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.

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.