Hilux 4x4 Forum

Google gives me one LONG list of pool installers ....

and a few phone calls give a similar long list of "Sorry, cant recommend the guys that did my pool ..."


QUESTION - What pool installer can you recommend in the Western Cape, Northern Suburbs ?



Still not sure on fibre glass vs built ....


Looking at a SMALL splash pool, at least 1,5m deep ....



enige raad oor installeerders, tipe bad, verhitting, ens ens .... ALLE raad word verwelkom.

ons het vir Leasure pools gebruik, hulle is nou wel in Durban maar het ouens in die Kaap. so 5/6jr terug was hulle die enigste wat vir ons 10jr waarborg gegee het. so try hulle maar gerus.

my water is nog in die swembad so hulle is oraait

Fibreglass is better in a number of respects, especially if it's a smaller unit like a splash pool. Only thing is that you cannot do a custom shape / design.

• Installation is both easier and quicker - that saves bucks and less disruption time.
• You can DIY (I did my own, approx 15,000 lit).
• Fibre has better insulation properties, so temp fluctuations are milder and heating more effective.
• Cheaper to maintain because
* Easier to keep clean
* Uses less chemicals
* If for some reason you develop an algae problem (thunder storms / prolonged periods away) it doesn't become ingrained but just wipes off.
• If you reside in a clay belt and you have hydraulic heaving, fibre is more flexible and less likely to crack.
• It's much easier to do repairs to fibre than to 'gunnite'.

If however you decide to do a 'gunnite' pool, choose a chip-tile finish and NOT marble plaster / marblelite.

Hilux 1 wrote:ons het vir Leasure pools gebruik, hulle is nou wel in Durban maar het ouens in die Kaap. so 5/6jr terug was hulle die enigste wat vir ons 10jr waarborg gegee het. so try hulle maar gerus.

my water is nog in die swembad so hulle is oraait

jy klink nou AMPER soos n Land Rover salesman ...


werk daai pomp dat al die water nog in die swembad is ...



Baie dankie vir die verwysing, sal hulle kontak.

baie dankie Andy

Ek oorweeg elke jaar om 'n splash pool in te bou, maar koop dan maar weer een van daai "disposible" pools wat amper die hele somer hou as die hond dit nie eet nie.

Hou ons op hoogte van jou swembad stories.......dalk motiveer jy my ook.

UPDATE -

seems the glasfibre splash pools are not deep enough ....

I NEED it to be about 1,55m deep (water depth)



thus it seems a built pool and fibre lining is on the cards .....

Just did a quick search and of the fibreglass pool shell manufacturers that were around in the days when we still did pools, only 'Sundance Pools' and 'Penguin Pools' are still operative. I see a whole bunch of 'new guys' that I don't know. We never used Penguin ... never had a good rep in those days but things might have changed since they're still around. Sundance was pretty good.

We never used shells less than 8mm thick, but on a slash pool the 6mm might be OK. To the best of my recollection there were deep splash pools available.

The gunnite and fibre lining is certainly an option .... only crappy thing is that it has to be sanded smooth before the gel coats are applied, and that dust makes you itch like hell.

Thanks again Andy.

I sent out another email to the rep asking for a deeper splash pool.


Certainly the standard option page does not show what I want ... At least I could now ask for something like the Pebble model, but with 1,55m water depth at the deep end.



holding thumbs :)

Chris ek het na n paar (duur) probeerslae op die regte ou afgekom.
Hy het n klomp verwysings en is dalk een van die laaste 3 eerlike swembadmanne ini Kaap

Probeer hom gerus
Ben - 082 705 6563

Ek dink net jy gaan sukkel om iemand nog in hierdie jaar uit te kry !

Eben hoe bedoel jy dan nou ?

daar is dan nog 13 werksdae oor ... net hoeveel tyd het die manne nodig !














Jip, ek WEET dis n 2015 projek. Wil tog kyk om die planne die jaar in te dien, dalk Januarie 2015 ....

baie dankie vir die verwysing.


