[Ferro List] Re. Reworked...Pools

[Christopher Glasspool]

Kosta,
I was happy for Peter to correct my thinking on the deck to pool connection. what he said made sense, however in doing a computer search on; 'expansive soils swimming pools', I found several good articles, including one on the connection on the deck to pool in which it states that for expansive soils, you want the deck to connect to the pool bond beam as the pool may ride up and down separating at this point if it isn't very structurally monolithic, and strong. This article is from azcentral.com. With this word search you will also find some pdf articles with really useful information.
A swimming pool isn't a good place for piece meal panels. This in my opinion is one type of construction where you want a monolithic type of construction that incorporates hoops. In Dr. Naaman's book he talks about how much skeletal steel lends the structure to the fc bendable characteristics and what percentage of the volume and where it should be placed. My book is out on loan but I believe it is no more than 50% of the volume placed in the middle of the sandwich, so putting welded concrete mesh on the outside doesn't meet fc requirements. While putting a block wall on the outside could reduce hydrostatic pressure, if the fc is attached then you will loose the fc characteristics in any event the slow destruction by hydrostatic pressure on the block wall will eventually put that same pressure onto the fc wall. If you try to design by combining the best of reinforced concrete and ferrocement what you end up is the worst of both. Concepts of ferrocement
 are very close to fiberglassing. One of the flaws found on older fiberglass boats is stiff structural elements that are meant to support the hull, but what happens is that then the hull would flex right where the bulkheads etc., joined, so the evaluation of this, lent to placing foam pieces between hard areas and flexible areas allowing the full shell to take the stressing instead of one small area.
Sump pumps obviously do work but complicate and often increase expense and maintenance. I would trench out in several directions and then go down several feet with a dry well...french drain. Let gravity do the trick.
I wouldn't tile anything here as it would be a experiment of how much movement affects what...cracking grout lines, and maybe even tile pop offs.
I once had a home built on very expansive soil. It is almost like building on a volcanic flow. The pressures are enormous. The best way to think about your project is not that it should resist the forces but ride them and float over them. This is one project that begs for an open minded creative engineer to be involved. Good luck - chris


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