Pool Project - Week Seven

Well, the crew faced some challenges this week, but was still able to achieve a number of milestones.

As you may recall from my Week Five post, the crew spent a great deal of time rendering the columns and walls to create a smooth finish. 

Once all the surfaces were cured, Mr. Mario went around and started tapping the columns and walls. It seems that on another project he has going, the crew ran into a problem with the final coats of cement not adhering properly. Sure enough, he identified a bunch of spots on our structure that had the same problem.

As a result, those hollow spaces needed to be chipped out and redone. And while it was a bit of a setback, we were glad that Mr. Mario took the time to check into it. The last thing anyone of us would like to see are cracks.

With that work out of the way, the crew started installing the zinc roof panels.

And this is where the next challenge cropped up. It seems the screws that come as part of the roofing "kit", were too long. If used, we would be seeing the pointy screw ends every time we looked up at the ceiling. Not exactly the look we were shooting for. David checked around at hardware stores in town, but shorter screws aren't available.

The solution? Mario had one of his guys, using a chop saw, cut the ends off of a slew of the screws. Somehow, all of his fingers were still intact by the time he was done. 

While the roofing work was underway, a couple of the other guys were putting the decorative tile in the pool.

In the meantime, the glass block was installed in the new hallway.

Once the tile work was done in the pool, the entire structure was power washed. When the surface around the pool was dry, the guys taped off the area around the pool's perimeter where Diamond Brite would be applied.

Mr. Mario's plan was to spread a thin coat on the deck surface and around the bull nose. His reasoning was that if it's a thin coat it would still provide grip, and it would eliminate people stubbing their toes if a thicker coat would be applied.

When David went out to see how it was going, he noticed brown specks in the aggregate.

Hmmm, what was up with this? After some head scratching and emails to our supplier, we finally hit on the answer. As the guys were applying the Diamond Brite with a trowel, they were inadvertently collecting little bits of untreated cement that the power washer didn't remove. David picked out as many brown cement specks as possible all the way around the pool and it now looks like it should.

And just to keep things interesting, while the Diamond Brite was going on, the painter showed up and spent a couple of days priming the walls, columns, and pump house.

Here's a view from the south end...

...and from the west.

This week's activities will include applying Diamond Brite inside the pool, more painting, putting the finishing touches on the south end fascia board and the rafters, and maybe gutter installation. Once the painting is finished, the frames and screens can be assembled and installed. Oh, and there is also hooking up the pool pump and installing all the electrical boxes, outlets, and switches.

I must say that even though there is still work to be done, we are definitely in the home stretch. And even in its uncompleted state, there's a spa-like sense to the place. Without a doubt, we love it and anticipate spending quite a bit of time out here.

Matter of fact, as this is our first day off in three weeks, I think I'll grab a chair, go out to the seating area and just be for a bit.