DIY Inground Pool - Day 14

Hi everyone!

I had a few light days at work this week so I decided to take a couple off at the tail end to make a 4-day weekend.  The weather looked promising and at this point I hate to waste a good day and not make any progress.  I golfed yesterday, which I haven't done in a few months and had a great time with my friend Stephen Gates from St. Louis.  I hate that he drove all the way down here and he owed me money on a game of skins :)!  

This morning I set the clock and headed to Home Depot first thing, rented a Dingo and our goal was to backfill the overdig!  I assumed I would be able to maneuver the Dingo all around the pool but I was wrong, I could only get it on the close side, it was too big, and I did not want to mess up any existing concrete on the patios.  What does that mean??? Wheelbarrows!  many...many....wheelbarrows, of rocks!

I also rented a small water pump to clean out the hopper from the last rainfall, it only worked for a few minutes before it petered out and never would work again, me and Chuck at the HD went around a few times about getting a refund, but the customer is always right!

I was a bit nervous about covering all the condiut and pipes up, once you backfill there is really no going back, so I hope I have everything right!  Megan made me some vinyl stickers for the pipes, and made a sign for our pump room!  I was a bit OCD about naming these pipes, not that I couldn't figure it out later but, better to do it now and be sure!

Here are a few photos of the Dingo, it made easy work of the East wall of the pool, Megan on the rake was very helpful too!

So the super fun part was when we realized the Dingo wouldn't be the best option for the sides and back.  We had to go by wheelbarrow...yikes.

Well after quick inspection of both wheelbarrows, both have blowout tires so I head to Tractor Supply to get some tubes.  Came home and replaced both an added a security screw to each wheelbarrow to stop the toe piece from jamming into the tire after every load. Ordered some Jimmy Johns and took a needed lunch break, I accidentally skipped breakfast.

After lunch Megan and I got to it.  How we did it was to use the Dingo to load a bucket of gravel, set up both wheelbarrows under bucket and dump, it was perfect.  I full Dingo bucket = 2 heavy wheelbarrow loads of gravel.  From there Megan would take her load and head over to the left side, I would refill the Dingo bucket for the next dump and then take my wheelbarrow load. We each had a side we worked from to stay out of each others way.  I would say we loaded ~75 Dingo buckets of gravel, that is 150 loads with a wheelbarrow!  I think I may have broke Megan during this process, after we finished and I retuned from HD after sending the equipment back, she was tuckered.  Im getting there now.

Here is the final product of backfill day, get a good night rest cause we will be back at it tomorrow!

Stay tuned!