[Ferro List] optimal usage of materials

[Peter Epperson]

Are you going to dig up your clay soil and use the excavation for the form 
of the pool itself? If you have the right type of clay soil you may be able 
to carve it and do the laminated ferro technique right over the clay walls. 
I've only ran into conditions like that once. We were able to laminate three 
layers of mesh (small pool) right onto the soil walls. But most of the area 
here is rock and when the excavator is done you have a really rough hole in 
the ground. Rather than fill up the rough hole with mountains of gunite, we 
build a straight wall out of 2x4's and plywood. This wood gets removed after 
the concrete work is done and the area gets backfilled up to the walls. The 
other way is to make a really big hole so that you can work both sides of 
the mesh framework. We've done that when building inspectors are going to be 
an issue. They don't understand the laminated method and aren't going to 
spend a day watching that you put enough steel in the walls. But as much as 
I love ferrocement and thin shell concrete, I almost always go for rebar and 
thick walls for pools. Mostly it's about going quicker. My labor costs more 
than materials and it's faster. Also things like skimmers, returns and 
lights are more easilly installed in a thick wall pool. Let me rephrase 
that, it's WAY easier to install those things in a thicker wall pool. You 
also find that you can carve more interesting shape and curves and create 
straighter lines when you have loads of mud to play with instead of 
milimeters. Having said all that I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from 
making a ferro pool. If you have the right conditions and inexpensive labor 
it's probably the best way to go. It will be more flexible, less concrete by 
far and just plain cooler. Unless your foam panel has steel in it like a 
Tri-D panel, I would probably pass on it and go for the full 4 layers of 
mesh. I think it would be easier to work with, it depends on your method of 
laminating the foam to the ferro on either side. How many layers of mesh you 
need would depend on lots of things. Most importantly, what is the size and 
shape of your pool? Expansive soils are something I've never had to deal 
with but again, a shell that could flex has obvious advantages.

And you were asking about chlorine in pools. It won't get to the steel if 
you've done your job right and don't have any cracks. The salt water system 
is still chlorine. Salt is converted to chlorine and then reverts back to 
salt in an endless loop. Go with ozone. It's the best way to purify your 
pool. Get a corona discharge ozone generator.
Peter

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kosta Dellios" <dellioskosta at yahoo.com>
To: "Ferrocement Discussion List" <list at ferrocement.net>
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 12:34 AM
Subject: [Ferro List] optimal usage of materials


> Let me start by first wishing everybody on the list a happy New Year.
>
> One of the big projects I'm intending to start in 2008 is the building of 
> a big pool.  Quite an expensive project especially if done using a company 
> so the only way I could afford it is doing it myself.   Having constructed 
> my storm water tank myself I'm not afraid of the big task ahead.
>
> My questions right now are related to optimization of the wall design. 
> The important factors are cost, strength and ease of use.   The questions 
> I'm struggling with right now are related to using traditional FC wall (1 
> skin) vs sandwich wall ( 2 FC skins on each side of a core)
>
> If I have 4 layers of expanded metal lath available to me, what is the 
> optimal way of using them?
>
> a) use all four metal layers in a thin FC wall.
> b) laminate 2 layers of lath on each side over a 10cm foam core.
> c) use 5 metal layers in thin FC wall (additional layer equivalent to cost 
> of foam)
>
> If cost was the same for all options which one would you choose for 
> strength purposes?  A follow up question will be if this strength is 
> enough for pool walls but hopefully that is something I can expand on when 
> I present you my final pool design.
>
> The pool is going to be built in-ground on expansive clay grounds.  I'm 
> concerned about keeping the flexible aspects of the FC wall intact.  Would 
> the FC sandwich wall also act like a flexible FC wall?
>
> Any thoughts from our experts here.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Kosta Dellios
>
>
>
>
>
> 
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