# rhanna lawn journal



## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

I have big changes happening very soon and I plan on documenting my progress.

We are getting a pool installed next week
I purchased a robot mower and I'm selling my tru cut reel mower.

Right now I'm concerned about how much damage my lawn will take. I know it will be pretty bad around the pool and the hill going down to the backyard.

I seeded Riviera bermuda a few years ago so I don't think that seed option is sold anymore. Should I try to plug as much as possible or seed with Monaco?


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

Picture where the pool will be installed, dirt spot is where the swing set was located but given to a friend this weekend.

Bottom picture is where they will do most of the damage hauling dirt and carrying the pool in.


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## acegator (May 31, 2018)

Ask them to throw down some plywood on the sides Or do it yourself if they won't .. good contractors will typically do it though.


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## jasonbraswell (Aug 18, 2019)

Looking forward to watching with envy!


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

Pool was pushed back a week. The date was tentative but we are bummed. There was another person that had a contract before us but was having problems getting a septic tank permit. They were able to get it done so he is putting their pool in next week.

On a positive note, I received a call from he that he was giving us a $500 referral. I guess someone on the HOA board that approves lot improvements called him and said she heard about him through us. She ended up buying a pool and we get $500. 

We planned on installing a concrete cantilever coping and concrete deck but he brought his landscape/hardscape sub out and we talked. He acted like the cost wasn't that much more. I can tell the pool contractor and the other guy doesn't want to do concrete. If it ends up not much more we'll probably end up with stone coping and paver patio.

The plan is to come off of our wood deck onto a larger patio with a natural gas firepit. We purchased 6 Adirondack chairs from ECCB outdoors with the built in ottoman and the natural gas firepit from BBQ Guys.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

Sold my reel mower for asking price the other day so I was pretty happy about that. I was able to use it a few years and ended up breaking even on it, maybe even made a little.

I got the Worx Landroid L in the mail about the same time. I was on the fence between Worx and Husqvarna. The best thing about Husqvarna was the height of cut at 0.8 vs 1.6 on the Worx. I think I can live with 1.6 at least changing the battery doesn't require me to bring it to the dealer. They had a sale going on where you would get a free "garage" with purchase. I found a mother's day discount that was 15% off so I pulled the trigger. Sucks that I'll have to wait for the pool to be completed before I can install but I'll be ready.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

Digging starts today, lawn before the carnage begins



The aluminum fence I had to remove to access to the back yard. That was fun digging out the post with 1.5 foot of concrete


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

@rhanna, this is going to be awesome! I know it's not a cheap or easy project but sure it'll be great and looking forward to following progress :thumbup:


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

First dump truck company is a no show, second company just showed up.

Second pic just to show the roots, I was kind of surprised to see them that deep but happy.





I asked the pool guys if they could dig up the evergreen that you see in the pic and put it behind the fence. I'm going to try and save it, it means a lot to my wife but it's in the way and I think they'll end up hitting it and killing it anyway.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

Day 1 in the book at about 8 yesterday. They definitely went into my neighbor's lawn which they said they wouldn't and it's pretty clear where the line is located. I had told my neighbor that they would fix it or I would.

We ended up burying the tree but I don't expect it to live. They didn't leave very many roots and they skinned some bark off the truck.

The pool is scheduled to come today and we should start filling it some time this afternoon.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

Some pics from day 2, day 3 didn't really do much other than plumbing. They expected gravel to be delivered but didn't realized they would all be off today.

Here comes the pool 

They should have it done on Monday but we'll have to wait for the deck/patio to be poured to say everything is finished. We plan on swimming in it as soon as possible.

HOA president warned me that someone would probably send in a complaint against me since they mounded dirt over the sidewalk so they wouldn't damage it. 
That neighbor spoke to the guys today after they had cleaned most of it up. Not to happy about you bothering the guys I've hired. If you have a problem, bring it up with the HOA board or come talk to me. I'm kind of glad he said something to them just so I would know which neighbor was complaining.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

The pool builder let me know they found a spot in the pool that's about 2-3 inches from the top. They were supposed to finish yesterday but the repair guy from Thursday Pools is coming today so hopefully they'll fix it right and finish it off today.

I'm not really happy that my brand new pool has to be repaired. Especially when they like to brag about all the quality controls their company has and it's so much better than all the other builders. I also can't tell how many gallons this pool holds. The dig spec sheet estimates 17,000 but I've found several pool installers listing it at 19,700. How does this company not even know how many gallons their pool holds? What sucks is the installer sized the equipment on 17k. It may not sound like a big deal but the salt water generator and the filter might be ok at 17k but it's pushing it at 19.7


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

Also order 10 pounds of Monaco bermudagrass seed to help with the recovery


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

The pool was finished last Thursday. The builder has been ok and they have done a good job installing the pool. The biggest problem I have is how they started on the next pool while my pool was just sitting. So he had his guys working all day on Tuesday and Wednesday and then coming over to wrap things up. I let him now I wasn't too happy about that and he didn't like that. Kept saying things about how other builders take 2,3,4 weeks to install. 
One day he came over to take some pics and was asking for the next check. I was just standing there thinking of what to say and he mentioned the contract shows the next check was due. I mentioned that the contract also mentioned the pool installed in 5 days and we were sitting on day 6 (that's with removing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from the count) he didn't like that but tough. 
They said that the concrete deck and patio would be poured this week so I'll count on next week.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

@rhanna - coming along, looking nice.

