6 Years Later | [Build Thread]

[matthewsunshineflorida]

After over 2 years since I first spoke to some of you on this forum, we started our dig today, click here for a link to today's progress photos and here's one of them:


This was our last render but keep in mind we have different materials/furniture and we slightly sized up the deck on the side and the spillover, but the shape is accurate:

The back wall will be: A 6” (single) row of Mastertile MASISOSAR MOS1X2 for then a row of Mastertile MASISOSAR 6 with 3 evenly spaced decorative tiles MASISOSAR DECO then another 6 inches of the Mastertile MASISOSAR MOS1X2


This is our 2d layout with where/how we want to place furniture:


Here's our plan and equipment list:

• 425sqft pool with a depth profile of 3.5' by the stairs, 5' in the middle, then 4' on the right
• 6.5x7 spa right raised 12" with a 5ft spillover, back wall center raised 18" with a 5ft waterfall, bubbler left sunshelf
• Signature Matrix Cadet Blue, Wet Edge's blend of the small and medium pebbles
• 3" for main drains, 2" for returns
• 1 skimmer, 3 returns - covered by a screen with no tree cover
• IntelliCenter IC40 with intellivalve actuators for the pool/spa/bubbler/waterfall
• 2x Pentair 3hp Intelliflo (one for pool/spa, one for bubbler and 5ft waterfall)
• Pentair MasterTemp 400k natural gas heater
• Clean and Clear Plus 420sqft four cartridge filter
• 1.5hp blower for a 6.5x7 spa with 6 jets
• 2x Microbrites at the bump outs facing away from the house, 1 in spa
• 10' half moon sunshelf 10-12" deep with bubbler and umbrella sleeve
• Umbrella sleeve on the middle bench, spa bench, sunshelf
• 1800sqft with Flagstone Panorama Demi in Cream/Beige/Charcoal with Cream coping
• Screen enclosure, 10ft walls, mansard, 18x14 as all our neighbors have had no bug issues with theirs
• Grey fittings inside, beige outside
• NDS Mini deck drain, larger drain with removable top for cleaning
• Banding tile on all benches, stairs, sunshelf, spa via the Mastertile MASISOSAR MOS1X2
• Auto overflow valve

Things I'm doing before/during/after:

• Areca privacy palms with small plants all the way down the side and back of fence (we have a 4ft gap between the screen and the fence)
• Landscape lighting and irrigation throughout, with pot sprayers for potted plants in the corners inside the enclosure
• Rock speakers in the back right and left of the pool as well as in the front ceiling under the patio roof
• LED strip lights in a diffuser channel down each vertical enclosure support
• Bar with storage and mini fridges on the left, matching cabinet granite bar top with seating in the middle
• Sectional with fire table on the right side of the covered patio
• New circuit with GFCI outlets where the columns are for vacuum, above the TVs, and for two mini fridges at the bar
• 2x new fans on the patio that put out over 10,000cfm each hopefully keep it cool enough during hot summers
• Surge protector to main junction box
• Dolphin Sigma pool robot

Feel free to reach out with any last second suggestions or general thoughts about working through the process. I'll post progress photos as they come.

 

[TampaKathy]

Hello! I was just talking on another thread with someone that is using that exact tile and I think I may switch to it!

 

[matthewsunshineflorida]

Hello! I was just talking on another thread with someone that is using that exact tile and I think I may switch to it!

Which thread? I'd really love to see it in person if they have photos up already!

 

[TampaKathy]

Oops, it's a little different. Very close though, looking at them both it seems like maybe yours is a little shinnier? She doesn't have it installed yet but it sounds like it should be soon. Pool Build Finally Started - TX

 

[Jimrahbe]

Matthew,

Well.. Unfortunately, it appears that we are working ourselves out of a job..

It is clear you have been doing your homework...

I don't see anything that I would change.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Sollace]

Very nice and love the way you laid everything out. I'm the one with the build that's using the Isola Master Tile series, too! The waterline is 6" Masisoelb and the columns are 2" Massiosar. The designer told me this series is very popular, probably because it has so many sizes and options. Can't wait to see how yours turns out!

 

[Sollace]

Well.. Unfortunately, it appears that we are working ourselves out of a job..

It's because we come here and learn! You do help, you just don't know how much because all those little posts add up over time. Some visit this web page for weeks if not months to figure all this stuff out. For some it sinks in. As for me, I'm still clueless. . . .

 

[Nikilyn]

It's because we come here and learn! You do help, you just don't know how much because all those little posts add up over time. Some visit this web page for weeks if not months to figure all this stuff out. For some it sinks in. As for me, I'm still clueless. . . .

