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back of house           yard area                  pool patio

pool and deck           garden/grapes        bye bye pool

deconstruction           Tim,Skye&Myles       Nice new saw

tools for patio              where's the patio      10 tonnes
                                              one wheelbarrow
                                              3 hours
                                               OUCH

new fence by               almost ready for the experts equipment
garden

AFTER 9 OR 10 SUMMERS OF AN ABOVE GROUND POOL, I DECIDED TO HAVE AN
INGROUND PUT IN.
THE NEW POOL WILL BE INSTALLED IN LATE APRIL BUT I HAD/HAVE TONS OF
WORK TO DO TO GIVE THE EQUIPMENT ACCESS. I ACTUALLY STARTED THIS SITE
BECAUSE A FRIEND I WILL NOT NAME WHO HAS A LAME ASS MAC SITE WHINED
ABOUT SPACE ON HIS PAGE FOR MY STUFF. I GUESS ONLY SISSY STUFF LIKE
NEW FLOORING OR PRECONSTRUCTED (WIMP) FENCE PROJECTS QUALIFY.(AND
NOW I HAVE NO PLACE WITH A SWIMMING POOL IN ORLANDO TO VISIT,HEHEHE)
MY BACK YARD IS MY LIVING ROOM IN THE SUMMER AND I HAD PUT A LOT OF
WORK INTO IT.I HAD A CONCRETE PATIO AREA RIGHT BEHIND THE HOUSE AS
WELL AS ONE BESIDE THE POOL DECK. THE BACK ONE WAS REALLY NICE AS I
HAD A GRAPEVINE GROWING OVER IT. I RARELY GOT TO EAT THE GRAPES
BECAUSE OF THE F*&^#@G RACCOONS BUT IT MADE FOR A GREAT SHADY SPOT
TO SIT/EAT.
BECAUSE OF THE DOG, I HAD THE POOL/PATIO AREA FENCED, THAT AREA IS 25
FEET DEEP,THE VEGETABLE GARDEN WAS ALSO FENCED OFF,IT'S 13 BY
23.OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST FEW WEEKENDS,MY BROTHER TIM AND I
DISMANTLED THE POOL AND TOOK IT TO THE DUMP,BROKE UP AND LOADED INTO
A BIN THE CONCRETE PAD AND REMOVED AS MUCH FENCE AS POSSIBLE BUT
STILL LEFT IT SAFE FOR THE DOG.I ALSO EXTENDED THE WOODEN FENCE ON
THE OUTSIDE OF THE GARDEN,THAT AREA WILL BE THE NEW PATIO.
NOW THAT THE DOG IS IN TORONTO FOR THE WINTER,I WILL RIP OUT THE REST
OF THE FENCE ALONG THE POOL AREA AND ON THE YARD SIDE OF THE GARDEN.I
ALSO HAVE TO EMPTY AND MOVE THE SHED,DIG OUT THE TOPSOIL FROM THE
GARDEN FOR REPAIRS TO THE YARD NEXT SPRING AND DIG OUT/MOVE THE
GRAVEL FROM UNDER THE OLD PATIO TO THE NEW PATIO AREA.
I'M RE-USING AS MANY OF THE FENCE BOARDS AS POSSIBLE,THE NEW FENCE
OUTSIDE THE GARDEN IS MOSTLY RECYCLED AND THE NEW FENCE ACROSS THE
POOL AREA WILL BE RECYCLED BUT SHORTER AND PICKETS,HOPEFULLY WITH A
DESIGN CUT INTO THEM. DEPENDS ON HOW BUSY THE WINTER IS.
I'LL ADD PICS AS THINGS MOVE ALONG BUT FOR NOW HERE ARE SOME BEFORE
AND PROGRESS PICS.
NOV.9/04 This'll probably be the last text update until spring. Steve, from The Pool
Medics, was by last week for a deposit and I got most of the remaining fence down.
As long as the weather cooperates,I'll get the garden dug out and the gravel in next
weekend. When they start digging in the spring,I'll move the shed out of the way.
Steve assures me I'll be the second installation in the spring. It has to be done early in
the spring because Luke the wonder dog has to stay in Toronto while they are working.
He's not very good with strangers and the yard is wide open until I finish the fence off
after the pool is in.

April 24/05 So it turns out Steve, the pool installer went out of business during the
winter, glad I made the deposit out to the sales place! I have the garden dug out and it's
half full of stone,have to buy a truck load to finish it off. They're coming a week from
tomorrow to excavate and figure they'll be done everything except the finished floor and
liner by thursday so I can form the deck and patio and pour the concrete on the
saturday. The weather today was a shocking surprise tho,makes a pool seem kinda
foolish!

