My kids loved their cozy coupe. ;)

What are you going to do with the three edge rocks in the first picture? I would cover/remove them before someone trips --- hopefully not a guest after a couple glasses of wine. Nice deck and I agree you now need some large potted trees/plants scattered about.

That looks great! That looks sturdier than the piers that hold up my house. Just one thing... You need to trim out the base of your gazebo. The Simpson Strong Ties don't compliment the nice cherry.

Hook up some lights down there and fill it with water. Like a sweet underground swimming pool/cave. :)

wayne, looks really great. i didn't think you're going to pull it off. you can paint the concrete blue or green. so, deck would stand out. awesome!

Great idea for deleting the pool. In addition to the sump pump, I'd also add ventilation (small fan) to prevent mold or dry rot from developing after a rain or sprinkler runoff.

BTW, the mass of concrete is a great source of radiant heat for those cooler evenings.

Sherwood

Isn't it customary to fill a pool with dirt when not wanted to prevent it popping out of the ground in the event of alot of rain? I don't know that is why I am asking. I would think the county inspector would have already brought that to your attention though.

I may be incorrect, but the pool shell shouldn't lift as long as the bottom is vented (open) to the surrounding earth. In addition, the soil makeup has a lot to do with how fast or slow water builds up in a storm.

Sherwood

Yes, hydrostatic pressure is an issue, but it depends on (1) ground water table height and (2) presence/absence of perimeter drainage.

A pool or other structure will only develop a hydrostatic surcharge if the water is there in the first place. A simple perimeter drain like a french drain and gravel backfill can go a long way to helping prevent this. Also, knowing that area a little bit, my suspicion is there is no issue with groundwater saturation whatsoever, but I'm also not a soils engineer. I'd be stunned if it were an issue in that area though.

I think Wayne addressed this in his original thread, IIRC. I know it got brought up. If there's any evidence of vertical uplift, I'd truck a couple tons of sand in there ASAP though.

Wayne just built himself a Grotto!!!

Otto loves to get blotto in Wayne's grotto...

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2...-Otto_Mann.png

Nice work!

Looks great.

With most projects, when they are done, they look like they took less work than they really did.

Not so with that one. That looks like an ungodly amount of work to get done!

I still think you are insane, but very nicely done!:)

work of art! nice job!

Man I can just see Thunderbirds coming outta that muther :)

should call it Tracy Island

Wayne, can you give me a link to where you got the gazebo thing? I like it a lot.

wow, just wow.
My cousin did similar thing couple months ago, but instead of the deck is fitting inside the pool like Wayne's, his is on top of the pool and has seal surround it. He was trying to elliminate water comming into it. Watching the 2 similar model/design, I really want to do mine right now. I was thinking of destroying it.

Ok.... Too freaking weird.... I was just discussing this with schumi today....

i bet someone kept in there could never scream loud enough to wake the family or neighbors....

It puts the lotion on the skin, or else it gets the hose again...