Akita Pool

[Budweiser John]

Regarding your previous question about using two 90 degree Ells in the exhaust system.
Each 90 degree change in direction will add the equlivent of about 14’ of straight pipe. Your fan supplier should publish the maximum footage of exhaust pipe allowed. In your application, what ever straight pipe is required plus 28’ will equal the total footage which may or may not fall within the manufacturers specks.

B. John

 

[EddieWalker]

I started doing the tile on the back wall of the pool today. It's slow going, but. I think it will be worth the effort.

 

[dragoneggs]

How are you cutting the tile for the Akita... nibbing?

 

[EddieWalker]

Holding the tile up to the edges of the blade on my tile saw and kind of grinding it away until it fits perfectly to the drawing.

 

[dragoneggs]

Liking it so far... no surprise though. When you fill in the mosaic, will you take a hammer to colorful tiles to get your pieces?

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks. Because this will be under water, I'm having to use pool tile, which is more dense then regular tile. There isn't a lot of options out there for color in pool tile, so I'm going to buy the 12 inch sheets of cut stones in the colors I want. Basically, black, white and grey, to get the colors of my dogs. Then cut each one into the shape that I want it.

 

[EddieWalker]

I had hoped to get a lot more done today, but the rain arrived much earlier then predicted!!!

 

[Bird]

And the spectators in the chairs in the background appear interesting.

 

[EddieWalker]

The outline of the Akita is done. I still have to tile all the other walls, but there isn't a big rush for that. I'm really wanting to get started on the rock for the Akita!!!!

This is Kami in the picture. This past June, she was the number 2 female Akita in the nation and 11 overall. Then she blew her coat and went into heat, so she's dropped down to the number 3 female and number 14 overall. She's ready to go back out and show, so we'll see how she finishes off the year. Our boy puppy is 19 months old, and just won best of breed the last three days in a row.

 

[KubotainNH]

I like the blue, it should look great with water in it. Looking forward to seeing the Akita silhouette completed.

 

[dragoneggs]

I like the blue, it should look great with water in it. Looking forward to seeing the Akita silhouette completed.

Me too. Always enjoy following Eddie's projects!

 

[bindian]

Eddie,
Words can't express your work. Outstanding as usual.
hugs, Brandi

 

[PHPaul]

Love the pool! I'd love to have the money/skills to do something like that.

Huge Akita fan here. My daughter and I have a pair of pet-quality Akitas. The white male is hers (will be neutered at 1 year of age per agreement with breeder) and the black/silver female is "mine". My wife is allergic so they live with my daughter come down once a week or so to run in my fences 3 acres.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the picture. It's always fun to see other peoples Keeters!!!! We have a friend named Ilka that's here in TX who breeds and shows pure white Akita's. She's also a vet and rather famous for them. Any chance that your white one is from her kennnel?

 

[PHPaul]

They're from a local outfit here in Maine, Ootjhov's Akitas. They're on Facebook.

Kind of a fun story about them. Daughter has groomed for them off and on for quite a while. When she got her new house out in the woods built, she decided she wanted an Akita puppy. The breeder picked out the white male for her and when the pup got to be about 4 weeks old, she started dropping by once a week to start socializing the pup.

One week, she invited me to come along, knowing how much I love dogs in general and Akitas in particular. The breeder met us out in the drive and, not knowing if I knew anything about dogs, gave me some instructions on meeting strange dogs. Usual stuff, let them come to you, etc.

I walked in the door (the dogs have the run of the house) and a BIG male came right up to me, put his island-sized paws on my shoulders and started licking my face. Breeder was a bit taken aback, says "He's usually pretty stand-offish with strangers."

The black and silver female was 8 months old at the time and hadn't been placed. She was laying on the floor looking at me and I squatted down to let her check me out. Next thing I know, she's crawling up in my lap. Breeder was dumbfounded. "She NEVER lets strangers touch her!"

I knew I was in trouble right then and there. Breeder said she laid by the door waiting for me to come back (dunno if that's truth or salesmanship...) Daughter and I talked it over, we went back the next day and brought her home. I paid for her and give my daughter a monthly "child support" check to cover food and vet bills. She's been spayed.

Even my wife likes her, just can't be around her for more than a few minutes at a time.

 

[EddieWalker]

That's a great story. I've always heard that it's best to let the dog pick you!!!!

I checked out their FB page. Nice that they are working towards breeding dogs for temperament.

 

[EddieWalker]

My original plan of using rock to create the Akita ran into a problem when I found out that the only really bright white stone out there is marble. The problem with marble is that it deteriorates over time when under water. Then the only super black stone that I could find wasn't cut. It was full sized, rounded, rocks. I thought about going with rocks, but really wanted a flat finish. I spoke to my tile supplier at The Tile Shop here in Tyler, and he suggested a porcelain tile that was dense enough for using in a pool. Most tile isn't very dense, so it's not a good choice for pools. Regular pool tile doesn't come in the solid colors that I wanted for the Akita, so my options became very limited.

The tile came on 1ft by 2ft sheets, and each tile is 2 inches square. I cut them out and then broke each tile into four or more pieces with a hammer. Then I used a putty knife to apply the thinset and install each piece into the pattern that I felt was the most appealing. The thinset is Ardex X77

Just like doing a floor or shower, the grout lines are a huge factor in laying out the pattern. This was one of my biggest concerns when applying the tile. I wanted to make sure that the legs where distinct from each other, and that they patterns where clean.

Karen took this picture of me Saturday morning.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sunday I finished off the mosaic. The biggest challenge was in making the black, go from super dark black, to kind of faded, silvery black. My solution was to spread the tile out farther apart to create the lighter coloring of their coats. More grout between the tile should make it look a lot lighter. When I'm done with all the tile, I plan on using a dark grey for grout, so that should work out pretty good.

 

[Bird]

You have some amazing talents, Eddie.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you