Training: Genesis Mini

Hello. This is Chuck from Advanced Waterfall Systems. And today, we're gonna talk about a technical installation of one of our [[product-genesis-waterfall-kits]]. This particular feature is one foot high and six foot wide, and it has the waterfall built into the base with a capstone on top. So the first thing we do is this is our display pool that we're installing this water feature on.

It's wintertime. You see ice. Our pool's closed down. We got a pump hooked up, but we're rocking and rolling. So this is our display pool.

So this particular feature, if this is a new pool, you would mark the beam of the pool and not put coping on, or you would build the feature and then put the coping to the to the feature. Okay. If it's a vinyl liner pool, you're gonna have to pour a foot. Okay. Now this particular feature, it's essentially a foot wide going all the way across, but the center base is 18 inches deep by 18 inches wide.

So you're gonna have to have a footing with a vinyl or fiberglass pool and, you're pouring you're setting it right on the beam, you're gonna have to have a footing that's a foot wide this way, and then it bumps out to around 18 inches, maybe two foot wide back, and then 18 inches wide. You'll see that's what the base structure is, and that's where you would have to pour a footing. If you're putting it on top of a deck, then you could build the structure right on top of the deck, and you wouldn't have to worry about that. Okay? But if it's on the beam, you wanna have a footing there.

Okay. Now, this is our display pool. So we have a a a collar, a 12 inch concrete collar, and then we put a we put some cinder blocks back that have a a concrete footing underneath for the footing. Okay. But every situation is different.

You just wanna pull your footing accordingly. Okay. We had the plumbing ran. Okay. You might wanna pre locate your plumbing because you're gonna see when this gets built, there's an open center that the plumbing will fit into, and that's how you're gonna make the connection.

So let's get ready to rock and roll. It is so here we are. When you buy one of your [[product-genesis-waterfall-kits]], this is kinda how it comes. Okay. Everything you need to build this feature is on the So you have all your paperwork, every system is purchased online, so you have a kit number of what you bought.

It has a photograph of what this looks like set up. All the numbers is all numbers, you know exactly where each piece goes. And it also has red marks, okay, which are alignment marks, so you know exactly how to line this thing up. Up. Everything is pre done.

It's dry fitted to work perfectly. There's a photograph here that explains it all along with an instruction guide. It is a step by step guide. We have instructional videos. It'll take you step by step through all of these installations.

So it comes with the paperwork. It also comes with all the plumbing and the fittings you need, the sheer descent waterfall, and all the rocks. Like I say, they're all numbered. Alright. So the guys are gonna get rolling.

Let's show you this build. So this particular Genesis waterfall kit, there's no pointing or mortar work done on the kit when it's delivered. So you can actually use any mortar mix you want because there's nothing specifically to match. You can use any mortar mix, color you want. Alright.

So we include a matching dye with our [[product-genesis-waterfall-kits]], okay, that you would mix in with your cement and sand, and there's actually a formula in the instruction guide that tells you exactly how much sand cement that we would suggest using to get the right color so that the dye matches, so that the cement and dye match. One of the first steps you wanna do is mix up your mud, okay, with the dye so that it's ready to go. One of the first things you're gonna do is set the base piece, which has to be cemented Alright. So our guys are gonna get ready to get started, and it is it is 12:13PM. One thing you wanna do when you when you set this, if you notice, they're not putting too much cement very close to the edge of the pool.

They're sitting the cement back a little bit. That's so when you put this base piece in, the cement when it squishes out, it doesn't get an excessive amount of, cement in the pool. Alright. Now you can always clean it off. If you get cement in the pool, can always brush it into the returns or vacuum it out, but this just makes for a cleaner install.

So you can see the first thing the first thing that the guys did is they set this base piece. They're gonna level it out, and this is the heaviest piece of the whole structure. It weighs about 200 pounds, but two guys can move it. We lifted it over top of the pipe, and you could actually just bring it in if the pipe is lower, cut the pipe down, and bring it in lower. Okay?

But everything else in this kit weighs less than that. Nothing weighs more than 200 pounds. So you can see the next step what the guys are doing, there's a this base, this waterfall base, you can see it's notched. We notched the rocks so this sheer descent waterfall, this waterfall sits flush with the top. So it's all notched out, it's very simple.

