Akita Pool

[bindian]

Graph paper is my friend!!!

Eddie,
I just need to jot down dimensions. The rest just pops into my head. But that is really hard to convey to others. I did love the blueprint courses in A&P School. But drawing blueprints is just too slow for my busy mind.
hugs Brandi

 

[s219]

It does my heart good to see pictures of you down in a pit laying block Eddie, since I am happy it's not me.

I had to make a small set of stairs for the patio I built, and ended up building a form and pouring concrete. I had a certain size blue-stone treads to work with, and a range of desired step/tread height, and it was going to take a lot of block cutting and fiddling to make it work with blocks. I quickly realized it would be faster to design and construct a form and pour it. That said, the form design wasn't easy, just because there were a lot of things to take into account (think about cutting stair stringers and then also compensate for mortar and stone height on steps, and scratch coat, mortar, and veneer thickness on the risers, and of course form size considerations too). It came out OK but I learned many things that would make it a lot better if I ever have to do it again. Actually, if I had to do it again I might let standard block sizes dictate the step rise/run so I could use block, and then get the blue-stone cut to size.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,
I just need to jot down dimensions. The rest just pops into my head. But that is really hard to convey to others. I did love the blueprint courses in A&P School. But drawing blueprints is just too slow for my busy mind.
hugs Brandi

If I don't draw it out, I tend to think the space is bigger then it really is. I also rely on drawing to figure out materials and how much money I need.

 

[EddieWalker]

It does my heart good to see pictures of you down in a pit laying block Eddie, since I am happy it's not me.

I had to make a small set of stairs for the patio I built, and ended up building a form and pouring concrete. I had a certain size blue-stone treads to work with, and a range of desired step/tread height, and it was going to take a lot of block cutting and fiddling to make it work with blocks. I quickly realized it would be faster to design and construct a form and pour it. That said, the form design wasn't easy, just because there were a lot of things to take into account (think about cutting stair stringers and then also compensate for mortar and stone height on steps, and scratch coat, mortar, and veneer thickness on the risers, and of course form size considerations too). It came out OK but I learned many things that would make it a lot better if I ever have to do it again. Actually, if I had to do it again I might let standard block sizes dictate the step rise/run so I could use block, and then get the blue-stone cut to size.

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They turned out nice. A FB friend posted a pic of a deck her husband and son built for her. She was very proud of all the work they did and how much money she saved. The deck was horrible, no beams or diagonal bracing. But the stairs where the worse part. They bought them pre-cut and the distance from the top step to the deck was about 4 inches. She had three levels and nobody thought to make the height of the deck match the stair tread, or to cut the stairs to fit the deck height.

For this pool, I wanted 7 inch steps, but decided that with everything considered and what it would take to make happen, 8 inch steps should be fine. Especially if the are all exactly the same. I'm close to finishing the third row, but thunder storms are getting in the way.

This is Raiden in the picture. He's 110 pounds and a little on the short side. He makes height for showing, but only by 3/4 of an inch. We feel his growth was slowed down when he suffered from Tick Paralysis last year. He no longer shows because he is just OK when compared to the top dogs out there. His personality is the best, he is the definition of love, but not what we want as a foundation for our kennel.

 

[EddieWalker]

We've been having quite a bit of rain this week and my small pond is overflowing through my back yard. This water flows through ditches that I've dug to my big pond, so it's a good thing. Matsu loves the water and is enjoying it while it lasts!!!!

 

[EddieWalker]

This is Athena. She is a pure breed AKC Akita, but not show quality. She is super tall for a female, which is good, but her snout and ears are too long and pointed. She has too much of a resemblance to a German Shepard, which where breed with Akita's after WWII when the breed was though to be in danger of disappearing. Now the goal is to bring the breed back to what it was before the war, and that's a big part of what we are wanting to do when we breed.

 

[Thall303]

Super project and and beautiful dogs.

Glad I don't have to feed or pick up after them.

 

[mike69440]

Eddie.

What is with the pool, as you have a real pond(s) on your property?

I hope you will use the pool, besides the dogs.

My dog for whatever reason heads for our muddy swamp or tiny frog pond, vs. our small ponds. He drinks that crappy water too?
Maybe he just does not want to go in the pasture with the cows?

 

[clemsonfor]

It does my heart good to see pictures of you down in a pit laying block Eddie, since I am happy it's not me.

I had to make a small set of stairs for the patio I built, and ended up building a form and pouring concrete. I had a certain size blue-stone treads to work with, and a range of desired step/tread height, and it was going to take a lot of block cutting and fiddling to make it work with blocks. I quickly realized it would be faster to design and construct a form and pour it. That said, the form design wasn't easy, just because there were a lot of things to take into account (think about cutting stair stringers and then also compensate for mortar and stone height on steps, and scratch coat, mortar, and veneer thickness on the risers, and of course form size considerations too). It came out OK but I learned many things that would make it a lot better if I ever have to do it again. Actually, if I had to do it again I might let standard block sizes dictate the step rise/run so I could use block, and then get the blue-stone cut to size.

View attachment 518317 View attachment 518318

is there going to be a stone flat on the ground? that first step looks much taller

 

[clemsonfor]

We've been having quite a bit of rain this week and my small pond is overflowing through my back yard. This water flows through ditches that I've dug to my big pond, so it's a good thing. Matsu loves the water and is enjoying it while it lasts!!!!

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I see what I think is those harbor freight light up things. The butterfly, firefly etc