Blogging about the construction was supposed to help me get into a writing rhythm. Judging by the fact that I've now gone two months (!) between posts, I clearly have more work to do before I've got this right. Fortunately, so does our contractor.
66 days into the project and still standing (in mud). Progress is coming in chunks but is coming nonetheless. Pics of the new pool getting framed and sprayed after the jump.
The nice thing about the time off from the blog is you can see progress happening quickly. Those speedy-up parts are always the best part of those makeover shows anyhow. Alright, second best. The reveal is always the best. I would save 58 minutes of my life by just tuning into the first minute and last minute.
So here we go: The concrete form here is from the existing pool which has been stripped of tile, plaster, etc. The steel is the framing of the new walls going up. It took them two tries to get the frame right. First time they framed it too close to where the house addition will come, which would have violated code. Good thing Ami caught it before they poured. We've learned that when it comes to measurements, pool guys - unlike house guys - are the sorta kinda types.
Here's the frame mostly complete, as viewed from about where you would look from the new addition. Square on the left is the hot tub. At the very bottom of the picture you can see the old nearside wall days before it gets ripped out.
Here's the pool with the finished framing and plumbing. Notice the pool floor is also framed out since we are shallowing it from 8-ft to 6-ft. Lotta steel. We invited Randy "Macho Man" Savage and the Iron Shiek over for a good old-fashioned cage match (am I dating myself, WWE and MMA fans?), but they both declined. Turns out Macho Man stepped into the Slim Jim a little too long and has been permanently jerkified. I think Iron Shiek had a bar mitzvah.
Another shot just prior to the gunite spray. I love the PVC intakes and outtakes crisscrossing this way and that. Makes me long for my chemical engineering days (slightly). The guy standing in the back with the plans is the city's deputy inspector. We're required to have him observe the pour.
The start of the spray process. Basically, a mixer, two dumpers, a mini-loader, and a pile of sand showed up in front of our house and they run a hose back to the pool. Flip a switch and you've got spray-on concrete (gunite). The guys in the front here are using drywall and plywood to define the wall for the spray.
This lucky guy spent four hours spraying gunite over the entire frame. Loud, messy, and f-ing awesome. I felt like a kid with his trucks and cranes and mud. The guy working in the hot tub is one of several "smoothers" who go behind the sprayer with trowels and levels getting everything squared-up.
And just like that - complete! This is from the back corner of the lot. Hot tub in the rear middle, baja step to the left. With this complete, the pool guys take take a sabbatical while the house gets built. Once the house guys have up walls, roof, etc and are working inside, the pool guys will return to do the finish work, pour the deck, and install equipment.
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