How to build a pool - Drawings

The Drawing

The pool drawing. You can draw your pool yourself it is not hard but if you are not use to draw drawing and count scale it will probably take awhile. Do not count on getting it right the first time. The easiest way to draw the pool is probably to use a CAD program on the computer, if you are not comfortable with computers you can draw it by hand. Remember the scale has to be 1: 8.00 which means 1 inch on your drawing is 8 feet in real life. Mark diameter and distance to wall and house on the drawing. When the pool is going to be drawn on the ground, it is drawn 6 inch wider then on your drawings because of the shell. Make sure you have that in mind so there are no inch missing. Those small inches made the difference of a big or a small grotto for us. So maybe it is a good idea to draw them in one of your drawing, the one that you keep for yourself just to make sure everything is going to fit and still have the distance. Mark where North are and the scale. Do also attach a drawing on how you want your pool depth to be.

Measure.

 Measure your backyard and draw it. If you using your lot drawing observer that the walls around the yard might decrease the "actual" area of your yard, so to be on the safe side start with measure your yard by yourself. If you have a patio draw that and if it has columns you need to draw those too. I was told that if our pool was going to be closer then 5 feet to the patio columns the pool where going to need extra steel reinforcement, which means a special engineering drawing and more steel. Mark where the entrance are and how wide the access gate is. Is there something that narrows the way down like AC draw them in too and put out the distance.

Shape.

Look into pool stores and go online to look on different shapes. When you drawing your own pool it can have the most strangest shape but if you are going to sell the house in the future it's maybe a good idea to not go too extreme. The easiest way is to buy a circle temples and draw circles in different shapes next to each other and then connect them to an all over shape.

More about drawings later.

How to build a pool

Now when we have been thinking about all different parts of a pool it is time to start building. To build a pool is a process with many steps. Here are the steps if you building a pool with a heater and no spa. 

The Process;
Drawings
Permits
Layout
Utility marking
Excavation
Plumbing
Steel
Electric
Gas
1:st Inspection
Shotcrete
Water feature
Decking
Tile/Mosaic
2:nd Inspection
Interior
Start up

Hibiscus

Hibiscus, a lovely plant.

As always there are many different hibiscuses. Before you buy one make sure you get one that fits your temperature zone. You would think that because they sell the plant in the store it will grow fine in your yard but that isn't always the case. The Arizona sun can burn a plant really bad, even kill it, if it's not a "full sun plant". 

In general if the plants information sign says it can be in the sun and it has thin leaves you should check it with other sources. Maybe the plant can take some sun but not direct midday-burning-Arizona sun. Make sure to have some bigger, tougher plants shading the more delicate once. This can be a problem when you starting up your yard from scratch.

There is a hibiscus that can take the Arizona heat. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, also called Rose of China, Hawaiian hibiscus or Chinese hibiscus is a hot climate hibiscus. But even that plant like some shade from the hottest sunlight.

In winter time it is best to cover up the hibiscus if the temperature goes under 32 F/0 C.

More about hibiscuses later, in the meanwhile read more about the plant here;

Dupont Nursery,

How to Raise Hibiscus Plants in Arizona

Hardy Hibiscus Plants

The Temperature Zone for Hibiscus

Plant Care Guides

More things to think about. Part 6

More things to make a decision on before you start

Here is some information and advice but please notice that this is only my thoughts. Before you take a decision on something get information from more than one source.

Pumps

As with everything else there are a lot of different pumps to choose between. Cheaper and simpler pumps or more expensive and efficient. The most common brand here in Arizona is Pentair and Hayward. If you are going to have a slide or waterfall the pool company is probably going to recommend you to buy at least two pumps. If you buy a more efficient one you only need one pump and some valve, that is less pipes and less installations fees. A pump that has more than one speed is very economical. The pump use a higher speed to clean the pool during the night when the electricity is cheaper and during the day the pump use a lower speed to move around the water. You will be able to save the money you paid for the more expensive pump in no time and this kind of pump makes much less noise. More and more state gets laws that require that new pools are built with a variable speed pump, California has one already.

Other things to think about is what kind of Cleaning and Water treatment system you want. Salt water or Chlorine. 

As everything else there are many different kind of filter. Cartridge Filter, D.E. (Diatomaceous earth) filters, or Sand Filters. More about this later.

Mist 

A mist system around the pool makes it usable any time during the day, even in the hottest Arizona summer. A little advice, don’t go for a small system that you plug to your yard hose, it will not cool you off enough. You need a mist pump to get the right amount of mist to cool off the yard,

here is how our backyard look when the pump is on a high level.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb pie. Oh, it is so good. Believe it or not but you can grow rhubarb in Arizona. It needs well-drained and fertile soil. Living on old farmer land this is perfect for rhubarb. Our rhubarb plant was huge and we made many pies every year until we left the yard to a neighbor to keep an eye on it. When we came back all plants was happy except our rhubarb, they drown. After that we couldn’t get any new plants to grow. This year I am trying again and now I am even trying to plant them in my herb/potato-land. I think it is not going to be the best spot but I feel desperate.

We bought a couple packs of rhubarb.

When you buying a rhubarb plant you only get the roots. Dig a not too deep hole and placed the roots.

Sometimes the roots have already start to spout in the bag. It is OK to cover the spout with soil but I try to let some part of it stick up.

I will come back with a recipe on rhubarb pie if my plants survive.

Read more about rhubarb;

The old farmer's almanac

The Rhubarb Compendium

Building a pool? Part 5

More things to make a decision on before you start

Here is some information and advice but please notice that this is only my thoughts. 

Interior

First you have to decide if you want pebble or plaster. Plaster is cheaper but has to be replaster after a couple of years, pebble is probably going to last forever. There are different kind of brand on pebbles, for example Pebble Tec and Baja pebble. Usually is the interior company using just one brand, so if you have chosen company you probably have to go with their brand. There are two or three different sizes on the pebble. The smoothest looks almost like plaster. There are also different colors on the pebble. The color looks different under water so try to find a pool company that has the different colors in their pools so you can get an idea how the interior is going to look under water. The pebble also looks different in shallow and deep water.

Lights

You have to decide on how many and what kind of light. If you buy LED lights you can change the color on the lights and get other colors on your interior and also run lightshows. LED lights cost more then double as much as regular pool light but runs more then 6 time longer, you will probably never have to change a bulb.

OBS. Running the lights during the day will not change the color of you pools interior.

Ask your pool electrician if you need more than one light in your pool and where you should put it/them. The people that will do the layout on the ground can probably also give you some advice.

You have to draw in the lights on your drawing, the excavation company need to know where you want them when they start digging, they will dig out room for the lights and the electrician need to know the distance for the wires to give an accurate price proposal.

Lavender

I love my Lavender. The color and the strong smell is so different to all the other plants, read cactus, that grows in my yard.

There are many different kind of Lavender, the one I have can take the sun and heat in the summer but it looks best during spring and fall. I cut of all the dried flowers when the blooming season is over. If I want to save some for cooking or for some good-smelling-mini-pillows I have to remember to cut them before they dry.

Read more about Lavender here;

Growing Lavender 
Better Homes and Gardens

Cooking with Lavender
How to Dry and Store Herbs