Small Pool/Spa for vacationers & us

[MarineroC]

Greetings from island Rab Croatia,
Looking forward to find and share valuable information with those interested. Started a month and a half ago with digging on our pool/spa that is also for our guests as we also rent, currently completed with steel rebar and setting installations in place. Have to say rebar is by far the hardest part with all the bending and tying, compared to anything else if you're DIY, but depends on the shape of the pool, and if extremely curvy as this one will make you throw pliers as far as you can many times. Basically there's not a straight line on this pool. Being on the island here, one's options of working with contractors from land are severely reduced and costs fly to the sky. Pool is a small one with three levels of depth in three circular shells (1.5m, 0.8m shelf with a stair between and a spa about half a meter above pool with a waterfall). Spa has 4 Venturi jets (one on the floor), not requiring a separate air blower because they are connected to an air valve that sucks in air in a special pipe, but will probably require more HP's from the main VS pump. There will also be a bubbler in the middle of the shelf but not expecting some spectacular activity above water as the shelf is pretty deep (20 inches/50 cm). If it shows to be too weak of a bubbler I'll try with some sort of flexible transparent tube to channel water to top and not present danger to kids, or in the end, add another special pump for Spa and bubbler. Idea is to keep it minimal with equipment and fancy stuff but still able to operate 4 Venturi jets and bubbler. Also bubbler, spa and pool have separate pipes so it's possible to turn off and control any one of them. I expect turning some off will make other work better. Pool is integrated with an outdoor sauna's decking, and both suction and return lines are strongly fixed to the wood below decking and above ground. We'll see if this might show to be a problem due to vibrations or sounds but for freezing I'm not concerned because it's never so cold here. For the finish a typical white cement/quartz with 50/50 pebbles/glass beads seems fine to me coated with a special permeating waterproofing liquid. I worked with white cement/quartz sand before and it's not only great for pool but also for columns (pillars) around the house and such elements made from mold. Hoping to find and share valuable information on this forum and perhaps if someone feels I'm in a wrong direction or has a tip I'm very thankful. Also I'll be glad to answer any questions.

 

[Jimrahbe]

M,

What a great and challenging project!! You have more er... "guts" than I will ever have.

Looks like you also have a pretty nice scenic view.

Thanks for the pics... We love pics..

Jim R.

 

[MarineroC]

M,

What a great and challenging project!! You have more er... "guts" than I will ever have.

Looks like you also have a pretty nice scenic view.

Thanks for the pics... We love pics..

Jim R.

Thanks so much Jim. Yes it's pretty risky so I wouldn't recommend doing a project like this if there's a choice of pro's Hopefully I wont get stuck somewhere and ruin the summer season. All the best to you, greetings

 

[MarineroC]

Would appreciate opinions about the way my spa plumbing is set up before it's time for gunite. Currently there are 3 Venturi jets in a circle above seating. Excess water spills over to pool and spa has dedicated drain. Premise is they will suck air by means of water stream through 50mm water return pipe. Air gets sucked to jets through a separate 32mm pipe ending on spa top and controlled by an air valve/button. Supposedly they should work without an additional air blower or special pump (which I will add only if I have to), by mixing water and air to create bubbles and that is my goal because I love bubbles. My question is if I place one such Venturi jet on the floor facing up and also connect it to the same air pipe, shouldn't it work the same way. I ask because they are by default in installation manual supposed to be mounted on walls only, and 20 cm below water level. I don't see a reason they wouldn't work on the floor for a sort of a foot massage, but not sure. Thank you !

 

[bdavis466]

Yes, the jet will still work

 

[MarineroC]

Yes, the jet will still work

Great ! Thanks so much

 

[kimkats]

What a project!!! WOW! I don't even know where to start with the questions!!

How deep is the deep part?

 

[MarineroC]

What a project!!! WOW! I don't even know where to start with the questions!!

How deep is the deep part?

Hello Kimkats, thanks ! It's rather small compared to an average pool, because of the 3m to border rule, and lawn was not that big. Deep part is about 1.5 m, and shelf about 0.8. There are some advantages probably to a small pool with everything being reduced, including bills, but if there was a bigger space I'd go with big. There won't be much swimming here, but it will be nice to jump in after sauna right next to it

 

[kimkats]

That is really using the space you have to get what you want! SWEET!

Kim

 

[Elheffy22]

Hello, congrats on taking on such a project!!!!
Couple things I see, In one of your pictures you have a piece of steel that a jet is tied to. the cut piece of steel is right up against the flex pipe and over time will punch a hole in the line. Your floor jet in the spa will not work if it is tied to the other jets in the spa. Water takes path of least resistance and will exit out seat jets rather than be pushed to the floor. Ive tried it, it wont work, if its on a dedicated line it would. Your air line needs to have some sort of what we call a hartford loop to keep the water from back feeding the air line and then it will never clear. Usually it's in the beam of spa and looped flush with the finish height of beam. Ive seen it outside the spa at a filter pad lets say but it has to stay above the water height of spa, it works that way as well but long time to clear the water as well. Just my 2 cents cant wait to see it finished.

