A hole for an indoor swim spa?

[G and J]

  On 08/12/2024 at 14:21, Pocster said:

Cheap skate !

Expand  

Guilty as discharged.  
 

Our build is less than 250m from a leisure centre with 25m pool, gym and sauna/steam room.

 

I love the sauna and steam room, but my eco guilt bones won’t let me have my own, similarly with the pool.   However the rower and the weights (with huge tv, natch) I draw the line on, despite the negative payback vs gym membership.  I’ll swim in other peep’s effluvia, but I draw the line at sitting on a warm, damp, rower seat.  Plus gyms are phasing out free weights and I’m ancient school where that’s concerned. 
 

So more power to one’s peccadilloes…

[saveasteading]

  On 08/12/2024 at 14:21, SBMS said:

recommend a fully waterproofed design?

Expand  

Once you have dealt with a wet basement you don't want it again. It may depend on the building's location and the ground. If you dig a hole does it fill?

 

It is a reversed water tank really. would you build in brick and blackjack to store water? It works for a while then starts to leak.

[SBMS]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:08, saveasteading said:

Once you have dealt with a wet basement you don't want it again. It may depend on the building's location and the ground. If you dig a hole does it fill?

 

It is a reversed water tank really. would you build in brick and blackjack to store water? It works for a while then starts to leak.

Expand  

Thanks @saveasteading (the only adult in the room so far). Is this something that a structural engineer would typically design? 

[Pocster]

  On 08/12/2024 at 14:51, G and J said:

Plus gyms are phasing out free weights and I’m ancient school where that’s concerned. 

Expand  

Really ? . Free weights are the best ! . 

[G and J]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:14, Pocster said:

Really ? . Free weights are the best ! . 

Expand  

Best at causing injuries for the careless, certainly.  But more satisfying to use.

[Pocster]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:26, G and J said:

Best at causing injuries for the careless, certainly.  But more satisfying to use.

Expand  

Oh yes I’ve seen a few accidents . Usually when I’m watching that tight Lycra bum in the mirror .

[ToughButterCup]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:27, Pocster said:

...Usually when I’m watching that tight Lycra bum in the mirror .

Expand  

 

Does yours look big in the mirror then ?

[Pocster]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:46, ToughButterCup said:

 

Does yours look big in the mirror then ?

Expand  

No . It just looks like licious booty 

[Russell griffiths]

@SBMS take your £41,000 and double that by the time your swimming in it. 
ask @Nickfromwales he’s got a bit of a grasp on these things. 
 

[SBMS]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:50, Russell griffiths said:

@SBMS take your £41,000 and double that by the time your swimming in it. 
ask @Nickfromwales he’s got a bit of a grasp on these things. 
 

Expand  

Why? 41k for groundworks you mean?

[Russell griffiths]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:53, SBMS said:

Why? 41k for groundworks you mean?

Expand  

Waterproofing, drainage, pump, surrounding flooring, extensive ventilation system, extra insulation and vapour control in that room. 
the list goes on. 
Obviously every building will be different. 
the last one I was on the house foundations all had to be changed due to digging a hole that would project further into the ground than the house foundations, so foundation depth needed altering. 

[Pocster]

@SBMS - save your cash . Do this - value for 15 quid .

[G and J]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:47, Pocster said:

No . It just looks like licious booty 

Expand  

These concave mirrors are very clever.  
 

As for the cost of an indoor swimming pool, it did sound rather too good to be true.

[Jilly]

  On 08/12/2024 at 15:08, saveasteading said:

Once you have dealt with a wet basement you don't want it again. It may depend on the building's location and the ground. If you dig a hole does it fill?

 

It is a reversed water tank really. would you build in brick and blackjack to store water? It works for a while then starts to leak.

Expand  

As @saveasteading says.
We have had just that happen when we specified a similar looking ‘pit’ in our garage (for mending my horse lorry) when the slab was done.  It fills with water constantly, is a pita and a complete waste of money and has never been used. We are on clay, and yes, any hole fills up with water. Be very wary.

[SBMS]

  On 08/12/2024 at 16:36, Jilly said:

As @saveasteading says.
We have had just that happen when we specified a similar looking ‘pit’ in our garage (for mending my horse lorry) when the slab was done.  It fills with water constantly, is a pita and a complete waste of money and has never been used. We are on clay, and yes, any hole fills up with water. Be very wary.

Expand  

Right ok - well that’s not great. It

sounds like a basement design is required (or a really big pump running 24/7)??

[saveasteading]

  On 08/12/2024 at 16:56, SBMS said:

a basement design is required (or a really big pump running 24/7)??

Expand  

 

It's not difficult or hugely expensive but needs knowledge and care.

 

by the time you've built a waterproof tank for a basement (waterproof on the outside)  you might as well make that your pool, lined internally, so all concrete not a premade tank.

 

I wouldn't want to do it inside an existing house though. That's what takes it from 20k to 40k, or 80k

Then add for  M and E and damp prevention.

 

Thereafter you may use the pool perhaps 1,000 times at £40 a time before allowing for the upkeep.

 

Sorry, sometimes I can be a bit negative.

 

[SBMS]

  On 08/12/2024 at 17:18, saveasteading said:

 

It's not difficult or hugely expensive but needs knowledge and care.

 

by the time you've built a waterproof tank for a basement (waterproof on the outside)  you might as well make that your pool, lined internally, so all concrete not a premade tank.

 

I wouldn't want to do it inside an existing house though. That's what takes it from 20k to 40k, or 80k

Then add for  M and E and damp prevention.