PS - ons sit nou juis met n klient wat 8 weke gesloer het met goedkeurings ... en nie nou kan\wil verstaan dat ons nie meer die jaar vir hom n tender kan uitsit nie .... wel ons kan, maar WIE gaan in Desember n tender invul ? klaar daai skoolgeld betaal !

Andy it appears there are now TWO fibreglass pool manufacturers - EDIT, make that THREE

Pleasure pools - http://www.pleasurepoolsfibreglass.co.za/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I really like the Pebble model, except I need it with a water depth of 1,55m

Sundance pools (they actually have multiple outlets\brands)


the rep for Pleasure pools have confirmed in writing that I cant get the Pebble in any other depth ...

Visited the Sundance factory - they will get their rep to contact me ... and will then give me a quote for a custom unit ..... sales lady was more energetic about this than the ladies in the back office .... doubt anything will come of this.

EDIT - Rep did phone, sending email with info. most willing to modify as required ....


Tygerberg pools also have their own range of glasfibre pools. Same depth issues, no other\custom options ....


time to contact people like Ben to find a "pool builder" ....

Dig a hole, line it with black builder's sheeting and gooi water!

:)

Chris, ek het Pleasure Pools gebruik en ek was BAIE tevrede. As Johan Klussman nog die eienaar is, kan jy hulle maar gebruik.

Warrior wrote:Chris ek het na n paar (duur) probeerslae op die regte ou afgekom.
Hy het n klomp verwysings en is dalk een van die laaste 3 eerlike swembadmanne ini Kaap

Probeer hom gerus
Ben - 082 705 6563

Ek dink net jy gaan sukkel om iemand nog in hierdie jaar uit te kry !

Ben doen ongelukkig net herstel werk. Wou nie kwoteer op n nuwe swembad nie - nie eens vir n 2015 installasie nie


darem reg gekom by Multi Pools. Wag nou net vir die finale kwotasie

bly jy kon reg kom, het jy ooit leisure pools probeer. ek is regtig baie te vrede met hulle diens tydens en nou nog na die tyd

Tertius ek het al die verwysings gebel .... nou al tred verloor met wie nog moet terug bel, wie net glasvesel doen, wie net herstel werk doen .... :)


MENS nie geweet daar is so baie mense in die industrie nie !



MAAR, 99% van die mense wil nie nou pryse gee nie .... "Meneer WEET die swembad kan nie nog die jaar in nie" .....

JA ek weet, ek kry nou my pryse sodat julle vroeg volgende jaar kan begin .... nee wat, tragies hoe mense kan kla oor "besigheid is stadig" maar moenie dink die mense wil kwoteer nie ....


TWEE mense het gekwoteer, een het die joppie gekry - nie weens prys nie, maar weens puik verwysings :)

Lekker man

Bly oom is uitgesort met die swembad

Ek gooi n party die naweek .... almal welkom.

Ek sal sorg vir GENOEG kole, en n paar magnums van die beste rooiwyn in die Kaap .... EN n paar grawe en kruiwaens .... so klein gat wat gegrawe moet word ..... ongelukkig moet ek sorg vir die kole so sal nou nie vir julle kan help met die gat grawe nie ....

ChrisF wrote:Ek gooi n party die naweek .... almal welkom.

Ek sal sorg vir GENOEG kole, en n paar magnums van die beste rooiwyn in die Kaap .... EN n paar grawe en kruiwaens .... so klein gat wat gegrawe moet word ..... ongelukkig moet ek sorg vir die kole so sal nou nie vir julle kan help met die gat grawe nie ....

Ek sal kom help kyk as ek moet

waarna wil jy "KYK" ...
of verkies jy ...

ek meen daai daai 5 liter VANLOVEREN is darem so BIETJIE beter as kardoes-wyn ...



lyk my die manne hier is nie dors nie .....

Daar is nou n special aan by Tops in Protea Vallei.

