Houston pool builder suggestions? (Mart: landscaping, school, cabinet)

[PedroMartinez]

They did most of the wiring yesterday and began putting up interior wood. I think they'll finish the wiring today, get the heater hung and put on the shingles. That's my guess. I'll throw up some photos tomorrow.

[PedroMartinez]

The kitchen structure is coming along.

They should finish the soffits today and hopefully get the ceiling fan and heater hung and maybe the lights in place. I'm guessing they'll do gutters and shingles tomorrow.

Of course, after just now checking my cell phone and looking at the security camera noting no workers are there yet, who knows what the schedule might be.

[PedroMartinez]

As Beavis would say, "Fire!!"

[raysor]

Great job Pedro, we are putting a pool in now at our weekend home on the lake, sure enjoyed all the great info!!

[Schumacher713]

Need some more updates. I am actually collecting bids for a pool. I broke down finally. The sticker shock is rough. It is hard to find builders that will build in the loop. Most only do burb pools.

[ethanw]

Give those guys a chance. They built mine 3 years ago and still perfect
Flamingo Custom Pools - Tomball, TX 77377 - Flamingo Pools, Tomball, TX, g

Originally Posted by Schumacher713

Need some more updates. I am actually collecting bids for a pool. I broke down finally. The sticker shock is rough. It is hard to find builders that will build in the loop. Most only do burb pools.

[PedroMartinez]

Make sure that you document everything that is discussed. I'm not sure how many times I ask about something that they "don't remember". It's not that I think they are trying to get out of anything, they just seem to be used to doing everything a certain way, and if it's not "normal", it slips through the cracks.

Now for some specifics.

I had a infinity edge put in. It looks great and all, but since there is no skimmer in the catch basin and the robot doesn't get to it, I must be hand cleaned using the net a lot. Of you want an infinity edge, get them to install a skimmer. If they can't use skimmers (I have no idea if they can or can't), you have to decide whether it's worth it. For me, it is, but that might not apply to everyone.

Make sure to ask about where the overflow and and patio drains are going to go. I had to take care of some of the drainage stuff myself when I found that a couple of things just dumped into the yard.

It seems like the visualization program they use (pretty much all of them) make deck chairs and tables look smaller than they are in real life. So make sure the decking is big enough to hold what you want with enough walk through.

[ethanw]

no skimmer in the catch basin? That's a big no no. Basic stuff... Sounds to me your guys were not 100% the best.

I look at my guys at Flamingo and 3 years later I still can't find one flaw in this pool. Is absolutely perfect. And I am very very picky

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

Make sure that you document everything that is discussed. I'm not sure how many times I ask about something that they "don't remember". It's not that I think they are trying to get out of anything, they just seem to be used to doing everything a certain way, and if it's not "normal", it slips through the cracks.

Now for some specifics.

I had a infinity edge put in. It looks great and all, but since there is no skimmer in the catch basin and the robot doesn't get to it, I must be hand cleaned using the net a lot. Of you want an infinity edge, get them to install a skimmer. If they can't use skimmers (I have no idea if they can or can't), you have to decide whether it's worth it. For me, it is, but that might not apply to everyone.

Make sure to ask about where the overflow and and patio drains are going to go. I had to take care of some of the drainage stuff myself when I found that a couple of things just dumped into the yard.

It seems like the visualization program they use (pretty much all of them) make deck chairs and tables look smaller than they are in real life. So make sure the decking is big enough to hold what you want with enough walk through.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by ethanw

no skimmer in the catch basin? That's a big no no. Basic stuff... Sounds to me your guys were not 100% the best.

I look at my guys at Flamingo and 3 years later I still can't find one flaw in this pool. Is absolutely perfect. And I am very very picky

I called my pool builder about this just a little bit ago, and he explained something to me that seems to make a lot of sense.

The catch basin utilizes a pump to move the water from the basin up to the main pool to give you the water fall. When that pump turns on, the basin loses about 4 inches of water to add enough volume of water to the main pool to cause the water to have a decent flow for the waterfall over the infinity edge. In order to keep that skimmer from pulling in air and burning out the pump, you have to have an automated valve that will shut off the skimmer suction prior to routing the water from the skimmer up to the main pool and pulling it from the bottom drain. But, what happens at that point is a good amount of the debris that has been pulled into that lower skimmer gets "sucked" back of the skimmer into the cache basin as the water lowers and a temporary back flow is created.

He also pointed out that in the main pool if you have only skimmers and no vacuum robot, leaves and other debris would collect on the bottom and require manual clean out. So, since the catch basin doesn't have a vacuum robot, it will need to be manually cleaned out regardless of a skimmer (which makes complete sense). He said that it's really not worth the cost of the automated valve and potential for a pump burnout to have a skimmer that isn't really that effective and won't change the fact that you'll still need to clean out the basin bottom regardless, since there is no robot.

Finally, he said that if you have the auto fill feature, keeping your pool relatively level regardless of evaporation, that runs from the catch basin, it gets complicated due to the low volume in the catch basin. He said that when you have an infinity edge, you want the auto fill to be in the catch basin so that the pool keeps filled to essentially the very edge of the infinity edge giving it the infinity look. The catch basin pump runs each morning filling the pool till it's limit (where it overruns the edge). The auto fill feature keeps the water within about half an inch of the "set" level. He said that having half an inch showing at the infinity edge edge can really ruin the effect of "infinity".

When I asked him about this, these were immediate answers; he didn't seem to search for reasons but rattled them off real quick. And, like I said earlier, they seem to be logical to me.


When I did a quick Google search of skimmers in infinity edge basins, here is what I found in regards to putting them in.

How do I keep this catch basin level? - Pool Genius Network

Never put a skimmer in the basin

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Vanishing-Edge Pool Construction

the water level in the catch tank falls below the level of the skimmers, and that causes a problem

Negative Edge Pool in Hawaii - Pools & Spas Forum - GardenWeb

The first thing that needs to be done is to remove the fixed skimmer from the surge pit.

Edit: BTW, my builder said that with really large basins, you can add a skimmer and even a second robot.

[ethanw]

If you happy with the explanation and your pool then is all it matters :-)