Most of you know from FB that we went ahead and installed a pool this year.  I wanted to post a more detailed update here on MS since I had originally posted on MS about it about a year ago. 

We had lived with an unused weed lot in the back of our house for 13 years and it was time to do something about it.  After much thought of pros and cons of having a pool, getting opinions of others, and after working out all the finances, we decided to go for it. 

It has been a VERY long process.  After meeting with 4 pool companies, we chose one and put down the initial deposit last July.  We live on a corner lot so we needed to apply for town permits and a variance order (we wanted to put the pool on the side section of the yard closest to the street and that was technically against zoning laws).  We needed to go to a town hearing and speak before a board before a decision was made about letting us move foward with the job. 

We hoped that the digging would have been done by last fall, but we didn't get approval on the permits/variance until January.  The pool company had to wait until the ground was soft enough to dig, so we were scheduled to have work begin in early March.  The day of the initial excavation, all the trucks arrived, only to find that there was a natural gas line running right through the middle of the yard.  Why this was not discovered until the day of the dig is still a mystery, but I have gotten past it, lol.  As a result, all work had to be delayed until the gas line could be moved.  This caused another month's delay and an additional hevfty expense.  One word of advice to anyone doing major renovations - calculate your budget and then add an additional 15% for unforeseen expenses.  We learned this lesson after renovating our kitchen 8 years ago!

Once the gas line was moved, things progressed pretty quickly.  The digging took about a week, the installation of the pool took about another week.  Then there was another weeks time for letting the ground settle.  Then another 3 weeks or so of masonry work.  We chose the masonry company that worked with the pool company since they guaranteed the work for 10 years if there were any settling issues (cracks, shifting, etc.).  Some people think you should wait at least a few months to do the mason work, but with the 10 year guarantee, we felt comfortable doing the work sooner rather than later.  After the brickwork was done, the fence was installed.  We still have to replace a window and crawlspace door, which we hope to get to in a few weeks.

I finally got around to buying some new planters and plants.  We have no more grass in the yard and I needed to add some greenery (the kids use my front lawn as the baseball field so we won't miss the weeds in the back, lol).  We also ordered a new patio set for the extra company that we knew would be around - it just arrived this past week and not a moment too soon.  We have had a ton of family and friends over to use the pool and really needed the seating.

What a great year it has been to have a new pool.  It has averaged 85 degrees here for the past month.  The kids are LOVING it!  Natalie is taking swim lessons at the house once a week, and is already swimming underwater.  My boys have become fishes!  The neighborhood kids are enjoying it as well.  And although Ed and I agreed that he would take care of all the maintenance, I have actually become the "pool girl", lol!  I have been testing the water, running the vacuum and maintaining the chemicals.  Strangely, I am not complaining about that - I actually don't mind the work involved. 

I am going to post a slideshow which contains about 120 pictures.  Feel free to completety ignore it, lol - it takes a while to run!  Most of the early pictures were taken from my windows, hence the screen in the foreground.  You'll see how close to the street the pool actually is, hence the variance order from the town.  My yard is also strange in that it is 2 feet above the street level on the poolside, so we had a retaining wall to contend with.  And in the digging of the pool, the excavators hit the water table since we live across the street from a canal.  All these issues were dealth with.

I have to say that the pictures really do not do the yard justice - it seems so much more spacious in than it looks in the pictures.  And it has been money well spent.  It turned out even better than we expected.  I sit in my backyard and feel like I am on vacation!  Thanks for looking. :)

https://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/a_masters16/Pool%20April%202010/?albumview=slideshow