Week Three/Four Update

by Matt Parnell · Published October 10, 2022 · Updated January 7, 2023

Over the last two weeks, a majority of the work involved the demolition of the existing pool. As mentioned in the first two updates, the amount of demolition necessary far exceeded the original estimate.

Work has finally begun on the re-build. But before we get into that, a brief re-cap 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 5 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, then “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, hence 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 out to remove debris (primarily leftover from mechanical chipping). Unfortunately, a few stray coins from the annual Labor Day festivities were probably lost, too.

We were told by the contractor that removed marcite debris from a commercial pool of our size would typically fill 4 dumpsters. As of last count, we had filled 11.

Repairs and Tile Work

Concrete repair and tile work began on Friday, September 30th.

During demolition, some of the stairs were heavily damaged, likely due to structural weakness. These will all be re-built as needed.
Large cracks in the pool will be cut and patched. Re-bar and epoxy 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 types of repairs are not uncommon, but the extent to which they are necessary is not known until the plaster layers are stripped off.

Pool Lights

We moved up the planned replacement of all 10 underwater pool lights with Pentair IntelliBrite 5G LED fixtures. In prior meetings, the board anticipated replacement in early 2023 (prior to the swim season). But 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. At the conclusion of 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 an issue in the spring. The supplies necessary for the job were confirmed to be available for work yet this fall.

The board approved proceeding with the work early. We were able to score major savings through price negotiation and a bump in the utility incentive. All said, the material cost came in about 1/3 lower than originally 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.