INSTALLING THE SWIMMING POOL - part 2

Once the pool had around 1 foot of water in it, the steps were lowered into position. This is the beauty of this particular design. The water circulates to and from the pump via the step rails thus avoiding the need to cut the liner. The pool, which holds around 50 cu. metres of water, was filled with water from the mains. Sadly we forgot to inform our local Mairie. On the second day a small van drew up outside the house and enquired if we were using mains water for the pool. Satisfied that we were, the gentleman promptly left. Regis, my immediate neighbour told me later that he was the guy from the water authority and he had spent most of the Sunday touring the area to find out where the leak was! The meters in the local depot were registering a huge loss of water. In fact we were using as much in 48 hours as the entire hamlet used in a month!

Pool now full of water and the backfilling can begin. It is important not to commence any backfilling before the pool is full as this can distort the panels. Dry cement mix was put against the panels to protect them from any potential acidity in the soil and once backfilling was complete the area was dampened to assist the setting of the cement.
We opted for a heavy duty treated timber decking on the front area of the pool because the high temperatures in summer can make paving very uncomfotable to walk on. We had to travel down to the Dordogne region to find a timberyard which stocked the quality we required. Also it gave improved access to the step rail connections to the pump pipework which can be seen in the photgraph on the left.

The final job was to build a stone wall around the pool to blend the above ground section into the garden landscape. Note the wall does not serve to retain the pool walls as explained earlier - it is purely decorative. We finished off with a gravel surround as a temporary finish to allow the surrounding ground to settle before laying pool paving the following spring. The intallation to this point took about 4 weeks including the landscaping.

The following year we also modified the position of the pumphouse. On the photo left it is positioned in the wooden housing to the left of the pool. Now we have moved the whole lot to the cave beneath the barn a few metres away. This gives easier access to the pump and also results in less noise.

Our next plan is to replace the original filters which sit beneath the steps with a larger unit situated next to the pump. Again we will probably continue using Diatomaceous Earth - an excellent filtration agent which allows us to use a bare minimum of chlorine in the pool to keep it sparkling.

The finished article - now we are so busy during the summer season we rarely get the chance to use it!