[Ferro List] Reworked swimming pool design

[Kosta Dellios]

Taking all the advice into consideration this is now the direction I'm heading in.  

After reading up on some patents I came across the following one  http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT4948296. Together with the advice given from the FC list, this is what current construction method looks like.  

1. Excavation will take place with approximately 2ft larger then the final pool dimension. Excavation will be done with a slight slope so that sides dont fall in before pool construction is finished. 
2. I will have 20cm of gravel on all the bottom. In the deep end of the pool I will create a deeper pit where I will put in a sump pump to take away the water. Gravel will be covered by a geotextile to prevent silt to clog up the gravel. 
3. On top of the gravel I will place steel reinforcement.  Where the walls are going to rest I will have foundation steel (rectangular box 15*35 cm made out of 6 rebars with 7mm diameter).  On the rest of the bottom I will have 2 layers of welded wire mesh of 6mm thickness with 150mm squares.  The rebar mesh will be tied into the rest of the foundation.  Then I will pour about 10-15 cm regular concrete (special pool mix).  
4. I will then build a regular concrete masonry block wall that will act as the external pool walls.  I'll either use regular hallow block that allows for post and beam construction or I'll use the kind where you can pour a solid concrete wall between the two sided of the block. 
5.  This first wall will not represent the water proof shell. Its there to act as a form for the second shell and to take away the majority of stress on the second shell. 
6. The second shell will be built out of FC construction.  It will consist out of 4 layers of expended metal lath plus 4 layers of welded wire mesh (1.75mm thickness wire).  I will use the laminated method and prefabricate pool panels.  The mud recipe is not decided yet but it should use easily sourced ingredient's).
7. When the final layer of metal lath is covered I was planning of pushing into the mud a thin foam panel. I'll probably use 20mm or 40mm of panel.  The foam is not there to provide insulation but to separate the internal and external shells so that they act independently.  
8. When the FC pool panels are fabricated I was going to tile them with regular bathroom tile.  I'll probably use small tile. I won't tile the full surface. I'll tile the edges after installation since I will need to connect the FC panels.  I'm doing majority of tiling ahead of time since its easier to tile like that. 
9. On the FC panels I will leave some exposed mesh on the sides which will be used to connect panels together and covered with mud at installation time. 
10. I was planning on connecting the prefabricated FC panels in a similar fashion to tile.  I was to apply a thin set on the foam side of the panel and press it onto the block wall. Preferably I would like to have some flexible thin set since I don't want to much interaction between the two shells. 
11. When all the panels are connected the internal shell will act as the flexible, waterproof FC shell.  
12.  The pool will be slightly raised. Around it I will have concrete deck that is poured in one piece.  Pool and rain water will run towards a gutter that will transport it away.   I will not connect the concrete decking into the pool wall but have it rest onto the external thick pool wall only.  

Please comment on the viability of it.  Do you think the two shells is a good idea? Do you think the foam backing is good or should it be omitted? How would you connect the various panels together in a clean way? 

Thanks for all your help.

Cheers,
Kosta





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