2010 July | Precision Pool Construction Inc.

Hitting ledge during your in-ground pool excavation

By admin on July 22, 2010 / in-ground pool cost, pool budget, pool contruction / Leave a comment

One factor that can make or break your in-ground pool budget is buried deep beneath the surface of your yard and may not be known until you start digging. What I am talking about is ledge.

Last year we started on an in-ground pool project in Gloucester MA which turned into one of the biggest excavation projects we have had here a Precision Pool.

Now that the pool is finished I wanted to throw up some pictures from the pool excavation and the completed pool.

pool pictures 005.jpg Here you can see we are about midway through the pool dig and have hit the main slab of ledge. The ledge here was so thick we brought in an outside rock splitting company to help us on this dig. Here you can see their giant rock splitter is breaking p the ledge in the deep end hopper. As you can see we are bot very deep only about 3-4′ and we need to dig out an 8′ deep end hopper.

The rock splitting crew than got in their with their jackhammers to really break the rock up into small pieces which can be dug out.

The cost of hitting ledge……

What we have to discuss here is how a dig like this can affect your overall pool project budget. This is one of the more severe ledge situations we have encountered but it is good to know what something like this might cost.

We usually can get into your yard and dig the hole for your pool in one day with the normal excavator and the cost of removing fill with the truck is included in the pool cost. On this particular job we needed to contract a rock splitting company with heavy machinery and a large crew to break up all the ledge. This is on top of the normal pool excavation costs.

A dig like this can be upwards of $15,000.00 to break up and remove all of the rock from the pool area. This is why it is very important to find out ahead of the dig if there is a possibility of hitting ledge in your area and should be discussed with your pool installer during the at home site visit. Find out what their clause is in the contract if they hit ledge and approximately how much it could add to the cost. The problem is because the ledge is underground, even if you know ledgeis present it is hard to estimate the total cost of its removal.

What to do with all that rock from the pool dig?

Now if your going to spend all this money to remove rock and ledge from the pool excavation your going to want to put it to good use. We had a couple of great design ideas already in place for this pool and the natural rock we got out of the ground would work out beautifully.

The first idea was to have a cascading waterfall flowing down into the pool. We then built a natural stone fire pit beside the waterfall over looking to pool for a great outdoor summer hangout spot.

You can see we used the mini excavator to move these giant rocks into position for the waterfall. We were lucky to have some rock with smooth flat edges so we could really deign a nice cascading effect.

Also notice the liner pattern choice the liner border blends in smoothly with the natural rock color.

Recently we were down there and were able to get some great pictures of the completed pool project which you can see below. We have recently installed a pool side slide that comes around the backside of the waterfall and I should have pictures of that installation very soon.

oasis vinyl liner pool with waterfall and paver patio Gloucester MA

The retaining wall you see around the pool area we built also using stone from the pool dig. The ledge was expensive to get out but was used to give the yard a nice natural look.

Waterfall feature on an in-ground pool in MA

So before you get into the pool dig it is very important to ask about the possibility of hitting ledge in your yard. It is an unexpected expense that could really break the budget if you are not prepared for it. This is why a good thorough site visit with your pool company is very important and is one of the questions that should be addressed before the project starts.

4 Steps to fighting an algae outbreak in your pool

By admin on July 19, 2010 / pool cleaning and maintenance, pool tips / 2 Comments

The summer heat waves we are experiencing this year is great for pool owners in New England with one of the hottest summers we have had in years the swim season couldn’t be better.

The heat does bring with it a couple of problems for pool owners, disappearing chlorine levels and stubborn algae blooms.

In a previous article we talked about a way to help protect your chlorine from the hot sun by using chlorine stabilizer which acts as a sunscreen for your chlorine. Yet even with stabilizer in heat waves like this your free chlorine is dropping fast. When chlorine levels are not consistent we run into one of the most common swimming pool problems; the green algae outbreak.

When green algae starts to make a home in your pool the key to beating it back is persistence. If you follow the 3 simple steps below you can take back your pool from stubborn green algae.

Step 1: Shock and Algaecide

I know this one may seem obvious but algaecide and shock is the key to fighting off green algae outbreaks. You want to make sure you are using a high concentrate non-foaming algaecide. For vinyl liner pools we recommend a copper based algaecide like an Algaecide 70 and for gunite and concrete pools a non-metallic Algaecide 60. These are two very high strength algaecides that will help break up the shell of the algae so your chlorine can kill it easier.

That last part is pretty important; the algaecide does not kill the algae directly therefore we always want to add shock with algaecide as the two chemicals work together. You first pour in a ½ qt. of algaecide (usually 1qt bottles) and then a strong dose of either liquid or granular chlorine shock.

You just need to remember algaecide opens up the algae shell and chlorine kills it.

How much shock should you add when you have algae?

You always want to super chlorinate in this situation so that means adding double your normal shock amount. Let’s say you have a 20,000 gallon pool and each bag of shock treats 12,000 gallons, your normal shock amount would be 2 bags, with algae in the pool I recommend doubling that amount to 4 bags.

Now as I have said before we always want to shock at night when the sun is lower so this step should always be done in the twilight hours.

Step 2: Brush your pool walls

brushing the pool walls Next to elevating your chlorine levels the most important step in getting rid of algae is to brush it. Algae is very stubborn and likes to stick to the walls of the pool and brushing it down is the only way to get that algae off. We don’t really want to brush live algae though because live algae has a very strong hold on the walls of the pool, that’s why this is step 2.

We first shock an algaecide at night to break down the algae’s shell and start to kill it off, then the next morning when the algae is vulnerable we hit it with the brush and get it off the walls. Now the dead algae is free floating in the water and is able to be filter out by your pools filter system.

Step 3: Rinse and Repeat

Like I said in the beginning of this article the key to fighting algae persistence, just treating the algae outbreak once probably isn’t going to cut it. You want to repeat this treatment process at least two days in a row, maybe more depending on how bad the algae outbreak is.

The biggest concern is your chlorine level, when algae is present in the pool all of the chlorine you add is going straight to killing the algae. This means the next day you are back to having zero free available chlorine in your pool, which is the exact scenario which led to the algae outbreak in the first place.

You should still have a ½ qt. of algaecide left from the previous treatment; add the rest of that bottle and then another 4 bags of shock. This will assure that your chlorine level to stay high for a couple of days and not allow the algae to come back.

I suggest your continue to brush the walls for a couple of days after these two treatments even if you do not see visible algae on the walls. That way an algae that is still lurking in microscopic form does not have a chance to bloom out.

Step 4: Clean the filter

When we shocked the pool and brushed up the dead algae all of that debris went straight into the filter. This can cause the filter pressure to rise and cut down the pool circulation. I highly suggest any time you have treated the pool for an algae bloom and have killed off the algae take the filter apart and rinse it out completely. This should always be your last step once the algae is gone as sometimes some live algae can make its way into the filter and start the bloom all over again.

Like I said the key to this simple algae treatment is persistence you need to treat it a couple of days in a row for it to work. If you just toss some shock and algaecide in once it is not going to solve the problem.

This treatment is for your standard green algae outbreak, over the next few days I will post about treating the really tough forms of algae like pink and black algae.

Thanks for reading and again if you have any questions reply in the comments section below or email me at jay@precisionpool.net.