Digging a Big Hole Complete

   The excavation machines are gone and my driveway is once again clear so I'm calling the digging portion of the pool done.  The forms all look installed with the exception of a gap here or there, which should be inconsequential.  I think the next steps should be plumbing stubs into the pool, metal framework, inspection, then gunite application.

   Here's a shot of the entire pool from the lawn side.  They had some sheets of the fiberboard left, but you can see how much height needed to be adjusted for due to the drop in grade towards the water.  There's an optical illusion where it looks like it's increasing in height on the lake side, but it's all level.

   Here's the deep end of the pool.  There was minimal wall erosion, but it did collapse a little in some places.  Not enough to cause any worry, and it the collapsed sand was removed.  The pool shell will be shot between 10-12 inches so any slight irregularities on the excavation will be absorbed by this thickness.  It's apparent now that the bond beam will not cantilever out behind the pool forms, so that means that it will have to be shot to the thickness of the coping stone.  All diagrams I've seen show the coping stone fully sitting on the bond beam.  I'll have to take exact measurements of the coping stone that we've decided on, but I think the overall depth is 12 inches, but you have to subtract any overhand and the bullnose edge, making the shell thickness probably around 10 inches.  The pool shell should be at least 6 inches thick to be structurally sound, depending on the surrounding substrate, so 10 inches will be a good thickness.

   Here's a look a the final curve from the deep end of the pool.  The concave curve at the bottom of the picture is actually the swim out shelf so it kind of divides the deep end from the shallow end.  The convex curve at the middle looks a little sharp, but I think that's just the angle at which I took the picture.   The grade difference allows plenty of room for the skimmer box and return jets to be roughed in on this side, but it seems like those things will need to be shovel excavated in on the lawn side or something.  Those provisions need to be made before metal work and gunite, so I'm thinking that's the next step in the process.

   I tried to get a shot of the established final level marked on the rebar vs. the height of the form.  Since this string is a little above the grade of the yard on the grass side, I think it's marking the height of the coping stone, since that's also what's marked on the engineering drawings.  If this is true, then I'm not sure how they'll be able to eyeball the top of the bond beam when shooting the concrete.  Maybe this is indicating top of the bond beam, so the coping stone will add a couple inches on top of this.

   This is the path of destruction that the heavy machines made getting to the back yard.  It was mostly undeveloped, but we'll need to get the hill re-graded at the end of all the construction.  Eventually there will be stone steps installed here since the grade change is too great to allow just a hill, but that's not included in the scope of the pool project.  It will probably be a smaller project for next year, as we work to implement the various landscaping areas going towards the front of the house.  It's interesting that the ground on the hill was completely torn up and compressed while the ground near the walk out doors were largely untouched.  Even five years after the initial construction, that's the difference between graded fill and original soil.  The sprinkler system is largely intact with only one or two sprinkler heads on the rear lawn circuit being destroyed/removed.  I had to turn this circuit off on the Rachio or a ton of water would be pumping out into the yard.  Those should probably be restored once we have the pool paver patio installed, but the heads will need to be configured since there won't be as much lawn to water.  Also, any plantings in the beds around the pool should probably be tied into the other bed watering circuits rather than using the lawn watering circuit.

   Here's the pile of sand that was left ungraded after the excavators were driven away.  It's either there to fix the grade in the end, or provide extra fill for backfilling after the pool is shot.  Even if it's not all used in the immediate area, there are plenty of places along the edge of the driveway that I've been meaning to bolster with fill.

   Here's the pile of gravel that was left too.  It's a pretty significant amount and I'm not sure what it's going to be used for.  The center drain will probably see some gravel removed to accommodate the large box and plumbing.  Maybe some will be used to fill the swim out shelf and sun deck so it's not just made of concrete?

   Here's a full shot of the pool from the perspective of the main pool deck area.  This was taken in the early morning so it's mostly shaded.  The sun starts to hit the pool near mid day and the pool deck area remains in the sun for most of the rest of the day.   We do have a lot of trees around the yard, so hopefully the tree debris will be manageable with the dual skimmers and frequent removal.  Usually a pool is required to have two main drains, as per the Virginia Graeme Baker Act (VGBA), which might not be applicable to residential pools.  Essentially, the VGBA was created after Virginia Graeme Baker, who died after sustaining a pool-suction drain injury.  Requirement of having 2 main drains helps mitigate this since at no time will both drains be completely covered, reducing the likelihood of drowning due to drain suction.  The pool drain we're using is certified to be clog free and comply with VGBA.

   Last shot of the sun shelf and shallow end.  I'll have to take a closer look in person, but this picture makes the walls look like they're slightly tapered towards the bottom.  The pools I've swam in do have a curve at the bottom of the wall where it meets the floor of the pool, but I don't think they're tapered.  Also, just because the walls of the excavation are tapered, it doesn't mean the internal walls of the pool shell will be, but it does mean that the wall thickness will be less towards the bottom.  

   That's it for now.  I haven't received any communication on when the plumbing and metal work will go in and there currently isn't anyone working on the site.  It's a holiday weekend, so hopefully any work will be done before it, otherwise work will pick up again next week.  There's a 4 week concrete cure time that we'll have to contend with before the final finishing of the pool and summer is just starting to ramp up with recent temperatures in the mid to high 80s (~30C).  We're not expecting to be completed until the end of the swim season, but it would still be nice to take a dip when the weather is warm.