Hey all. I have been wanting to build my own pool for a few years now. I think last year was my last with our ultra cheap above ground 18' knee deep (ok maybe 40" or so)pool. I saw a show on HGTV that had a guy that made a pool from recycled tires and pond liner. It looked fantastic. It got my brain churning and burning.
I have looked on the net for alternatives and found a few different suppliers of conventional in ground pools ranging in price from 6500 and up. I think I could do one this way relatively easily myself as I have free access to a backhoe and such. I think that as far as building it myself I could also manage as I am fairly "handy" - I moved my house onto a new foundation and added roughly 1000 sqft addition with some help from my father. However, after seeing the tire pool I think it would be a great idea. I have an acreage so space is not much of an issue.
My plan is in the early stages. I think I will excavate about 3 or 4 feet into the ground and use tires to make a 3-4' wall above ground. I plan on cutting the sidewall off each tire, lay it down, fill and pack with dirt, repeat. I think that i will make the wall about 6' wide all around 3 sides and on the east side I will make an infinity wall where the water will drain off down the side like a switchback road on a mountain. Not sure if I explained that very well but the basic idea is that the water will overflow on that wall and run down a path to a sump system where the water will be pumped into the filter and back to the pool. I want to use black pond liner so that the sun will help heat the water as it flows down to the sump. The other three walls will be terraced so that I can use one area for steps and the rest will be planted with a creeping plant to cover the tires. Steps into the pool will be made with the tires as well just like the outside walls. I think the deck area will be either pavers or a wood walkway.
The liner for the pool is my main area of concern right now. I would like to use pond liner like what the guy on the HGTV program used but I don't want to use black in the pool itself. I would like to find blue pond liner but I think that may be a bit of a problem. I noticed some companies will custom build liners based on measurements. This might be an option but I will have to decide on this before I build the pool because I would need to make the top have the same attachment system that the liners need. I've never seen this system before so I am unsure how to make it.
Has anyone here done anything even remotely close to this? Any suggestions before I begin? Pitfalls I should try to avoid? Most of you probably think I am nuts but I figure if it doesn't work all I will have lost is a pile of time. - Tires are free and I work from home part-time watch the kids as well, summer is my slow season. I have a Jacuzzi pump and sand filter already that I bought from a guy that filled in his pool last year.
I have looked on the net for alternatives and found a few different suppliers of conventional in ground pools ranging in price from 6500 and up. I think I could do one this way relatively easily myself as I have free access to a backhoe and such. I think that as far as building it myself I could also manage as I am fairly "handy" - I moved my house onto a new foundation and added roughly 1000 sqft addition with some help from my father. However, after seeing the tire pool I think it would be a great idea. I have an acreage so space is not much of an issue.
My plan is in the early stages. I think I will excavate about 3 or 4 feet into the ground and use tires to make a 3-4' wall above ground. I plan on cutting the sidewall off each tire, lay it down, fill and pack with dirt, repeat. I think that i will make the wall about 6' wide all around 3 sides and on the east side I will make an infinity wall where the water will drain off down the side like a switchback road on a mountain. Not sure if I explained that very well but the basic idea is that the water will overflow on that wall and run down a path to a sump system where the water will be pumped into the filter and back to the pool. I want to use black pond liner so that the sun will help heat the water as it flows down to the sump. The other three walls will be terraced so that I can use one area for steps and the rest will be planted with a creeping plant to cover the tires. Steps into the pool will be made with the tires as well just like the outside walls. I think the deck area will be either pavers or a wood walkway.
The liner for the pool is my main area of concern right now. I would like to use pond liner like what the guy on the HGTV program used but I don't want to use black in the pool itself. I would like to find blue pond liner but I think that may be a bit of a problem. I noticed some companies will custom build liners based on measurements. This might be an option but I will have to decide on this before I build the pool because I would need to make the top have the same attachment system that the liners need. I've never seen this system before so I am unsure how to make it.
Has anyone here done anything even remotely close to this? Any suggestions before I begin? Pitfalls I should try to avoid? Most of you probably think I am nuts but I figure if it doesn't work all I will have lost is a pile of time. - Tires are free and I work from home part-time watch the kids as well, summer is my slow season. I have a Jacuzzi pump and sand filter already that I bought from a guy that filled in his pool last year.