Weekend Roll Call 7-21-23

[kcdave]

A little early, but my week 11 day weekend, starts today.



My next post will be from a little bit west
from my part of FOC.

A meme for you to enjoy in the mean time.



Happy Weekend, Y'all.

[kcdave]

Good morning trolls from The Garden Of The Gods.

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[kcdave]

GoG and Pikes Peak.

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[d-townmike]

Dave will have the PET of the year after next week. I may have told Califorado to go fuck itself two years ago but the physical beauty is what I do miss. I'm especially looking forward to the Glenwood Springs portion. Man I miss that town.

Wife and I just celebrated 16 years last night. Went to dinner at a local entertainment and restaurant district and saw some standup comedy. Stayed the night at a nearby hotel to avoid driving home after quite a few beers. Rack getting the kids to be at three different places!

[Kierland]

You live in a dump to own the libs. You are a sad little man.

[Mikey]

Continuing the pool timeline - finished installing the Pebble Tec finish this morning and now starting to fill.

Two weeks ago:




One week ago:




Yesterday afternoon:




This morning:





So far, only the the spa is filled:

[Wolfman]

In. My hiatus is on hiatus.

[Donnie Baker's Ghost]

In. My hiatus is on hiatus.

[Mikey]

In honor of Wolfie’s return, Smackie should play something by Hiatus Kaiyote.

[Roach]

In. My hiatus is on hiatus.

[Screw_Michigan]

Mikey, what exactly are you doing? Paging pool expert Smackie Chat--what is the correct term or the "bottom" of the pool?

Mikey is resurfacing the bottom of the pool? What does that bring you?

[Mikey]

Mikey, what exactly are you doing? Paging pool expert Smackie Chat--what is the correct term or the "bottom" of the pool?

Mikey is resurfacing the bottom of the pool? What does that bring you?

OK here's the short version.

In-ground pools mostly start with a reinforced concrete shell. The concrete used is called gunite, which is sprayed over the rebar frame. Traditionally, on top of the gunite, they trowel in a smooth layer of white plaster. Maybe one or two inches...I don't really know. This provides a nice smooth white surface on the bottom and sides of the pool. The brilliant blue you see in plaster pools is completely a result of how the water refracts and reflects sunlight, kind of like the blue water in the ocean, which isn't really blue. The white plaster gives it a nice background to make the blue seem even brighter. There's usually a section of ceramic tile at the water line, and the stone or other material on the edge of the pool is called coping. Some pools have a vinyl liner. I've built one of these at a former home, but not discussing here.

Eventually the plaster can become worn, for numerous reasons. With many years being under water that has chlorine, salt etc. It gets stained (stains show up on white plaster), it can get chipped, or it can sort of blister and then chip off. At some point it may need to be replaced. We built our pool about 24 years ago. We first resurfaced it in 2010 when a big rust stain started appearing near the middle - a result of some of the rebar getting exposed to the water. You can't really see it from my pictures, but our white plaster recently was getting some really ugly staining, plus some blistering, and just looking really old. So we decided to resurface again.

A more recent option (not really all that recent but recently more popular) is a surface called Pebble Tec. It's like the plaster but has bigger aggregate, instead of fine sand it has different colored pebbles or chips of rock. It gives a rougher texture than the plaster. They can add color to the base and choose the mixture of pebbles that are embedded. There are numerous combinations available including different combinations of grey, blue, tan, etc. It tends to last longer than the plain plaster but is also more expensive. We decided to go with a color called "Caribbean Blue" which looks mostly grey when it's dry but has a deep blue color when filled, and a more natural looking background than the pure white plaster. When they do the resurfacing, they chip off the old plaster with a jackhammer (almost a full day here), down to (or close to) the gunite shell. We decided to leave the tile and the coping because they are still in good shape.

That's the main part of our project. We also have a concrete slide that starts part way up the bank behind the pool and drops you over about a four foot waterfall that has a little grotto behind it. Bare concrete is not very slippery, even if it has water flowing over it. The slide was originally coated with an acrylic paint that's very slippery but, within ten years, it was no longer slippery. At that time I bought a two part epoxy that you can spray on to make it really slippery again. I didn't do a very good job of getting it on evenly. It worked fine but didn't look all that great. By five or six years ago it was again not very slippery, but we didn't do anything about it. We decided to get the the slide re-surfaced at the same time as the pool, since the pool would be empty and no concern about getting shit in the water from the slide work.