There’s some things that I understand but a lot goes completely over my head, especially plumbing. I’m a visual learner so I need to see the equipment and actually layout to be able to understand.

 

[Slapulator]

So excited for your next chapter to start!

 

[matthewsunshineflorida]

Kinda funny today - the guys started promptly at 8am and flew through the yard with two bobcats that they made look like gocarts. They were done with the hole by 11am (still a pile of dirt left though), and I assumed left for lunch at about 11:30.... andddd never came back lol

No big deal, they got a shocking amount done in 3 hours but it was odd to leave the gate open, boombox and tools so I assume they'll be back tomorrow.

Well.. Unfortunately, it appears that we are working ourselves out of a job..

It is clear you have been doing your homework...

I have admittedly read literally hundreds of posts over the course of the past couple years trying to learn from all you guys, also had a bunch of you comment on two previous threads (in 2018 and then this year when we decided to start figuring out what we would build). Can't thank you enough. I feel relatively confident about a project that would otherwise have seemed like a black box...

Very nice and love the way you laid everything out. I'm the one with the build that's using the Isola Master Tile series, too! The waterline is 6" Masisoelb and the columns are 2" Massiosar. The designer told me this series is very popular, probably because it has so many sizes and options. Can't wait to see how yours turns out!

Awesome, I really love those tiles! Can't wait to see - following your thread!!! Similar situation - I got a bunch of samples of all kinds of stuff ordered which made us decide on those. I love glass tile, but I've seen it shatter/crack and fall off all over this forum and in my neighbors pool, then I love the faux stone but I see it get covered in calcium/salt that isn't able to be cleaned off easily - so we thought the porcelain glaze was a nice balance of beauty and long term practicality especially the dimensional look of these.

 

[Sollace]

Glazed really is the way to go -- Well, at least I think so. Everything looks great and amazing but I'm practical and think of clean up. Waterline gunk build up is a thing and the dynamics to clean that area is a feat in acrobatics. Either lean over the coping on your knees, or stand in the water and scrub.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Make sure your main drain is home-run by itself back to the equipment pad, and not tied in to the skimmer. This way if ever (God forbid!) that the skimmer line were to be clogged (ping pong ball, for example) you would still have circulation in the pool.

Maddie

 

[matthewsunshineflorida]

Progress Report! These guys were so skilled, it was really incredible to watch them work - this is 3 days from layout to yesterday and they usually left around 3pm. Let me know if you guys see any mistakes but they really seemed like they knew what they were doing. Here's some new photos CLICK HERE for all of them and here's one:

 

[TampaKathy]

Did you measure everything to make sure depth, width, size of sunshelf are correct?

 

[matthewsunshineflorida]

Did you measure everything to make sure depth, width, size of sunshelf are correct?

I did - all measurements are a bit larger than specified but my understanding is that is due to the 9" minimum shotcrete they will place plus the waterline being like 6-8" from the top of the coping. Seems good to me as far as I can tell!

 

[TampaKathy]

It's hard to tell from looking at pictures but is the rebar for the floor at least 3 inches above the ground? It looks like it's practically touching the ground in some spots. I would think they need to put more spacers in (at least that's my very un-expert opinion, lol). Also, is there going to be a step or bench or something in the shallow end on the right? When is inspection?

 

[matthewsunshineflorida]

It's hard to tell from looking at pictures but is the rebar for the floor at least 3 inches above the ground? It looks like it's practically touching the ground in some spots. I would think they need to put more spacers in (at least that's my very un-expert opinion, lol). Also, is there going to be a step or bench or something in the shallow end on the right? When is inspection?

Just went to check - I verified it is definitely several inches above the ground in the entire pool with no rebar even close to touching ground. It looks to be exactly the same spacing as far as I can tell so it seems very carefully done - really appreciate the tip! The stairs actually will come off of the sunshelf on the left side - you can see what it looks like in our 2d diagram and 3d rendering in the first post. Now that you mention it, they don't have any forms for the stairs, the sunshelf stair, or the spa bench so I assume that's something they're either adding later or have not finished the rebar forms yet? Thanks for the suggestions to keep an eye out for - these kinds of tips are exactly what I'm looking for to make sure everything is done up to snuff!!!

 

[TampaKathy]

Ok good, hard to tell looking at pictures I believe the stairs and bench will not have rebar in them...they spray the gunite and then form them by hand.

