Gates of Valhalla

Oh well these might not be as mighty as the legendary gates of Valhalla but still it's a gate to our piece of heaven, Valhalla that is.

Gates of Valhalla

It's been awhile since I updated this diary/blog and to be honest there's not much we've been at with respect to the pool project.
A few weeks of lazy vacation just enjoying the pool/sauna combination.

The most urgent thing to pay attention to was to install the pool cover. A custom made tarp that is supposed to protect the pool from debris when not in use as well as acting as a safety so that careless people don't fall into the pool and drown when we're not home.
I know it's ridiculous but those are the rules...I didn't invent them.

We bought a custom cut tarp with the pool and with it we got 31 pins which are to be drilled and hammered into the deck. The general idea is that the pre-made holes in the tarp are placed over the pins and secured with a hairpin like item.

We pretty soon discarded that concept as the "hairpins" were pretty tough to push into place.

I estimate it would take somewhere close to 40 seconds per pin accumulating to over 20 minutes of job to place the tarp/cover over the pool.

For a person obsessed with performance and efficiency this was just...not good enough.

The replacement was to buy a bunch of rubber straps normally used with tarps. 

The biggest difficulty proved to be to find a hardware store that had that many (31) in stock.

With that out of the way I quickly drilled 31 holes and hammered the pins into them.

Since this is supposed to be a security that is to hold the weight of a drunken adult (or something similar) we of course had to put it to test.
The construction passed the test with flying colors.

Crash test dummy in action

Realising that we had some leftover rebar mesh we made some use of it rather than tossing it.
So we installed a few mesh pieces on the outside of the fence and then planted blackberry plants allowing them to climb the mesh and produce edible crops.

There's now very little left of this project we can do this year.
The plan is to treat the deck with Siio wood protection but that has to wait until next year when the wood has dried properly.
Oh well I'll probably come up with something that needs to be done when I become restless.

Title reference: Gates of Valhalla/Into Glory Ride/Manowar

Paradise City

First on the schedule was to finish the deck.
Pretty satisfied with the result.

Once the deck was finished the light posts were mounted adding that cozy light when darkness falls.
Of course the lights are controlled by a brightness sensor.

No rest for the wicked, off to the next part of the project.
Yeah I know I suffer from a serious case of AMPS (Ants in My Pants Syndrome). I'm not much for sitting down and do nothing.
Anyways stairs needed to be installed at the entrance to the deck.

Stairway to heaven?

Whilst at it we took care of the hole between the deck in front of the sauna and the garage.
Cumbersome as it was to get into the machine room we continued the sauna deck towards the garage.

The keen eyed reader might notice that the boards in front of the sauna look different.
We replaced the old ones with the same type of boards used for the rest of the deck. All in the name of a consistent look and feel.

That concluded the actual deck building phase.
Next on the list is to build a fence around the deck as that is required to protect the pool from kids (or other careless individuals) to drop into the pool.
Don't ask me, I didn't invent the rules.

One part of the fence is to be built using rebar mesh. It looks rather nice when you have plants/flowers climbing up the mesh.

I love my angle grinder

As with everything else in this project it's a lot of measuring and fitting to make the fence look smooth and nice.

The final view is pretty nice if I may say.
We've planted roses next to the rebar mesh letting them grow and spread over the mesh releasing their fragrance over the pool area.
The fence is to keep nosy neighbors for watching when one takes a plunge from the sauna...:)

"Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home" /GnR

I don't know much of the grass but the girls sure are pretty and it starts to look like our own paradise city.

Title reference: Paradise City/Appetite For Destruction/Guns n Roses

Race with the devil

The race has begun to finish the deck before vacation,which in practice means this week.

Progress is slow around the short end of the pool where the stairs are. It's really a tedious job to measure and hand cut each and every board.

But the result is worth it if I may say. I would lie if would say that I'm not proud over the result. 

A piece of craftsmanship and art

Board by board, screw by screw we're getting closer to the finishing line.

Connected the pool lamp and tested it out. Looks pretty cool in the dark.

Be there light

By the end of the week we laid an army of boards using some 1600 screws and a few hundred nails...so far.
The weather this week has been grand, perhaps a bit too grand. The weekend boasted temperatures around and over 30 degrees centigrade. Working in the sun is no play. The pool has proved to be a life saver in these situations.

An all too common view is this, the kids are idling in the pool and me and my father-in-law struggle with the deck.

A little problem did arise as we wanted the lid to the surface skimmer (water outlet) to be aligned with the deck. But it lies some 10cm under the deck. Some hard thinking later this new innovation was made.

I present to you, the bottomless bucket! Some probably think I've lost my wits in the sun.

Bottomless bucket, yet another patentable solution

But by adding a few layers of duct tape (useful for anything) I got the just about the right thickness for the bucket to fit tightly into the surface skimmer. The lid just nicely then fits into the bucket...and voilá you have managed to raise the lid the needed 10cm.

Then finally becoming perfectly aligned with the deck. Pure luck, don't think so.

By the end of Sunday we've managed to get all around the pool. A few square meters are still missing at the far end but that will be finished tomorrow.

It's with some level of pride I look back at what we've built.

Every single board is individually measured and hand cut to fit the pool. 

Talking about cutting, the spoil heap is sort of growing.

heap/stack trace?

Anyways, this weeks endeavours are over. The sauna is heating up, the beer is cold ...think I'll just enjoy the rest of the evening.

Title reference: Race with the devil/Sin after sin/Judas Priest