Sheer Arc Installed

Well, guess what? My wonderful tile guys came back today to install the Jandy sheer arc. It came in the day before, and they were able to come out today to install it and finish my tile and brick.

From what I'm told, the deck will go in by the end of next week.

Wow! Almost Finished Brick and Tile!

They came back and finished all of the tile except for the area of the sheer arc. They will be coming back to do that when it comes in.

I really like the tile. It has lots a texture and color variation. I asked for a medium gray grout and it looked like what I wanted when I came home for lunch. It dried lighter than I wanted, but from what I've been told, it would have faded pretty quick anyway. It does look darker when wet, and since the water will run down the sides of the spa and we intend to splash on the rest, we should be OK.

For you animal lovers out there, that beauty in the picture is my cocker spaniel, Kara. She's the 5th K!

Brick and Tile...Hooray!!!!

Wow! The brick and tile guys were here today and did a beautiful job. So far they have been so fussy. The one guy spent most of the day simply finishing off the spa to make it smooth and level since it has a vanishing edge. He then placed a board around the spa to make sure that the top row of tiles were perfectly level. They haven't finished all the tiles (Tropical Depression Gamma made its presence felt), but they're coming back tomorrow to finish most of it and to grout.

I'm very happy with the color of the tiles I chose. You can't see it in the picture, but they have a lot of texture and color variation. We're going with a medium gray grout. I have to sign a waiver saying that I understand that the grout may fade. I think it will be fine. We also chose to make our grout lines very thin.

The bricks are perfect! I was very concerned about one corner of my pool because the gunite guys didn't make it a 90 degree angle as planned. The brick guy made it look great. I really like the clay bricks that I chose because they are smooth, unlike the usual cement ones that they use. I'm sorry, but if I like a bathing suit, I surely do not want it ruined on the bricks and my children are kind of fond of the skin on their feet.

If all goes well, I'll try to post finished pics tomorrow!

Mud, Mud, Mud

There they are!!! The brick and tile guys came today to prepare the pool for brick. They put in a layer of mud around the pool. On Monday, they're coming to put in most of the brick and all of the tile. They have to wait for the sheer arc to come in to finish that area. It disappeared from their warehouse, so they ordered another.

I knew that my pool was a mess from the hurricane, but these pictures make it look even worse!

Also, check out my spa. See how it's rounded on the higher near side, with a 90 degree edge on the far lower side.

Oh Where Oh Where Did My Pool Workers Go?

When I started this blog, I hoped that is would simply be a place where my family could watch our pool progress. Unfortunately it has become a story of ups and downs. We haven't seen anyone since the 5th of November. I hope that they come soon and all I have to report are "up" moments.

Moved

Today they came out and moved our equipment to the originally specified place. Wow! Workers two days in a row! Hooray! We're ready to get this show on the road!

Fixed???

Well, I got a call at school today that one of the gunite crews were open and able to come fix my spa and steps. Even though the original crew didn't do it right in the first place, we had to wait until the new crew had a job close by. We've waited a month. So much for the "We'll build it in 10 weeks, but you won't complain if we do it in 6." We're trying to be patient, but if you count a salesman problem that we had in the beginning, it's been since June.

The new crew wasn't responsible for the first team's mistake, and they said that they wanted to make me happy. First, they fixed the steps. I made a template for them to lay down on the steps as they added to them. No questions there. It was a smart decision to have it all ready for them. The shape is great, but they didn't add to the height like they were asked.

Then they fixed my side of the spa that the other guys had made 26" when it was supposed to be 19". Gurgle, gurgle...the sound of me under water if we left it that way. Then a problem came up that disappointed me due to the mistake by the first gunite crew. The back of my spa is at an angle. The original seat depth and bottom center circle was based on the 26" side and my husband's 22" side. When you add 7" to the 26" seat going up the wall, the seat gets much wider as it gets higher. I had to have them round the seat at the edge so that the circulation in my legs wouldn't be cut off. Hopefully that is a fix for the problem. My husband's side is a regular squared off seat. The bottom circle is now an egg shape. I need to have the finish people take a look to make sure that this will work for us. I also had them fix the depth of the spa floor. I hope it will be comfortable.