Pool Project: Steps 5-8 --Electric, plumbing, re-bar, gunnite and masonry!

It's been awhile since our last update.  But since the excavation, they came in and plumbed the pool for electricity and water including the in-floor cleaning system, then they set up the re-bar mesh contours.  The pics below show the pvc plumbing for the inground floor cleaning system as well as the rebar mesh grid.

After adding the structural re-bar contours they came in and sprayed wet gunnite all over the mesh, it should be 3 inches under and over the mesh bars for a total thickness of 6 inches or more.  They smoothed and contoured the gunnite and it looks great.  Scott stayed home that day to watch, he said it was really cool watching it.  The gunnite only took one day.  They came in the next day and set the natural rock boulders along the edges of the pool. 

Unfortunately, after the gunnite the project hit our first major delay...and we didn't find out what the delay was for a week or more...  So, the pool had been continuously worked on everyday except weekends, now it was almost 2 weeks and we hadn't seen anyone.  We called, emailed, left messages, played phone tag.

Apparently, it was "several" things.  Our project manager was super busy...our foreman was out of town, AND on top of that the Palapa (our big tropical umbrella for shade over the recessed kitchen area) was causing the holdup...  So, the great town of Oro Valley had initially approved the permit for the project, when they came out to inspect the gunnite job, they said the requirements for permitting the palapa had changed and since it was over 120 sq. foot, it had to have structural engineering plans to permit it!  Soooo, I guess the pool company had to hire and pay a structural engineer to draw up the plans for how the palapa would be installed, including load, elevation etc. So, the palapa sits on the ground waiting for the OK.

In the meantime we hired Jose Bautista to construct our block wall.  He is amazing and gave us a very good price.  He was the original contractor/mason who built most of the walls in our neighborhood when it was first built.  Our walls are great, they are strong and not cracking or settling.  He built our new wall in 2 days!  The first day he came out with his crew, stayed on site all day and dug the footers, poured the concrete and set the rebar.  The next day he set all the blocks with mortar and stucco finished it.  What a super nice guy, and it looks great too!  We had him leave a 10 foot opening for a gata as well as a small 3 foot opening.  My favorite part of the wall is near the tree.  He decided it would look better to do a curved wall around our existing tree and include it in the pool area.  The curved wall looks really decorative and really adds a nice accent to the space.  We also had him fill in our wall near the pool equipment for code and safety.  The wall actually provides a decent amount of shade from the West setting sun!

 The pool masons returned this week and weekend to dig and pour the footer for the recessed kitchen area.  You can see it in the photos above, they laid 3 rows of block for the stem wall.  The "plan" at this point is that the permit for the palapa should be ready on Monday.  Hopefully, the palapa will go up soon, and then they will be pouring the in pool bar stools, the steps and counters in the pool area and laying tile.  Then cool deck, and pebble tec finish..I think!  So, from last week we got an estimate of 3 weeks til completion...  WE are melting and want to swim so bad!