| Christmas morning, 1990, brought a new problem to Greg. What to build next...
Needless to say, it didn't take Greg long to realize that he had too much grass to cut. Next thing we knew, he was out trying to find a backhoe from a local farmer. |
Pool Design |
Designing the pool was a difficult choice. A simple oval or rectangle design was not acceptable. Eventually, a wild design was imagined and next came fitting it into the property. The only problem was the septic tank. The leach lines were protruding into the shallow end of the pool. After redirecting the leach lines, the digging started. | ||
Excavation |
Digging a hole was not as easy as Greg thought. Most problems occurred when he realized the pool wasn't deep enough. So he eventually had to put the back hoe into the shallow end of the pool and dig deeper. Getting in was easy, but getting the backhoe out was even harder.
After excavating, Greg started working on the plumbing and wiring. |
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Rebar |
Rebar was not a project that Greg felt he could tackle. He went to Tucson for the next couple of days and located a rebar contractor to do the work. He was glad after the fact. Rebar was very precise and technical. It took the crew of three 6 hours to lay the rods.
Of course, Susan took good care of the crew. She set up a Mexican buffet to please them enough to convince the next sub contractor to come to Safford... The gunite crew. |
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Gunite |
Shooting concrete on a gloomy day was a challenge for Desert Shotcrete. They had a hard time getting the gunite to stick against the dirt. This was also a challenge to them since the pool was deep. Most pool designs are now designed to be shallow. The gunite crew worked their magic. Give them a lump of concrete and with patience, they can design any shape.
Kentucky Fried Chicken was quickly gobbled up since they had very little time to stop. |
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Tile |
The next step was up to Greg. Although he had done tile before, this was a huge challenge. The scaffeling was a challenge as well. Knowing how much work had to be done in the deep end, it was well worth the investment to rent scaffeling to help out. It also helped to keep us dry during the rainy season since the deep end was always filling up with water. | ||
Decking |
Greg thought and thought about the decking. He knew he could lay concrete around the pool so he went off to Tucson again to get some hints from the pros. Needless to say, Greg quickly found out how complicated a pool decking could be. Thus, he hired a crew to come down from Tucson. The crew came with 12 workers and each one was well worth it. There was no way Greg could have done this job, even with help. | ||
Plaster |
Getting to the plaster stage took approximately three months. Other projects took place along with the pool such as fencing, the pump house, grass and etc. However, the pool finally got a white coat of plaster (cement actually). As soon as the plaster is complete, the pool begins to fill. Borrowing every hose from every possible neighbor, the pool finally began to fill up. | ||
Testing |
Of course, Greg couldn't wait. Being early March was not going to stop him from jumping in. | ||
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| The vacuum system, automatic fill, fiber optic perimeter light and water fall was just the start to this project. We would later on include a huge patio cover over the bar area and eventually a huge balcony off the existing house with a slide down into the water.
The pool was completed in time for summer. |
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