Over the last two weeks, most of the work involved the demolition of the existing pool. As mentioned in the first two updates, demolition needs exceeded the original estimate.
Work has finally begun on the rebuild. But before we get into that, here is a brief recap of the demolition over the last two weeks:
- Water blasting began on Saturday, September 24th (delayed a few days from the original plan) and continued over five days. During this time, additional mechanical chipping was observed as well.
- Think of water blasting as a form of highly aggressive power washing. From what we understand, water and an aggregate material (i.e., sand) are mixed and “blasted” out of a turbo nozzle. This removes the final layer(s) of marcite (plaster) from the underlying gunite (concrete shell).
- Water blasting cannot remove thick build-up; mechanical chipping is needed to remove excess layering. Many contractors will only offer mechanical chipping. Water blasting is a beneficial add-on to the process.
- Major demolition work ended on Thursday, September 29th.
- The main drain plumbing and gutter tracks were vacuumed to remove debris (primarily leftover from mechanical chipping). Unfortunately, a few stray coins from the annual Labor Day festivities were probably lost, too.
The contractor told us that removing marcite debris from a commercial pool of our size would typically fill four dumpsters. As of the last count, we had filled 11.
Repairs and Tile Work
Concrete repair and tile work began on Friday, September 30th.
- Some stairs were heavily damaged during demolition, likely due to structural weakness. These will all be rebuilt as needed.
- Large cracks in the pool will be cut and patched. Re-bar and epoxy will be used where needed.
- The tile layout will vary slightly from the original drawing.
There is an additional charge for the repair work that we are negotiating. These repairs are not uncommon, but the extent to which they are necessary is unknown until the plaster layers are stripped off.
Pool Lights
We moved up the planned replacement of all ten underwater pool lights with Pentair IntelliBrite 5G LED fixtures. In prior meetings, the board anticipated replacement in early 2023 (before the swim season). However, an urgent request for a vote went out on September 23rd to move the project up to this year. Three main reasons were presented:
- The job is considerably easier with an empty pool.
- The existing fixtures, already in poor repair, would likely not provide sufficient light for night-time maintenance. After the project, surface brushing will be necessary twice daily. Our manager Jim has volunteered to do this – but he indicated the 2nd brush will likely have to occur in the evening hours.
- Price increases and continued supply chain issues could pose a problem in the spring. The necessary supplies were confirmed to be available for work this fall.
The board approved proceeding with the work early. We were able to score significant savings through price negotiation and a bump in the utility incentive. The material cost came in about 1/3 lower than initially budgeted.
B&G pulled the old lights on Saturday, September 24th, and pulled wire for the new fixtures on Wednesday, October 5th (in the evening). A portion of this work is visible in that day’s time-lapse video toward the end. The lights will be installed by the pool contractor following plastering.
Day 10
Unfortunately, no time-lapse video was captured on September 19th due to a technical issue.
