05/31/2012 Day 53- Pool gets sandblasted

Burkett's was out at 7AM to start stripping the old paint and plaster from the pool. They worked quick- and were finished and out of there by 10AM. I believe that means that they are ready to start the re-plastering process. They may be back later today to connect and re-route plumbing as needed to accommodate the new 3-way actuators for the hot tub. They'll also be replacing the electrical box and adding another outdoor outlet in the pool equipment area.

.

05/30/2012 Day 52- Concrete dust clean-up reveals some color issues

The guys came to power wash the concrete to remove the dust used to color the concrete that was added during the stamping process. The coping and concrete planter were completed during step one and the rest of the deck pour happened during stage 2. Maybe I'm just being picky, but the color for the coping and the deck were supposed to match- and as you can see from the pictures- they don't.

I've called Burkett's and let them know- but not sure what they can do about it. On one side, I'm really happy that we are nearing completion, and on the other hand It's kinda disappointing. Would like to hear what other people think. Feel free to post comment below or respond to my Facebook post.

05/25/2012 Day 47- New Gate is in

Fremont fence was by today to install the new gate that separates the backyard from the side yard. What is really like is that everything in the backyard looks new and the gate now hides the vegetable garden and some storage now that the pool shed is gone. I also had them quote on replacing the rest of the fence in the backyard including the area in the old pool shed. It came in at $4K for about 110ft of new fencing and a gate. I'd likely be able to split it with a neighbor in a few years but the fence just isn't in bad enough condition to justify it. I would be doing this for mostly cosmetic reasons.

05/21/2012 Day 43- Concrete pour stage 2

Stage 2 of the deck pour happened today. The guys arrived pretty early and had everything poured, stamped and graded by 2PM. We're really excited to see the backyard coming together and it feels like we are just days away from enjoying the backyard again.
Mike from Burkett's mentioned that there are about 5 business days worth of work left. They'll be back out later this week and the fence guys will come out and do the gate on Friday. I'll also have them quote on replacing about 110ft of perimeter fencing which will likely need to be delayed until next year.

Southern property line

A view from the side of the house

A view from the old pool shed

05/19/2012 Day 41- The "illegal" shed is no more

The shed and bathroom are gone. The guys from Dig 'n Demo had the whole thing torn down in about 3 hours. All that's left is a shaky termite infested fence and the pool equipment.

Pool shed gone...shaky fence revealed

I'm sure that I'll have to swap out the breaker box because it isn't designed for outdoor use. That will likely mean an electrician and another $500.
I was able to reconnect the irrigation around the perimeter of the backyard and test it. It all works fine. Glad to see that's out of the way too.
The good news is that they are pouring the rest of the concrete on Monday and maybe moving onto the pool plaster later next week.

05/16/2012 Day 38- Demolition permit pulled

I had a few spare minutes to go over to the City of Newark offices to pull the demolition permit for the shed and bathroom. It cost $182.
I also got the quote for the demolition. It's gonna cost $1200.
Thanks City of Newark.
While at the permit office, I had them do a search to see if anyone had pulled a permit on the shed originally- nobody did- no surprise. I did, however, get them to look up when the pool was originally built...and it was 1964! holy crap, my pool is almost 50 years old. I hope everything comes up structurally ok when they start doing the re-plaster.
Anyways, no word when the remainder of the deck pour will occur. I'm hoping it's going to be this week. And hopefully the pool surface re-plaster can happen next week. We are already at May 16th and we have family coming out the week of June 11 and we are really anxious to enjoy the pool and all of the good weather we've been having since early April.

05/14/2012 Day 36- Concrete pour stage 1

The guys from Burkett's were out today to begin the concrete pour. They began by pouring the retaining wall surrounding the property as well as the pool coping. These areas will need to dry for a couple of days before they pour the rest of the deck.
I also had Wade out from Dig and Demo to quote on tearing down the pool shed. He too was amazed that the city cited me for it and told me that it's common for them to turn a blind eye on this sort of thing. Should get the quote back tomorrow.

Hot Tub Area

Planter along width of property

Cantilever pool coping

05/12/2012 Day 34- We are officially ready to pour concrete

The guys from Burkett's were out to do a few final touches to the plumbing and we are ready to pour concrete starting on Monday. On another note, I still haven't found someone to do the demolition of the pool shed but will focus on that next week. Are we in the final stretches of the project? It's starting to feel that way.