 

[TampaKathy]

Few more comments.
1. Those look like regular main drains, not channel.
2. How many circuits come with the Intellicenter you are getting, 5, 8, 10? (Will there be any left over for landscape lights, etc if you want).
3. Make sure you are not getting charged for Screenlogic since it's not needed with Intellicenter.
4. How many actuators are you getting? Will you be able to control all the water features how you want? Will you be able to turn the bubbler and waterfall on/off with the automation or will it be manual? (This is something I'm still not sure about on mine, I think I'm going to need to see a plumbing diagram to understand it )
5. Are you getting the dolphin thru PB or separately? May be cheaper to get yourself.
6. Where will the pool equipment be? Will it be near a bedroom? Originally my equipment was going to be outside my master bedroom b/c that was the easiest spot to put it but after pressing the matter, they said it can go on the other side (near kitchen) but I will have to pay a little extra b/c of the long run from the breaker box to the equipment. There's also more room for me to put extra equipment in the future which would have been difficult to fit on the master bedroom side.

I think I'm done now

 

[matthewsunshineflorida]

Update: County inspection went great this morning, project manager came over after to triple check everything personally and is now scheduling gunite!

Few more comments.
1. Those look like regular main drains, not channel.
2. How many circuits come with the Intellicenter you are getting, 5, 8, 10? (Will there be any left over for landscape lights, etc if you want).
3. Make sure you are not getting charged for Screenlogic since it's not needed with Intellicenter.
4. How many actuators are you getting? Will you be able to control all the water features how you want? Will you be able to turn the bubbler and waterfall on/off with the automation or will it be manual? (This is something I'm still not sure about on mine, I think I'm going to need to see a plumbing diagram to understand it )
5. Are you getting the dolphin thru PB or separately? May be cheaper to get yourself.
6. Where will the pool equipment be? Will it be near a bedroom? Originally my equipment was going to be outside my master bedroom b/c that was the easiest spot to put it but after pressing the matter, they said it can go on the other side (near kitchen) but I will have to pay a little extra b/c of the long run from the breaker box to the equipment. There's also more room for me to put extra equipment in the future which would have been difficult to fit on the master bedroom side.

I think I'm done now

Love this, thanks for such a detailed response!

1) Yep, we changed it to two main drains fed by a 3" line. One of the planners recommended it - I think the thought process was potentially better cleaning since it now has two suction points further away from each other but I honestly don't remember if it was aesthetic or what. There was no difference in price either way. They also added separate suction for the waterfall/bubbler since that is now on its own 3hp pump.

2) I'm just doing the 5 - the two pumps don't use any of the circuits because they're intelliflo, so I believe we just have the two light circuits (2 pool, 1 spa) unless the heater also uses one. I'm doing landscape lighting myself separately - I have the entire house on Lutron including our existing patio ceiling fan lights and patio hanging edison bulbs. So I already ran a new outdoor circuit with GFCIs connected to Lutron for hanging lights. I'm also doing led strip lights under a smoked finish channel attached to the bottom of the enclosure supports. I also ran power to the patio where the bar will go for the mini fridges is also where I'm going to install a controller for the landscape lighting. It's all going to be used through Alexa routines so it's not necessary (and would be a lot more work) to run it all the way to where the intellicenter is. Plus, I plan to do the front yard as well on a separate controller.

3) Yep intellicenter was upgraded from the easytouch with screen logic. Kind of a rip off how much the upcharge was but just one of those things that everyone does. I priced my entire project with each company once I had every single piece of equipment picked so I'd get an apples to apples comparison.

4) I don't know how many actuators they'll need in this setup (I think he said 4?) but the spa mode, spillover mode, waterfall, and bubbler are each controlled through intellivalve actuators individually via intellicenter. When we added the second pump the contract specified actuators to control the water features so however many they need to make it work in the app I guess.

5) Getting the robot myself, let me know if you see any good deals. Only reason I haven't bought it yet is I want to be able to confirm its operation vs it having an issue and me not knowing until after the return period. I guess I could buy one and take it to my parents pool nearby. Think I might do that - let me know if you have a good supplier.

6) The equipment is a longer run to the opposite side of the house where there are no windows behind a fence and is not visible from either the pool or the front yard. Block construction and my understanding is the pumps are pretty quiet so I don't think it will be disturbing on the other side of the wall without any window near it. They have it planned to be 7ft wide but we have 22ft of extra room on that same side before it hits a frosted bath window then we have another 15ft between two windows that you can't look sideways out of because of their placement near the walls so I plan to put down some 24x24 pavers and get one or two side yard sheds as well.