Making the foundation and all preparations related to the construction of a swimming pool are not that simple and easy process as you may think. Here we will try to report about issues that can be experienced before, while and after the excavation works for your new swimming pool in Bulgaria. We hope this would help you to understand how to select the place, size and form of the swimming pool in your garden for the perfect swimming pool experience.
Select the place for swimming pool and trace the garden to know where to excavate
Being in this business for many years we consider that excavation works are one of the most important tasks that have to be executed professionally by a skilled builder. Our previous experience shows that each client we have been discussing the foundation works with appears unprepared to answer most of the following questions:
- Is there enough space for proving an access for the machinery that will make the excavating works in the yard where the swimming pool will be built?
- Is there a place for entering and loading the trucks that will take the soil away?
- Is there a place where some of the soil will be stored because it will be used for back hilling afterwards?
- How deep is the top soil layer? Where the rocky mass starts from? What is the lie of the rock and to which direction?
- What will be the level of the upper edge of the pool? Is it in conformity with the lanscaping of the yard?
- Is there a place for making an excavation in which the filter and the pump will be placed?
- Are there any electric and water supplies in the yard? Where exactly are they located in order that they are being preserved during the excavation works?
These are some of the questions that need answering before starting the excavation works. We don’t need to say that these questions are important to us for giving you an exact price quotation for a swimming pool.
How much to excavate
It is good to know that when possible the hole should be excavated 2-3 meters wider than the swimming pool itself in order that enough space is insured for building and supoporting the formwork later on. We can say in general that if the swimming pool’s size is to be 5/9 m., then the excavation has to be minimum 7/11 m., the best option is if its size is 8/12 m. On most occasions this depends on the depth of the whole.
The hole for the pool should be dug 2-3 meters wider than the pool (min. 1m on each side)
How deep to excavate
Once we have defined the sizes of the excavation and we put marks on the terrain it is required that we dig some small size holes in the four edges to find out what the condition of the soil’s strata in depth is. If the depth of the solid rock underneath the layer of soil is satisfying this is the best option. It is very possible that the rock is not running horizontally and this will help naturally for the slope of the swimming pool.
The rock below the black earth is easy to be recognized. In this case it was a bit soft and we were able to dig about 50cm durther down.
The depth of the pool
When calculating the effective depth of the swimming pool it is important to add and to dig some extra 30cm to the required pool’s depth – this is for applying of both the laid concrete underneath the pool’s bottom (usually around 5-7 cm) and the concrete pool bottom which is around 20 cm.
In case it becomes clear that the depth of the rock is not enough then we have to decide how we will proceed further. After the excavator has finished working (the machine can only excavate earth), there are two options to continue.
We can try to continue to drill in the rock e.g. with a Kangoo or something more powerful like a hydraulic compressor or we can just raise the level of the pool’s walls to achieve the same depth as with deeper digging. Drilling in rock in such scale will increase the cost of the building works and respectively the total price of the swimming pool to a level that is inacceptable for most people.
In-ground pool above ground?
It is much easier and cost effective to build the pool part-of-above ground, the final result is more than satisfying. Building the swimming pool above the terrain requires some additional building and landscaping works in order to get an aesthetical finishing point of the pool. This is done easier and the final look is impressive you could do a very good job with some imagination.
The concrete swimming pool cna be build part-of above ground
Sand pillow
In case the rock under the pool is reached at a level that is just too deep and not required for the pool – this would get too deep (nobody needs depth of 2.1 m for private pool), then it should be excavated until reaching the strong rock and the swimming pool has to be built on “sand pillow”. This method guarantees the solidity of the future equipment and its non-problem use. The sand pillow can be from only 10 to 20 cm up to 1m high. Anyway cases where sand pillow has to be underlain are rare but possible so we have to take them to consideration.
When these preparation jobs are completed we now can see what the real situation is and we can make the necessary analyses and conclusions related to the pool’s construction before staring the excavation works. Our analyses are then represented to the client offering him an optimal solution. The client has the opportunity to make his own choice and to approve the project offered. Then the excavation works can start.
In Bulgaria, when building a private swimming pool with a capacity of up to 100 cubic meters a building permission is not required.
You can see more sampels of swimming pools built by our company here
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