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Swimming Pool Building Steps
The first step to any swimming pool building project is the excavation of the swimming pool area. The area of your pool is sketched out first using construction spray paint and cones are places around the area. A large backhoe will make its way into your backyard to begin the excavation process. There is usually one backhoe operator and workers manually digging out the excavation site as well. During this phase, dump trucks will be coming and going from your property to dump the soil and excavated material. The issues that can happen during this stage are as follows: the excavators could run into thick rock, heavy equipment could ruin your driveway, your yard may be inaccessible (in which case trees or debris need to be removed). This last point is the most important point with excavation as the more open the area is, the easier the excavation will be which will keep your costs down.
When the swimming pool is excavated, it’s time for the steel or rebar to be bent and put in place in the excavated hole. This is a very important step as the rebar holds the form of the swimming pool, braces the walls, and holds back the water. The steel needs to be thick enough to withstand this weight and needs to be arranged in an appropriate interlocking form for the highest efficiency and reliability. The thickest parts of the rebar are around the base of pool where the walls meet the floor, around the center of the swimming pool, and around the top border of the swimming pool. Also, if you have ledges, steps, love seats, etc, they are also formed by rebar at this time. There will be a team of pool contractors on site that will bend the rebar and weld the rebar into place.
Once the rebar is in place, it is time to run the plumbing and electricity to your swimming pool to power any swimming pool lights you have decided to install. The pool is fitted for skimmers, filters, jets, fluorescent lights, fiber optic lights, halogen lights, etc. This is a raw pipe fitting process. The finished plumbing end electric process take place after the gunite is sprayed and in place. This brings the swimming pool installation process to the next phase, the gunite.
When your pool is framed with the plumbing and the electricity, it is time to shoot gunite into your swimming pool. If you are not familiar with the term gunite, also known as shotcrete is a spray able 4000 pound high yield concrete that is sprayed into the rebar of the swimming pool. This process is very messy and usually takes about a day to finish. There will be a team of anywhere from 4 - 7 pool contractors during this phase. There is usually a person spraying the concrete and the rest of the crew is responsible for smoothing and forming the concrete. The gunite is sprayed from the top of the swimming pool down to the center of the pool.
When the gunite is dry and ready, usually after a few days until it has initially cured, it is time to tile the inside of the swimming pool, install coping around the top of the swimming pool, and plaster around the swimming pool. There are many different types of tiling, styles of coping, and styles of plaster coating - some have warranties longer than others. Also, during this phase, the plumbing that was set in place before the gunite will be connected to the pumps and chemical equipment, any electrical wiring will be completed and finished, and any decking will be installed around the swimming pool.
The last step of swimming pool building is the best step, filling the swimming pool and swimming in your swimming pool. The entire pool building process as described above takes 2 - 3 weeks to complete. As you can see through the steps, the process is very complicated and you need to hire a swimming pool contractor you can trust.
By: Nicolas DAlleva
About the Author:
Nicolas Dalleva is the quality insurance coordinator for Poseidon Pools. Poseidon swimming pools is an inground gunite swimming pool contractor and master swimming pool builder in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. We build custom inground pools, custom spas, and commercial pools as well as landscaping, patios, and pool houses.