DIY Swimming Pool Construction — Outline Cost In Brief
Not as hard or as expensive as most of the pool industry wants you believe. Lets get straight into the cost of what would be quite a reasonable sized inground garden pool of 8m X 4m DIY Swimming Pool construction is not Rocket Science.
Lets breakdown and look at some of the pipe and fittings costs required first. 36m 1.5″ BSP UPVc pool pipe, 2X skimmer, 2X jets, 2X conduits, 2X bottom drains, 2X 1.5″ Ts, 3X 1.5″ valves, 12X 90s 1.5″, solvent weld and cleaner. All for less than £1000 including vat. A good specification pump and filter of 21/25″ filter and 0.75hp pump priced at £550 to £700 including glass media sand. And don’t think this is a low quality installation all the pipework is UPVc BS/EN1452 standard and the pump/filter equipment UKCA, TUV and CE certification.
Although this is a DIY pool build you don’t have to stick to basic stuff. We carry options for pool lighting with remote control for pool and garden. Pool automation that will measure water chemistry and dose chemicals if required. Other options are a simple dosing tank for Chlorine, Bromine etc. Onto a salt chlorination system. Heating via cost affective heat pumps alongside Heat Exchangers run off a household boiler. Swim jets for pool exercise. Many with WiFI and Internet of Things control options.
The above is of course in addition to the cost of the pool tank but depending on the type of construction you choose and the finish of the pool walls, liner, tiled etc, toppings for the pool edge and landscaping is entirely down to your pocket. The normal structural engineering rules need to be applied.
Many pool construction companies don’t have JCB diggers, brick & concrete layers, tilers and electricians, they bring these trades in so why don’t you organise it yourself.
Some tips:- For the ground works (digging of the pool) a local groundworks company is often the best option. The concrete slab needs to be a C35 structural mix, steel Rebar reinforced with protective membrane and insulation. The current cost (Nov26) of concrete direct from local suppliers should be no more than £1750 for the 8.5×4.5m X 200mm deep slab.
Any further costs would be for a descent grade of Visqueen sheet, any insulation board you wish to place under the concrete (recommended) and the steel grid itself with 40cm X 40cm right angles placed along the block line to reinforce the joint of the base and pool walls. There is a consideration to provide an electrical earth ground to the Rebar. Don’t forget if you are having bottom drains these must be in place with its pipework prior to the base pour.
There are 3 main types of pool tank construction, all 3 must have steel re-bar reinforcement. Shotcrete, Shutter and Pour and the most common type and easiest for DIY construction is Laid Hollow Block.
For DIY we will deal with the simplest, Laid Hollow Block. As with this method there is no need for specialist equipment or experience with re-bar construction in the use of Shotcrete or Shutter & Pour.
