Saw this on the weekend at one of the better "gadget" web sites. I know that wife.com is going to find this one a tough sale - but I always wanted my own robot...

Maybe I can position it as a "hygiene tool"... maybe like a big anti bacterial "wet wipe"

Speeding up

This morning the builder called to tell us that there will be a number of steps accomplished this week - and that with luck the next round of inspection might be complete by Friday as well.

The current schedule is for the tile to be completed today, the electric installation to be started Tuesday and completed by Wednesday - while at the same time the deck crew forms and pours the concrete footings for the deck, the pads for our screen enclosure, the coping that will overhang the pool edge and the built up area behind the waterfall. That means two different crews will both be in and around the pool the next couple of days.

The builder has requested another county inspection on Friday - so they are really working to get these parallel tasks complete

That would put construction about 5 weeks ahead of the "worst case scenario" we were provided when the project began three weeks ago - but now I need to act quickly and get the screen enclosure itself under contract ASAP.

For those of you not used to FL pools - the custom here is to put a large screen enclosure around your pool - thus keeping bugs away and allowing one to leave doors and windows open, and providing a real extension of your living area. (an example of these types of screens is pictured to the right)

Folks here use the pool and the deck area as another family room, even going so far as to mount big screen TVs and stereos on the walls so that they can enjoy the area year round.

end of the beginning - not yet beginning of the end

Friday was the first day folks started to actually work INSIDE the pool.

Stage one is the tile.

We are tiling the "waterfall" area and the border between the deck level and the water level itself with a 4X4 inch tile called "African blue".... it should look nice "wet" - we are hoping for a slate look.... thin the showers in a W hotel.

Our initial reaction on seeing the tiles was that these were darker than we remembered when picking them out in the showroom - but we still think it should look good with the very light blue color of the pool finish itself.

The dark circle you see under the ledge is actually one of three underwater lights that we are installing. ... two under the waterfall - and another on the front corner of the shell.

I remember pool lights as waterproof spotlights.... this is another area where the technology has changed. These lights are more decorative - with the ability to program different colors and vary those colors in real time.

Backfill and inspection approval

It took a few days for the folks from Seminole County to come and inspect the shell, the plumbing etc - but that stage is now complete.

The next day the contractor was back with another bobcat and backfilled all of the dirt into the plumbing trenches - and back up against the shell itself.

Received a phone call this afternoon that the tile starts to go into the pool itself next.

week 2 - plumbing

Once the shell is in place - another series of trenches are dug around the pool to enplace the various pipes that are going to run the operation of the pool itself.

We have a lot of extra "stuff" going on here - and the volume of piping reflects that.

The pool I grew up with was about the same dimensions as this new one, but quite a bit deeper and it had a single pump and filter. This pool is going to have three separate pumping systems, one for the pool itself - one for the waterfall - and a third to drive the counter current swim system.

It took almost 3 days to install the various bits of plumbing - what my friends on the tech side would call the pool's infrastructure.

The next step is to leave all of these trenches exposed so that the county can inspect and sign off on this phase - then the holes are filled in and we can start on the "finishing" of the pool.

Interesting phrase that "finishing" - seems like the vast majority of the big stuff is complete - but the contractors are telling me that it is going to be another 5-8 weeks to actually commission the pool.... this is the slow expensive stuff moving forward.

We have a shell

Here we are on Friday the 13th - only 5 days after folks showed up to start digging the hole - and already the basic outline of the pool is complete.

It is not called cement - nor is it referred to as pouring.... in fact I was told (slowly and patiently by the pool guys) that it is called shooting the gunnite shell of the pool.

A rather large truck loaded with the gunnite gets as close as possible to the pool itself (again it is provind really helpful to have an empty lot beside us) and one man "shoots" the stream of wet watery concrete like stuff over the frame while a couple of his crewmates smooth out the surface and even use trowels to cut out holes for elements like the waterfall, light fixtures etc.

All told this process took less than 6 hours to complete.

One week - and the basic shape of the pool is in place!

Framing

Again, we are struck by how much more quickly some types of construction can be accomplished here in FL than at home. Maybe it is the fact that our pool is not really that big compared to some - but they are really moving.

