Day two saw the completion of the plaster and filling of the pool with water. The plaster crew arrived early in the morning as per the usual but with a much smaller team of three. They removed all of the plaster in the settling pond and power and acid washed the pool plaster. They finished their work right before the water trucks showed up and started to set up. By the end of the day, the pool was filled with water. The temperature of the first truck of water was not too cold at 71 degrees so I'm sure we'll be at least taking a quick dip in it tonight.
Here's what the power washing process looks like near completion. Most of the pool was washed at this point and you can see the bottles of muriatic acid sitting on the pool edge. They used a small water pump to remove any water and sediment from the power washing process. The color of the plaster is noticeably different as the aggregate gets cleaned off.
Here's how much plaster overage is made in the plastering process. It was dry and drained when they came back today and they had to use a small jack hammer to break up the chunks for removal. You can see the plastic and plywood they used to make the settling pond.
Here's the Eclipse main drain with the plaster protectors removed and the center cap installed. The trench is a large diameter circle, making it safety compliant since no one part of the body can block the whole drain and cause suction. It's a clean drain design that doesn't sit up off the pool bottom and cause a toe stubbing obstacle.
This is the state of the pool after the plaster crew left. They also power washed the deck again to make sure any plaster dust was removed. There are a few voids in the pavers that will need a little more polymeric sand, but I'll probably make that repair myself. It doesn't hurt to have extra sand on hand too. I just used the last of my 15 year old sweeping sand I had from a diy paver project at the old hose, to repair my mother-in-laws collapsing paver patio.
Here's the cleaned pool from the shallow end. By the end of the day, this will be filled with water.
When the blue plaster is removed from the surface, the darker aggregate really shines through, darkening the pool when dry. When it's under water, it will take on a bluer appearance. I think the more natural colors will be nice in our very natural setting. Eli sent me a whole 28 day regiment for the initial care of the plaster. It involves lots of water testing and chemical balancing to ensure the water doesn't quickly degrade the new plaster.
Here's the 6" hose that ran the length of the driveway from the street to the pool. The water trucks are too heavy for the driveway with 9000 gallons each so this was the only option. They had enough hose, so it seems like they're prepared for something like this.
For the initial water flow, they installed this loose tarp so the falling water didn't pound the plaster too much. After the first load was done, they removed the sock and just let the water flow. Eli estimates at least three, 9000 gallon trucks, with maybe some topping off from the house. That's how we'll calculate the rough volume of the pool for chemical purposes.
Here's how much of the pool that was filled after the first 9000 gallons. It took a good 15-20 minutes to pump the water out of the truck, and maybe an hour or so for the round trip to get it filled back up and pumping again.
Here's the water level after 18,000 gallons. We ordered three trucks so it looks like it will fill the pool just about to where it needs to be, maybe a little topping off with the hose for the water present in the pipes.
Here's the water level at 27,000 gallons, which is right on the money. We'll be able to use this as the total volume for future chemical calculations.
One more shot of the pool color with all the water added.
Tomorrow will see the start up of the pool filtration, heater, and all the automation software connected. A representative from Jandy will be on site to get it set up and running and I'll start all the initial pool water care.
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