool we were originally going to buy and the one we ended up with is price. My wife and I decided last year that we were going to take some of the beautiful equity we've built up since moving here in Sept. '01 (gotta love the DC regions real estate market :D ) and use it for a pool. The original company that got our down payment was going to install a concrete pool, which I like. It was outrageously expensive though. Had we ended up going with them, there would be NO WAY we could have done anything extra after installation, like decking, fencing, landscaping, etc. It would have killed the entire budget. We happened upon this smaller, local installer and brought him by. His products, while a bit more strict in layout and design, were just as nice looking, and....half the cost! :eek: Going with him allowed us to pour a bit more concrete for the decking, as well as beautify the backyard after all is said and done. On top of that, I will have enough left over to begin finishing my basement. Gotta like that!

As far as figures, the basic concrete pool, with very few extras, would have ended up costing somewhere in the mid-to-high 40's. We ended up paying around 23K for the pool, and 5K for the concrete and brick-work. As I said, we're very happy with it.

Keith

[Christopher Pine]

What are you standing on to take the pictures? :) Looks like I high view.
Chris PIne

[Stefan Antwarg]

Thanks. What about the feel of the pool on your feet? Is it just the vinal on top of dirt?

Stefan

[Keith Starosta]

Christopher,
Our 2nd floor bedroom overlooks the pool area. I took the shots from one of the windows after removing the screen.

Stephan,
After shaping the hole, they mixed and spread a material called vermiculite over the dirt. It has the look of concrete and hardens almost as hard. They use this to give the vinyl liner a strong, stiff surface. It eliminates the "footprints in the vinyl" scenario you might get from a regular above-ground vinyl pool. It works great!!

Keith