We are also replacing the lights in the pool and the spa, which haven't worked for years. We're getting multi-colored LED lights that can be set at one color, or play pre-programmed "light shows."

The original pool had a propane water heater, and we also installed a large solar thermal array to heat the water, which provides probably an extra month before and after the summer season when the water is warm enough to swim in. It also heats the spa, which I can get up to 100 deg in an hour with solar in the summer, but cools pretty quickly after the sun goes down. We decided early on that the propane heater was too expensive to operate so it sat there like a boat anchor for years and hasn't actually worked for probably ten years. I'm replacing the propane heater with an electric heat pump water heater that will allow us to use the spa after the sun goes down. The plan is to heat the water with solar and just keep it hot with the heat pump on evenings when we want to use it.

Finally, the controls that operate the three separate pumps, valves, lights, heater, salt based chlorine generator, and everything else, were installed in 2000 with the rest of the pool. I'm getting an upgraded controller that allows me to operate everything with an app on my iPhone. This will be a huge improvement over having to go to a hard wired panel on the wall and push a bunch of buttons.

So, that's the short version. I'll take any questions now.

[Kierland]

You could have just said they make pools nicer now that the 50’s are over so we upgraded.

[Meat Head]

If not interested, you could have just not read it remained silent.

[Kierland]

If not interested, you could have just not read it remained silent.

I was interested. That’s why I read it. I was hoping for more than “pools are cooler now than in the 50’s” but, alas I was disappointed.

[Mikey]

If not interested, you could have just not read it remained silent.

I was interested. That’s why I read it. I was hoping for more than “pools are cooler now than in the 50’s” but, alas I was disappointed.

That’s what you said, not what I said. You fucking high or something?

Repair and update. How’s that?

[Kierland]

You fucking high or something?

Are you gnu here?

“Repair and update” I knew you could do it. Chapeau!

[Rootbeer]

I enjoyed that write up immensely, Mikey. I have always wanted a pool but also lived in a temperate climate (Zone 4b) where a pool is unusable 9 months a year and nothing more than a ridiculous display of opulence.

Don't listen to these third graders afraid of chapter books.

[The Whistle Is Screaming]

In. My hiatus is on hiatus.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/comedian-rad ... 11003.html

Glad you're not really dead.

[Screw_Michigan]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/comedian-rad ... 11003.html

Glad you're not really dead.

Funny. I just said the same thing about Wolftard.

[Kierland]

I enjoyed that write up immensely, Mikey. I have always wanted a pool but also lived in a temperate climate (Zone 4b) where a pool is unusable 9 months a year and nothing more than a ridiculous display of opulence.

Don't listen to these third graders afraid of chapter books.

Aren’t you the same guy growing watermelons in Alaska?

[Mikey]

I enjoyed that write up immensely, Mikey. I have always wanted a pool but also lived in a temperate climate (Zone 4b) where a pool is unusable 9 months a year and nothing more than a ridiculous display of opulence.

Don't listen to these third graders afraid of chapter books.

Thanks!

Probably not at all practical where you live. I imagine that, unless it's indoors, you would have to drain it every winter. We have a large solar thermal array on the roof to heat the pool but, for most of the summer, it stays swimmable (80-85 deg) without adding any heat (unless I want to heat the spa up). The solar system will heat the spa to over 100 deg in less than an hour on a hot sunny day, and it adds probably a month to both ends of the season (approx April through October, sometimes November). In the winter I just reduce the filtering hours and leave it uncovered.

I've had a pool available most of my life, whether a community pool or in our yard. A couple of my siblings were competitive swimmers. I was never fast enough. We waited a year after moving here to build the pool, and one reason was that we had two little kids who needed to learn how to swim. These days I pretty much can't do without it on summer days after spending hours doing yard work.

[Rootbeer]

Probably not at all practical where you live. I imagine that, unless it's indoors, you would have to drain it every winter.

I'm building a big greenhouse and I keep thinking it would make a great pool covering if I ever decide to repurpose it.

