A Pool in the backyard! What a scary thought to me!


A Pool, we decided, should be added to the backyard. That decision happened in June 2019, after reading horror stories of flesh-eating bacteria all over Florida's beaches and even in rivers and the sweet water swimming areas. So scary. We love to be in the water but I did not want to take chances. 
In July was planing time, research, shopping, hiring, and then the excavation on the 18th.



I immediately regretted this decision. Beautiful Myrtle Glen was torn up. Destroyed. Wildlife fled. Plants died. Will Nature forgive me?

Let's start with the pool. We designated the round grass area for the future pool with also losing the majority of the surrounding flower beds to the future deck.  We dug up the plants in the 'danger zone' and set them aside. 




I seriously never wanted a pool for a hundred different reasons. To agree to it I had some stipulations. For one, I did not want a permanent pool. It had to be round, not kidney, oblong or whatever other weird shape,  and I wanted it halfway sunk into the ground. And it had to be saltwater. And I wanted the deck to be just how I wanted it. 

Unluckily, before the pool was to be installed, we had torrential rains, even hail at one point. Construction stopped, and what a mess it was!



We tried to save the excavation site with plastic pool covers and with pumps, but in the end, it all had to be dug up a second time.



We purchased everything for this pool from Pools above Ground, a local company here in Orlando with excellent customer service. 
The Installer we hired, Dan (central Florida above ground pools) can not be recommended, he gave us the runaround and this is his fault that we did not have the installation finished before the rains started. Luckily, there is more than just this one installer, and Steven did an amazing job. 
By the end of July, our pool was set up.



We used the weeks in August for researching the deck and by the end of August, we hired David, Florida Specialty Contracting to install it. 
The deck installation was postponed by two and a half months, until November due to all kinds of happenings, good and bad. So, for the time being, we had our 'redneck deck' :-)



We decided on a half around the pool, low to the ground Trex Decking in the color 'Tiki Torch'. With the idea in the back of my head, that should I want to get rid of this pool, I can use the half-moon shaped deck as a perfect edge for a nice-sized round koi pond :-)



By mid-November our deck was complete.
The pool wall is hidden by matching facia, the steps are low and wide and accented with dimmer lights. The palm tree could stay in its place, nicely surrounded by the decking. David did an amazing job, the deck ended up as I envisioned it.



To finish the project, the paver walkway around the backside of the pool was installed in mid-December. Once again, what a mess, the crew cut the pavers right by the pool and that left the entire backyard, including the pool, covered in red brick dust.



The path goes around the pool and leads down to the sunken terrace.




Finally, the pool construction was complete, it took five months due to severe weather, travel, and a  hospital emergency. 

Now it's time for the finishing touches. The kids started with a Christmas gift of color-changing globes we can set on the pool's edge or let float on the water.



What a project! 
Probably just as difficult and complex as the darn kitchen project. But compared to the kitchen project I am not entirely convinced that I did not make a huge mistake adding this pool to Myrtle Glen. We'll see, I guess.



1 comment:

  1. So ein großes Projekt, das war ja sehr viel Arbeit aber es ist alles schön geworden.

    ReplyDelete