May 8/05 It's been an interesting/backbreaking week and a half. I finished
all the grading I could ahead of excavation, the pool guys did their stuff with only a few
glitches and yesterday I got the concrete poured. Now I have the picket fence around
the pool to do tomorrow and Tuesday and then I can start working on topsoil and sod.
With any luck I will have that all done by Saturday. The pool guys should be back by
Thursday to do the finished floor and install the liner. If the weather stays warm, the
solar blanket should have the water warm enough for a "christening" dip by the long
weekend.
The concrete pour was a lot of fun. Filipe brought his son Bryan to help , he's the first 9
year old cement finisher!
I also bought a cool new shed which can be seen in a couple of the pictures.
I can't wait to get it all done and get my yard and life back.

May 13/05 I had Bob,the owner of the pool sales company, over for a chat yesterday.
Went thru my list of complaints,some big,some petty. I'm comfortable that he's gonna
make sure I'm happy when the pool is complete. The crew so far has done a great job
on the pool,it's exactly what I wanted but they need some work on how to treat people
and their property. They seem to be a little too busy right now and some things get
overlooked. The ladder SHOULD have been anchored in the concrete but even tho I
mentioned it to the boss and one of the crew,it was not left for me to put in. Their
solution worries me a little as I'm sure I'll have to repair it every few years. I also didn't
appreciate being treated like a labourer by the crew boss and expected to do a pile of
his grunt work last Thursday. I had/have enough of my own to do.They also have to
learn that it's better to disappoint someone to their face rather than fib about delivery
dates and look like a liar. The liner,which originally should have been in on MOnday,will
probably be in next Tuesday.
The picket fence around the pool is done except for one section to allow me to wheel in
the sod on Saturday. On Sunday I'm finishing it and the last section of perimeter fence, I
told Bob his guys would have to use a ladder and hop the fence to do the liner,they can't
walk on the sod for a week or so while the ground is soaked and I want all of my big stuff
done this weekend. Luke the retarded German shepherd, is really getting antsy about
not having his backyard,he keeps eating the snowfence so finishing the sod has to be a
priority.
On a happier note, I have 2 of the Muskoka chairs assembled and one stained,they're
gonna look really sharp around the new pool and the lights we put in look great too.
I have progress pics to put up but forgot to bring the camera to Toronto with me,I'll
update the pics on Monday.
May 16/05 I got the sod delivered friday afternoon so I spent 3 hours in a pouring rain
storm laying it before dinner. BBBRRR. I finished the fence except for a 2' opening in the
perimeter fence for the pool guys to (finally?) finish. Hoping they show up tomorrow.

May 26/05 Just a quick update on the lack of progress, no pics cause there hasn't been
any. The sod looks great tho and I've negotiated a discount and late penalty so
hopefully there'll be some progress soon. It might even be done when I get home from
Chicago on the 30th.

June 7/05 So it turns out the whole holdup with the liner has been the fact that the
computer kept rejecting the pool measurements.Seems there's a slight "flaw" in one of
the radii. The salesplace brought in the reps from the manufacturer and they had it
sorted out in about half an hour.SOOOO, gawd willing,by this friday afternoon I should
have a pool full of water and will post some FINALLY finished pics
June 8/05 Tomorrow sounds like it's D Day for the pool, I spoke to the sales guy
today,the crew is supposed to be there in the morning to FINALLY finish the ladder and
plumbing and stuff. The liner is being picked up in the afternoon and will be installed on
Friday. Here's hopin.
June 14/05 So they finally showed up friday to install the liner. One more 40 degrees
and humid weekend would have resulted in a friggin lawsuit!! The crew that was
supposed to show up Thursday am, showed up (2 guys) at 3pm ,drilled the holes for the
ladder and started to pack up. Seems they had finished another pool that am that had
only been a week in the works. I blew a gasket and had the sales guy send them back.
They came back,finished the ladder and plumbing and went home but assured me the
liner would be in early friday morning. They finished around 3 pm friday but have a few
odds and ends to fix up. I've posted some before and after shots at the bottom of the pic
section.
For those of you in the area, the management of Pool medics was great and tried their
best to get it finished in a hurry. Wray Brimmer and Madalay enterprises on the other
hand should be avoided like the plague. The whole cluster fuck of an installation is on
his head. He is an acting Fire Captain full time and was hired by pool medics to do their
installs, seems the pools he sold on his own take priority and the Pool Medic's customers
come second. Unfortunately,the penalty money and discount I got had to be through
Pool Medics who had the contract with me. I feel a little bad for Bob the owner but I'm not
willing to let it go, his install crew drove me and my family nuts for 6 weeks doing a job
that was supposed to be finished in a week, a week and a half at most. In short

POOL PROJECT