[Smackie Chan]

Paging pool expert Smackie Chat--what is the correct term or the "bottom" of the pool?

The drain. But bottom is as good a word as any for the lower surface of a pool.

After working at Leslie’s for a couple months, I realize how far I am from being even close to a pool expert. Getting smarter but still don’t know shit.

[The Seer]

After working at Leslie’s for a couple months, I realize how far I am from being even close to a pool expert. Getting smarter but still don’t know shit.

Which one?

[kcdave]

I would love to have a pool like Mikey's, but I have neither the time or patience for all the bs that goes along with owning one.

I have been negligent in posting the last couple of days, so here are a few pics.

A snowball I made atop Pikes Peak.



Summit Lake from atop Mt Evans.



My current situation... as most of the nation swelters, I am wearing a hoodie for sunrise in Dillon.





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[Mikey]

Nice mini-PET. Those mountains are pretty awesome.

[Mikey]

The pool is full of water but not started up yet. At first we didn’t like the color at all. Too green with water in it. But when the sun came out we started thinking oh it’s not so bad and then damn, it looks pretty nice. We’re just used to the bright blue you get with white plaster. You know what they say about old dogs…

[Rootbeer]

Nice green algae bloom. Y'all get chronic yeast infections from that or nyah?

[Kierland]

You didn’t read a word he said did you?

[Mikey]

That’s sort what I was thinking at first. Haven’t been in it yet so I’ll have to get back to you later.

I was actually thinking of accusing the contractor of using the wrong material because none of the pictures I saw were that green. Drain the pool, jackhammer the shit out, and start over. Just what I fucking need when we’re having 95 degree weather. So all day we’ve been telling ourselves well maybe it will grow on us (). And…I’m almost convinced. It will look different when the filter pump is running and the spa is spilling over. It won’t be nearly so smooth and glassy.

[Kierland]

It looks way better. And remember I’m never wrong.

[Mikey]

It’s a more natural looking color. The steps especially look a lot better.

[Rootbeer]

I'm please to see you got the joke, Mikey. Some people struggle, apparently.


My understanding of water appearing blue is because red light gets filtered almost immediately when white light enters water. Blue light has a longer wavelength and is able to penetrate (Easy, clones, I'm not reading your emails) all the way to the bottom and reflect off the white plaster. Something about your new coating is either reflecting yellow light or more likely absorbing blue light and tilting the balance toward yellow.

[Diego in Seattle]

Nice green algae bloom. Y'all get chronic yeast infections from that or nyah?

My first couple of years on a swim team the team rented a pool at the local country club. During the winter the club, having hardly any members using the pool, wouldn't bother with cleaning the pool. They'd just add more chlorine. After a while the sides of the pool would grow green & slick. Then the blond members of the team would have their hair turn green. Then one guy went to the ear doctor for an infection & the doctor pulled a q-tip out of his ear with algae on it.

Good times...

[Mikey]

Then one guy went to the ear doctor for an infection & the doctor pulled a q-tip out of his ear with algae on it.

Did they figure out how the q-tip got in there?

[Meat Head]

Blue light has a longer wavelength and is able to penetrate (Easy, clones, I'm not reading your emails)

Blue light has a shorter wavelength. Your theory about penetration may be correct, but not by that premise.



Seen any racoons lurking?

[Mikey]

The color depends a lot on the product used on the bottom and sides of the pool. There’s a large selection of combinations of color added to the plaster and the pebbles mixed in the aggregate. They mostly look pretty gray or white-ish when dry but change a lot when under water.



The underwater samples in the picture don’t really give a very complete picture because it also depends a lot on the depth of the water, the quality of light shining on it and whatever is surrounding the pool. A lot of pools are in a flat yard but the bank behind our pool has a significant effect.

[Rootbeer]

Blue light has a longer wavelength and is able to penetrate (Easy, clones, I'm not reading your emails)

Blue light has a shorter wavelength. Your theory about penetration may be correct, but not by that premise.



Seen any racoons lurking?

Correction accepted. I had the lengths reversed in my head.

[Kierland]

Which kinda made your whole point the opposite of what you meant. Please stop trying to act smart. It hurts my brain.