Nigeria, we've (almost) got pool!!!

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E

ermish

0
LifeTime Supporter
Oct 23, 2013
11
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Hi Everyone,
Let me start by saying a big thank you to the entire TFP family - you guys (and girls) have inspired and guided me to the point where I feel like I could build pools for a living:wink:

I promised a couple of months ago that I'd start a thread when construction of our pool starts. Well, construction started a couple months ago and we're now slowly closing-in on having a pool.

Just a little background - the project is in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in Nigeria. Nigeria is known for its large population (at 160 million, its the largest black nation on earth), huge crude oil and reserves (something like the 8th and 4th respectively), football prowess, smart & happy people and importantly, its relatively good year-round swimming weather. Unfortunately the country has recently been also known for poverty, internet fraud, disturbing incidents of terrorism, and a couple more negative attributes. As I mentioned in my introduction, the internet fraud brand that we bear as Nigerians has made it tough to buy stuff for this project, but it has also encouraged me to be more-creative :D.

So, back to the reason for this post - the pool. We got a large lot and while deciding on the type of house to build, my wife and I hit on the great idea to incorporate a pool (we both love swimming but our need for privacy prevents us from using public pools often). So the first set of questions to answer were:

1. Material (concrete/vinyl/fibreglass) - Vinyl liner won it out!
2. Shape (bean, round, oval, rectangular) - Rectangle all the way with rounded corners though
3. Location - tucked in a very private section of our back yard.

I'm not much of a picture-taker but I have a couple that I've been trying to upload. I'll keep trying or I'll use a host.

Thanks TFPers and please keep the tips coming...
I haven't been able to upload pics but I'll keep trying.

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Below is a picture of the empty lot before construction started.Almost empty Lot.jpg
 
From another angle - the lot being cleared.

Lot being cleared.jpg

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mrcarcrazy said:
Congrats on getting the pool build going!
Click to expand...

Thanks mrcarcrazy. Wish I could steal your moniker...

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The plan was to put the pool in the far left corner (just behind the truck). Unfortunately the banana tree had to go...

View of the pool location.jpg

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The tiny house in the back (we call it a boys' quarters) will eventually be torn down
 
Looking forward to see how this progresses. You are going to quickly run into an issue with adding pictures. To post more pictures, you either need to raise your storage allotment by Becoming a TFP Supporter or follow the How To Post Pictures tutorial.

Also, please add your pool details to your signature and location to your profile as described HERE as it will help us help you.

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Why not keep the small house as a pool house?
 
First thing was to drill a borehole to get water for construction. The little soil heaps show the varying soil type at 10ft intervals.

Soil Profile.jpg

And get a submersible pump to deliver it to the surface.

Submersible Pump.jpg

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jblizzle said:
Looking forward to see how this progresses. You are going to quickly run into an issue with adding pictures. To post more pictures, you either need to raise your storage allotment by Becoming a TFP Supporter or follow the How To Post Pictures tutorial.

Also, please add your pool details to your signature and location to your profile as described HERE as it will help us help you.

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Why not keep the small house as a pool house?
Click to expand...


Hi jblizzle,
Thanks. Will check out the links. I discovered that if I compress the pics, they upload without a hitch.

Never really thought about having a pool house coz the pool is so close to the main house which has a fairly sized patio adjoining the kitchen. Its definitely worth considering - just one more great thing about TFP, the ideas never stop flowing.
 
Steve_K said:
Why do you need a well to construct the pool? Why can't you use the water supply from your home?
Click to expand...

Hi Steve,
Its an entirely new build - the tiny building in the lot had a tenant in it who had water supplied from the landlord's house. That supply was cut off once we took over possession. Sadly, municipal water supply is virtually non existent and so almost every one drills a borehole and installs overhead tanks for storage (you'll see a couple of ugly looking tanks in the background of one of the pics). Same with power supply - very erratic so we make do with diesel or gasoline generators. One thing we have a lot of is sunshine so I'll be using mostly solar powered equipment for the pool eventually.
 

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So we started excavating the foundation trenches for the main house.
Foundation Trenches.jpg

And when the foundation walls and column starters were completed, we began excavating the pool to use the soil as the foundation filler

Pool Excavation.jpg

The foundation was filled, flooded and rammed, and a foundation slab cast on itConcrete Foundation Almost Done.jpg
 
I know this is not a house building forum, so back to the pool itself: Pool was excavated (manually, by just two guys in just a couple of days!).
Excavation done.jpg

And that's the entire data quota I have :( . Upgrading my membership to allow more posts didn't work as paypal just opened shop in Nigeria a couple of weeks ago and its still not up and running. The liner order I made 2 weeks ago was cancelled, and although no reason was given, I suspect its the whole "fraudulent Nigerian" thing again - its so frustrating that if I want to stay on schedule, I have to use a proxy that will not only cost me more on the liner, but shipping will be almost the cost of the liner itself (they use a courier company for international shipping). I might end-up having to do that but I'll explore a couple more options before I commit to anything.

Yesterday, I had a mad idea - why not convert the pool to a concrete pool. The only potential issues will be the fittings (inlets, skimmer and drains) and my fear of having to waterproof the concrete shell. Has anyone ever done such a conversion?
 
So after more than a year since my last post - focusing on the house build, work and other life pressures - i finally got back to the pool build. We had already installed the piping and cast the concrete shell and received all the ordered kit (filter, pump, liner, valves, etc) by August last year.

Some old pictures showing the journey:

1. Reinforcement and floor drains installed, ready for casting of the base
20140321_180318.jpg

2. Floor casting complete. Its meant to be plastered so we didn't fuss to much about smoothing it out.
20140329_122033.jpg

3. Formwork for the walls installed and walls casted. You'll see the light niche and the skimmer in the pictures.
20140419_161731.jpg 20140419_161736.jpg

4. Formwork removed, about to begin dressing
20140601_100112.jpg
 
5. Piping lined-up to proposed location of the equipment pad. Some further trenching & filling was done after this pic was taken.
20140622_065426.jpg

6. Shell screeded and plastered. Liner track installation in progress
20140623_101410.jpg

7. Installation of the bullnose coping (burnt clay, very nice feel & look to it)
Coping.jpg 20140705_143401.jpg

8. I had to buy an angle grinder with masonry blades to cut coping for the rounded corners. It was really fulfilling to design the cuts to the millimeter, cut and install them myself.
Capture.jpg
 
I was really worried about the liner - i'd had it for almost one year sitting in the patio outside. Would some insect/rodent have chewed holes through it or maybe it had some terrible type of mould growing on it? But i knew that i had to get the equipment set up and the piping tested before i could even think about unboxing that liner.

So it was off to focus on the equipment pad and run a leak test on the piping as there was a lot of construction work around an exposed (not yet backfilled) section and i really had concerns that someone would have cracked or punctured one of the lines.
 
You're doing great ermish!
A much more challenging build that we do over here.
The formed concrete walls is something we don't have to deal with.
What is the bore water like? Have you tested it for the usual issues; hardness & metals?
In addition to the bore water, do you collect rain water off the roof of the house?
This is now common practice in Australia (sometimes required) as water is gold.
The rain water would help if hard water from the bore is an issue.
 
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