On Monday, we passed final inspection on the pool... which means I feel a bit more comfortable writing about it. One of the side-effects of growing up in the American South is a predisposition for silly superstitions.
It's still an unfinished project, but having a final visit from the inspector is a good milestone. I have to admit, though, our inspector (Ron) was one of the most helpful folks in the entire process. Aside from the immense expense of the permit (a double-digit percentage of the budget) and the general anxiety of the process, it was generally good to see him so that I could ask questions, etc.
Oh, on to the pictures. Remember, the deck isn't finished and the white tubes in the ground are for the deck supports -- worth noting, too, is that we took out quite a bit of concrete around the fire-pit, too... eventually, benches will go there. More pictures after the jump.
I took the above after I washed down everything, so they have a dewy glow. I stepped out this morning to catch a few in morning light as well -- and also to take some shots of the pump setup which I'll describe below.
Since the pool is obviously small, we didn't need a mega-complex setup. In fact, in premise, pool plumbing is quite simple: pump + filter + sanitizer... you can add things like a heater (we have options for both solar and electric), but it's pretty basic stuff and since it's a non-pressurized system, it's not quite as anxiety inducing as household hot/cold potable water. In our setup (from left to right), we used:
- Hayward Powerflo2 1/2HP pump
- Hayward C500 cartridge filter
- (stub outs for future roof-top solar heating)
- Hayward 5.5KW electric heater
- Hayward AquaRite Pro salt chlorinator with T-3 cell
- Hayward 1085 skimmer (not seen)
Hayward was a good brand to start with, their stuff is widely available and their customer service folks were generally helpful, so an "all Hayward" pool wasn't due to brand fanaticism, but simply pragmatics. We ordered almost everything though Amazon which made tracking and what-not very easy.
We wanted to keep everything in the boiler closet which was a bit tricky fit-wise, but it works. We installed a wall-hanging hot water heater to really free up space (and our old one was ailing -- plus we already had the trench open). Drilling through the fairly new siding was a bit nerve wracking, but in the spirit of "measure twice, cut once" I was able to mock everything up and get a good measurement.
I mounted the equipment to 1/2in sheets of ABS with rubber shocks to prevent vibration as well as eliminate so many holes in the concrete. It seems to be working so far and long-term it won't rust or rot.
There's still the HUGE deck/platform project to complete which will make the pool surface level with its surround, but that's for another weekend...
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