Building your own Swimming Pool

**dirtydog** · 16-08-2005, 05:28 PM

Now swimming pools come in all shapes and sizes so first you have to decide on the shape you want, ie rectangular ones make great pools for actually swimming in for exercise, but do look a bit boring, also you need to decide how to pump the water into the pool so it overflows into the resevoir, maybe a water feature or maybe a jaccuzzi type thing.

Anyway the first thing you need is one of these.

Now this one costs 2,500baht per day, you will also probably need a 10 wheel truck to get rid of excess soil, now this digger was the one we used for the initial digging for this pool, we then had to get a beasty makro in to finish the job as this one didnt have the reach, yep we went down 3 and a half meters for this pool.

**MeMock** · 16-08-2005, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by dirtydog

we then had to get a beasty marko in to finish the job.

**dirtydog** · 16-08-2005, 05:37 PM

Anyway as the digging started with this one we found that we had a problem with the water table being too high, ie 40 cms or so beneath the soil level, after a few days of flooding out the whole street when we pumped out every morning we decided to goto the extra cost of hiring a big water lorry to pump into, when the lorry was dumping the water we would then just pump onto the street, but at least this time we didn't flood anybodies house, hell it only cost a couple of bottles of whiskey to keep the guy whose house we flooded happy.

**dirtydog** · 16-08-2005, 05:53 PM

Rushing forward onto the resevoir, when you pump into your swimming pool you need somewhere for the excess water to go, this really should be about a third of the size of the pool but generally isn't.

The resevoir is the bit that you need to keep filled up, this is because you pump from here into your pool and flood your pool and that flows back to the resevoir, every day you need to turn over the water to stop it stagnating or getting dirty.

**dirtydog** · 16-08-2005, 05:57 PM

Now you see all those concrete rings above? Please pay attention you there at the back, now these rings we used to do the forms for the footings, yep half a dozen of them piled up on each other and each pile spaced about a meter and a half away from each other, yep just chuck a load of rebar in there and fill erm up with concrete.

**dirtydog** · 16-08-2005, 06:46 PM

But how are you going to get in and out of the pool you ask yourself, steps take up a lot of the room in the pool so most people go for stainless type ladder things, that's alright for us young un's but what about the old gits?

**Jai Dee** · 17-08-2005, 08:34 AM

Great stuff dirtydog.
I'm about to build a pool myself, so to see your information here is informative and helpful.
Cheers mate.

**dirtydog** · 18-08-2005, 05:22 PM

No problem Jai Dee

Now as we can all see in the above picture we used oiled 16mm rebar but a double layer, we used blocks to make the form and done a days pour to fill it all up, sometimes accidents do happen as with this one when part of the wall collapsed due to the power of the vibrator, this we shored up in double quick time with 10mm plywood and loads of wooden beams to reinforce it, we had also put in our plastic pipes so that at a later date we could run electric cables for the underwater lights, anyway here's a nice picture of the now tiled resevoir.

**dirtydog** · 18-08-2005, 05:27 PM

Of course with any swimming pool you do need an outdoor showering area, whether your pool is salt water or fresh water, here's one I made earlier.

**dirtydog** · 18-08-2005, 05:39 PM

Of course what we need to know now is what are you going to line your swimming pool with?

Now most swimming pools have curves and slopes, so it's not a good idea to go over any size above 10cms, whether it be tile or something else.

On this one I took the customer round all the shops and all we saw were crappy tiles that cost nearly 200baht per square meter, So I suggested we use marble

, this marble costs 100baht per square meter, ok I admit that it is problematic in that it is pourous, but a couple of thousand years ago the Romans were using it and it lasted ok, these were 10cm by 20cm slabs, now marble is extremely hard to cement to walls as the back is not rough enough and it really isn't pourous enough to get a good bond, this I shall go into at a later date on the marble and granite thread.

**dirtydog** · 18-08-2005, 05:52 PM

This idea I didn't like to much as the surround for the pool is granite which is extremely slippery when wet, but hell it sure does look good, as you can see this is an overflow type pool, and that poxy plastic grating is damn expensive, 800 odd baht per meter length.

**dirtydog** · 18-08-2005, 06:15 PM

And here it is in it's finished glory

In this picture you can see two lights, we actually fitted 7 12volt halogens, if I had realised how expensive they were I would have recommended less, cos at 5,000baht per light that works out to a bit of money.

**dirtydog** · 22-08-2005, 05:55 PM

This pool is a friend of mines, next month we shall be fitting a jacuzzi next to it on the right hand side, the jaccuzzi will be made at ground level and will overflow into the swimming pool, should be quite a nice feature.

**machangezi** · 24-08-2005, 05:15 PM

You must be fooking rich, dog mate. I might have something alike next 10 years.

**Jai Dee** · 03-09-2005, 07:21 AM

Damn... I wish I knew about TeakDoor earlier... I would have asked DD to give me a quote on my pool... unfortunately I'm commited now to another company.

Hey DD, what do you think about Pattaya Home & Pool company?

**dirtydog** · 03-09-2005, 11:27 AM

There very good jai dee

**dirtydog** · 06-10-2005, 03:40 AM

Nice pool.

**davethailand** · 12-10-2005, 02:20 PM

so how much for a small pool or a jacuzzi in the garden?
I have plumbing into the garden already, there must have been a jacuzzi there before, I have hot and cold water feeds and the pump piping which goes into the outhouse.

**dirtydog** · 12-10-2005, 03:20 PM

12,000baht per sq meter.

**dirtydog** · 17-10-2005, 04:32 PM

some more nice swimming pools.

**dirtydog** · 17-10-2005, 04:33 PM

The steps into the above swimming pool.

**dirtydog** · 17-10-2005, 04:34 PM

This one is quite a nice one, I must admit I spent a few hours today wandering round differant places

**dirtydog** · 17-10-2005, 04:35 PM

Nice plant feature with this one.

**dirtydog** · 17-10-2005, 04:36 PM

This one here is just being finished, but I have to admit I don't particulary like it.

**dirtydog** · 17-10-2005, 04:37 PM

Here is the aboves swimming pool water feature.

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