What a great forum to come upon when I'm starting to think about doing my own pool! It seems as though some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry are here,let me ask you something! My concerns are numerous but the main one is how would I drain from beneath the pool if I have a problem with water table in my area? Should I install French drain underneath my pool site? My other question is about the pool bottom. How exact does the pool Crete have to be? I have watched videos where the guys just free hand it seems. Should I be concerned to the quarter inch? I guess my question is does the pool liner stretch into place if the hopper is too big? Is the pool Crete malleable after several hours? Should I put wall padding in? Thanks so much for even taking the time to read this. Any answers will be appreciated thanks
Thinking about a DIY IG vinyl pool
- Thread starter wclark160
- Start date
I can't help on the DIY part, but I can tell you sloppy pool crete jobs stand out like a sore thumb under certain lighting conditions. We do have many members that have went the DIY route and within the next few weeks many of them that have been inactive over the winter will likely be visiting the board again as the spring thaw across the nation starts.
Ike
Ike
Welcome to the forum!
Can't answer the water table question, but can answer the poolcrete one.
First, its quite easy to get it to the accurate depth. Lets use the hopper as an example. You set string lines across the top from side to side. Drop a plumb line down to find each corner and lay out the hopper with some pins. Now measure down from the string lines across the top down to the proper grade and mark the pins. Then string line around those pins on the markings. If you are too deep, lets say you are 6" deep in the hopper and you wanted 2" crete. Fill it in with some stone.
When laying the poolcrete, you want to be consistent but if you are off a 1/4" here or there it won't be horrible. You can walk on the poolcrete after it hardens good. At night, go in with a bright light and shine across the bottom. With chalk, circle spots that look low (put a L) spots that look high (H) and rough areas. The in the day, you can scrap high spots,sand rough spots and mix up some crete and fill in low spots feathering it in.
I had family do mine, they are in the concrete business and have great trowel skills. They struggled initially but after one deep end wall they had it down and did a great job.
Can't answer the water table question, but can answer the poolcrete one.
First, its quite easy to get it to the accurate depth. Lets use the hopper as an example. You set string lines across the top from side to side. Drop a plumb line down to find each corner and lay out the hopper with some pins. Now measure down from the string lines across the top down to the proper grade and mark the pins. Then string line around those pins on the markings. If you are too deep, lets say you are 6" deep in the hopper and you wanted 2" crete. Fill it in with some stone.
When laying the poolcrete, you want to be consistent but if you are off a 1/4" here or there it won't be horrible. You can walk on the poolcrete after it hardens good. At night, go in with a bright light and shine across the bottom. With chalk, circle spots that look low (put a L) spots that look high (H) and rough areas. The in the day, you can scrap high spots,sand rough spots and mix up some crete and fill in low spots feathering it in.
I had family do mine, they are in the concrete business and have great trowel skills. They struggled initially but after one deep end wall they had it down and did a great job.
Thanks for the informative reply. Heard of people in my just using cement and sand, do you know the benefits from one to the other?
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Sorry I don't, but wanted to say welcome to the forum. Many have built these types of pools themselves, including the forum owner. There is quite a bit of experience here on this. Good luck on your project.
Depending on the level of your pool bottom, a French drain around the low part of the pool will work miracles.....mine certainly did/does.
Are you wanting to do the poolcrete yourself? It is not easy and I would undertake that portion with caution.
Are you wanting to do the poolcrete yourself? It is not easy and I would undertake that portion with caution.
Thanks for the reply, poolcrete is my concern area. I have done alot of concrete work though! I just worry about workability time with poolcrete?
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Workability time with poolcrete is really, really long. If you can trowel concrete you can definitely do poolcrete, just have a crew as it is labor intensive mixing and moving.
As far as concrete rather than poolcrete, from what I remember concrete is not used as 1. is is very hard, poolcrete is softer. 2. It can crack and have sharp edges.
As far as concrete rather than poolcrete, from what I remember concrete is not used as 1. is is very hard, poolcrete is softer. 2. It can crack and have sharp edges.