 

Thereafter you may use the pool perhaps 1,000 times at £40 a time before allowing for the upkeep.

 

Sorry, sometimes I can be a bit negative.

 

Expand  

When you say an existing house do you mean retrofit or a new build? I have sorted the ventilation and humidity extraction as the pool is relatively small and covered most of the time. Or do you just mean indoors full stop?

 

negativity is good. It offsets naivety to land somewhere approaching realism. 

[saveasteading]

  On 08/12/2024 at 17:32, SBMS said:

do you mean retrofit or a new build? 

Expand  

Either. I'm thinking of working in a confined space, and not undermining foundations, as compared to open space with the rest of the groundworks.

[SteamyTea]

I used to make and install saunas, steam rooms, spa baths and sunbeds.

Steered clear of swimming pools.

There are many different pool types, from a simple block and liner, right though to flexible concrete ones.

I stayed well away from the sales people  when we had joint projects. A nicer bunch of wankers you could not hope  to meet. They only work on sunny days, a monkey can sell a pool when the sun shines.

 

You need to make sure  that you use stainless or galvanised fixings, the chlorine/bromine fumes rot steel a treat.

Edited December 9, 2024 by SteamyTea

[Russell griffiths]

  On 08/12/2024 at 22:47, saveasteading said:

Either. I'm thinking of working in a confined space, and not undermining foundations, as compared to open space with the rest of the groundworks.

Expand  

I’m sure this is what I said. 
if you put that pool in a reasonably sized room the foundation design will be altered to accommodate side loads imposed on them by not having any soil to retain them. 
foundations will need to go to a level below the bottom of the pool depth. 
 

unless in a very big room. 

[SBMS]

  On 09/12/2024 at 10:09, Russell griffiths said:

I’m sure this is what I said. 
if you put that pool in a reasonably sized room the foundation design will be altered to accommodate side loads imposed on them by not having any soil to retain them. 
foundations will need to go to a level below the bottom of the pool depth. 
 

unless in a very big room. 

Expand  

The pool we are looking at is self supporting.. doesn’t impose any load on side walls. 

[saveasteading]

  On 09/12/2024 at 17:50, SBMS said:

doesn’t impose any load on side walls. 

Expand  

but it needs a hole in the ground, which needs support.

also, as @Russell griffithssaid, it may undermine the walls.

[SBMS]

  On 09/12/2024 at 18:00, saveasteading said:

but it needs a hole in the ground, which needs support.

also, as @Russell griffithssaid, it may undermine the walls.

Expand  

Yes of course. Structural engineer will design retaining walls and impact on foundation design etc, it’s just that there wouldn’t be any load outwards from pool itself. 

[Russell griffiths]

  On 09/12/2024 at 17:50, SBMS said:

The pool we are looking at is self supporting.. doesn’t impose any load on side walls. 

Expand  

It’s not the pool imposing the load, it’s the house imposing the load on the ground, the ground that you will remove to dig the hole, so you have a house pushing down that forces the soil to want to spread, it can’t spread because it pushes against more soil, remove a chunk of that and you footings will move inwards towards the pool. 
 

the last one I was on the house footings had to go down well below the bottom level of the pool, then the walls where reinforced, just like a basement wall. 
which in effect is what you will have. 
 

you could just plonk it on the ground floor level without sinking it in, but you would need a raised deck around it and a very high ceiling. 
 

£40,000 for the pool and £40,000 to make it all work, I’ve had two pools in the past and won’t be getting another anytime soon, they are a lovely idea, but cost a fortune to install, and a fair chunk in up keep. 
 

you can get a fairly simple one that you plonk on the floor level and swim against the pretend current. 
 

im sure there a couple of people on here with pools. 
didnt @AliGhave one. 
 

im not trying to put you off, you have whatever you want, but don’t think the cost stops after you have bought a big fibreglass bathtub. 

[SBMS]

  On 09/12/2024 at 19:11, Russell griffiths said:

It’s not the pool imposing the load, it’s the house imposing the load on the ground, the ground that you will remove to dig the hole, so you have a house pushing down that forces the soil to want to spread, it can’t spread because it pushes against more soil, remove a chunk of that and you footings will move inwards towards the pool. 
 

the last one I was on the house footings had to go down well below the bottom level of the pool, then the walls where reinforced, just like a basement wall. 
which in effect is what you will have. 
 

you could just plonk it on the ground floor level without sinking it in, but you would need a raised deck around it and a very high ceiling. 
 

£40,000 for the pool and £40,000 to make it all work, I’ve had two pools in the past and won’t be getting another anytime soon, they are a lovely idea, but cost a fortune to install, and a fair chunk in up keep. 
 

you can get a fairly simple one that you plonk on the floor level and swim against the pretend current. 
 

im sure there a couple of people on here with pools. 
didnt @AliGhave one. 
 

im not trying to put you off, you have whatever you want, but don’t think the cost stops after you have bought a big fibreglass bathtub. 

Expand  

Appreciate it @Russell griffiths  we’ve designed it such that the pool room is effectively a single story flat roof extension connected to the house. Pool section would be at least 3m away from foundations of the main house. Have done this to try and minimise issues with affecting main house.

 

I think my current route is to get a design from SE for the retaining wall and foundation design. Then I’ll get a waterproofing design done. Builder can quote from that and I can see if it’s worth doing or not. Can report back here if anyone is interested

 

Appreciate some think it’s a crazy idea full stop… but Am I following a sensible plan there or missing anything?