An Oasis In Your Backyard
Picture yourself lazing by the pool. An icy-cold beverage in your hand, cool tunes playing, and you’re chilling beneath the shade of the palm trees at your splendid oasis.
Wait! Palm trees? Swimming pools and trees go together like eggs and a jackhammer. Sure, it may take only a matter of minutes to clear palm fronds, seed pods, and leaf litter from your pool. But do it often enough, or after a tropical weather event, and homicidal tendencies become inevitable.
For shade, the value of a movable device, such as an umbrella or shade sails cannot be underestimated. Some people go as far as building an entire pavilion, in effect, turning the whole affair into an indoor pool.
Situating your swimming pool in a low-lying spot is unwise. One serious downpour and your pool will resemble the contents of an inverted garbage bin.
You don’t want your pool to be in the downward path of an electrical cable either, for somewhat obvious reasons. Likewise, it shouldn’t be built over underground utilities, including septic systems.
If your pool is sensibly located, you’ll be able to keep an eye out for the safety of its occupants from your house.
Once you’ve decided on the space for your new pool, the process follows in stages. Planning is essential for all stages.
Accessorise Your Swimming Pool
You’ll need to decide on the pool pump, the filtering system and a chlorinator. Talk to the people at your local pool shop. Read online about sand, cartridge and salt chlorine filtration.
While you’re in the pool shop, check out the many accessories — water features (spouts and fountains, that sort of thing), steps, handrails, and lights (for around the pool and underwater).
You’ll soon see there’s a vast array of money-grabbing objects vying for your attention. Stay calm, many of the options (not all) can be added at a later date.
You cannot put off satisfying your local council’s regulations, however. Secure fencing is mandatory. There are some stylish options available to choose from and Google can help.
Design Your Swimming Pool Online
Spend time deciding how the area surrounding your pool should look. For instance, the perfect accompaniment to your swimming pool might be a nice clean BBQ-friendly entertaining area.
Or for something completely different, how about boulders and waterfalls to create an exotic watering hole theme?
Your lighting arrangements can be tweaked accordingly. Underwater lighting will look good in any scenario.
If your budget stretches to it, you can consult a designer. Once again, search the web for inspiration.
Dark Side Of The Moon
Sooner rather than later, on the practical level, your project will turn into a hole in the ground. That’s where your back garden becomes a lunar landscape thanks to the bloke with his excavator.
Experienced earthmovers will know how to avoid underground cables and pipes. The less experienced excavation operators should probably be avoided. It takes skill to carve out even, workable surfaces, especially if you want your pool to have varying depths.
With luck, the newly dug hole gets criss-crossed with reo (reinforcing steel) and concrete is poured before the heavens open.
The pros and cons of the types of surface for your pool — vinyl, epoxy paint, plaster, aggregate, glass bead, tiles — need to be assessed during your decision-making. Cost, texture, looks and longevity are all considerations.
Getting your head around these executive decisions will give your pool a personal touch. You can then unburden yourself and avoid further stress by having an experienced pool builder take care of everything else for you.