Yes, contractors can be a PITA... one of the many reasons why The Lawn Forum is very DIY friendly 

how did the repair patch turn out? Was curious if you took an after-picture


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

raymond said:


> @rhanna - coming along, looking nice.
> 
> Yes, contractors can be a PITA... one of the many reasons why The Lawn Forum is very DIY friendly
> 
> how did the repair patch turn out? Was curious if you took an after-picture


It's hard to say. I know where the spot is so I can see it but for someone that doesn't know about it they may never notice. The color matches but there are tiny spots of black in the color so in that spot there aren't many or any of those spots just blue. It's similar to when you purchase a car with special metallic paint and it isn't a flat color. That color is very difficult to match/fix

One thing that really annoyed me about the pool builder Thursday pools. They like to brag about the ISO 9001 quality controls and when you download the dig sheet it shows the number of gallons as 17,000 and that's what my contractor used to size the equipment. Well that just didn't sound right to me so I called the manufacturer and asked. 19,700 is the right size. It's not a huge difference but don't brag about how awesome your quality controls are when you can't get something like that right.

So I waited a couple of days and downloaded the dig sheet just to check and they had updated the size. Well their are 3 sizes to the model that I chose so I downloaded the other 2 sizes. Guess what, the medium size pool holds less gallons than the small. :roll:


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

The bermuda is coming through where it had been covered in dirt. I'm sure the rain helped uncover most of this. Hopefully the recovery will be quick



Natural gas line was installed yesterday and passed inspection today.



Grilling some burgers on the deck


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

I'm not sure what to do with this part of the lawn. It's hard to tell the elevation but the gravel is about a foot higher than the dirt/grass. Of course they had to build of that corner of the pool to make it all level but you can clearly see that the elevation isn't the same. Maybe I'll order some topsoil and grade it towards the bottom of the fence.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

raymond said:


> @rhanna - coming along, looking nice.
> 
> Yes, contractors can be a PITA... one of the many reasons why The Lawn Forum is very DIY friendly
> 
> how did the repair patch turn out? Was curious if you took an after-picture


Here is the repaired spot


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

They poured the concrete yesterday and we are almost done.







I am concerned about this corner. It's about 1 1/2 - 2 feet higher than the area around it. I'm not sure how to handle this. Should I use some of the dirt that's piled up next to it and back fill.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Congrats on the pool. Is this the first one you've ever taken care of?


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

ionicatoms said:


> Congrats on the pool. Is this the first one you've ever taken care of?


Thanks and yes, it's the first. 
I've been frequenting the forum. Troublefreepool

So far it hasn't been to bad. It was a pain to get going because I wasn't sure why my chlorine was dropping so fast but it leveled out once I started following the recommendations those members gave out. I was testing my chlorine level twice a day but now maybe every other day. I have a salt water generator so that helps.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Great. Glad you found that forum! Much like your lawn, maintaining a pool is more enjoyable if you're on a preventive schedule.

After lifting iron stains from my pool, I'm now on a 2.5 oz dose of metal sequestrant every two weeks. I also use the CuLator product in my pump basket to remove as much of the metal as I can from the pool. It comes in with the water supply here in Florida.

I've also gotten in the habit of using a regular maintenance dose of algaecide and phosphate remover. The temperatures here are highly conducive to algae blooms. In theory you can manage algae with sufficient chlorination and brushing alone, but I find it difficult in practice. Cleaning my cartridge filter more frequently due to the phosphate remover is well worth the stability I have in my water quality.

I highly recommend the pool math app so you can log all your measurements and maintenance activities. For me, it's worth the minimal subscription cost.

I know you didn't ask for any of this advice but I enjoy sharing and I'm hoping you have a great experience with your new pool.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

We had the natural gas line finished on Saturday and had several people over to cookout and swim.

Next step is to have 2 dump trucks full of topsoil deliver tomorrow so I can fix the lawn and start growing grass.
I purchased 10 pounds of HGT bluegrass, I also have bermuda seed in the garage I haven't really decided which way I'll go. I think eventually I'd like to try out the bluemuda lawn.


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

Head over to Trouble Free Pool for a wealth of information about pool care. Good guys with good info, much like this forum?

I've inherited a 30,000 gallon in ground pool and that site was a Godsend. They have a pool school tutorial to read through that's much like the irrigation tutorial on this site.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

mwemaxxowner said:


> Head over to Trouble Free Pool for a wealth of information about pool care. Good guys with good info, much like this forum?
> 
> I've inherited a 30,000 gallon in ground pool and that site was a Godsend. They have a pool school tutorial to read through that's much like the irrigation tutorial on this site.


I'm already on it :thumbup: same user name and almost the same posts.
I think I've been on that site more than this one in 2020.


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

I'm over there under the same name too. Fantastic resource!


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

@rhanna - hey, hey - did you ever end up installing and cutting with the Worx Landroid?


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