Raleigh residents love the thought of having a natural pool. A natural pool can be a great way to make your backyard a conversation piece and an amazing place to enjoy a swim. In this article, we are going to give you tips on building a natural pool so you can create your own backyard retreat.
Your New Natural Pool
Photo courtesy of gardenista.com
Building your own natural pool can not only be a great finished project, but it can also be a lot of fun as you are working on it. Whether you want to make it a family project or something you do on your own as a kind of getaway, you will enjoy seeing your natural pool take shape.
Start Building Your Natural Pool
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#1 – Keep your design simple when you are building your natural pool. While extra bells and whistles like shallow areas and rock walls might look great, they add a lot of difficulty for the DIYer as well as expense. You want to have a flat bottom so it is easier to dig and easier to clean. If you want the easiest natural pool, you should go with a box shape.
#2 – Don’t go with too many fittings. When you have a natural pool, you can simply skim the pool with a leaf net or if you are set on having it skimmed automatically, think about a balance tank so you don’t have a lot of pool fittings showing up in your natural pool. While some pool fittings aren’t going to cost very much, you need to remember that waterproofing your pool is going to be the hardest part so the more fittings you can avoid, the better as a DIYer.
#3 – Don’t build your pool too deep. While you do need depth so you can have stability, you can make your natural pool as deep or shallow as you want it. You may want to stick to 1.8 or less as walls 2m and over are in need of a great deal of reinforcement. 1.5m is a comfortable depth if you aren’t worried about diving. It is easy to clean and you still have a reasonable reinforcement level. If you are in doubt, talk with a structural engineer to find out. The weakest point is where the floor and the wall join and on any long straight wall runs. This is where you need to bolster them with extra concrete if you do not want to use any more steel than you have to.
Natural Pool Conclusion
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You should move away from using concrete or prefabricated pool walls, you also want to use a black liner for your pool. Boreholes or wells are great to use for a natural pool and don’t forget to draw yourself a drainage plan. If you do not properly plan your drainage, you may come into some serious problems. There is plenty to think about when building a natural pool and if you need any help, make sure to reach out to us as we would love to go over plans with you.
