This was a saga of epic proportions which, for a while, left us wondering if having a pool as really worth it. Ironic that the key problems were that it kept filling up with water when we didn’t want it to.
We had originally expected the pool to be dug between Christmas and new year which would have been a perfect present as the weather was good and the whole thing would have been done and dusted within a week. However, some other customer, who I despise without ever meeting them, had priority and Santa came late for us. This meant that the perfectly dug hole in the ground was not dug until the 8th Feb…..
Then it rained…..and rained. It was not so much the water that fell into the pool that was the problem but rather the water that seeped in from the earth that cause the problem. Unfortunately at this early stage, our precisely dug hole is not designed to hold a massive amount of water and the walls began to cave in. Worse still - the bottom of the pool comprised impervious rock which aided retention of the water and its corrosive power in relation to the walls. Poor Steve spent the first day of his holiday armpit deep in muddy water with a hired generator and pump bailing out the pool….for 9 hours!! Only 1 small section of the pool caved in which was then shored up with some corrugated iron. The metal formwork went in....
The risks associated with flooding increased at this point and would only go away when the concrete goes in. The concrete pour, of course, requires good weather which was due on the Friday 10th but the concrete company got the jitters (a small cloud had appeared) and they postponed until Monday 13th. Guess what happened next? Yes, it rained! ….A LOT!. On the 12th, there was a massive storm that dropped 10cm of rain within an hour resulting in 35,000 litres of water in our pool. The chances of major damage to the formwork was significant and Steve had to take another dip in the pool, this time in the dark. If we didn’t clear it and dry it out in time, the concrete pour would be delayed again, and rain was forecast the day after the pour. Not much sleeping going on at our house!! There was no time to get a generator and so he asked a new neighbour to borrow power and he kindly agreed (thank goodness for the beer economy). However – just before the connections were made, the whole street lost power!! What are the chances? Fortunately it came back on and Steve had his late night swim. 6 hours later, the pool was empty and it was dry enough for the pour the next day…phew…..
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