30 Jan 2015

Building our Pool

Our summer heat and humidity, is only just bearable. We did a toss up between building a small cottage for family guests or building a pool.  After wading our way through another stifling hot sticky February - the pool Won - guests lost!  "Ag shame" you might say in true South African-ism... but we have a guest house on the farm we holiday let out anyhow... they can stay there in all its luxury! - see Chumbi Bush House.
Finished Pool - at sunset


Here are some pics from start to finish.  I got a lot of inspiration from my fav inspiring spot: Pinterest.  Check out my Pinterest board:  Gorgeous Gardens and Pools for some awesome ideas.

A "before" the pool shot
As all things should start with some sort of plan... here is our very rough sketch.  Which of course got changed a gazillion times during the actual building process - but still... it was a plan.
The original plan

 Then came a basic layout so we would know how much turf to dig up.  We used a garden hose pipe
Layout of the pool

We started the big dig,  getting in a TLB machine to all that intensive labour.  Of course all the animals had to see if they approved of what was happening to "their" garden.
Horses approving the pool dig
The base of the pool got compacted, and then a cement base was laid.
Base of pool 
Next came the walls,  Note the bitumen waterproofing around the area that will be under the ground.  The far side is where ther will be one large step / kiddies pool area.  The jets for piping can be seeing coming through the walls which will eventually go around the pool to the pump.  

Testing out sun-downers at the pool to be
Then came the fiber glassing.  We decided to fiberglass rather than marbelite, as there is less chance of cracking in our sandy soils.  The colour we chose is quite unusual, but we wanted it to fit in with the natural soil colours, giving the impression of a natural pool.   The structure at the back is a waterfall - the sound of tinkling water on a hot day is so cooling.  Note the"martini seat"  on the far edge to sit chest high in water and take in the beautiful bush views.  

And the finished pool, with the waterfall, and decking around the one edge,  the rest we left grass.  The perfect place to relax after a long hot day.  
Finished Pool - at sunset
  Tips and Suggestions:




10 comments:

  1. Lovely pool! I'm visiting from TGIF blog hop - I'm already a follower of your wonderful blog.
    Thanks so much for sharing!
    Angie

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  2. Congrats on the new pool. I could not imagine going through a crazy South Florida summer without our pool!!

    Thanks for linking up at the TGIF Hop!

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  3. Your pool is beautiful. A lot of hard work but I'm sure it was worth all the work at the end of a hot day. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  4. How fun! I remember my parents putting a pool in when I was growing up, what an experience. Thanks for submitting to the HomeAcre hop. Heidi @ Pint Size Farm

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  5. Love the animals checking it out... and, what a LOVELY pool! So jealous!

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  6. I love your new pool, and it's peaceful setting. I'd like to invite you to share this lovely post at my linky, too. http://chronicallycontent.com/2015/02/together-tuesdays-25-giveaway.html

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  7. With 3 feet of snow in my yard right now, I want to jump into your new beautiful pool! What a unique design!

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  8. Your new pool is so nice!!!

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  9. This wonderful post received the most "clicks" on the February Great Blog Train (blog hop) & is being featured on my blog today: http://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/2015/02/february-great-blog-train-results-with.html
    Thanks
    Angie

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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