Marc's Musings

They say the devil is in the details and there are a whole lot of little details that are being dealt with both by the contractors and by Michelle and me.

Final decisions have to be made for the color of the concrete and the way we want it cut – we’re doing a stamped concrete deck and we can have just about any size and orientation “tile” look cut into it.

More germane to the actual pour is the actual finish for the coping around the pool. The forms that were provided from DesJoyaux were pretty attractive but not very flexible. I saw the resulting corners at another of their installations and did not like how it had to be implemented. We’ve opted for more of a rounder, quasi-bull-nose-that-tapers-at-the-bottom design that also will offer the flexibility to allow the kind of corners I think will complement the pool nicely.

Final position for the Bar-B-Que has to be determined now since that will drive where the gas fitting will be placed in the deck.

Starting with the usual patio shots, you can see the forms for the pool stairs have been added

Below you can see a tiny white piece of the coping form now attached to the pool kitty corner to the ladder to help us visualize what the final edge will look like.  Note that the gas line has now been buried. I’m still a bit concerned, the line was pressurized to 15 psi on Sunday and it’s now down to 13.5 psi. The gas line is one of the few lines that we are NOT laying down in a pipe.  I need to ask Rich why this is so at our meeting tomorrow.

The deco drain has been laid around the perimeter of the deck and tied in to the drainage pipes leading to the new catch basins. In the top left of the picture the final location of the drain for the downspout that will come off the super gutter has been determined.

A closer view of the stairs. The  top two stairs are 16 inches deep. The first is that size because it seems less daunting to have such a big stair when you’re stepping into the pool, the second because we anticipate using it to sit on a lot.  Michelle has the idea that this is where people will want to hang out. The final two stairs are utilitarian only and are just a foot deep each.

As I look at the design I have a mild pang of regret that we did not put the stairs in the middle of the pool directly accessible as you walk out from the shaded part of the patio. But Michelle wanted the stairs to be very wide, and the small change of putting the stairs there would have resulted in about 4 more feet needing to be carved out of the hill. Which would likely have required a taller retaining wall, etc, etc. So we ended up compromising and I think the resulting location will work well.

The obligatory overview shot lets you see the deco drains in context. The deck will be gently sloped away from the pool all around to feed these rather than having the dust from the deck swept into the pool every time it rains.

Here we see the design of the patio transitioning to the walkway and again to the ramp up to the shed

elegantly formed and ready for the pour

2012 Home Renovations – Part 16 – Pool deck area ready for pouring, All patio walls removed

2012 Home Renovations – Part 18 – Finally, the deck pour

Continuing to take advantage of the good weather, the guys worked on Saturday and got a whole lot more accomplished that both brings us closer to the deck pour next week and prepares us for the inspections that will be happening Monday.

The remaining patio walls were all removed, here is an expanded 4 shot sequence showing the new openness (ignoring the temporary supports) that will grace the shaded part of our new lanai

And the overview that lets you clearly see the rebar that will be included in the deck pour

The bonding is also complete around the pool

The form is mostly complete plus the rebar is in place for the monolithic footing on the West side

And a better shot of the driveway. There is so much more usable space there without the air conditioner condenser in the way.

And the dirt pile… it looks to be on track to be just enough to build up the driveway per our plan.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 15 – Rest of driveway by house removed, Electrical, Gas and Water Returns in place

2012 Home Renovations – Part 17 – More Deck Pour Prep

No shots from the existing patio today since you can’t see much change from there. But here we have a shot showing one of the trenches that were dug on either side of patio in preparation for the monolithic pour. Lanai supports will be bolted to this footing.

and on the East side

and the bird’s eye view putting everything in context

Much of the Electrical Gas and Water conduits have been roughed in. The $1400 gas line needed some tweaking in order to hold pressure. Below you can see a pressure gauge on the white heater supply and return pipes. They were sealed and about 5 psi of air  put into them after all the back filling and tamping were complete to ensure that there were no leaks introduced. This way we can repair them NOW before the deck is poured if something got damaged. Likewise the hyper expensive gas line – that thick black piping immediately to the left of the heater pipes – has a gauge at the far end that was showing a small leak. This was eventually traced to the fitting not being quite tightened properly on this end. It is now hosting 15 PSI of nitrogen to see if it can hold the pressure. I understand that the gas line pressure will normally be closer to about 3 PSI on this side of my meter.

