Safely Locating Your Pool

If you're thinking about a pool, your most important decision will be on where to place it. While this issue won't be particularly urgent for those installing an above ground pool, those looking at an ingroundpool must be thorough. Choosing the proper spot can save you much headache.

The wrong location for a pool does more than cause inconvenience. Rainwater or floodwaters can run into your nice, sparkling water. This excess dirt and sediment can ruin your pool's filtration system as well as the water pump. If you choose an area that is too open, you might be unable to come up for air because the wind makes you frigid.

You can also run into problems from trees and undergrowth. Natural features regularly shed leaves, berries, and seeds. They might even drip sticky sap into your pool. An experienced professional pool builder from inground pools Brisbane will help you decide the best placement.

The potential hazards and drawbacks may look intimidating. Here are some tips to help you choose the ideal spot for your inground swimmingpool:

1. Select Higher Ground. You never want to install a pool in a low area. This will draw natural water into your pool. Natural water, like flood water, doesn't just bring murky or muddy water. It can also carry leaves, branches, and in some cases larger debris. This can ruin your pool. In extreme situations, you will have to drain the pool completely, clean the interior, and refill.

Likewise, high-water planes also present their own unique problems. This often means the hole for the pool could fill with natural water before further pool construction is made.

2. Close, but not too close. While you probably don't want a pool directly in front of your backdoor, it will need to be reasonably nearby. You should keep the pool within view of the house. This will allow you to keep a watch on swimmers, even if you're inside.

3. Leave Room for the Future. When you place your pool, leave some room if possible. You may wish to add further components to your pool area later on. You may eventually want things like a diving board, slide, spa, utility shed or a patio area.

4. It should be sunny. The spot for your pool should have as much sunlight as possible. Natural solar exposure will help keep your water warm. An open setting will also prevent leaves from falling into your pool. If your pool is already heated, sun exposure will alleviate some of the work that your pool must do to heat the water.

5. Don't Forget Wind. You will want to prevent too much wind from circulating your pool. Wind increases evaporation and you'll continually have to refill your pool. Likewise, you don't want to surface and become frigid from a simple breeze. If no part of the yard has a natural blockage, you can create one. Construct a solid fence with no slats or gaps in the side. If this isn't achievable, plant a border of thick shrubs or shorter trees.

6. Always Seek Clarity. You want your pool to be clear of all utility lines. This means away from telephone or electrical wiring, poles or connections. You'll also want to avoid any areas that might harbor water lines, sewer or septic lines and electrical cables.

Choosing a safe spot for your pool will do more than make installation simpler. It will protect you and your family in the future.

Knowing more about swimming pools is a great head start. More and more Brisbane pools now created everyday in Queensland. Visit our site and our showrooms for more information.

Considerations for Your Pool

Every homeowner dreams of a swimming pool installation, but just the set up is enough to intimidate many interested. Fortunately, you can create order from this chaos with a few simple considerations:

Choose your pool wisely. Pools are common today. There are millions of houses around the world that have their own private pool and the number multiplies daily. Your primary choices for an inground pool are: concrete, fiberglass or vinyl-lined. Some areas also offer aluminum- or steel-sided pools. 

 

Concrete pools are the most durable and are completely customized when constructed. You can have any shape you like at any size. These are also called Shotcrete or Gunite, depending on which professionals you consult with. See your nearest inground pool Brisbane for further details. Concrete is also able to withstand time and is the only pool that can be enlarged or remodeled after it's installed.

Vinyl-lined is a more affordable option. It is also durable and the surface is completely nonporous. This means there are no hidden or tiny spaces for algae to establish within. Fiberglass pools offer the same benefits as vinyl-lined pools, but are more durable. All three types are usually available wherever pools are installed. If you can't pick one, let your local pool specialist decide. They will know what types your particular climate and soil require.

For example, cold climates demand flexibility, so you have the choices of fiberglass or vinyl-lined. The freezing and thawing cycles can crack or damage concrete.

Pricing is another area you must sort through early on. Costs for an inground pool can widely vary and you won't know precisely what is required until you narrow down your pool's specifics. There will also be variations in price for where you live, what kind of soil you have, and so on. You may find a contractor that is willing to give you a reduced price if you build during spring or fall.

Concrete pools are the most expensive of all. Next in price tends to be the vinyl-lined, followed by fiberglass. Your accessories and non-essentials can also add onto the price tag. A high-end fiberglass pool with the latest gizmos will cost you just as much as a simple concrete pool.

