Job Complexity
When deciding which company to hire for your project, a prudent question to ask is what experience does the company in question have and how complicated of a job have they completed successfully in the past. Of course, there are differing degrees of complexity that can exist based on the requirements of the project. Building a pool in your backyard will most likely be relatively simple. Building a pool hanging off the side of a cliff (in someone’s backyard) is another thing entirely.
Below is a job Premier completed in 2014 in the Pacific Palisade area (Los Angeles). The project involved a complete demolition of the existing rear, sides and front yard, and construction of a new infinity pool hanging off the cliff, along with a retaining wall at the edge of the cliff in order to extent the usable area in the backyard farther out.
Before Pictures
Here is what the property looked like before we started.
Demolition
The demolition was fairly straight forwarded, as can be seen below. The only difference from the norm is working in proximity to a cliff side.
Mini Drilling Rig
The engineering for the pool and retaining wall required 36 inch caissons drilled down 30 plus feet into the soil. Due to the limited access a mini drilling rig was brought in.
Crane and Caisson Rebar
Due to the weight of the caisson rebar cages and the distance from the street to the caisson hole excavations, a 250 ton crane was required. Permits were necessary to temporarily close the street.
Caisson Concrete
Once the rebar was in place the caisson holes were filled with 4,500 psi concrete
Grade Beams
The next phase was the forming of the grade beams on top of the caissons, spanning from one caisson to the next, along with the rebar for those grade beams. Once completed the grade beams were filled with 4,500 psi concrete.
Shotcrete Wall Form
Once the grade beams were poured the walls for the retaining walls were formed and the rebar was prepared.
Shotcrete Application to Wall
Unlike a traditional CMU block retaining wall, we specifically designed the engineering for a shotcrete application. This is the same process that is used to apply concrete to a pool and allowed us to shoot all the walls at once and in one day.
Waterproof and Backfill Shotcrete Wall
Once the shotcrete was completed and given time to cure, waterproofing was applied to the retaining walls. Afterward the back fill and compaction of the soil up against the retaining walls was completed.
Pool Rebar and Plumbing
Next came the pool forming and rebar, along with the rough plumbing and electrical.
Pool Shotcrete
Once ready, the pool shotcrete was applied.
Grading
Once the pool shotcrete was done came the final complete grading of the backyard.
Spa
The spa was separate from the pool, and was formed separately after the final grading.
Masonry
Once all the items from above were completed the remainder of the job was the “normal” part of most jobs. Steps were formed, pilasters and planter walls were built, a BBQ and fireplace were lifted, pavers were installed, etc.
Before and After
Below you can see a before and after picture that reflects the scale of the remodel. You can see all the completed pictures here: Lachman Lane
