Day 19 - 17 Big Rocks = Steps

Today they put in the rock steps leading to the backyard. These rocks are so big and heavy that each one had to be lifted with a forklift attachment on the Bobcat and put into place, then hand placed to get them even. There will be sand or dirt put between the rocks next week. We have needed steps for a long time and these are great. 17 big rocks!

Day 18 - Back at work after the rain

After five days of rain and two days of sun, the ground was dry enough today to move some dirt around and start grading the back yard. They did a bit of grading then the cement man came and we spray painted the lines where the cement decking will be poured. This has been a hard decision to make but after a lot of spray paint, drawings and brain storming we made our decision. Once we got the orange spray paint down, they hammered stakes into the ground to see how to move the dirt to build up that area. A berm is also going to be built to direct any future rain run-off away from the pool area so dirt has to be moved in order to build that up and make it work. We decided to not put a sidewalk to the pool from the patio under the deck because in the future we want to rebuild the deck and possibly have the steps coming down on the pool side of the deck instead of the side of the deck.

Today we also decided where to put the steps coming down from the driveway to the backyard. For county codes, our fence gate will have to be installed to swing open away from the pool so we have to build a landing at that point. There will be several stone steps but we decided against a cement sidewalk leading to the pool from the steps and are going to use stepping stones instead.

The fence will be put up on Thursday, Sept 4! We are excited about that!

The plaster color for the inside of the pool is and has been one of our biggest concerns on this project. The color of the water is a huge visual effect and we want it dark but not too dark. This is our next hurdle to jump!

August 28

The sun has been shining all day today so hopefully everything is drying up and some actual work can be done tomorrow on our backyard. We have had over 6 inches of rain since Sunday night.

Water In The Pool

Since we have had a few inches of rain, that means we have a few inches of water in the pool. Jordan took this time to go fishing in his own backyard!

Monday, August 25....waiting

We have hit a lull in our progress with all the rain that Hurricane Fay is supposed to bring us. We had a lot of rain yesterday and are supposed to have more in the next few days. Because of this the yard cannot be graded since it is so muddy. If they can't grade the yard, the footings for the concrete cannot be built and the concrete cannot be poured and colored and stamped. Right now it looks like the concrete will not be started until Friday. We were hoping to be in the pool by Labor Day which was a very fast paced deadline but it looks like that not happen. We also have to get the fence up before we fill the pool (county ordinance) but before that the pool has to be plastered.

I saw the county inspector come by this morning at 9am. He looked around the pool for a few minutes to make sure the wiring, electrical and gas lines are all up to code and then he left. Maybe that is a good sign. I would have never known he was here if Bruiser hadn't alerted me to him. That is another box to check off, passing inspection.

So to make a long story short: the rain needs to come and go, the backyard needs to be graded, the the cement footings built and the cement poured, colored and stamped, the fence has to go up and the pool has to be plastered and filled. Not a lot of things but ones that have to be done in the right kind of weather.

Saturday, August 23 - Picking out cement!

Today is a very overcast day, looks like it could rain at any minute. Hurricane Fay is supposed to bring us some rain over the next couple of days so the work has stopped. The plaster for the pool and the concrete cannot be done or even started with rain in the forecast. The fence still has to go up, too. We picked that out yesterday and are happy with our choice.

We picked out our concrete color and design today and are going with a stamped concrete that is the color of our stone. After walking around in the mud spray painting where we think we want our decking to be poured, we still cannot make up our minds. We finally went out and sat in the spa to get a better feel for what we think we need. We came up with the idea that we really don't need sidewalks coming from the driveway to the pool or a sidewalk coming from the patio to the pool. One day we are going to redo the deck on the back of the house and may have steps pointing toward the pool and we would not want to cover up sidewalk if that is the case. We are going to do flagstones or some type of paver for a walk way to the pool. Another question is trying to figure out where we need the most decking. Is it at the shallow end? In the middle? Do we need any at the deep end? Just questions that we have to find an anser for in the next few days. We don't want to go over budget either!

Day 17 - Stone is finished! Waterfall is finished! Coping is finished!

Today was a day for completing alot of things! The coping which was mortared down yesterday was finished today and grouted. The waterfall was completed with the smaller rocks and the coping is completely finished around the top of the wall, around the spa and around the pool. The steps were also finished today - they are actually huge rocks cut to form steps to go around the left edge that leads up to the top of the wall. There will be a concrete area up there for jumping into the pool.