You will also need to take the costs of the non-pool essentials into consideration. Are you going to pave around the pool? Will you need a deck? Do you intend on having a patio near your pool? These may seem insignificant in comparison, but can quickly add up.

Zoning and homeowners associations may also require their own specifics for you to build an inground pool. Always check early on. The building codes and zoning rules do differ greatly in each area. In a nutshell, they will have their own regulations. Some areas require your pool to be a distance from a property line, water lines, wetlands or whatever else is relevant. You building codes are like any major home improvement project. You may be required to have barriers or gates in place.

A good equation to ponder on is a pool perimeter fence that's 4 feet tall or higher. It will need gates that both self-close and self-latch. Fence rails, balusters or boards can't be over 4 inches apart.

 
The process to install a pool is worthy of much consideration. Knowing the facts as early as possible will only help you further down the road.

Resource: Knowing more about swimming pools is a great head start. More and more Brisbane pools now created everyday in Queensland. Visit our site and our showrooms for more information.

Battling Common Pool Problems

Pool owners are faced with several issues when they've installed an in-ground pool. The primary concern is maintenance. Since so much water isn't perfectly clean, keeping the water just right is an ongoing process. Fortunately, there are methods today that can make this process more like a simple chore, and less like an ongoing battle.

In some areas, calcium is much more of an issue than it is elsewhere. Calcified water, often known as "hard" water, has been known to damage appliances in your house. Naturally, this can be an issue in your pool. To make things more difficult, you actually need a small amount of calcium in your water. Water with low levels of calcium present a problem, as well. This is often called "soft" water. You need your pool water to be in the middle.

For people who suffer from hard water, you can use sequestering mineral treating products or the chelating mineral products. If you have soft water, you will need to determine how much calcium you have. This can be done via a water analysis. The analysis can also show you if other minerals or chemicals are present that might cause issues. A pool is a big investment and you need to maintain it for the maximum benefit.

Most experts recommend a calcium balance in your pool water of between 80 and 150 parts-per-million (ppm). Luckily chemicals are readily available to correct these issues. Contact your local swimming pool companies Brisbane for further information.

Calcium scaling along the waterline is treated by cleaning with an appropriate acid solution. Be sure to observe safety precautions when using any strong solution. Wear rubber gloves and protect your eyes. To protect the pool, always test new cleaning agents and products in an area that is inconspicuous.

There are other ways to treat your pool using items you already have in the house. Warm standing water, such as what you can find in a pool, can be a hotbed for germs, viruses and bacteria. They can take hold in your water through any simple chemical imbalance and you might not know until someone becomes ill. This makes treating an imperative to protect swimmers as much as the pool.

For extreme cases, such as pools that have a visible algae infestation, you need an aggressive solution. Drain the pool. You need to sanitize the inside. Create a solution of one ounce of regular laundry bleach for two gallons of water. This will be adequate to sterilize your pool. Use a steel brush for concrete pools or a dish brush for vinyl lined pools. Once you've scrubbed the pool down, rinse thoroughly. When you refill the pool, keep the temperature cool for a while, just to ensure no regrowth.

If you have a 30,000 gallon pool, you can sanitize the water by pouring a gallon of regular bleach straight into your pool's skimmer. This averages out to roughly two ppm of chlorine.

Pool alkalinity is another area of concern. This can actually be increased by just using kitchen baking soda. Use the same amount of baking soda that you would a pool chemical to accomplish the same purpose.

Hydrochloric acid, also referred to as muriatic acid, can decrease the pool's alkalinity. You'll need to add around one and one-third pint for every 10,000 gallons of water.

Resource: Knowing more about fibreglass pools is a great head start. More and more Brisbane pool now created everyday in Queensland. Visit our site and our showrooms for more information.

Take the Time to Install a Solid and Reliable Concrete Swimming Pool

One of the best features of concrete pools is that they are not limited in shape or size. They can be designed and built with the ideal shape to compliment your back yard, swimming requirements as well as the already existing or planned landscaping.


There are three building styles commonly utilised for the construction of concrete pools, and these are precast, shotcrete, and finally the cast-in-place method. Generally, shotcreting, which provides a liner that rests on the local embankment, is cheaper, but isn’t suitable where the embankment walls are either unstable or prone to external hydraulic pressure. Precast construction can be economic if the right facilities are available, with a reduction in labour and forming costs. If the joints used in this process have been well designed and are properly constructed they perform almost equally with structures which are cast in place.