R80 vir n bottel Olof Bergh 750ml.

Dalk sal dit die ouens lok

4x4BEES wrote:Daar is nou n special aan by Tops in Protea Vallei.

R80 vir n bottel Olof Bergh 750ml.

Dalk sal dit die ouens lok

nee magtag man, wat is met die Brackenfell boys .... Olof en Captein .....

het julle nie geleer van kultuur nie



on second thought .... na so bietjie KAPTEIN gaan daai gat nou wragtag nie meer soos die plan lyk nie ...

Daai kan net lekker wees

Well Chris you certainly wont want me to advise on a swimming pool installer because this is what I did to my pool....
meet my fynbos garden....

hehehe .....

JIP, that is the ultimate fate of MANY pools .....



I would like to believe cleaning issues and cold water is the root cause of many pools being discarded. That and then off course when the kids leave the home.


I am going all out with the cleaning system and auto cleaning salt chlorinator .....


and trying some thing new with the pool heating - well, a new way of bending the maths to achieve heating without pushing up the pool running time .... watch this space :) :)

Pool install started on 5 January

Basically took 3 weeks to dig the hole and build the concrete structure, plastered and ready for the curing period.

The curing period was another 3 weeks ....


Now in week 9 the pool builder is absent, and the glass fibre lining to the concrete structure is leaking. And the base has delaminated from the concrete floor !



nou so klein bietjie ongelukkig !!

GI Jane wrote:Well Chris you certainly wont want me to advise on a swimming pool installer because this is what I did to my pool....

IMG_20140907_182855.jpg

meet my fynbos garden....

IMG_20140907_182849.jpg

Val do you want some vertilizer ?

I have an installer I want to "plant" ...

Eish!! Not lekker, and it can happen so easily!

3 Weeks curing time is OK (4 to 5 weeks is even better but not essential). Plastered hole must be dry and clean after which 1st resin coat is applied - (we used to treat plaster with bonding liquid first and bring in blowers it the plaster wasn't drying out properly before). Never had a de-lamination with that method. I know some guys used 'chopper guns' to apply the glass fibre but I still preferred chop-strand cloth with brushes and ribbed rollers. A brush works it in better, I think and is also less messy. IIRC 7 to 8 layers of cloth should give you approx 8mm shell thickness once sanded and gel coated.

Hope you come right!

.

Mud Dog wrote:Eish!! Not lekker, and it can happen so easily!

3 Weeks curing time is OK (4 to 5 weeks is even better but not essential). ....

In all fairness I should add that the time frame is exactly what my BIL gave me as well - he was in this game a few years back.


The first 6 weeks is totally on schedule.


Then the fibre work on my pool overlapped with another job .... he started leaving his guys alone on my site .... I knew it was stretching out, but did not want to kick up a fuss - did not realise what impact it could have on the quality of the job.

Chris, give the guy an opportunity to rectify ... as you say, he hasn't been personally supervising (something I always and still do - less goes off track and no comebacks). Besides, it's better for the same guy to continue if possible for a number of reasons .... quoted price (bringing in another contractor could result in an inflated end cost) .... he is already familiar with your project and plans .... understands your requirements .... you already have a repertoire with him that you can use to convey your concerns / disappointments.

The nice thing about glass fibre is that you can easily patch and repair, unlike concrete, so it's not a train smash.

When you say it's de-laminated in places, has it formed raised bubbles? Without being able to see the job, I'm sure the groundwater problem is the cause. A wet or even damp substrate will inhibit adhesion. This in itself is not a critical issue if it's still lying flat and not raised - the cement shell is really a sacrificial mould, although it does add some strength / support to the resin shell. We used to line the hole with a stabilised layer of about 300mm with a 40mm strong plaster over that. Don't know how 'thick' his cement shell is, but if it's adequate you should have no cracking problems.

Jip, certainly not a realistic option to get somebody else now. Was venting more than anything else ...

