Looks like nothing can be done well from the first time...

Today we had a baby fence installed. The man was very nice! He drilled the wholes, suggested to us about the gate opening, and then put the fence in. And what do you think? The fence was not the one that we ordered. So he took it all out. The company owner called us and apologized. Our fence will now be installed next week. Luckily, for us it is not a biggy, because we would not plaster for another couple of weeks anyway. But still... Could something be done correctly from the first time?

No pool fun till July 25th :(

Today wave discussed the schedule with the pool manager, and apparently there is no way we can dive into our pool before July 25th. It is because of our vacation in between and a need to brush the pull for 2 weeks once it is plastered to have all chemical reactions completed. I want to cry!!!!!!!!!! But this will not help. So we are calming ourselves down trying to focus on many future years of pool fun.

Concrete is fixed. Hopefully we can move further.

On Wed, June 15th, concrete crew came to remove the damaged section of the concrete. Yes, they did try to fix the stains by scraping them off, but the result looked ugly, and yes they did try to talk us out of removing the whole section claiming that it was not fair, but we were firm that it was not fair for us to have to go through this fixing process when our patio is not done in a single pour to ensure color and stamp consistency. I am very glad that this arguing did not last for too long and they agreed to do everything to meet our expectations.

    

On Wed, June 16th, the crew came to re-pour. We are afraid to jinx it, but so far everything looks very good. We will water the fresh section for one week and then the result should become obvious. We already have the baby fence installation scheduled for the next Wednesday. Pool plastering should come right after. And then in 2 weeks the pool should be ready to swim in! Cannot wait, because the weather is getting really hot already.

It has been a long time! But not without progress

It has been a long time since I put the last update on May 2nd. Both parents of mine and my husband have been visiting, so I was busy with the family and simply did not have time for the blog. Today is June 7th and I think I need to update my blog since it is not fair for its readers to think that no progress has been made.  

The pool project has been moving without significant delays.

What has been done till now is:

1. All masonry work completed.

2. Electric and gas inspection passed.

3. Patio concrete poured.

We are happy with the pool so far. John has been great without a single doubt since the beginning. He even was coming and watering our concrete 3 times a day for the whole week while we were out on vacation. Who could imagine such generosity at all? Recently we have finally chosen the color of the inside pool surface. It will not be white! The main reasons for us going with the Quartz rather than plaster are: double life time (30 years vs 15) and also we assume that darker color should attract more heat. The color cannot be too dark, though, because it gets mirror effect and becomes too bright for the eyes. The color that we have picked is called Aruba.
We have already met with the owner of the company that will be installing the safety fence for us. We will take dark brown fence.

As for the concrete, overall things look great, including the color and the stamp, but two things worry us. First of all, once the release has been pressure-washed, two weird stains occurred on the surface. Concrete company owner promised he would take care of it. He believes another session of pressure-washing plus a sealer should remove the problem. If not, then he will redo the parts. Frankly speaking, we do not think any type of external work will help, so we are getting ready for a part of the concrete to be removed and re-poured. We will want the whole concrete section to be replaced, and I suppose the contractor will not like it. But we believe we are more than reasonable in our expectations and will demand what we deserve. John says he will support us. So does the fencing company owner who says that fence should not be put it until concrete is all fixed. Second, the shape of the path which was supposed to be round is not actually round. When the boards had been put in place to mark the shape, we did notice that it was not quite round, but the concrete company manager assured us this would later be adjusted by hand. We believed him, but now it is obvious that this was supposed to be addressed on the shaping boards level. The owner, however, insists that he will fix this by hand. Well, we shall see.
John keeps ensuring that everything will be done to our satisfaction, and we believe him, because so far he has kept his word every time he gave one away. No, John is not in the contract for the concrete part, but he does feel responsible for the overall service, probably because he strongly recommended this concrete company to us, because he wants us to be happy with the pool and because he simply seems to be a very good man.