Everything fits perfect as you can see. Okay. It's designed to fit in there real nice. You have a little bit of adjustment on how you set it. You can go back or forward.

You have a little bit of discretion there. Otherwise, the next, they're gonna tie in the plumbing, and they're gonna glue in that sheer design. So this this kit comes with a tube of adhesive, of a of a waterproof adhesive that we put down here. Right? So that goes in there, then the sheer descent will sit right on top.

It comes with it along with the dye that I mentioned earlier. So you could see we glued everything in. It was pretty simple. There's a 90 off the back of the waterfall going into the plumbing with the reducer. It comes with an inch and a half to one inch reducer, and our plumbing line coming out of the ground was one inch.

So we had that with us. If you have different sized pipes besides inch or inch and a half, you might have to get the adapters, it does come with those. So now you glue it all in, hold it tight, and then the next step is the guys are going to, put the, the capstone on top. So as you can see, the next step is they put this cap on, and then they're gonna level it. They put the cement down, put the cap on, and they're gonna level it all the way around and do some pointing, and then set the side rocks next.

This whole thing's numbered. Right? So, you know, put the numbers next to each other and you can't make a mistake. There's also red alignment marks that show where they, align up. Okay?

And like we said, these [[product-genesis-waterfall-kits]], you know, no specialty skills, tools, or equipment. You got basic hand tools, trowels, a mallet, a sponge, and also a standard hand truck. You saw he moved the rock in with a hand truck. Just a standard hand truck you could buy at Home Depot is fine for this system. This entire thing all in weighs less than a thousand pounds for the whole thing.

So if you'll notice, the guys came over here and they brought the hand truck over, and then they kinda walked the rock to the edge of the pool kinda very gently. Okay? I would highly recommend doing that. Bring the rock over and sit it off the pool a couple feet, and then gently bring it to the edge. You just don't wanna bring it over with the hand truck and just kinda right on the edge of the pool.

If you lose control, the rock ends up in the pool, and that doesn't work good for anyone. So just take your time, walk the rocks to the edge, put the cement down, and then gently point everything so it comes out beautifully. Our guys were using a rubber mallet to kinda tap down the rocks, you know, sometimes level them out, level the top, give the rocks a little bit of love. So you always wanna use a rubber mallet. You don't wanna use a metal or steel sledgehammer because you'll damage the rocks.

Always try to use one of these babies when, adjusting the rocks. So you can see our guys are using two different kinds of trowels. Okay? These small triangular trowels right here to kind of do some pointing and fill the cement work on. You could also see he's using that real thin trowel, okay, which is great for pointing between the rocks.

Okay. When you use trowels, it gives it a nice clean kind of finish, and it tends to look better than sponging. Okay. Some people look spongy. Look.

Everybody's got a different way of doing things, but we use trowel to give the cleaner edge, and it also doesn't smear cement on the stone, which ends up giving it a much, nicer finished product. So you can see what our guys are doing on the backside the same way. They're they're filling in all the joints between the rocks with with cement, they're kind of pointing everything. And once they're done, everything will be finished on the backside and pointed. Now every project is different.

This might be built on top of the deck, which means there'll be a deck behind it. Some people might do, you know, you might do landscaping behind it, which case you would put plants and mulch and things on the backside to kinda soften it. Or you might install a patio on the backside. If you did, if it pavers, if it's concrete, pour right up to it, or maybe leave a little planning space on there to kind of soften it, and then do the patio on the backside. There's a lot of ways to do it, but it is finished on the backside.

So you could see it's finished with rock on the backside, so it has an attractive look to it. So you could see, we put a board across here because we don't wanna get in the water. Right? It's, cold, snow on the ground. So that tends to be what we do when it's really cold.

We don't wanna get wet. Right? But, obviously, during the season when it's warm, you can get in the water and do pointing, or you could go overhead and leave your head over like that and just do it. Like I said, there's always more than one way to do things, but I wanted to explain to you guys what we got going on here. We did a board.

So there you have it. We're done. Done pointing. The waterfall's running. We are it is 12:50PM.

So what is that? Thirty six minutes? Thirty six minutes, two guys, no equipment, from a pallet to a running waterfall.