cold joints
Working outdoors in the California sun is typically seen as a desirable perk, especially when, as in this case, the on-site alternative was working below ground in a confined labyrinth of narrow passages with limitless opportunities for banging your head. But here, it's my general sense that the plumbers working below ground on Hearst Castle's Neptune Pool (San Simeon, Calif.) had an easier row to hoe than did the marble applicators working in the open air. For one thing, tasks performed on the interior surface of the pool were
In pool-remodeling work, it's very common to raise a bond beam to meet the needs of a new deck or edge detail — or simply to make the pool level again. As ordinary a step as this may seem, it can be trickier than you might think because, in applying
"A smart man learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others." If you follow that Latin proverb, then you might conclude that the watershaping industry is populated by a fair number of smart people and a few wise ones. There are others out there, however, who
Back in November, I described the background of a project on a sprawling estate in the hills near Hanover, Pa. - a spectacular setting for an enormous swimming pool, an island spa, a cascading waterfeature and big expanses of rockwork and stone decking. As was mentioned, our first task was to remove a brand-new system of retaining walls that had been built adjacent to the planned location for the swimming pool. We did so because the wall's large footings reached into a space needed to support a cascade that will appear to tumble into the pool. To ensure