Strange how easily I can handle much worse issues at work - have a half-bar mess to sort out tomorrow .... no sweat.

But this is just too close to home !! Just no getting away from it for 2 months ....


Okay, back to reality. Here are a few picks.

Once long long ago I had a lawn -
the the job started -
The ground water caused havoc from day one ....

Andy the builder worked with a 200 x 200 grid for the rebar, with a solid concrete base -
giving the base a few days to dry again reminded us that ground water was going to be a PART of this build !!
each day the water would be pumped out, more than once, and the work continued - note the 200x200 rebar along the sides as well -
during the curing period various attempts was made with quick setting cement to stop the ground water, where ever you seal it would pop out right next to it -
It finally seemed like they got it sorted 98%, a chemical burn and heat guns and then the bonding layer, glass fibre and top cote was applied .... ONE HOUR later the water pushed through !!

they ground off the top cover and sealed those spots on Friday, by Sunday morning a section of the floor had lifted and you could hear the water under it !!

They cut this section out -

A hole was dug next to the pool, and deeper than the pool. This is now pumped out to relieve the pressure of the ground water.

Let's hope this works to get the spot dry enough to finish this job off properly ....



WOW !! what a mission .....


Andy thank you for the re-assurance that it is possible to fix the glass fibre ....


Hopefully this will all be a memory in a few days time ....

Ouch Chris that's hectic... having met your pool installer I'm sure he'll get this sorted!

Jip, I know he can .....


But as I say this is just too close to home .... and when you stare at those leaks for a few weeks then your grey matter starts leaking ....


We had a calm chat, he will now personally supervise the rest of the process to ensure it runs smoothly ! :)



PS - I have kept his name out of this as this is NOT meant to harm his business !!!!! I KNOW the ground water is an issue.

PPS - during day two of the job he told me that if the ground water really becomes a problem they will dig next to the pool and pump to relieve the pressure ..... Dont understand how the job progressed THIS far before he took his own advise ....


Worth noting he did a pool 75m from our house in October - NO ground water !! And that house is lower than ours .... go figure.




dankie manne. Moes net n slag kon praat .....

Hope it works out for you.

The pool design looks very nice

4x4BEES wrote:Hope it works out for you.

The pool design looks very nice

Thanks bud.

Designed it to give us a modern splash pool on the one side. And a deep end, deep enough and just large enough for aqua robics - no more fighting for parking at the gym ...

dis nou as daai dam die dag water - munisipale water - inkry ...

Ja - nee ..... underground water / aquifers are strange things. Take natural springs for example, one would expect them to seep from the lowest area of a topography, but look how many originate from the high points. His support shell will be more than adequate IMO, so no worries there for now - all the hassles so far seem to stem from the rising groundwater. But here's where it may become interesting, if it's not taken care of it could still cause problems down the line should you ever have to empty the pool. Without the weight of the body of pool water, the surrounding ground water could lift the shell out of the ground if the water table is high enough.

If you have enough elevation in the pool area that will allow a french drain to run off, that will be the easiest long term solution. Otherwise create a well with a large diameter pipe and put a submersible pump / borehole pump down into it to keep the surrounding water table down and positive pressure on the shell.

The other longer term concern I would have is what's going to happen when the reinforcing steel starts to expand with rust.

Thanks Andy.

Should I ever have to empty the pool this will start with sinking a drain point ... will speak to the builder, maybe put some pipes in position now, cap it just below ground level.


rebar rusting .... uhm ja ....

Chris, firstly my apologies if it appears to be that I'm peeing on your parade - this is not my intention. The reason why I mention the possible rust issue is that I think the issue is valid enough to make you aware.

With 'gunite' pools they use steel reinforcing, but it's in the form of 8mm gauge welded mesh and it's encased in a strong mix of hard packed concrete. Moisture ingress is therefore very slow and limited, and 8mm gives off a lot less expansion than say 12 or 14 mm. The other point is that yours is encased in a stock brick wall - moisture ingress will be significant. With any luck, it will pop outwards when it starts to expand (direction of least resistance).

