How to assemble an above ground swimming pool in France
After we took out the giant palm tree and gave away our metal shed, by hand we took out the remainder of the unwanted shrubbery. Once the area was cleared it was time to start the hole.
First you dig the hole with a bobcat, making way for the concrete pad the pool must sit on. You have to imagine 15,000-30,000 litres of water will be sitting on this pad, and it has to be level. To make the concrete pour as perfect as possible, the wet concrete has to be leveled with a screed. Then you wait for it to set, which in our case took 1 week.
Rent a concrete sander and sand the surface smooth to ensure the liner won’t rip under the weight of the water. They put down heavy linoleum for extra protection against the elements.
Next you assemble the frame and screw down the anchors of the structure. Then you place the treated cedar panels along the sides creating the pool walls. They all needed to be screwed in place, a tedious job, which Angelina volunteered for.
The liner was then placed into the plastic clasps and hooked to stop the edges from falling out. A fine design, without many flaws, Alfonz picked a solid pool for our family.
After that, Mallory came by to celebrate our pool’s success and we watched as the first lot of water goes in. The men had to smooth out the liner with their feet, getting out any folds and air bubbles under the water’s liner. We couldn’t keep the kids out, so we gave them the task of helping out.
Next, we fill in the rest of the pool with water and cut out the wholes for the filtration system.
Unfortunately once the water was about one foot deep we noticed, what we thought was a stone under the liner. So Alfonz drained the pool, pulled back the liner, and discovered the cement wasn’t smooth enough after all. So he peeled it all back, did a scuff concrete layer over the entire concrete pad to fill in the spaces, and leveled the hole by hand. In the sun, the mixture dried quickly and they lost only a 1/2 day of work in the process.
Once that dried, the linoleum went back down.
They filled with water and smoothed out the surface using their feet again under the water’s weight. Once that was finished they filled the pool to where the cuts will go for the holes for the filtration system and jet.
Lastly, Alfonz placed and screwed down the edge, creating a seating area around the circumference of the pool. The final look of the swimming pool was pretty sharp.
Around the pool we (which really means Alfonz and Adrian) will backfill around the pool with the left over soil from the dig to cover the stainless feet of the above ground swimming pool. It will be leveled and eventually surfaced with tile or decking. The men were talking about staining the pool to match the fence in a dark brown stain.
One thing that worked out in our favour was filling the pool with our well water. It was surprisingly clear, clean water.
I am very proud of these guys. They have been working under the hot sun for a week, getting this thing together. Today maybe they will take it easy.
That’s Hamori
That’s Hamori
A pool for a few weeks is not a great investment. But if you have a heated indoor pool, why not?
As the kids splash around in 41 degrees, ah yah! 🙂 It is so hot out, we are literally all melting standing still.
Looks like it was tough work. But in sure it was totally worth it in the end 🙂
wow, we like – never really thought about building a pool…that’s probably because we live in North Wales (UK) and it ALWAYS rains ^-^
well done guys, looking mighty fine!!!
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