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ma23peas

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  1. We are putting in a 20x40 gunite pool and using pavers (Belgard)...the key to installing them is using a reinforcing edge to limit any movement, compact the subground (we're using 4 inches of crusher run)...then once you put the pavers on top, leave a 1/4 inch between pavers or less, use a compactor on top of 2x10's that rest on the pavers to compact them about 1/4 inch into your substrate. Then use polymeric sand as your filler, it covers about 140 sq. feet per bag (depending on your pavers)...runs about 15-25 dollars per bag...the key to the polymeric sand is to only put it on when pavers are dry and there is no threat of rain....you will go through three passes and compacting to insure the sand gets deep into the cracks...but if the pavers get wet during the process you will end up with the beads sticking to the pavers and it's very hard to get off...after you have insured all the polymeric sand is deep and off the pavers then you use your hose as a mister and lightly add water which seals the bond of the sand and acts as a great barrier to weeds/mold/etc.... Hope this helps! Tara
  2. Here's the deal...we bought a farm, I acted as GC on adding 1200 sq. feet to existing roof line and gutting all the bathrooms and kitchens...I ripped up all the flooring, tore out walls, put in LVL 16' beam with help of 3 men, repaired broken pipes, corrected foundation support, tiled all the baths, replaced all the lighting fixtures..in other words, you name it I did it. Dh was the one paying for my materials list and working his tail off to do so. I saved over 40k by contracting out myself and doing a lot of the work on my own. Passed all my inspections and got praise from the inspectors..maybe because I'm a girl but it felt good to get their praise. Our goal with this farm is to have a riding stable/summer camp place for underprivileged kids. We have 3 children we homeschool and they will be helping out with the camps and offering swimming lessons as well..so we need a pool...we won't be ready to apply for a non-profit status on our venture for about 4 more years (working hard on training the horses...it takes time) so I'm trying to be as conservative with our money as possible. I did a little research and had 4 pool builders come out...they pretty much came in at 65k for my project. Being the one time contractor, I could not see the price being sound....so I'm working on building a pool that will last but I'm getting conflicting "what you need is..." from each contractor...so I can't really determine which one is right. Here's the lowdown 20x40 pool 30k gallons gunite 3.5 feet to 6.5 feet deep 2 colorlogic lights 3 deck jets (we're in AL and need some type of water movement to keep the mosquitos at bay not to mention the horse flies..our pool will be right next to one of the horse pastures.) I'm not about aesthetics...I just want a durable pool that will hold up to the volume of kids we may potentially have....for the first 5 years it will be minimal but after that we can anticipate having 15 kids a day swimming on the weekdays....so for my inital pump/SWG/filter should I go with something that uses less volume and then just replace it in 5 years (don't know the life of those pumps)...we do want salt water generator, leaning towards cartridge filters (don't want run off from sand filter going into my pastures) but don't know anything about DE filters. Some products I am looking at are the Autopilot salt generator, Jandy Stealth 1 HP pump or Pentair VF or VS intelliflo? I know I want an automatic water leveler attached to water from the inside of my house (all outside spickets are on well water and we have a lot of iron in it) I'll need 1300 sq. feet of concrete decking just brushed to keep costs down... But, I'm new at pools and knowing what I want to use it for in future ventures...are there some things I need to consider now to make this pool last longer...would a pebble tec finish last longer than a diamondbrite? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated...I think I could save money by asking the pool builder to install a manifold for the Autopilot but let me install it....any other things I could do on my own? I have my own tile cutter and have a lot experience in tiling, wondering if I can do that on the pool and how much would that correlate to a value saved? Appreciate your help! Tara
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