There was a minor emergency today. One of the sprinkler system lines was cut and Jay and the crew had to run around and figure out where to turn the water off. This was cut when they were digging the trench to run the electrical lines. The gas line was also put in today for the pool and spa heater. Later the stump grinder came and ground up the remaining stumps, too. We have had a busy day in our back yard today!

They also grounded the electrical wires onto the wire around the pool on the ground. You have to have at least this much concrete decking around the pool. We are having more decking than this but for some reason, this is all the wire they had to put down today for the codes inspection.

Next week we are supposed to get some rain from Hurricane Fay and that was when our concrete decking was supposed to be poured and stamped. We will probably have to wait until Friday to get that done if the weather forecast is correct as we see it now.

These pictures are amazing to us considering that 16 days ago, our yard just had a few trees cut down.

Day 16 - Wall is finished, Spillway added to waterfall!

Today they finished the wall and tomorrow the coping will be added to the top! The spillway was added to the waterfall where it will fall into the pool from the wall. The coping is all laid out around the pool and it is supposed to be finished tomorrow. Hopefully the stone will be all done tomorrow! Today these small completions made such a big difference! We also made a decision about our fencing today and we have to get that completed before we can fill up the pool.

**Sorry about the blurry photo of the waterfall. By the time I realized how bad it was, it was too dark outside to take another photo. I will redo it tomorrow!

Day 15 - Waterfall, steps, stone and coping

Today has been very exciting because they started building the waterfall! It looks amazing and it is not even finished yet! The stone wall is farther along and looks beautiful. Some of the coping around the spa is being "glued" down today as well. It looks like the stone guys are also hammering and chipping up stones to put in the waterfall. They start building it first with a long rubber mat and then add the big stones and flat rocks. Later they will add smaller stones to it. Today the steps on the left side to go up to the jumping wall are being built. These are huge flat rocks that are cut and put into place. They started the steps but as they were turning into pie shaped steps, Jay had them change it to make the steps more rectangular and with a landing. Much safer!

Day 14 - Coping

Today they started putting the coping around the hot tub first. They arrange it just like puzzle pieces, then they mark and measure and cut and place it around the edge. A lot of the coping around the hot tub/spa and the pool was pieced together today but is not "glued" down yet. It is just sitting on the edge and still being worked around like puzzle pieces.

They also made some progress with the stone wall, too. It is a slow process but interesting and amazing to watch! We can see it really coming together, too.

How It All Begin

These are the computer designed drawings that we started the design process with at the builder's office. It was fun to see this on a screen first. You can add this, take away this and all with the click of a mouse. It helps to see it on a screen or on paper first.

Day 13 - Moving dirt, stumps and getting deliveries of big rocks!

Today is Monday and the stone people didn't come out today. The pool builders are back to do some grading on the yard. You can see that they moved a lot of dirt back behind the back wall. They also pulled up some stumps and this really made the yard look different. We still have a few more stumps that will be ground up in a few days. Jay went to the Stone Forest today to show the stone guys and the pool guys what he wants the water fall to look like. When you look at these pictures you will see the two big rocks on the wall and that is where the water will fall into the pool off the wall and into the pool. The stream/waterfall will come down the hill at an angle so as you are looking at the pool from our house it will start on the left side of the hill and end up between the two big rocks on the pool wall. (You can also see the rubber ground cover that will go under the rocks, etc. The waterfall rocks were delivered today and they are beautiful and big! We have learned that these rocks come from all different parts of the U.S. The flat ones for the coping are from Oklahoma. The rocks on the wall and hot tub are called Tennessee Stack Stone.

Day 12 - More stonework

Day 12 - We didn't get to see much work today because we took Josh to Knoxville to move into his dorm! We got home very late and went out to check it out but it was too dark for pictures. Here are 2 pictures that I took later of the progress of the day! You can see a little more stone up on the wall and around the hot tub. You can also see the spillover rock on the hot tub and some of the coping in place around the top of the hot tub.

Day 11 - Evening

These pictures were taken at 7pm tonight. We are very happy with the results so far!!

Day 11 - Stone

These photos were taken at 2pm. Putting the stone up is a slow and methodical task. They take each stone and hammer it to a certain size. It is very interesting to watch!