 

[Elheffy22]

Sorry missed the part where you said you will have air control valve. which essentially is your hartford loop.

 

[MarineroC]

Hello, congrats on taking on such a project!!!!
Couple things I see, In one of your pictures you have a piece of steel that a jet is tied to. the cut piece of steel is right up against the flex pipe and over time will punch a hole in the line. Your floor jet in the spa will not work if it is tied to the other jets in the spa. Water takes path of least resistance and will exit out seat jets rather than be pushed to the floor. Ive tried it, it wont work, if its on a dedicated line it would. Your air line needs to have some sort of what we call a hartford loop to keep the water from back feeding the air line and then it will never clear. Usually it's in the beam of spa and looped flush with the finish height of beam. Ive seen it outside the spa at a filter pad lets say but it has to stay above the water height of spa, it works that way as well but long time to clear the water as well. Just my 2 cents cant wait to see it finished.

Hello Elheffv22,
Thank you for a detailed review and advice ! Yes you're right, I'll cut some more from the bars so it is away from elements and pipes. It's some more work but better to prevent corrosion from entering through. Yes the vertical pipe going to the top air valve from air pipe connecting all the jets was not there yet on pics yesterday. Got it connected just today. My other concern is that since the floor jet is facing up and not like on the wall (air pipe above water pipe) it would be possible for water to enter the air hole in this type of jet as they are connected inside. In this way water would probably go all the way up to spa water line through the air pipe. In this scenario I would have to block the air hole from inside the floor jet. In that case it would remain just a regular floor water jet without the bubbles and I would have to suck the remaining water from the air pipe or it would be stuck there forever. There are some floor jets available of course but that would involve the air blower or massage pump. I'll still try minimalistic and without it though Will post how it goes . Thanks once again !!

 

[MarineroC]

Actually now I see when facing up, Venturi jet still has air pipe above the water pipe, because they are lined diagonally. I guess it is so for that reason in mind, although it says in instructions it should be mounted on wall. Floor is not mentioned. We'll see

 

[MarineroC]

A bit of a photo update as work is in progress and structure is getting ready for concrete. Added a couple of lower back jets to the spa from the future main pump, and we'll see in the end if spa floor venturi will work as it should in theory. No other way to test that one and haven't seen much about it on the net. I let go of the idea that one pump would be sufficient for the spa as well. Probably it is better to just use a booster pump for spa on occasions and main pump at low speed to keep some circulation in spa using 2 additional jets. Changed the slipway idea from sharp edged flat granite to a sort of round tongue like that will have a thicker glass beads finish. Mostly because someone would eventually hit their head or something on that granite edge. Probably with larger pools that is not a problem. Curved slipway should add some velocity to water falling and light reflecting from beads but hopefully will not create too much noise. Added also a water level regulator. If some of this doesn't make sense along with something you seeon the photos perhaps I would appreciate if you'd let me know. ?

 

[kimkats]

LOVE what I see!!! What and when is next?

Kim

 

[MarineroC]

LOVE what I see!!! What and when is next?

Kim

Hello Kim , getting ready to apply concrete. So far the biggest wait is on the weather. Looking for at least 6 days without extremes. It doesn't get cold here on the island, but rain can be trouble as this will not be a typical fast gunite pool job. I'll have a cover on the side just in case..

 

[MarineroC]

Completed with concrete part. Well, applying 11 m3 of concrete was not easy without gunite/shortcrete machine but I'm pretty satisfied with the result. Definitely pressure compacted concrete using machinery would be better and recommended, but I compensated (hopefully) using additives and thickness of the wall (30 cm on average) with double rebar. Probably for this size of pool that is mostly leaning on the ground anyway that is thick enough. Concrete (while still fresh) was then covered with double coating of a transparent agent emulating when cured the qualities of glass that penetrates concrete 4 cm and is supposed to be water resistant aside from the coming plaster finish.

 

[kimkats]

You did it! SWEET! Make sure to start bonding with it asap aka watering it. That will slow down the curing and make it stronger!

Kim

 

[MarineroC]

Hi all, posting some photos of how it's going with the finishing layer. Plaster with pebbles and glass beads is a detailed inch by inch work unless one is doing it the proper way, all at once, but what helps here is that pool is small so not that much surface. I have to say it's doable also in a slow way because plaster blends pretty nicely with the semi dried part, but it should probably never cure completely. Decided to do it in two layers (about 8mm each) so layer below acts as a glue and base for the top layer with pebbles and beads mixed with plaster. This way troweling can be done nicely as pebbles can be pressed to their place. But it has to be done in a window of 20 minutes when applied or it gets much harder. After about 45 minutes when there's no more visible humidity on top it should be polished with a dry cloth (white geotextile works great for me !) to expose the pebbles. After an hour and a half it gets too dry so timing is crucial. This way I don't think I'll even need an acid wash. We'll see. Pretty satisfied with the look, considering it's not pro work

 

[Newdude]

Looking sweet !