DIY Inground pool - Day 8

Hi everyone!  Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! lots of views so far on the blog, over 1200 views in just one week, thanks for checking it out!

I haven't written since Thursday so this is a short weekend update.  Last we left off we had practiced with the Pool Krete on just the small step off the tanning ledge, Megan and I got up early on Saturday and finished the whole tanning ledge, took about 7 bags of Pool Krete, I stayed on the mixer for the most part and Megan stayed down in the hole, troweling.  Only took maybe two hours to get things where we wanted them!


The cool think about the Pool Krete is it is a lot softer than what you would normally think of concrete, it still supports the weight of people but it can be damaged more easily.  It also has a perfect gritty surface to it, which allows it to safely grip the vinyl liner to prevent liner slippage without damaging it.

Saturday was also the day that the electricians were to come at 7am, they showed up at 10:30am because they had a late birthday party the night before...

As far as electrical goes here is a list of things we had to do:

  • Run new 50 Amp service to the barn through existing conduit from the house, this will easily service the pool and we will have plenty leftover if we ever decide to put in an outdoor kitchen or even an apartment in the loft of the barn, like a mother in law suite.  They fought that line for a while and finally ran a mouse through to be able to pull from.
  • upgrade master panel in house to 50amp service
  • upgrade sub panel in barn to accept 12 circuits, only using 4 right now, for pump, salt chlorinator, existing barn lighting, and new LED pool lights.
  • Run lines to equipment pad for connections
  • Install Chlorinator power center
  • Install LED transformer
  • Install LED lights and conduit back to the equipment pad
  • Bond the actual pool with copper wire
  • install bond beam off a tee connection to return (I put this together this evening for them to install tomorrow)
  • and finally, pass multiple inspections (fingers crossed) I pulled the permit so the success is on me!
  • Turn everything on!
They basically got roughed in on Saturday, a Motley Crue of three odd guys in and out of the house all day was a mess, spend Saturday afternoon cleaning up mud and debris.

We knew we were going to get rain on Sunday (today) just didn't know when or how much.  Our sweet neighbor Virgie Soapes, stopped by for a porch sit and offered her pool cover to prep for the rain.  I was hesitant but the girls talked me into it, I picked it up this AM and we set up and extravagant operation that had an EZUP in the deeper end and we draped / sloped everything off the best we could.


Our best effort unfortunately did not work, we could not keep 1..the cat from jumping on it and imploding it several times, causing near injury to her crazy self, and 2.. the rain was too much and we couldn't stretch tight enough to prevent ponding and implosion.  We finally just took it all apart and let nature have its way, seems to be doing ok.  Between the cat and water, several of the support bricks fell into the pool and dented the ledge - totally fixable, but certainly frustrating!

Crazy kitty thinks I built her a fun house!!!

Looks like rain in the forecast all week, we will probably slow down a little as this system passes so maybe less updates but I look forward to the next iteration of the DIY Inground Pool build...Stay tuned!!



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