Here the gas line trench lies open waiting for county inspectors. I have about 4 inspections pending that should all happen on Monday.

Just an overview of the house with the rest of the driveway and the former patio slab removed. The end of the plain concrete driveway will now be right about where Michelle is standing. From there everything will be stamped concrete to match the pool deck to make this area an outdoor patio / planter area.

And, of course an obligatory shot of the ever smaller dirt pile

2012 Home Renovations – Part 14 -Backfill of pool retaining wall complete

2012 Home Renovations – Part 16 – Pool deck area ready for pouring, All patio walls removed

Continuing along at our rapid-fire pace, back fill and leveling around the pool has been completed.

The French drain was installed behind the lanai retaining wall and the gap there was back filled and tamped

The back yard has been recontoured into pretty much its final configuration. There will be a bit more done once work is completed on the cement slab next to our shed. The dirt will be sloped up a bit both at the shed and at the retaining wall that is front and center in this picture below. The idea is to help encourage water AWAY from those areas to be guided away by both the slope behind the retaining wall and by the French drain to the catch basins that were put in near the beginning of this project and then out to the front yard and street.

The hill that used to be in front of the shed has been largely leveled. We have opted to replace the originally planned stairs that were to lead up to the shed with a low incline ramp that will run from the beginning of the retaining wall (part closest to us in the picture below) and ending even with the remainder of the legacy slab near the middle of the picture. The yard to the right will be contoured to butt up against this ramp and match its incline.

For contrast here is how the yard looked before. Basically it was a steeper, shorter ramp up with a more significant hill beginning closer to the house.

And we continue to make significant inroads into our “Dirt Everest” in the front yard.

In the beginning, Michelle was hoping that we would find some significant boulders so we could pull them out to use as show pieces. I don’t think she realizes how fine a line it is between “cool boulders” and “immovable objects that will mess up your project”. But she was thrilled that one was found and put where she can evaluate what to do with it. It’s pictured here just right of center, somewhat framed by more rubble from the driveway and the pile of gravel that is being used for the French Drains.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 13 – Backfill has begun Electrics have begun

2012 Home Renovations – Part 15 – Rest of driveway by house removed, Electrical, Gas and Water Returns in place

The French Drain has been installed around the pool base and has been tied in (as far as I know) to that of the driveway retaining wall. It’s at this point that you realize exactly how much trust you have to have in your contractor and in the subcontractors. There is not a lot you can do about the subs unless you REALLY don’t like who’s on site or unless you want to very much micromanage the project. Our commitment to this project was predicated on a number of factors but high among those was our confidence that the two primaries on this project – Rich from DC Enclosures and Scott from DesJoyaux pools – were trustworthy and competent. We have visited sites and spoken with people who have worked with both companies and with Rich and Scott in particular.

If you are going to do this on the cheap, or you think you need to keep an eye on things because you are worried about cut corners, the only way you are going to do that is to either work from home and endure MANY interruptions or take time off work and oversee the project. S

Anyway, today back filling began, you can see that there is no longer a gap around the pool

Okay, maybe a small gap where they haven’t quite finished laying down and tamping the layers of dirt around the outside of the pool. Note in the picture below that the East wall is now gone from the current screened patio.

The air conditioner has found a new home, out of sight and hopefully out of hearing too…

From ground level you can see that the filter unit is still the most prominent feature of the pool wall. Those black hoses to the right of the filter unit are the Fastlane hydraulic hoses.

Driving the bobcat up and down the driveway is providing some de facto tamping which will help prevent later settling. Note the conspicuous absence of the air conditioner. It used to be between those two upright brown pillars.

Below is the retaining wall from our neighbor’s side. We will be tinting this a brown color of his choosing to try to make it aesthetically pleasing. Of course the change from “rotting pressure treated wood” to “solid retaining wall” is enough to have him very pleased with the work as it is. Note the holes in the wall that provide additional protection against hydraulic build up should the French drain become blocked or prove inadequate to the task.

That large pile of dirt is now starting to shrink as more and more of it is hauled back for back filling and, next, to build the driveway back up.

Inside the house, our small, maxed out 20-spot electric panel has been replaced with a larger 30 spot unit. Even though we have verified that the feed from the street can handle a 200 amp load, the feed from the meter to our existing unit is only rated at 150 amps so we elected to not upgrade to the greater capacity at this time. Even though our electricity needs are greater in many ways than were those of people in the 70’s (Computers, large screen TVs, room lighting) most of those items are so efficient these days that the actual consumption has increased only minimally.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 12 – Retaining walls revealed

2012 Home Renovations – Part 14 -Backfill of pool retaining wall complete

Today the forms were removed revealing the new retaining walls. Michelle has some reservations about the height of the wall at the back of the lanai. In the original plan it was supposed to step down as you go from left to right finishing off maybe 2 feet off the ground

When we revisited this so that we could NOT have the 7 foot high section on the left, we ended up with a plan where the wall would be 4 feet across the entire back and we would resculpt the hill in the back yard to accommodate this. However I think “the cheerleader effect” had taken over and she was blending the best aspects of both plans in her head and was taken aback when only the latter plan “won”.

As you can see the wall looks pretty formidable. But if you consider that the hill it replaces was as high if not higher for much of its run AND the concrete pool deck has yet to be poured. There will be another 6 inches shaved off of the perceived height of the wall.

Here at the top left of the wall you can also see an extension that will hold back part of the re-contoured back yard hill. This will allow us to put a ramp from the back yard up to the shed. There *were* going to be steps there but 1) we still wanted to be able to move dollys and other wheeled things between the house and the shed and 2) that would have introduced the first steps to the property and I kind of like the idea of a “stepless ranch”.

The East wall of our existing lanai has been removed. Note the air conditioner to the left. This is its last day on this side of the house.

More of the driveway has been removed. Only enough of it remains now to support the air conditioner and we’re avoiding the various utility conduits

Below we have the basis for a French drain in the making. A large corrugated tube with holes with a sock over it to screen out muddy particulates. This is embedded in gravel (you can see this against the retaining wall in the picture above).

2012 Home Renovations – Part 11 – Second round of cement pour completed

2012 Home Renovations – Part 13 – Backfill has begun Electrics have begun

The forms are up and the upright portions of the lanai and the driveway retaining walls were poured today.

From the current lanai

In the picture below, if you look on the left side of the pool closest to us and at the far end, on the left side of the pool wall facing us, you can see the fittings for the heated water outlet and inlet respectively.

Originally the heating was supposed to be integrated into the filtration unit. But the distance we are mounting the heater away from the pool meant that the filter pump would need to be on high all the time to circulate the water through the plumbing even when the heater was not being used. It was more cost effective (and will be quieter) to split out the two systems and use a separate  booster pump to circulate water through the heating system only when it is needed and then use the iAqualink system to tie everything together.

The driveway retaining wall looks like nothing so much as a fortress bulwark. I’m very glad our neighbor is on board with this project.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 10 – First round of cement pour completed

2012 Home Renovations – Part 12 – Retaining walls revealed

When I came home from work today, the pile in the front yard was even bigger than when I left. I’m starting to think I should leave it there, carve into it the faces of some famous people and charge folks admission. It really is quite the sight.

This is day 6 of construction proper (ignoring the tree clearing step). The start date was Monday February 27.

The big advance for today was that a lot of the rebar work was completed.

First the usual views from the existing lanai

Then peering into the pool you can see the rebar making up the bottom

And the retaining wall in the back yard is showing the skeleton of its eventual final form

The trench for the base of the driveway retaining wall has been dug, in the back you can see how they’ve creatively strung up my coaxial cable (orange) so they won’t be running heavy machinery over it.

Looking at the trench from the other end show the steps that it needs to accommodate the down hill

And here is the view from the top of the driveway. Obviously we’ve been parking next to the street lately…

2012 Home Renovations – Part 08 – The pool walls are up, half of the driveway is gone

2012 Home Renovations – Part 10 – First round of cement pour completed