Swimming pool – Farm and Finery

February 23, 2021

Creating Structure and Strength in the Pool

I know I said this last time, but this is crazy. The pic on the left is from Tuesday, February 16, 2021. The pic on the right is from today, Tuesday, February 23, 2021. Exactly one week apart. Wow.

Anywhoo, today a different crew arrived and began and finished the swimming pool’s rebar – in one day. The rebar steel structure is created and tied together to give the concrete some additional tensile strength. At least that’s what I read when I wondered why they needed the steel structure to be part of the pool.

Turns out the rebar is spaced to offer maximum strength to each other – like a buddy system. The steel rebar is tied to itself with strands of wire to hold it in place. There are also spacers below the rebar in the pool floor to allow the gunite/concrete to get below the rebar and to completely enclose it.

After getting lost, trying to find our home this morning, they arrived around 8:30 AM. And they were gone by 3 PM. Seriously – they did all this in 5.5 hours.

It was fun to see the shape of the spa and the now, larger size of the tanning ledge. You can see the spa seats and where the waterfall from the spa into the pool will flow. I even ventured out onto the rebar to make sure the spaces felt right since we had altered it yesterday. Meanwhile, John continues to be the stone whisperer, reaching into the sides of the dirt walls for tooled pieces.

So that was Day 2 of the swimming pool construction. Who knows what fun will begin tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our journey! Hugs, Libby

February 22, 2021February 23, 2021

Pool Excavation Done in a Day!

Wow, what a difference a day makes. Actually, what a difference a week makes! Last week at this time we were worrying about freezing temperatures, losing power, losing water, and generally staying sane through Snovid-21.

Today we started building a swimming pool! And it was 74 degrees. Crazy…

On Wednesday, February 10th, our contact with the pool company, Sam, and our site supervisor, Fernando, came and sketched out the pool we designed last year with spray paint. It gives the home owner a chance to see the pool in the space. Thank goodness we had that time, albeit covered with snow, to do just that….

The tanning ledge was going to be really tight with the 2 in-pool loungers there. So we expanded the pool so there is more room to walk around those loungers.

…because we realized that the tanning ledge/Baja shelf was going to be way too small. So we called Sam and Fernando and expanded the pool from 15’x37’ to 20’x40’ (including the spa and tanning ledge).

Today they came and staked everything out, measuring multiple times in multiple ways to make sure the layout was square and perfectly centered in the courtyard. Expanding the pool obviously reduces our pool “deck”, but there are still 8’ of space on either long side and 10’ of open decking near the kitchen (not counting the covered porches) – plenty of room for loungers.

Then the digging began. After every pass of the Bobcat, John went out looking for tooled artifacts, arrowheads, and the like. I think he’s the stone whisperer…

The team was gone and cleaned up before 4:45 pm. Boom – day one of the build is done!

I’ll continue to post progress on the pool as we go. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

June 27, 2020February 23, 2021

Pool Planning

As we get closer to when we can move into our new home we are also beginning to think of other projects we want/need to complete. And that includes a swimming pool. It’s Texas. It’s hot. In fact, as I write this on June 27th and look at the 15 day weather forecast, every day is forecasted to hit 90 degrees or above.

We’ve been waiting to go ahead with the pool until we sold our lake house up in Illinois. At one point in time we thought about keeping it and working from the lake during the hot summers, but cousin Callan pointed out some problems with that. First, you cannot just leave a house with a swimming pool for 3 months in Texas and expect it to be A-OK upon your return. Also, it isn’t like winter up north where everything just stops – the grass, weeds, and yaupon holly bushes keep growing, so we would need a yard guy. Add to that the stressors of maintaining a house 1,000 miles away (which we experienced this winter when a window broke at the lake cottage and we were trying to get it repaired while locked down from COVID-19), and the decision to sell was made.

Yay – we have a cash offer on the cottage!

Now that we have a contract to sell the lake cottage, we can look ahead to completing our forever home with a swimming pool. I think we will wait until the closing to sign the contract for the pool, just in case, but with a cash offer we are feeling pretty confident about the sale of the lake cottage. We’ve now received 3 bids for a swimming pool and have decided on the contractor we want to work with for this next phase of construction. Because of delays, it likely won’t be completed until mid-September, but thankfully we have a long swimming season here. Did I mention it gets hot here?

We had previously met with Sam last fall to look at material options for the pool, so our most recent web meeting was to make sure that none of the house dimensions had changed and that we still liked the pool design we had discussed before. And we do.

Our pool will be 15′ wide by 30′ long with a tanning shelf and a spa on the far end. It’s what is called a sport pool – meaning there is no deep end. It ranges from 4′ deep to 5′ deep in the middle and is designed for shallow water activities and games. So it is perfect for volleyball or badminton or just swimming laps.

The pool will also have a bubbler and umbrella hole in the tanning shelf, as well as lights in the pool and spa. The spa will have benches on 3 sides and 6 jets. The color of the lights, the temperature of the spa, and pretty much anything else you can think of can all be controlled from an app on your phone, tablet or computer. It’s crazy.

So that’s where we are on pool planning. I grew up with a swimming pool and love to swim – this was definitely a non-negotiable for me. What do you think of the pool design? Would love to hear your ideas!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby