Let's build some pools!

Dr.Retarded

<Silver Donator>
8,912
22,473
Well, hanging drywall is a little bit beyond what I've taught myself -- I was talking more like fixing a 1'x1' hole in my ceiling because I dropped a fucking hammer in my attic, or repainting a room. Of all the trades, I have found painters to be the kings of contractor turd mountain when it comes to being both overpriced and cutting corners. I will never, ever use them for anything but a big job, because any small job they'll want to be in and out same day, which means quick mud and a rush job. While I'm sure there are still a few fucking "artisans" out there, for the most part I've found quality painting to be 70% proper gear and 30% watching some guys on youtube. Get a quality paint gun and texture sprayer, some quality brushes, learns some cool tricks like using liquid latex instead of tape, and you're already better than half the Mexicans out there. I've also really gotten into epoxy coatings, which are fantastic for making flawless finish chip-proof door molding, fixing rotted wood, and coating cement entryway pedestals.

Honestly I don't know how homeowners who have to call someone for every little thing aren't bankrupt. $20 capacitor blown in your HVAC, that'll be $300 please, and btw would you like to get on our "members" plan? Want an outlet moved 2 feet? That'll be $350 please. Painters won't show up for anything less than $500, then dump their leftover paint in your flowerbeds.

So "enjoying" painting and drywall repairs might be a bit of an exaggeration. More like I'd rather do it myself than deal with the cost, shit work, and the 50/50 chance he might not even show up. Basically mexicans forced me to become handy.
I hear ya.

Just hanging drywall is one of the most horrible things. And I agree painters are some of the most pain in the ass people to deal with. Of every trade, they're typically the biggest substance abusers. I've had to run painting crews off jobs and bitch at company owners multiple times because guys were drinking on the job or smoking reefer.

Hell I remember we did a high-end day spa on John's Island that had a ton of staind hardwood and textured walls to mimic a Mediterranean feel.
Company we were using at the time their best guy in to do all of the finish work. Well we get a call from the owner of the company telling us to fire the sub. Ask what the problem is, and it's because the guy who was punching out the paint work jerked off in a water fountain in one of the massage rooms.

We already had the camera system rigged up and the low voltage work done, and the girls who were going to run the spa we're just going around with the system and watching and saw it all happen. Needless to say that guy got shit canned. Apparently when his boss asked him why he did it, he just said sometimes you just need to rub one out. That's painters. They stare at a wall all day long huffing chemical fumes literally waiting for paint to dry, so it's no surprise if they're drunks or stoners or whatever. It's not to say that the end of the company might not be on the level, and that particular company was always extremely wonderful to deal with but they just have massive turnaround because again it's just stupid people moving a brush around. You can have a person who is very good at level 5 finishes and knows how to get that perfect stain on mahogany that you're looking for, but the rest of them are just there to run a goddamn sprayer.
 
  • 1Worf
Reactions: 1 user

Kiroy

Marine Biologist
<Bronze Donator>
34,682
100,184
The thought of having to power wash that every year and restain it every 2-3 makes me want to cry.

spend the money on cedar or redwood and let it silver out

power washing a deck that size would take less time than getting out your power washer and untangling the cords/hose
 
Last edited:
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Kiroy

Marine Biologist
<Bronze Donator>
34,682
100,184
There are some home maintenance tasks I enjoy like drywall/painting, minor electrical stuff, caulking, and basic power washing, but weeding, irrigation system maintenance, and repeated fence staining and repair drive me insane. I know pools require maintenance, but as long as it's frequent and quick rather than a full weekend adventure of getting sodium hydroxide backsplatter burns, I'm cool with it.

The worst was my drip irrigation system. Every fucking spring I was outside dealing with shooting fountains and leaks, splicing couplers and having to dig gopher holes all around my yard to do the repairs. Hired some landscapers a few weeks back to rip it all out and replace it with two of these Oto Sprinklers. For *demo* purposes I hooked it up to the outdoor hose faucet since they had never seen it before, but told the Mexicans to hook it up with buried plex or PVC pipe, assuming they'd have the basic common sense of re-using the existing irrigation control valves and water supply of the old drip system. Nope, this is what I got instead lol..

It's funny i'm the opposite - we have an asston of irrigation on our property, of all sorts, from black pipe drip/spray for the wifes 'show' garden, to drip tape in our garden rows, to impact in the pastures. Compared to all that other stuff you listed I love fixing irrigation issues, it's just strait forward and easy for me.
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
I hear ya.

Just hanging drywall is one of the most horrible things. And I agree painters are some of the most pain in the ass people to deal with. Of every trade, they're typically the biggest substance abusers. I've had to run painting crews off jobs and bitch at company owners multiple times because guys were drinking on the job or smoking reefer.

