The pool is installed!!!!

Here are some photos of the install, not in chronological order....

Pool to be installed July 9th !!!

All the preliminary work is now complete. Permits and zoning approval are finalized, and the PB (Pool Designs, Inc.)has set a July 9th date to begin work.Thank you to allt hose who have emailed or left comments waiting for an update. If all goes well, we should be swimming within 2 weeks of that date. We still need to decide on concrete color, retaining wall block, fencing and a low voltage light system for around the perimeter. Feel free to leave comments if you have been through the process and would like to share tips or things you wish you had/had not done.

One more word about permits. I went to the construction office to pay for the permits, expecting them to be in the $100 range. I was a bit taken aback when I was told the permits came to $1,059! I know some permits run this high, so I tried not to act as though I was about to pass out as I wrote the check. I did mention to the clerk that I was under the impression the permits would be in the $100 range. That's when she decided to look over the paperwork again, only to discover the actual cost was $159!!!Lesson learned: always ask if something does not seem right. I could have easily paid that and never known the difference until it was too late.

Permit update...

Stopped by the building department this morning and found out that the zoning officer had to fly to California for a family emergency; not good news for anyone involved. On the upside, the office did tell me that all the permits were approved, and all that remains is for the zoning officer to sign off. Prior to submitting the permits I did have a discussion with him about pool placement, and we should not have any zoning issues.

God #@%$*&* Permits!!!

Well, today was SUPPOSED to be the day the permits were approved. Our building department is a small one, and they share inspectors with other small towns in the area. Hence, they have very limited hours. I stopped in today to find out out that everything had been approved, except the zoning approval which should not be a big deal. The zoning officer is in for TWO hours each week (yes, I did say only two hours per week)All that was left was for him to come in, look at the drawings and sign off. So I show up at the office during his two hour stretch only to find a sign on the door that he had an emergency and would not be in. Ughh! Apparently he won't be back in the office for another week, hopefully.

A warning for anyone considering an inground pool....if you are the type of person that needs things done, who needs to see progress, who hates to wait....try valium :-)

permit process has begun!

Received my permit pack from the PB yesterday and submitted them to the town. The building department estimated they would be ready my next Wednesday!!! Total permit cost, including zoning was about $140. Not bad, I was epecting worse.Excavation should begin shortly after that, weather and PB schedules pending.

Waiting on permit packet

Still waiting on my permit packet from my pool builder, pool designs inc. out of Yardville, NJ. Spoke with them on Monday, they said they were finished preparing the paperwork and would overnight the documents. I offered to drive down and pick them up, as my town building department is only open a few hours per week and I want to move this project along. They assured me they would be there Tuesday. No paperwork on Tuesday :-(. I'm hoping it come today, summer is moving quickly, and my wife is VERY unhappy that I removed the above ground pool already.

On a more upbeat note, if you are enjoying this process or are considering a pool for your home, please check out a FANTASTIC pool forum. www.troublefreepools.com
They are a wealth of information on all aspects of swimming pools.

We begin to prep the yard for our new pool!!

OK, so here we go. We are starting to prepare the yard for our new pool. I have attached a few pics. The first is the manufacturers diagram of the pool we have chosen. I copied it off the Viking Pools website. ( I hope they don't mind !)

The next two pics are the view from our decks.We had an above ground pool, with the deck built around the pool. We sold it off, and what is left is just the curve of the remaining deck. We plan on trimming back the deck and crerating a straight edge, with stairs down to a concrete patio extending off the pool. Our contractor is Rochelle Remodeling here in Independence Township (Hackettstown)He is a fantastic builder and remodeler of homes, and I look forward to working with him.


The other pic is the approximate layout of the new pool. It's kind of hard to see in the pic, but I used a garden hose to create the outline so that we could get a better idea of where we wanted the pool to go. We still need to remove several smaller trees and bushes, as well as the old rock retaining wall for the above ground pool. We also need to remove the concrete pad formerly occupied by our old hot tub. That will involve a jack hammer and maybe it's own seperate blog :-)

Waiting on the permit packet to come back from the PB, hoping that processes moves quickly.