Building Pool Checklist

Location of the Pool

Put the pool in a place which is easily accessible to diggers and concrete mixers.

Choose a flat spot without stones.

Avoid places where leaves can easily fall in.

Check the water level before you dig the hole.

Choosing a Pool

Ask for planning permission.

Decide on the pool you want.

If you want to use the pool for the summer, decide by the end of February where you will buy it from.

Allow a month for delivery.

Building a Pool

Dig the hole big enough, don' t dig it to large.

Carefully measure the depth of the pool and make sure the bottom is flat.

Find someone who needs earth and will come and take it away for free.

Don' t take it all away - you're bound to need some of it back later.

Make sure you get the list of parts and you know what's what before you start.

Take some polystyrene blocks, lay them out in the shape of you pool.

Stand the concrete panels in the blocks and fix them together with metal braces.

Cut the panels for the skimmer and for the various openings such as the water jets.

Put a row of polystyrene blocks on the top of the concrete panels.

Wrap lengths of iron rod around the base of the concrete columns and around the tops of them.

Lay the iron meshing on the bottom of the pool.

Concrete around the bottom of thee panels, then concrete the floor.

Put plastic panels in grooves on the back of the concrete panels, to create perpendicular pockets behind the place where the panels met.

Once the concrete is dry you can cut out and install the skimmers.

Attach all the pipes.

Fill up the cracks between the concrete panels with filler.

Make sure that the whole pool (walls and floor) are clean and smooth before applying the revetement.

Apply one coat of revetement, then cover it with something that looks like fabric, then repaint over the top of this.

Allow a week for it to dry before filling up the pool.

Set up the pump, the filter and figure out which pipe goes where.

Set up the electricity box and get an electrician to do the necessary wiring.

Landscaping a Pool

Decide what you're going to put around the pool.

Avoid using the ugly concrete slabs; Use concrete slabs which resemble real stone instead.