Pools-build Your Own

[frikkiedeboer]

decided to post this after reading about guys paying too much for their pools. following excerpt from correspondence with khunandy- hope i can help some of you guys out there:

Thanks for all that mate, very informative and helpful.

You have confirmed a lot of my thoughts regarding, pre-mix against site mix concrete and a beefy perimeter foorting. The only real concern I have at the moment is the question of whether to consider the pile driving into the substrate underneath the shell. I can see the benifits becuase of the seasonal changes in the soil but I just cant, at this stage imagine why. I mean, would the pool sink? Or is it because any slight movement cause cracks.

The depth of my pool is uniform throughout therefore equal weight , would this lessen the risk of movement?

I thought that with the ring footing and also some cross bearer footings underneath the floor of the pool would be enough to consolidate the structure.

Two questions. I have seen plenty of photos of the floor steel rebar being the pre made mesh with some thick rebar added. Is the premade mesh a no-no?

Also, I have heard of the fibreglass finish in Queensland , Aussie but not here, are there any advantages in comparrison to tiles.

I am asking because I agree that the Thais are good at stucco finish and I also believe that they know their tiling, I would feel confident in their workmanship in these two jobs.

I have a C-Pac plant not too far away so I will make enquiries about the 30mpa waterproof mix. What does mpa stand for?

My design is very simple, maybe I could send you some rough sketches for your opinion.

Khun Andy

There must be someone out there who has had a pool built recently in the area who can offer some advice or leads.

I may have to go down the owner/builder track but havent had any experience and the DIY sites seem to only explain the American way of construction with the spray crete.

Any info gratefully recieved or even some working plans, drawings, DIY experience, perhaps some home drawn guide by an owner builder or someone with time on their hands to put together a step by step guide for us guys in remote locations.

I know there would be a demand for working drawings in English using Thai construction methods as there appears to be a lot of potential DIY type of people enquiring about pool construction.

I am just thinking about a basic 8m x 4m rectangular job.

Also, my wife did get a quote from a guy recently who wanted to drive 30 odd piles in the ground first, is this standard practice? The ground has been built up but after excavation the bottom of the pool would be on original surface. It seems excessive to someone who knows nothing about it. Me!

Thanks in advance

Khun Andy

hi, i have been building fishponds and swimming pools in south africa for many years now. if you fly into johannesburg and look out of the window you will see that just about every home has a pool. do check that you will have access to chlorine to keep your pool clean and kill bacteria, then build it yourself- it is easy!!! but hard work.

obviously you will have to build in the dry season. from my experience the soil conditions in isaan are unstable and i suggest a steel-reinforced concrete shell with a fibreglass liner. while the thais do seem to know about steel reinforcing,they tend to use too much steel and too little concrete-perhaps because they mix their concrete with too much water and compromise its strength. do not use the local idiots,but order a 30mpa waterproof mix from one of the readymix companies. if you calculate the cost it will surprise you to know that the savings on labour and frustration will result in the job getting done faster, and at almost the same price,with the added benefit of peace-of mind at knowing that the concrete was the correct strength. it is very important to lay an 8" thick ringbeam of not less than 40cm wide around the perimiter.dig the hole to the required shape and use the "leksen" reinforcing steel they use in their silly house foundations,creating a lattice of 6" squares. use something thicker for the ringbeam. incorporate a weir and a pool light into the design an do not forget to lay your filter pipes at the same time. i assume this is all available in thailand-contact me if not. have a team of go-fers ready when the concrete arrives,with wheelbarrows. let them pour the concrete bit by bit and get the guys to use farang-type spades to throw the concrete at the sidewalls. the yellow thai shovel stuff is not striong enough for this and nor are most thai males so use women!bottom goes last- you will find that this mostly happens by itself due to concrete falling down or slumping ..do not work it at this stage as it will slump down. get it to about 4"thick and cast the ringbeam at about the same time.roughly shape it out. next day get the thais to plaster the sidewalls smooth- this is one thing they do do correctlly.

at this stage you could go for an epoxy paint to finish it off,but i would highly recomend a fibreglass liner. very easy to do yourself but messy as hel_l. source a 300gram mat cloth. calculate roughly how much you will need. order resin at about 1:1 matting weight to resin, with appropriate hardener. use a lambswool roller to first apply resin to the cement.glue down the matting to this,then roll in the resin until the stuff is fully soaked through the matting. cheapest resins and matting come from korea so start there when you look for it. cover the total area,overlapping sheets of matting by approx4".YOU MUST WORK FAST AND DO NOT MIX TOO MUCH RESIN AT A TIME COZ IT WILL SET WHILE YOU ARE ROLLING IT IN! oh,order a lot of acetone to get the shit out of your hair,eyes,nose,etc.

let this lot set overnight and then sand it roughly, before rolling in a flowcote to smoothe it all out. i suggest using a coloured resin and a clear flowcoat as you can then incorporate a printed mosaic pattern around the rim. white pools will turn blue once filled and ph is correct. black pools show less algae and remain a couple of degrees warmer . let me know if i can help u source sandfilters or design you a diy one or any drawings (will be rough). one thing you will find indespensable is an automatic pool cleaner,which works off the pump suction. you can paint your pool if you do not want the hassle of fibreglassing,but you may have difficulty sourcing the right paint. could also experiment with that white stuff they make the marble-lookalike floor stuff but i havent tried it out. your pool should not cost you much if you follow this route- your local hardware will be able to get you the readymix concrete. dont get a crap job done by a local "expert" - your only guarantee is a diy job. just look around before you trust a local "expert" how many pools are there really in thailand? the spraycrete thing went out of fashion in south africa years ago due to cracking problems,as did marblite and various other methods. please post this on the relevant forum as i will be pleased to help anybody in this regard free of charge. have seen some of the quotes some guys got for work that would definitely be substandard and they mostly come in at about ten times what they should be!! get it right and start a pool company-you will make a fortune

frikkiedeboer,

Thanks for all that mate, very informative and helpful.

