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13 September, 2016

Pool Project - A Week at a Pop - 08/13/2016 - 08/20/2016

No more daily posts on the pool project. That'd be too boring. I'll do a week-at-a-glance synopsis for you till I get caught up, then continue with the weekly blasts till it's done.

So for this edition, it's from Saturday, August 13 through the following Saturday, August 20, 2016.
Pool Minus the Deck

Starting with sort of an overview on the 17th (didn't have any photos from the 13th - 16th), this picture gives you a good idea of how things look with the pool deck gone. It was surprising how much lumber there was, and how poorly the treated wood held up to the tropical sun.

Most of the marl from the excavation will be going right into the areas where the deck was, and eventually will act as fill for the new concrete deck that will take its place. For now, still a lot of work to go on.

As you can see in this next photo, there's more excavating going on. They're doing that to get a handle on where and how large the underground stream actually is, and how to deal with it.
Excavating the Skimmer End

Originally, the skimmer was going to be left in place, but it was decided that it would be more efficient to move it to the other end, closer to the pump, and to add more outlets (called eyes or eyeballs) for water return to the pool.

While all this was going on, we had a side project that developed while work was going on with the Mennonite house, rehabbing the stairs there. The dog pen just wasn't situated well, under the Mennonite house breezeway, with the workers that close. So, Dianna and I looked around to see where we could put a pen that worked for the dogs yet kept them out of the way of whatever was going on.
A New Dog Pen Enclosure 
We decided to place it in the southeast corner of the lot. Which made for a nice large pen, but provided very little shade. A shade house was what was needed. I had a brainstorm to make one out of fence tubing, fittings and zinc for a rood. And, for good measure, to put a concrete pad under it for the doggies to lay on in the shade and keep them away from the ants and out of any rain water if it accumulated. As you can see from this picture, it's nearing completion. It just needs some trimming along the bottom, and the ridge cap needs to be installed. Oh, and the pad put in too. All in good time.
Backside Excavation
Back to the pool. This photo shows the excavation going on on the north side of the pool. The guys are doing a great job, even protecting the Areca palms so that we still have some privacy once all the work is done.





Found the Stream
This photo is from the 18th. Water has been found on the west side. Of course, it goes under the pool and on to the canal.

The idea is to facilitate the flow of the water, but keep further erosion to a minimum. There's also talk of possibly jacking up the northeast corner of the pool to try to restore the level to it.



Showing More of the Excavation
This view shows looking more or less from the house to the pool, and that the excavation is continuing on around the pool. You can also see that the mound of marl from the excavation is growing too.





New Creature Comfort
It happened. Well, we are getting older. We finally broke down and bought a split A/C unit for the bedroom. It's not like it hasn't been hot or anything. What a relief it is too. We experimented with temps for the A/C. For us, we found setting the A/C to 80-degrees (f) was just perfect. Any lower, and we felt like we were freezing. Any higher, and we might as well just be using the fans.

2 comments:

Wilma said...

Great to see your posts again. The pool repair looks like a massive undertaking, but I am sure it will be worth it. Still dreaming of a pool here ...

Hope Dianna is recovering well. I bet she is enjoying your cooking. To paraphrase Homer Simpson - "Ummm, pancakes. My favorite." Cheers!

Winjama said...

Hi Wilma, I must say, it's good to be back. The pool is a big one alright, but still less than if we had to start from scratch. I think we really lucked out and found a contractor and crew with some real pool knowledge.

I can finally make pancakes from scratch. So much better than the packaged variety and easy too.

I'm glad you like the blog.

Cheers,
Dave