Pouring your own pool floor?

[jayruh]

Hello, I'm going to be installing my own pool this spring and i'm working on ironing out a few details before construction. The floor is probably my biggest. I've been contemplating on doing vermiculite or concrete. I'm leaning towards doing concrete due to a local pool builder saying that's what he likes to do with little detail. To me it seems like concrete could be a little faster then vermiculite also. The pool is going to be 20x40, steel 42" walls (vinyl liner) with a fairly flat floor. Has anyone out there done a concrete floor? My thought on doing it is forming the 2 large flat area first and after they have dried go back and do the angled sections. Any input would help. Thanks!
Hope the picture turns out

 

[mclifford]

They recommend the same thing in my area. All the pool builders say it makes for a faster liner replacement in the future because you don't have so much floor repair.

One builder recommend pouring the Equipment pad, hopper bottom and shallow end in one pour. Slope in another pour. Vermic or cement the hopper walls.

 

[jayruh]

To me it seems like a quicker way of doing things. I'm Kinda wounder what the concrete mix should be and the thickness? I know they recommend 2inch with vermiculite but with concrete my gut tells me to go 3-4inch with re-bar and steel mesh (its not if its when it'll crack). If small cracks happen that will be ok, its's just keeping the cracks from shifting causing a point where the liner could get punctured.

 

[swimcmp]

We have never put vinyl on concrete, always vermiculite in 37 years. I wouldn't want concrete in case it cracked and spread it would be a sharp edge. Vermiculite when it cracks is a smooth edge nothing to cut a vinyl liner.

 

[PoolGate]

With all this work how much more would gunite have been?

 

[jayruh]

Not sure on the gunite. As far as i know all the personal pools around here aren't gunite. They all seem to be steel or poly with a liner, and some are fiberglass. I kinda figured with the freezing and thawing up here gunite would have a greater chance of cracking.

 

[jimmythegreek]

I did my own pool and was gonna do concrete floor too but went vermiculite. as said the concrete will crack for sure then the edge will mess up liner because your pool is shallow and ppl will walk on it. I did concrete in my deep end hopper and its 6"thick w fibermesh was leftover from concrete collar I had to pump my concrete so was easy for me. I did cement in bags to shape and fix my hopper walls then verm the rest of the pool. I mixed it in the hole w a garden hose and flipping with a shovel, was pretty easy my pool isnt that big either. I know some places pour concrete then skim over w an inch of verm, If your in freeze thaw area Id just do verm its flexible and its easy to repair too

 

[jayruh]

Definitely leaning towards using the vermiculite. Looking at using the pre-mixed stuff possibly. Has anybody been able to get a concrete plant to make it and send it out in a truck and poor it that way?

 

[ia_soxfan]

Definitely leaning towards using the vermiculite. Looking at using the pre-mixed stuff possibly. Has anybody been able to get a concrete plant to make it and send it out in a truck and poor it that way?

It isn't as fluid as concrete. Depending on what the temperature is on when you do it, you would find that you wouldn't have enough time to work it all at once like that. Rent a paddle mixer and mix as you go.

Edit: I should also add that when mixing, it only needs to mix for about 30 seconds or so. Mixing in a truck like that would most likely ruin the entire batch. I can't say I've ever heard of a batch plant mixing vermiculite, so I doubt you'd have any luck doing that.

 

[jimmythegreek]

you cant truck mix it. if you mix for more than a minute it gets stuck in the mixer and wont come out. easiest way is right in the pool. very easy to stop and start as a DIY job. you can top coat it with a dust of pure portland to fix any pock marks. it wasnt that hard my pool is mid size but would do again and I used premix