The metaphorical horse has already bolted in this case so there's not much one can do to about it now, not even draining the ground water will help much. Time will tell.

Andy no problem, we are on the same page. :)


jip, the horse has bolted ... thus my previous reply ....


I think it is a 10mm rebar. Will see if I can find an off cut.


But as you say - too late to do anything now

Worth noting they worked with something like a 100mm cavity, and this was filled with a concrete mix.

Andy thanks for the tip regarding putting in a well-point now, while the hole is already dug.


Spoke to the pool guy and we will certainly install the pipes now, making sure any future maintenance can be done easily :)



PS - new fibre glass is in, and new final coat should be done tomorrow .... holding thumbs all works right this time (will pump out the hole again late tonight ! )

Holding thumbs for you Chris ,hope it all works in the end

Don't be too happy uncle Chris,

die munisipale rekening kom nog na jy hom vol gemaak het

4x4BEES wrote:Don't be too happy uncle Chris,

die munisipale rekening kom nog na jy hom vol gemaak het

eina pyne ....

gelukkig darem "net" n 12 cube bad.




juis nou weer daai pomp aangesit en die grond water uitgepomp.....

ROOFER wrote:Holding thumbs for you Chris ,hope it all works in the end

thanks bud.


SO close now !! Hopefully we can start putting water in by Friday THIS WEEK ...

Yeah, here's holding thumbs!

Keep pumping that ground water out until the pool water is in!

JIP !!!

17:00
21:00
2:00


vat nou GEEN kanse nie !!!!! :)



Will put in water into the pool as soon as possible - just that first 0,5m to cancel out the ground water. Will speak to the pool guy to find out when this can be done .....

vent removed ....

making the best of the delays


Went to the hardware store and did some in-shelf-design work ...


Seems I built an anchor

already drilled some breathing holes at the top, wrapped with biddum.

next to get two short pieces of conduit to link breathing holes from the anchor tips back to the centre leg. the three legs should give me a 15 to 20 liters capacity, thus being able to actually pump out a "bit" of water at a time. Using a SLOW pump it may just work ....


Then to drill 5 000 000 holes in the bottom section, and wrap it in biddum.


last step - plant this next to the pool, with the screw top just below grass level.


Should I ever need to pump out ground water I just need to drop down a suction pipe ....


THANKS ANDY !! You da man

Now, next step is a small solar pump that slowly pumps into a JoJo tank for garden watering!

Mud Dog wrote:

Now, next step is a small solar pump that slowly pumps into a JoJo tank for garden watering!

no nooooooo .....


oily layer on that water, and it stain brown immediately !!



Though I must say after pumping for a few days the water in the hole now seems a LOT cleaner now.


Pumped 10:30 last night, then again 5:00 this morning - about 40 liters of water that seeped into the pit in that time !!

another vent removed ...

Jissie, jammer om te hoor van oom se probleme met die swembad.

Teen die tyd dat hy reg is, is winter hier

.

hi Chris dis nou slegte nuus hoor wat is die outjie se storie dan hoop jy het nog n geldtjie oor van die kontrak prys.ek weet dit kan ontaard in n nag merrie .

Ek so se' moet nie iemand anders kry nie .
Ek neem aan jy het reeds gevra wat gaan aan die outjie het seker n ander groter projek met meer geld in die bad as jounne en dis gewoontlik die probleem.

Ek hoop jy sorteer dit uit voor die reen kom dan is jy in die

Voor spoed maat.

.

two weeks later, and it seems the project is back on track.

Early morning the final touches will be done and then it is time to fill the pool :) :)


One pipe and two or three pieces wiring then the installation is done, and ready to pump and HEAT the pool.


Then a bit of paving work ....

Cant wait to get my yard back !!


Andy thank you once again for your feedback here and via PM. I have followed your advise and have installed a system to pump out ground water.