Pebble Coat

Well it's really in the final stages now. Today they came in and put in a "pebble coat", which is slightly different than plaster. It has little pebbles on the surface instead of regular plaster (there is plaster in there as the bond and structure, but the pebbles sit on top. The process is a lot like how the concrete went in. They come in with a hose that is fed from a truck which supplies the mixture of plaster and pebbles. They coat it on thick (I'm guessing a half inch or so?). It comes out in the consistency of frosting. Then they smooth it out and shape it how they want with hand trowels. It's really difficult work, and so far they look like they did a great job.

The crew that California Pools used was really really good. They worked really well as a team and finished off our pool and jacuzzi in about 4 hours! They kept smoothing it out, and then started to wash away some of the blue plaster to reveal the pebbles. If you were going with regular plaster, we would have started filling the pool with water! But with pebble you need to wash away that film after a 12 hour period. Tomorrow they will come in with an acid wash to give the pebble a real shine and wash away that blueish gray film you see in the pictures. After that, we start filling up the pool!

Almost there!

Almost there! The mason (Jesus) was here every day this week trying to get the deck put in before our inspection tomorrow. If all goes well with inspection, we should have plaster (pebble in our case) by Monday. That means we could have water in this thing by Wednesday!! Hopefully the next post will have a picture of our pool with the pool part completely done!!! WOOHOO!!!

Coping and tile almost done!

There hasn't been many updates because not a lot has gone on lately as explained in the prior post. This week we had a lot of activity, with the coping getting done (that rectangular cut flagstone that you see), and most of the tile work done. We also had the fire pit built and covered in flagstone. We're not that confident that July 1st, we'll have a pool, but our construction manager says that's when we're going to have water in the pool. The schedule seems agressive, but it sounds like they finish tiling and get decks poured next week. Then we have plaster (actually we went with pebble tec instead) on Monday June 28th. I'm not sure where that leaves the automatic pool cover installation.

The pebble tec we got is actually an off-name brand pebble finish. It's essentially the same stuff, but it's just not the "pebble tec" brand pebble. Which doesn't seem that important to me. Both have the same warranty, and look about the same. It gives it a nicer finish and more color, but the process is to put the pebble finish on one day, then the next day use an acid wash to clean it, and then the third day you can start putting in water. Heading down the home stretch now!

While we were gone

So we left in the middle of this project for Japan, and came back with the pool not looking a whole lot different but apparently a lot went on. For the first week we were gone, the pool's concrete surface was curing. Then last week they put in a new gas meter, tile work and put in the fire pit (not sure what else went on, I'll have to check with the guys on Monday). A little story about the gas meter and how good our pool guys are:

One of the things that happens when you install a pool is that the gas company will come out and upgrade your gas meter for free. If you don't know any better, some pool companies we heard will charge you for this (Even though I think that's illegal). At any rate, when they do this, they obviously have to turn off your gas. If you're home, after they're done, they'll turn it back on, and then come in and help you relight all your pilot lights (stove, water heater etc...). If you're not, then they'll just shut off the gas and let you come out and turn it on and go around relighting your pilots.

Well my mom (who is not a handy person by any means, in fact, she has me come over to hang pictures) was watching the house while we were gone, and since the gas company didn't bother to schedule the meter upgrade with me, they just came and upgraded the meter and left a note saying that the gas was off. Gary, because he's such a great professional, knew that my mom was watching the house and probably couldn't handle the pilot lights on his own. So he came over and helped her light the pilot lights for the house so she could have hot water and a stove to cook on. Another reason to go with a reputable company like California pools. I gotta thank Gary for that.

Not a lot of pictures, as not much visually has been done. I'll post more pics when there's more to see.