Let's Build A Pool! Part 6: Stone Work & Decking

Let's Build A Pool!

Part 6:  Stone Work & Decking

Last we updated the pool, we had finished the tile work more or less and had a big pile of rocks in our driveway.  A lot has happened - sort of - on the pool so this will be a long one with mostly pictures.

The stone guys, who are basically the same guys that did the tile and coping, showed up and I thought there was no way they could do anything because of a lot of rain we had been getting.  The pool was full of water and the ground was way too wet for them to use machinery to haul the giant stones back behind the pool.

It didn't slow them down at all.  They just hauled everything back there by hand and worked through the mud.

It's a slow process, working with giant stones, but it started to come together.

While the stone guys were doing their thing, the deck crews started working.  These are the guys that are pouring all the new patio area we are adding.  I "helped" them by adjusting their forms to exactly where I wanted them when they weren't there.

Branelle "helped" me.....I guess.

Still "helping".

One of the things the pool company is doing for me is moving these three palms.  It hadn't been done when the deck crew needed them gone so they just dug them out.  I hope they're ok.  They're still just laying there and I water them every day.

One morning my builder calls me and says "can we make sure that there's nothing blocking the driveway so I can have the cabinets delivered?"  I went outside and this was happening.  Oh well.

The guys doing the forms also started working on the irrigation.  This is very important in our yard, as we've basically built a dam where water used to naturally run off.  We've added a bunch of drains to take the water where it needs to go.

The guys got everything formed up pretty fast.  I told them that they wouldn't be able to do this part yet because we had to run some utilities but they did it anyway.

They even had the rebar in.  I felt bad because my builder tore all of this out completely while laying some pipe.  I had told the pool guys that they couldn't pour until this was done, but I didn't realize how much of their work was going to get messed up.

The stone guys kept working and finished up all the grout work.

Another thing that the deck guys were really good about helping me with was running sleeves for things like low voltage lighting that I would need later.  All I have to do is pull wire now.

One thing that happened that I wasn't expecting was the tile guys put these squares all over the pool to mark steps.  It's pretty common, but Nel doesn't like it.  I don't really care, and the pool guys say we can easily pop them off before spraying the pool if we want.  We will see.

After my builder finished up with the utilities, the deck guys came back out and fixed everything that was torn up.  They basically got it ready for inspection.

The stone guys have more or less finished with their work.  If I'm being honest, it's the one thing on the pool so far that I'm not crazy about.  It's not bad, but it's not exactly what I was imagining.  I think they're going to add some more stone so we'll see what happens.

It took days to get our inspection, but it worked out perfectly with the porch work that was going on.  The pool guys came out and made sure that all of the drain lines and electric lines were clear of the area to be poured.  

I was wondering how they were going to pour the patios and it was really interesting.  They just had concrete trucks back up into the driveway and they had this sort of motorized wheelbarrow that would take loads back and dump them.  They had to go all the way around the guest house with each load, but this thing was surprisingly fast.

The work went pretty fast.  They did a great job.  They made all the expansion joints sort of flow with the curves of our pool.  It clearly wasn't their first rodeo.

Finishing up.  Next up for the pool is....I'm not sure.  Unfortunately we've reached a point where the pool is going to be held up by the house build.  I had a separate electrical service added to the guest house for the pool to utilize, but the guest house has no power yet.  They won't spray the pool until they can fill it with water and they won't do that until they can turn it on, so it may be a while.