Hell I remember we did a high-end day spa on John's Island that had a ton of staind hardwood and textured walls to mimic a Mediterranean feel.
Company we were using at the time their best guy in to do all of the finish work. Well we get a call from the owner of the company telling us to fire the sub. Ask what the problem is, and it's because the guy who was punching out the paint work jerked off in a water fountain in one of the massage rooms.

We already had the camera system rigged up and the low voltage work done, and the girls who were going to run the spa we're just going around with the system and watching and saw it all happen. Needless to say that guy got shit canned. Apparently when his boss asked him why he did it, he just said sometimes you just need to rub one out. That's painters. They stare at a wall all day long huffing chemical fumes literally waiting for paint to dry, so it's no surprise if they're drunks or stoners or whatever. It's not to say that the end of the company might not be on the level, and that particular company was always extremely wonderful to deal with but they just have massive turnaround because again it's just stupid people moving a brush around. You can have a person who is very good at level 5 finishes and knows how to get that perfect stain on mahogany that you're looking for, but the rest of them are just there to run a goddamn sprayer.

The last big job I had done was replacing the siding on three sides of my four year old new construction home. It has a custom domed style metal roof 3 stories up, with a deep overhang in front, but the other three sides had no gutters and the architect fucked up the lip design , meaning all the rain water would basically bathe the other three sides of the home, and the siding was cedar plank. By year four it was all cupped and split and shabby as shit, and of course the builder pulled a "lol two year warranty". Ended up replacing it all with 4x8 fibre cement panels, but the siding contractor (who was English, and actually good) subbed out the painting. Well, the fucking painters ended up getting black overspray all over my white metal roof, and when power washing didn't remove it, the fucking painter decided to WET SAND my fucking roof. Not only that, he was too fucking lazy to go buy some 1500 grit or whatever, so was rubbing sheets of 80 grit together to knock them down lol. When I caught him sanding my fucking roof I basically chased him off my property. A month later, some of the finish on the first foot of my roof (the only place he could reach on a 3 story ladder) started to flake off. Ended up settling for 5K with the siding contractor, and some day in the near future I'll need to deal with a roofer and how to fix the finish on a 20x1 area of my roof.. Fucking painters.
 
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 user

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole
12,296
46,999
Hey assholes this is Beagles pool thread not the "what sucks more: painting, dry wall, or irrigation" thread!
 
  • 2Worf
  • 1Solidarity
  • 1Like
Reactions: 3 users

Aldarion

Egg Nazi
8,998
24,643
Hey assholes this is Beagles pool thread not the "what sucks more: painting, dry wall, or irrigation" thread!
wait a second. an internet discussion has undergone a slight derail from its original topic?

Somebody call a mod. This is as unacceptable as it is unprecedented
 
  • 1Worf
Reactions: 1 user

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
41,232
103,642
Honestly I'd rather stay inside than have to be slathered with sunblock every hour, and if I miss a spot, my sunglasses rub my face wrong, or any number of other things, I burn like a magnesium flare.

I only go shady places (or nighttime) or I go long sleeve sun shirt, big floppy hat, and compression leggings. I completely realize it's stupid looking but skin cancer, leathery skin and wrinkles also look shitty.

Maybe I'm forced into this because my skin is delicate, I dunno. But I absolutely cannot just sit out in the sun.
Do you have some serious medical skin issue or something? Like borderline albino?

Was it always like this for you?
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
41,232
103,642
These questions are for the sales dudes. I build whatever plan I'm given.

FWIW I've never built a pool specifically for doing laps. No one actually builds a pool just to do laps. Most people have families, wives, etc and the idea of spending $100k so dad can do a few laps every week isn't ever going to make it out of the design phase.
I know this faggot here in Austin who spent around $100k on getting an endless lap pool built in his backyard and in ground.

1686004825386.png
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Cad

scientia potentia est
<Bronze Donator>
24,522
45,534
Do you have some serious medical skin issue or something? Like borderline albino?

