For those who think this is a waste of money, I couldn’t argue with you. Melbourne weather, living a few minutes’ drive from the beach, and community pools, one is not left wanting in our area. One of those YOLO decisions. Family loves water, and I had a pool for a lot my childhood & associate it with happy times. Not a fancy pool. Simple 8x4m & spa within.
Our house will use the full width of the block. Therefore, it was deemed more practical to build the pool in two stages. First stage (concrete shell) before commencing the house build, since there would be no access for the machinery afterwards. Given the timing of demolition, it worked for us because the builder couldn’t have started the house before the Xmas shutdown anyway. Silver linings. Stage 2 (finishing, pumps etc) would be done after house handover.
28/11/19 Before the scheduled day the project lead came out familiarising himself with the site, marking out the area, getting levels sorted.
29/11/19 He was kind enough to have another look with me regarding the pool position in relation to the house & if we wanted to install a deck. He marked out the back of the house on the ground, hypothetical deck in relation to the pool position. To be honest, we’ve still not landed on what we think will work & look best. Maybe once the house is up we’ll have a better feel for it. In the meantime, the top of the pool will be level with the back of the house, should we want to deck the whole way. Don’t know why but the Deck Sketch with Drew Carey comes to mind. Low brow, I know.
04/12/19 Another day, another digger. One of the advantages of living in the sandbelt – easy digging. Was more worried about it being too soft, and therefore constantly caving in but as you can see once one gets through the top 2-3 feet, the soil seems rather well compacted & held it’s shape.
06/12/19 The piping went in for the in-floor cleaning system & returns. Anyone who knows me will know that I’m not the type (inclination nor physique) to stand there all day cleaning a pool!
Later that day the gravel went in …
09/12/19 Reo & started boxing
11/12/19 Boxing completed … ready for the concrete
12/12/19 Concrete time … The concrete gets sprayed in through massive hose, is very thick & incredibly sticky. He showed me how you throw a huge amount against a vertical surface & it just sticks like those paper spitballs we did (or heard about) as kids.
Before you know, they are done ….
Inside the spa section … lots of pipes – you’d want to be careful where you sat! During the curing stage I needed to water it on very hot days. In the meantime the new fence was completed to the back.
Stage 1 of the pool was completed on time before the Xmas shutdown. Pool folks will now wait for the signal to come back to complete Stage 2. Will schedule in with 3 months lead time, but not expected to get access until late November/early December.