05/11/2012 Day 33- Never pull a permit

The first bomb of the project was received by voicemail on Wednesday night. Mike the job foreman had the city of Newark inspector on site for another inspection...and this time the results weren't all that good.
Our home was built in 1957 and the pool was originally installed in about 1985. At that time, the home owners installed a pool shed that runs down the entire length of the property and connects from the side of the house to the fence. They also installed a bathroom- both of which, I am told is now illegal.

Shed entrance from the front yard

Shed entrance from the back yard

The bathroom

So how does an inspection for a deck pool replaster and new deck turn into a code violation that will require me tear down a shed? Your guess is as good as mine and that's a great question for the city of Newark.
It's bullshit like this that city inspectors pull that give them a bad name. I was careful to choose a contractor that was reputable, and that would be held to high standards by having to pull permits. I paid the $500 for the permit to get it done right- but if I would have known that the asshole inspector would have been snooping around the rest of my property pointing out shit that was done 30 years ago, I would have never have pulled a permit.
What pisses me off even more is that I feel like the scapegoat for the entire neighborhood- our shed is neat, clean, and esthetically integrated into our property and one wouldn't even notice it from the street. There are at least a dozen neighbors who leave their garage doors open to reveal their illegal garage living room/ dining room/ disco hall eyesores to anyone walking down the street- and they're houses are fine? What a crock of shit!
No wonder people choose contractors that don't pull permits. No wonder city inspectors have a bad rap...and now it's gonna cost us thousands to remove it...
And to top it all off- when I called them and asked them exactly what needed to be done- they couldn't tell me. They told me that it would be inspected after the job- nobody will come out before to let me know if the electrical for the pool will be the next thing they tell us about...and then that the fence is too high...and so on. At least provide the common courtesy of guiding or helping people that you just screwed- give the inexperienced homeowner help, walk them through why you can't have a shed like this and more importantly how to fix it- then and maybe then they'll get some respect.
City of Newark- if you are reading this, this is precisely why people go under the table and avoid pulling permits- people are afraid of getting screwed for something that was done 30 years ago. I hope you go home and sleep well at night dreaming about how you saved the lives of the family on San Antonio street...how you did good for the city and the common good of the residents of Newark by making me tear down my pool shed.

05/07/2012 Day 29- Final prep for concrete pour

The guys were out to do the final prep to pour the concrete. The removed the planter on the south side of the lot so that the hot tub would slide right in rather than having to lift and drop it in. The final drainage and re-bar was also installed. Looks like we might actually pour this week.

The area around the hot tub

The walkway to the pool shed

The view from the walkway

05/03/2012 Day 25- Pressure is holding

I took readings of all of the pressure settings last evening, this morning and again at noon- and nearly 24 hours after the lines were pressurized everything was still 2PSI from where they started. I called Mike from Burkett's to let him know and he is now confident that we can proceed to the next step. We can even use the main drain!

Holding near 28PSI

He let me know of another big concrete pour they are doing tomorrow so it's going to be next week before they are back.

05/02/2012 Day 24- Retest plumbing pressure

The guys from Burkett's came out today to retest the plumbing pressure. Both for the existing lines and for the new ones. Looks like they also divided each set of lines- main drain, skimmer return, pool feed and spa feed and return (together) so that they can pinpoint the line with the leak. Not sure how much natural drop is supposed to occur in the pressure over time but they are all reading around 30PSI as of 5:30PM with the new spa return and feed at about 28. Lets see what they look like over the coming hours/days.

05/01/2012 Day 23- City inspection and a leak...

The city came by to give the site an inspection and we were given the all clear to move to the next stage. He wasn't the primary city inspector so we are still a bit worried about the step out from the patio door but it looks like we'll have the main inspector out to check on that before they commit to the deck pour.

Inspector on site

Mike, the job foreman did raise 2 potential issues that he noticed before the inspector arrived. First, the pressure in the lines had dropped from their initial testing. It was serious enough in the main drain that he recommended that we don't use the drain in the deep end- well that explains why they found it filled in with plaster when they tested it originally. He also noticed that it dropped in the other lines too. So instead of final prep before pouring, we'll need to do some other testing to pinpoint the line(s) with the leak(s). This should be done tomorrow- fingers crossed.

Mike was also concerned about how tightly they trimmed around the area where the hot tub will go. He thinks it will be hard to move the hot tub in and drop it into position and he recommended a different approach which I thought would be fine as long as we looked at it in more detail his next time by.

A small set back...