Was it always like this for you?
Not anything medical, just a bunch of melanoma and other skin cancers in my family. I'm pale but not pasty. I just burn like crazy, and never tan... if I go out 10 minutes per day I'll get like a tiny bit tan, then I go out for 30 minutes, burn, peel, and start over. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out ways to not have to worry about the sun and the only one that works reliably is covering up.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
41,232
103,642
The last big job I had done was replacing the siding on three sides of my four year old new construction home. It has a custom domed style metal roof 3 stories up, with a deep overhang in front, but the other three sides had no gutters and the architect fucked up the lip design , meaning all the rain water would basically bathe the other three sides of the home, and the siding was cedar plank. By year four it was all cupped and split and shabby as shit, and of course the builder pulled a "lol two year warranty". Ended up replacing it all with 4x8 fibre cement panels, but the siding contractor (who was English, and actually good) subbed out the painting. Well, the fucking painters ended up getting black overspray all over my white metal roof, and when power washing didn't remove it, the fucking painter decided to WET SAND my fucking roof. Not only that, he was too fucking lazy to go buy some 1500 grit or whatever, so was rubbing sheets of 80 grit together to knock them down lol. When I caught him sanding my fucking roof I basically chased him off my property. A month later, some of the finish on the first foot of my roof (the only place he could reach on a 3 story ladder) started to flake off. Ended up settling for 5K with the siding contractor, and some day in the near future I'll need to deal with a roofer and how to fix the finish on a 20x1 area of my roof.. Fucking painters.
I thought you had a townhouse style home?
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
41,232
103,642
Not anything medical, just a bunch of melanoma and other skin cancers in my family. I'm pale but not pasty. I just burn like crazy, and never tan... if I go out 10 minutes per day I'll get like a tiny bit tan, then I go out for 30 minutes, burn, peel, and start over. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out ways to not have to worry about the sun and the only one that works reliably is covering up.
That's wild. I'm totally white and my family tree is all white trash. I can tolerate just about 2 hours of direct sunlight in any conditions anywhere with no sunscreen and I bronze well if I follow that mantra. Anymore than that and I burn bad though.
 

TheBeagle

JunkiesNetwork Donor
8,533
29,407
Would require more actual pool building insight posts
Fine.

Day 3 of our little play pool build.

Plumbing. In this particular case the pool is so close to the existing patio that we do a short stub. This means we put in place all the pipes in that are encased in gunite and save digging the plumbing ditch until the gunite is in. The reasoning is when you are that close digging a big plumbing ditch increases the chances of the dirt caving in. We also had rain in the forecast which exacerbates that problem.
IMG_20230524_115724655.jpg
 
  • 3Like
  • 1Worf
Reactions: 3 users

Cad

scientia potentia est
<Bronze Donator>
24,522
45,534
That's wild. I'm totally white and my family tree is all white trash. I can tolerate just about 2 hours of direct sunlight in any conditions anywhere with no sunscreen and I bronze well if I follow that mantra. Anymore than that and I burn bad though.
Ya, I get this from all the bizarre looks I get from people when I come out in my sun hat and long sleeve sun shirt in Texas. :)
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
41,232
103,642
Ya, I get this from all the bizarre looks I get from people when I come out in my sun hat and long sleeve sun shirt in Texas. :)
Don't see why you worry too much though. Looking like a retard should be as comfortable as your birthday suit after 20 years around this shithole bruh.
 

Cad

scientia potentia est
<Bronze Donator>
24,522
45,534
Don't see why you worry too much though. Looking like a retard should be as comfortable as your birthday suit after 20 years around this shithole bruh.
Oh I don't worry, I just don't know why it's obvious that you should shade a sitting area, but the swimming area needs to be in full cancer zone. Just build that gazebo roof to cover half or more of the pool at various angles and whoever wants to can stay in the shade most of the time.

Pool1.jpg
 

TheBeagle

JunkiesNetwork Donor
8,533
29,407
Day 4 - Gunite

I didn't get any pics of the guys shooting the gunite since it was a busy day and I wasn't able to get over there until late. I'll get pics of the setup at my next one hopefully.

Basically you have a compressor truck with rolls of 6" hose and feeder trucks with the material. Gunite is strictly sand and portland cement. It doesn't contain any aggregate which is what separates it from concrete. This allows the sand and cement to be pumped through a hose dry. A water hose is attached and as the dry mix leaves the nozzle it is mixed with the water and voila, you have a damp, sticky cementatious product that can be built up vertically without forms and cut into whatever shape you want.

Here's the end product. We went from the original dig to gunite in 8 days. Should be starting tile and coping in the next day or two.
IMG_20230530_132951878.jpg
 
  • 4Like
Reactions: 3 users

TheBeagle

JunkiesNetwork Donor
8,533
29,407
Day 5 - finish out the plumbing.

Now that we have gunite in I can safely release the plumbers to dig their ditches and set the equipment. Once all the plumbing is in place the plumbers will pressurize all the lines with water at the equipment, about 30 psi. This allows us to detect leaks. As long as that pressure gauge on top of the filter is reading 20+ psi then I know all my lines underground are tight and not leaking. We will pressure everything up periodically to make sure we don't have any leaks. If you have a leak you want to fix it before you pour concrete on top of everything.

IMG_20230602_080226991.jpg
 
  • 3Like
Reactions: 2 users