DIY Concrete Swimming Pool

7/23/2019 DIY Concrete Swimming Pool

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DIY Concrete Swimming Pool



Building your own pool is not for everyone, but it can be done, with great results. When Igot bids around $30,000 , the choice was to build it myself, or forget it.

For around $000, and a lot of wor!, my son and I built a very solid "3# %%# &# ovalconcrete pool off our dec!.

We built it on flat ground , but it could also be built in a hole and bac!filled.

'eeping the plumbing simple also cut costs.

Bloc! pools can have problems because they lac!s the steel needed.

We used lintel bloc! (normally used over doors and windows) to wrap rebar around thepool every * inches hori+ontally.

tac!ing the bloc!s with cores lined up put a rebar vertically every * inches.

We cut the sides out of the base row of bloc! to let rebar and concrete connect the walland pool floor.

-he result was a pool that could stay solid on the 3 ft. of roc! bac!fill behind ourretaining wall.



We plastered and waterproofed the pool ourselves with white surface bonding cement,and % years later hired a pro crew to do a finish coat of prettier blue cement plaster.

Step 1: Design



-his pool had to be very strong, because it sits on bac!fill in an earthua!e area net tothe ea of /orte+. -he bac!fill was all roc!, not dirt, which settles.



Bloc! pools can have problems because they lac! hori+ontal steel and they can lea!where walls meet the floor.

/urved walls are much stronger than straight, so I chose an oval. I wanted 1 rebarevery *2 vertical and hori+ontal in the walls and continuous through the floor. -his is

impossible with standard bloc!, but lintel bloc! has notches which let you add hori+ontalbars every *2

We !ept the pool 302 away from the retaining wall to allow access for plumbing andpump.

-o use a small spa "% hp pump we !ept the %2return and ".%&2supply lines large andclose to the pump.

4 cartridge filter completed the plumbing.

Waterproofing comes from the cement plaster inside a pool. 4ny crac! in the structuremeans a lea!, as the crac! will continue through the plaster.

We used fiberglass reinforced plaster inside and out to hold the bloc!s solid until theconcrete was poured cured. -his alone waterproofed the pool.

Step 2: Structural steel reinforcing













5nce the ground was flat, we poured a shallow footing for the bloc!. -his was tostabili+e the walls until the floorwall cores were poured. -he pool weight load is spreadevenly on the pool floor when filled with water so the strength this footing is notimportant later.

5ne row of bloc! was set in mortar below the pool floor as a level base for the rest.

We ground all the bloc! flat top and bottom. -hen we glued (construction adhesive) onerow of lintel bloc! with inside cut out level with the soon to be 62 thic! floor. 4 bent rebaris fed through every core, overlapping the "# on center rebars in the floor. 7veryhori+ontal row of bloc! gets a rebar in the notch of the lintel bloc!s, ma!ing a continuousrebar circle every * inches. -he result was a pool that would stay solid on the 3 ft. ofroc! bac!fill with no wallfloor crac!. -he floor and wall cores are poured at one time.

Step 3: Wall stack and plaster

















We drilled holes in the bloc!s for all the return and pressure pvc pipes, and cementedthem in with epansive cement. Fittings are available to point the water flow in thedirection you want it to circulate.

4 floor drain tube ( %2 in our case ) gets positioned at the low point of the pool. 8ourtemporary screeds should all go downhill to this drain so crud gets pulled to thepumpfilter.

Installed the pvc return weir with epansive cement following their instructions. 9ormalcement shrin!s, and leaves a crac!.

Bloc!s are stac!ed with no overlap so cores match up. 4ny rebar is overlapped a footand tied with wire. Bloc!s are stac!ed to the waterline. -he inside and out of the bloc! isplastered with ""62 minimum thic!ness surface bonding cement to hold the bloc! whileconcrete is poured. 4 rubber float ma!es spreading this easy. It dries uic!ly, so mi :usta little at a time, and clean tools every "0 minutes, or !iss them good by.



urface bonding cement (it has late glue and glass fibers in it ) holds bloc!s better thanmortar, and also waterproofs the wall. 5ur pool was was waterproof with a second coaton floor and wall after the pour.

4 solid "%2concrete bond beam gets formed with "12 plywood. We wanted a vanishing

edge so that part is formed an inch below the final water line to leave room for tile. -hisedge needs to be angled (we did down on the outside ) so water will not sit on the tile.We built a large catch basin below the edge, but I won#t get into that. It is not easy todesign the si+e of the basin.

9ow you are ready to pour wall and floor.

Step 4: !e pour "get a pumper#











We pumped ready mi over the house and first on the floor, then into the cores andbond beam in a continuous pour. Without the pump, you need a do+en strong men tohoist the concrete up in buc!ets; It is a lot of concrete, and you have to do it withoutstopping. -he concrete cannot be runny, so you need a spud vibrator to consolidate theconcrete in the cores and into the floor pour. 8ou can rent these, or buy one for $"00 atharbor freight.

-he concrete should be 6.& sac!scubic yard and have both fibers and a water reducingsuperplastici+er admi. -he pumper will want to add water for easy pumping, but youshould add more water reducer instead of water. -oo much water and you will getshrin!age crac!s.

<emove any roc!s or bric!s holding up the rebar. -he rebar must be in the middle of the62 floor. -oo high or low and it will rust and brea! the concrete.

=eave the surface rough, as in broom or wood float finish. -he plaster bonds muchbetter to rough concrete.



/ure the concrete for a full wee!. -he floor is easy; flood it the net morning. =eave thebond beam forms on for a wee! and !eep the top moist. -he plaster on the walls !eepthem moist.

Step $: Plum%ing

It can be as simple as hoo!ing up an above ground pool pump and filter with hoses over the edge.

We did ours with conventional pvc and a %0 year old 31 hp spa filter pump, later

replaced with the same si+e, but two speed. 8ou don#t need a big pump. It :ust usesmore electricity.

Step &: Steps







If you do steps add them after the pour and the area below them is waterproof. -heycan ta!e a lot of concrete. 9et time I would go for narrow steps and more pool space.We poured a layer ( step) at a time and ended up adding lots of roc!s and bric!s as filler inside the concrete.

Step ': Deck







ince our pool was free standing, we added a dec! on two sides, all conventionalconcrete that overlapped the pool edge, leaving us with nice spot to en:oy the sunsetsof an /arlos, onora, >eico.

4pproimate /osts

=intel Bloc! $600

/oncrete %" yards ?$"10yd $ %@10

teel $110

Alaster $"60 (We made our own)

lue $0

Aump $%10

Filter $"*0

AC/ plumbing $%*0



-otal; about $&000

D heFinal plaster and edge tile $%100 (two years later by pool plaster contractor; It ismuch prettier and smoother than my plastering )

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DIY Concrete Swimming Pool