Apologies in advance for the long post.
Over the last 12 months or so I have had a pool whacked in my backyard. This is why my VK has had no progress. It was installed by Tranquillity Pools. They were pretty good to deal with, the sales rep was great in that he spent heaps of time explaining what was involved in getting the pool, what was included in the installation and what wasn't, plus explaining the associated costs with all the extra stuff you need when getting a pool to help plan my budget, and this was all before we'd agreed to get the pool. The only down side was I never heard from them after it was installed. I've heard countless horror stories about pool installations so I'm glad that I was "lucky", so to speak.
It's an 8x4 meter fibreglass pool with a salt water chlorinator, fairly low maintenance and chemical use as it generates it's own chlorine. Just needs a bag of salt every couple of months, and providing you keep on top of the chlorine and ph levels, it's a cinch.
I tried to do as much of the landscaping work myself, as the costs I was quoted for things like the fence, paver's, concrete etc. was ridiculous. I must say it has been extremely satisfying to see what I've been able to do myself
Anyhoo, on with the pics:
Along the fence previously was a cubby house and garden, this is a shot after I cleared it and on the morning of the installation:
[/URL]
Starting to dig:
Check out my hole:
Kids were exited:
Instead of river sand, they used coal ash from the local power station. Will it poison me? Probably:
Shell delivered:
Colour:
Big fk off crane:
Up and over the house:
My hole getting filled:
Water's in:
A week or two later they came back and laid a concrete bond beam around the edge. After that, I started laying paver's around the edge. I picked up the paver's from Simon's Seconds in Syd, they were end of line and they only had a pallet left, which was more than enough for me. I got them for about 30% of the original RRP, so I scored a massive bargain. I was quoted $1800 to get them laid, ended up doing it myself for under $300, and that included hiring a brick saw for a day for $110:
Yum:
Next came the concrete. Again, I was quoted stupid prices for stamped concrete to match what I already had in my yard. A mate plays cricket with a concreter so I spoke to him about it, he ended up charging me a flat rate for labour plus the cost of material, so it ended up costing just over $2k for almost 30m of coloured, stamped concrete:
Finished product:
Stupid quotes for the fence, so I did that myself as well for half the price:
Retaining wall blocks are stupidly heavy:
First couple of blocks down. This pic also shows the colour of the pool, it has a nice sparkle in the sun, and the lighter colour lets the LED light show more vivid colours of a night when it's on:
And done:
The caps are still wet from the brick saw, which is why they're darker. They match the other blocks when dry. There's three planter boxes I'll put a small fern type plant in that doesn't grow too much. In between each box will be a bench seat made out of wood (Ekodeck or something similar) that is on hinges for storage underneath. The posts are to support the wall, I'm putting layered slate wall tiles above each planter box, then timber slats across the gap in between. The posts will be trimmed down to the right height. Once that's done, next will be an enclosure to cover the filter, then a pergola on the back of the house. After that, I should have enough cash left to buy a carton of beer to drink while I sit in the garage and think about how much work I could of done to the VK with all that coin.
