Problem with pool base

[londoneye]

Hi all

We are at our wits end I will be honest.   We have a waterair kit pool, and have just had a nightmare from day one, due to the weather.   The swimming pool hole which was dug has been flooded so many times I can't count, the sides and banks caved in; can't even count the number of times we have had to pump it out and try to get out earth which has gone in.   We finally thought we were getting somewhere when we managed to get the base laid; thereafter followed weeks more of torrential rain (we are in Haute Vienne).    Now the base looks a mess, it has hairline cracks (a couple) and also seems to be a little pitted, and it really was lovely and smooth when finished.

We are utterly depressed about the whole thing, and OH cannot even bring himself to look at it now, yet alone contemplate further work at moment.    Problem is I can't help either because I haven't got a clue.   

I really hope poolguy reads this one - but if not, does anyone know of anything we can do at this point to restore the situation; is there anything we can put on top which might help ?

I feel like I know what the answers are going to be, but I guess I am asking in desperation rather than in hope that anyone will have a magic formula. 

 

[Bugsy]

The base I laid suffered with similar problems. I bought a large amount of the nylon carpety stuff you get from pool suppliers and laid that under the liner. Its now been full of water for four years and no problems, to date. I've heard of others covering the whole base with a layer of sand, impacted down with water and a roller, but I haven't tried it myself.

Poolguy is the expert on this subject and will be along shortly.

[londoneye]

Bugbear, many thanks for answering - I felt better (rather unkindly!) just knowing that someone else has had the same problem; makes you feel quite isolated when you don't really know what you are doing!  Oh, and its raining again ......  almost time for  drink I think.

[Mrh74]

I haven't got the same type of pool, I installed a Christal Pool earlier this year, it has a screed base, which is what I assume you have too? Anyway their instrctions on the base once it was laid was to lay a thin layer of very runney finishing plaster (consistency of thin custard) over the top to "seal" the base, mainly to prevent the sharpe properties of French sand working their way through to the liner, but it also gives a very smooth surface and fills any imperfections there might be. Christal also have similar felt between the screed floor and the liner which Bugbear mentioned.

If you do this I'd suggest using a squeegee to smooth it over when applying the plaster, I tried a brush and this left ridges which meant we had to do it all over again!

Cheers
Mark

[londoneye]

Thanks Mark.  That sounds interesting.    To be honest I think we are more worried about the structural properties of the pool and whether the hairline cracks will explode the whole lot when we put the liner in (we are getting prone to melodrama now as you can see!)

However, a second consideration was how to smooth bottom (assuming it was structurally sound, if you know what I mean) so that sounds interesting.

Did it have a particular name, the finishing plaster ?   or was it a particular type ?   We don't seems to be at the finishing stage for anything right now, so I don't think we have bought anything like that yet.

 

[Mrh74]

The product is called "Platre Fin" I think, it's simply wall skim plaster. We just mixed it by hand to make sure all the lumps were broken down, as I said to the consistency of thin custard and poured it on and squeegee'd it around and float finished it in some areas. I hope you are able to crack on with the pool soon, it is very rewarding to be able to take a dip, knowing it's your own work, we eventually got to that stage at the end of the last trip. I'm back to ours in mid July to lay the margelles and slabs and then hopfully in early August we will be in it every day!

Mark

[Poolguy]

Londoneye

You didn't say how big your pool is and how deep or what the structure is.

I too am building a Pool in these awful condition in Deux Sevre (79) its 'orrible.

What is important is that your base is smooth as any protrusions even small ones will perforate a standard liner.

Normally you would put at least one layer of Morquette (synthetic felt)

under the liner but there is nothng to stop you from putting 2 layers

or even a thicker mousse which will protect it. Now its important to

understand the forces involved. If your pool is 1 meter deep then that

base will be bearing 1 metric tonne per squre meter (nothing much). If

it is 2 meters deep then it will be bearing 2 metric tonnes per sq

meter (not much more). If you've made concrete for the base with reo

steel then you can be sure that its really no problem even if there are

some cracks but that also depends on the integrity of the ground(lets

hope that its solid). If your worried about then then make a sand

screed at 1/2 bag of cement to say 14 shovels or sand and if you really

want 'belt and braces' thrown in a half bag of fibregalss chop strand

an lay down a 50mm screed over the top. You'll have to rub this hard to

get a good finishing skin though as this stuff is very soft by itself..

I hope that this will motivate you to go forth, but if you need any other specific advice or help then contact me

Andrew

[londoneye]

Thanks Poolguy and everyone else.   I think I have just got to the stage of 'past caring'   Meant to be having the liner fitted friday and its pouring again.   We have tried to cover it now, but i am shortly going to treat myself to my third change into dry clothing, because now i am outside with a frying pan on a big stick trying to hoist the water out of the sinking covers.   Still, at least it's made the neighbours come out of their houses to watch.   I gave up on the plastic ice cream container because it kept slipping off the stick !!!

We have 'patch repaired' and are going to go for it, assuming we can keep it dry and it stops raining again.    However,  i think that probably won't happen.  I think we have resigned olurselves to the fact that it will just look cra* because we just can't face it anymore.   Sounds so dramatic, after all, its only a pool - but this has been going on since April now, and we are so sick of it.    Anyway, must stop moaning, as I don't want to put anyone else off, I think we have just got very very unlucky.   If we have to cancel because it doesn't actually stop raining, then we will definitely try the two layers on bottom, but right now there will barely be enough time to stick down one layer, yet alone two.

The pool is 8.8 x 4.14 and only 1.2 metres deep and we laid a 5cm screed as decreed by the pool instructions.   I think the ground is fairly solid, don't think that area has been touched for donkeys years; drainage is poor, but then again it would be anywhere in this weather I guess.   OMG I've just looked outside and its raining even harder now - bet all our covers have collapsed now.

Hope I haven't depressed anyone who is thinking of a pool.   Yours will probably go without a hitch.

 

[Chas]

Good luck with your liner fitting.  Because of the canicule in 2003 we were not allowed to fill our pool having finished the construction and had to wait until spring 2004 to fit the liner. It all went well in the end though and we thought that paying the extra for the Waterair technician to do the job was money well spent. He did it while I would still have been thinking about it.  While you are waiting to progress you might like to look at other peoples efforts.

http://www.montage-piscine-waterair.fr/etapes/etapemontage.htm

[londoneye]

Thanks Chas.   Wish I had known where to find these pictures before as I think we might have worried a lot less.   

Anyway, liner has not been fitted.   Liner-man (as opposed to superman) came today and declared that it was too wet, as WaterAir won't allow him to walk on a wet liner in case he slips and injures himself.    Hmmmmmmmm - can't wait to see him fly above it when the weather is deemed suitable for fitting, because I thought the idea was that water went into the liner at some point, and naively I had assumed this water would be as slippery as any rain water.     Silly me!!    So, its all covered up now and sitting there looking sorry for itself.   BUT, the good news is that he strolled over to it, peered at it closely and said 'oh its very good'!   No I said, its cra*!    No really its not he said, you should see some of the sights I see !!   So I feel much better, albeit situation has not improved much, well we have the isoplan on (vaguely, although it looks like it might slide off at any point), and we have stuck down (ish) the base mat.   

Now just need everyone to do a little 'sun-dance' for me for Monday .................

Thanks again everyone for suggestions and help, and if I can ever give anyone the benefit of our very steep learning curve on this one, then I would be more than happy to share the horrors so that someone else might just avoid some of them.