Pool Project - A Week at a Pop - 08/24/2016 - 08/29/2016

As you can probably tell, these posts are not strictly, a week at a time. They're more or less tied to the days that I have pictures for, roughly a week at a time, showing progress on the pool project.

Excavating Under the Pool Corner

Once, it was determined that we did, in fact, have a stream flowing directly under the pool, then it became important ascertain just how much it had eroded the marl under the pool, and what, if anything, could be done to rehab the pool.

Here, the crew has pretty well de-mucked under the pool and found that about a third of the length of the pool was free-standing to a great extent. Mario, our contractor, said Hey, we've run across this before, and here's what we're going to do. He outlined a series of steps to place loads of rock under the pool and beside it, building a seriies of hefty footings and columns to support the pool and re-channel the water to do no more damage, and more rocks to stabilize everything.

Looking East Down the Eraca Palms

Looking east down the line of Eraca palms, toward where the pump house used to be. They put a lot of work into this section excavating marl and adding rock, to create a channel for the water to run through and around the pool.

Eventually, the footings and columns for supporting the pool would be added to this mix as well.

Pumping Out Water

After a weekend, for some reason, the water increased in volume coming through, which really hampered the ability of the guys to work. So, they added a couple of pumps and moved a huge amount of water into the canal. Around this time, they also began experimenting with hydraulic jacks to see how far they could lift the pool. More photos of that later on.

Cave Tubing, Anyone?

Looks like our cave-tubing adventure in the Cayo. We could go into business here.

This gives you an idea of how much rock needed to be placed here. There had to be a lot of rock in place well before they even began experimenting with the jacking operation.

Opening Patio To Canal

In addition to the excavation around and under the pool, it became evident that a ditch needed to be opened that went straight to the canal to facilitate the drainage. Here, that is just getting started. And more photos on this will be coming.

Nelson in his Favorite Hide-away

Just a parting glimpse of Nelson in his favorite hidey-hole in the basement - the downstairs of the Mennonite house. He usually goes in there about 5:30 in the morning as we're getting ready for walkies, and especially with the construction going on, won't come out till at least 4 or 5:00 in the evening.