Next step was installing a special corrugated cardboard (i suspect just to keep sand out) around the basic shape of the pool then to create the skeleton of the structure with rebar. At the same time many of the "through the wall" elements like our lights, in ground cleaning system etc are all roughed in prior to the concrete being poured.

2 days is all it took to complete the framing and rough in.

Might as well come clean here on some those those "extras" that are going to be part of the pool.....

Those 5 white pipes you see coming out of the bottom of the pool are the basis for a self cleaning system of jets that pop up in a specific order and direct a powerful blast of water along the floor of the pool supposedly moving and dirt along the bottom and into a collection pan - the purpose of which is to greatly reduce the amount of time and effort one expends vacuuming the pool. It sounded neat to me - and as this is likely the only pool I will ever get to design from the ground up - I thought it a wise "investment.... we will see.

Ground breaking

Digging a pool in Orlando is a LOT easier than doing so in Vancouver.

I remember when we put a pool in the backyard of our home growing up… the digging phase alone lasted almost a month, and involved at least two rounds of blasting. Large deep holes in Vancouver mean cutting through clay and actual rock – in Orlando a couple of guys and a wheelbarrow could do it if they had to.

I remember when we put a pool in the backyard of our home growing up… the digging phase alone lasted almost a month, and involved at least two rounds of blasting. Large deep holes in Vancouver mean cutting through clay and actual rock – in Orlando a couple of guys and a wheelbarrow could do it if they had to.

Folks arrived at our home at 8:00 am with a backhoe and by 4:00 the basic outline of the pool was in the ground. Having a vacant lot next door is a big advantage when you need to gain access with large trucks and equipment… it meant that none of wife.com’s plants were harmed.

Next comes the creation of the form and the rebar.

Preparing to break ground

Once contracts were signed – there was a six week delay while we waited for approval and permits from the county – and from our home owners association.

Actual construction is to begin on April 9th.

Prior to digging - the first job of the contractor is to position and outline the basic shape of the pool within the backyard. Seems like an obvious step – can you imagine digging holes and then finding the whole pool was two feet left or right of where it needed to be?

This outline is a form made from 2x4’s providing the shape of the pool – and serves as a guide for the actual “digging”.

This step only took a couple of hours. Remember boys - measure twice - dig once!

change orders... before ground breaking

Between the contract signature and the groundbreaking we managed to make a couple of extra purchase decisions – imagine that – I got upsold!

When we purchased our home it was only a couple of weeks from completion by the builder. Both the driveway and the lanai were covered in red brick pavers.

Pavers look great – but most of you who know wife.com realize that she is NOT a big fan of the color red. On election nights she likes to see red states – but not a lot of other red colored objects get her OK. Realizing that we were putting down another 1400 square feet of deck – we decided to pull the existing pavers ourselves and then get more of a sandstone colored paver not only around the new pool, but under the lanai as well.

We would save $700 removing the bricks themselves…. It seemed a good idea at the time.

Planning

Planning the pool was actually a lot of fun. Some of the different contractors we talked with even had interactive design software that allowed us to see renderings of the changes in real time as we made adjustments.

In the end we decided on a roughly rectangular shape... no surprise as everyone who ever swam as a kid still thinks of pools as places to do laps.

There are a couple of unique design elements in this pool that I am pretty jazzed about. First - On the right you can see a notation for a FastLane swim system. This is a counter current swim system that should (i hope) allow one to swim in place against a smooth flow of water. The unit we have purchased is designed to provide a sub 1 minute per 100 meter swim pace at maximum "thrust"…. Like I could swim at that pace now for more than about 15 meters before I explode!

We also have a pretty substantial waterfall planned for the back side of the pool. It is what they call a "sheer descent" meaning that the water flows at a high enough rate that the stream of water appears solid. This water feature is 8 feet long and should be approx 24 inches in height.

So once the decision was made - checks were written - now it is time to start building!

Our FL home needs a pool!

Now that wife.com and I are here in FL - it is time to get a backyard pool.

Many of our friends and family know that I grew up in / around / and with pools - and that one of the most anticipated elements of our relocation was a chance to spend time outside around the cement pond.

After questions about the status of the BAP (Big Assed Pool) I thought it might be nice to share updates as to the progress that was being as we undergo construction

Tonight I will upload the plans - and some of the preliminary photos.