The Denouement

The county inspector rolls down the drive somewhere around 8:30 on Saturday morning. He meets Paul from Bankstarr construction. The inspector looks around. The men exchange a few words. The inspector knows that Paul had asked for a pre-inspection inspection two weeks earlier. Paul easily addressed the issues that came up at that time. Everything else seems to be in order so..... 

The pool is officially open!

I celebrated with a dive off the board. Jim Preston, who has worked longer and harder than anybody on this project, had a stunned look of bliss on his face. Larry Fischel, who has also done work far above and beyond the call, probably went back to bed (he'd only had a few hours sleep the night before). Jeff Luker, who had lent his tremendous architectural talents to the project, shook hands all around. And we all wandered around with silly grins.

We did it.

These volunteers, and many more, will be suitably celebrated this season. But for now, we know that the permit is not the end.

We need to get the heater working. Georgetown Aquatics can't tackle that this weekend (they need plumbers and electricians), but they will get to it early next week. In the meantime, the pool is not for the faint of heart.

We need to finish the outdoor wiring. At the moment, the pool can't be open past dark because the lights aren't working, either in the pool or around the deck. That should be an easy one.

We need to get permission open the deck that runs above the pool house. Montgomery County won't let us do that yet because they aren't happy that the exit ramp leads to the lawn. They were expecting something more elaborate. 

We need to fix our gates. If the building catches on fire, it's easy to move away to safety. But the fire marshal says getting far away isn't good enough. We need to have some hardware that lets us pass through the gates in our fences without a key. Of course, that means people can fairly easily come in through our gates without a key, but that's not the fire marshal's problem.

So, there is no rest for the weary. But there is joy. And those of us still on our feet had a great day at Daleview, even as we noodled around to resolve the hundred little issues that were too picayune to bother the inspectors.

See you at the pool!

The Countdown Continues

Well, we didn't get our gas line installed today (Wednesday), though they say it will happen Thursday.

We do have progress on the new fence. The posts are in -- and the chain-link should follow on Thursday.

We do have a working phone line and internet connection.

We do have all the bathhouse partitions installed. Water is running in the facilities. Wiring is being strung. Shower curtains are on the way.

Inspections are now set for Friday. That means there's essentially no margin for error. Perfection would be lovely, but it's not a reasonable expectation for a project as large and as involved as this one. So we will hope for the best.

Preparations aren't simply confined to the pool house.  We're excited that Ethan Hutton will be our manager this year. He's meeting Thursday with our lifeguard crew, and we've talked about setting a welcoming tone for the pool this year. The guards, of course, are responsible for enforcing the rules that keep everyone safe at the pool. And we all need to help the guards do their jobs, and to be mindful of the rules. With courtesy on both sides of this equation, Daleview should be a place to relax and enjoy the summer.

Whether the pool is swimmable or not, all members are welcome at Daleview this weekend. We're planning a barbecue on Sunday and other activities throughout the weekend. We have a lot to celebrate! Watch for an email with the details.

Progress at the Pool

Things are moving along fairly well.

Washington Gas showed up first thing Monday morning (after giving us the runaround last week). Our constrcution crew is now digging a trench for the new gas line, which is supposed to be installed and hooked up on Wednesday.

The pools are full of limpid blue water.

The walkways to the building are now concrete instead of mud and gravel. The wayward bathroom partitions showed up Monday, so our contractors can install those. And most of the plumbing fixtures are hooked up.

Still no sign of the fence contractor we hired back in April. We hope we can pass inspection with the old fences.

The electricians are still wiring the place. They're also waiting on a special-order part that may not show up until quite late in the week. As a result, the contractor is now planning to call for his final inspection on Friday.

So talk about a cliffhanger!

A Race to the Finish

Daleview members turned out in record numbers this weekend to prepare the pool for opening. They painted tables, mended fences, hacked away at kudzu, power-washed just about everything in sight, moved chairs, gussied up the woods, moved refrigerators, installed shelves, swept, raked, washed out refrigerators, trimmed hedges, whacked weeds, wrestled cinderblocks, pulled weeds, mended the lawn, hung signs.... well, the list goes on.

What a delightful and generous community. For the first time in a long time, we seemed to remember that Daleview is a co-op -- 300-plus member-families, who are co-owners as well as part of an extended family that has audacious summer-long reunions.

So what now? Well, our fate currently is in the hands of a single entity. Washington Gas said they would come to install our gas line on Friday. A worker showed up with a meter, but he was utterly unprepared to connect it to the line that had been dug up for construction. Again on Saturday Washington Gas was supposed to send a crew. It didn't. No gas means no hot water. No hot water means no working showers. No working showers means no permit to open the pool. (Anybody have a friend at Washington Gas?)

Our contractor still has his work cut out for him. Sunday, he watched as plumbers sliced into the cinderblock walls to move some pipes so they'd actually reach the plumbing fixtures. We're still waiting on some of the bathroom partitions.. And the electrician is still pulling wires. Verizon is supposed to show up Tuesday (let's hope they're better prepared than Washington Gas to do their job!).

Whew!

The pools are clean and filling rapidly with water. Our new building is beautiful. Our grounds haven't looked this good in ages. When we aren't biting our nails, we are marveling at Daleview's transformation.

So, will we open next Saturday? We don't know. But I remain hopeful. And I'll keep you posted.

Counting The Days

Thanks to all the volunteers who showed up on Saturday. We've made excellent progress in improving our unsightly fence-line. The grounds are getting gussied up. And other volunteers emptied out the shed, which needs to be moved temporarily in order for us to meet county requirements for storm-water management. The building itself is looking lovely, thanks to some very precise painters who were working Saturday. 

There are no major jobs left to be done, but many, many smaller ones for our contractor to complete. We are also at the mercy of county inspectors, utility schedulers and Lady Luck. We have 20 days to go!

Next weekend we'll be back at the pool starting at 9 a.m. Please stop by with your gloves and an hour or so to spare.

Thanks!