Backyard Oasis - Week 1

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we finally broke ground & started the excavation for the pool on Tuesday:

 

 

We came home around lunchtime to find them already working. Sadie noticed them as soon as we drove by our house because obviously they had to take some of our fence down to access the yard. Thank goodness we live on a corner lot!

 

 

I heard our builder say it took 2 truck loads to dump all of the grass that was pulled up before they even started digging:

 

 

I'm not sure how many dump trunks it took in total to haul all of the grass & dirt away because they dug a big hole:

 

 

After a while, some guys had to work inside the hole so they could measure all of the areas for water depth:

 

 

Speaking of water, we had one snafu during the dig. We are supposed to have about 3 feet of dirt built up behind the pool to the retaining wall, however, when they started digging in front of it, all of the ground started caving in. Apparently there was a leak from our neighbor's house behind us & water trickled out quite a bit. Our builder was worried the wall would fall down!

 

 

Luckily we have awesome neighbors who we are friends with & they came over that night & helped us isolate the problem. Apparently they had a huge leak in their irrigation system. It wasn't on the ground level (where the sprinkler heads are) but down in a pipe under the ground. That's why we couldn't see it on their end but why the ground was so saturated underneath the wall:

 

 

Here are a couple more shots of the pool from different angles so you can see it's size:

 

 

I couldn't believe how much they got done in one day! Not only did they get the pool dug, but they also got everything framed, including the fireplace, outdoor kitchen & pool equipment:

 

 

Sadie & Sophie spent most of the day doing this:

 

 

But Sadie was really excited when she got to climb down in the pool with Daddy:

 

 

Day 2 started with a little bit of plumbing, mostly in the grotto & hot tub:

 

 

Afterwards they sprayed the entire pool with shotcrete to help the pool hold it's form:

 

 

Day 3 was their longest day yet. They spent the entire day putting up the rebar in the pool, fireplace, outdoor kitchen & pool equipment:

 

 

I felt sorry for these guys. They came early & didn't leave until almost 8:00 that night. They spent the entire day with their tools manually bending the rebar. And it was hot outside.

 

Today, which is day 4, they came back & spent some more time finishing up the plumbing. This was a little more exciting because now I can see where all of the jets will be in the pool & in the hot tub. Our hot tub is supposed to seat 8 people, so I counted 8 jets. And I could see 2 bubblers in both of the tanning ledges:

 

 

I can't believe it's only been 4 days & they have already made this much progress! Our backyard still looks like a war zone, but it is exciting to see what they are doing every day. I am sure my pictures will slow down as I get tired of the process, but for now it has been a fun learning experience!