Once you’ve established the size and shape of your concrete pool, then had the plans approved by your local council you can sit back and relax for a couple of months whilst the pool craftsmen get on with their job.


First thing to occur will be the earthworks itself, as the hole for your pool is literally scooped out of the earth. The soil may be carted away or used and incorporated into further landscaping in your yard. Once the big hole is finished the concreting form work will be delivered. It won’t take the workers long to get the boards and sheets in place as they are well used to jobs like yours.


Once the formwork is finished any steel required for strengthening reinforcement will be placed and wired together to prevent movement once the concrete pouring begins. The pouring of the concrete pool shell is probably the most important and certainly the most noticeable aspect of the construction of concrete pools. One minute you have a large hole in the earth and within a few hours there is a thick concrete shell, almost ready for filling with water.


The concrete will set fairly quickly and within a few days, backfilling will be done carefully. This will often be performed along with any plumbing lines which need to run in the backfilled areas. Soon thereafter an electrician and a tiler will appear, and then, specialists will install any step treads required and craft the bull-nosed header around the pool edge.


Any water features and paving will quickly follow as your concrete pool starts to look like you expected it would. In a flurry of activity the filtration equipment will be installed, the shell will be meticulously cleaned and a fine plaster lining added below the tiles which were set down to the water level.


After a final inspection, the pool is filled with water and the manufacturer will tell you all you need to know about the maintenance and care required by your sturdy concrete swimming pool. It may have taken a couple of months from start to finish, but then, suddenly, before you know it, you’ll be stroking casually along the length of your own backyard swimming hole, proudly joining that prestigious club; owners of well-constructed concrete pools.




Freedom Pools is an award winning fibreglass swimming pools & spas. More and more Brisbane pool now created everyday in Queensland. Visit our site for more information. 

Legal Requirements and Obligations of Swimming Pool Owners in Queensland

If you live in Queensland, you are required to register your swimming pool. Most of the swimming pools within Queensland have already been registered, and are on the swimming pool safety register of the Queensland Government. If you fail to have your swimming pool registered you may be liable to an on-the-spot fine of up to $200, or even as much as $2000 if complaints are received by your local council. This is just a small portion of the initiatives aimed at helping protect children and young adults from unnecessary drowning. You can register your pool by ringing the PSC (Pool Safety Council) on 1800 340 634 or by doing it online by emailing details to PSC@dlgp.qld.gov.au .


All swimming pools are required to have swimming pool safety certificates. Even when you are buying, selling or even leasing a property which has a swimming pool or a spa, the new swimming pool legal obligations apply. They apply equally to houses, units, townhouses, motels, hotels. Even backpacker hostels, caravan parks and homestay accommodation are affected. The rules vary slightly if you are renting a property with a swimming pool, the Queensland Government has suggested a delay so far as the new swimming pool safety laws as applied to rental properties which have pools which are not shared.


The maintenance of swimming pool fences and other relevant safety barriers is strictly essential to try and reduce the amount of drownings and related injuries of younger children in all swimming pools. The owners are themselves responsible for maintaining pool barriers and any damaged fencing must be repaired immediately. There is finally just one swimming pool safety standard in Queensland, reduced from the 11 sets of standards formerly.


The state of Queensland’s Government has introduced these new pool safety regulations in an effort to reduce drownings and other serious immersion damage done to young children in private and public swimming pools. These laws will affect both new and already existing swimming pools. All pool owners have until November 30th 2015 to make sure they comply with all the new swimming pool laws, or even earlier if they lease or sell a property with a pool.


Hotels, resorts, motels and any other building which provides short or longer term accommodation were all required to fully comply with these new swimming pool laws by June 1st 2011, after a six month phasing-in period. Such buildings had the option to adopt a new swimming pool Safety Management Plan rather than having to construct a safety-compliant pool fence or barrier.


Such swimming pool Safety Management Plans have to be fully approved. Information which will assist swimming pool owners in developing a swimming pool Safety Management Plan are contained within the swimming pool Safety Management Plan procedures.


The safety of children is paramount. Swimming pools are a safety hazard to young children and these new regulations are simply trying to ensure their safety. Drowning is still the most common cause of death in children between one and four, as far as accidental deaths are concerned. Swimming pool drowning is preventable and if you have a swimming pool you should make it your business to comply with the new regulations and ensure that your pool is child-safe.




Freedom Pools is an award winning fibreglass swimming pools & spas. More and more Brisbane pool now created everyday in Queensland. Visit our site for more information.