You have confirmed a lot of my thoughts regarding, pre-mix against site mix concrete and a beefy perimeter foorting. The only real concern I have at the moment is the question of whether to consider the pile driving into the substrate underneath the shell. I can see the benifits becuase of the seasonal changes in the soil but I just cant, at this stage imagine why. I mean, would the pool sink? Or is it because any slight movement cause cracks.

The depth of my pool is uniform throughout therefore equal weight , would this lessen the risk of movement?

I thought that with the ring footing and also some cross bearer footings underneath the floor of the pool would be enough to consolidate the structure.

Two questions. I have seen plenty of photos of the floor steel rebar being the pre made mesh with some thick rebar added. Is the premade mesh a no-no?

Also, I have heard of the fibreglass finish in Queensland , Aussie but not here, are there any advantages in comparrison to tiles.

I am asking because I agree that the Thais are good at stucco finish and I also believe that they know their tiling, I would feel confident in their workmanship in these two jobs.

I have a C-Pac plant not too far away so I will make enquiries about the 30mpa waterproof mix. What does mpa stand for?

My design is very simple, maybe I could send you some rough sketches for your opinion.

Khun Andy

30mpa is the strength rating of the concrete and cpac will understand it and supply correctly. no need whatsoever for pilings. a 30mpa pool will not crack if reinforced correctly. the preformed weldmesh can be used but you are better off with the "leksen" especially if you are not going for a square pool. if you are going to use an automatic pool cleaner, you do not want sharp corners,rather quite a large radius,or the thing will continually get stuck,and will have difficulty climbing the walls.-this makes for difficult tiling for one! nobody in south africa has tiled a pool in the last thirty years, because pools are expected to last forever here, and if i look at thai tiling jobs in houses,even though they look good,method of application is totally wrong- they do not even know the principles involved and most jobs i have seen will not last for more than 5 years or so.do not use a local "expert"-maybe the pool companies do it differently,but then you are in for the 200k+thing again- a ridiculous price considering price of materials and labour in thailand i would highly recommend the use of a fibreglass liner-if correctly done it has huge advantages over tiling, will cost you less in chemicals and you will not have the black algae sticking in the grout. have seen sucessfully built pools here using only a cemented out hole for the shape, no concrete or reinforcing -uses a big ringbeam and then fibreglassed. same as vinyl, it can take some movement.

one thing to remember: NEVER EMPTY YOUR POOL IN THE RAINY SEASON! if your soil contains enough clay, you will end up with a pool lifting out of the ground-floating like a boat. if you were lucky and built with reinforced concrete you might get it back in the ground,but be warned!!

[Chaichara]

one thing to remember: NEVER EMPTY YOUR POOL IN THE RAINY SEASON! if your soil contains enough clay, you will end up with a pool lifting out of the ground-floating like a boat. if you were lucky and built with reinforced concrete you might get it back in the ground,but be warned!!

I would avise approaching statements like the above with a bit of caution, as every pool builder knows about the hydrostatic valves that are built in to most modern maindrain units (which only cost around 1,500 baht complete.) and installs them as a matter of course.

I found this short, sweet and funny article which completely clears up any misunderstandings about pool construction and technology once and for all and in a language everyone can understand. It has all the links you need too. Top marks for its author:

ALL You Need To Know About Your First Pool

[frikkiedeboer]

one thing to remember: NEVER EMPTY YOUR POOL IN THE RAINY SEASON! if your soil contains enough clay, you will end up with a pool lifting out of the ground-floating like a boat. if you were lucky and built with reinforced concrete you might get it back in the ground,but be warned!!

I would avise approaching statements like the above with a bit of caution, as every pool builder knows about the hydrostatic valves that are built in to most modern maindrain units (which only cost around 1,500 baht complete.) and installs them as a matter of course.

I found this short, sweet and funny article which completely clears up any misunderstandings about pool construction and technology once and for all and in a language everyone can understand. It has all the links you need too. Top marks for its author:

ALL You Need To Know About Your First Pool

read the link you provided and am somewhat confused as to the reaction to my posting...

we seem to agree on everything except the use of tiles for the finish. i will agree to disagree with you on that one, but perhaps with the limited number of pools in the uk due to the reasons you mentioned, it would be wise to check up on the south african situation, where pools are installed almost as a matter of course.

do yourself a google earth search if you think this is bull-check out johannesburg-if you can see enough detail,try find a tiled pool still holding water.hydrostatic valves are a good idea, and if they are really that cheap to install, -what the hel_l -go for it,but i have never heard of one used out here. was advised to use one by my civil engineer brother,- noticed he never used one himself when he built his own pool. pile foundations are an unnecessary waste of time and money. please note that i am not building pools in thailand and my only motivation in making this posting was to help my fellow farang to make up their minds about local contractors and to try the diy route to save themselves a huge amount of money and end up with a product they would be able to enjoy and trust for years. if any part of my posting contained misinformation, or was a product of ignorance, i would advise you to refer to the link you posted yourself,and see if there was any signifigant contradiction.