Reflecting Pool vs Crystal Clear Pool Bottom

One minor step many might overlook in the process of building an NSP is what do you want the actual water to look like?  Do you want it to look like chlorine clear or are shades of green acceptable?  Would you mind if it were even dark like most lakes or large ponds?

Here are a few pictures to consider and imagine the work involved to install what these have done then we'll discuss at after.

The first image appears to have a lighter type of liner installed or even a pool converted into a natural pool with the pool tiles still being used.  The second is very impressive along with expensive with all natural stone lining the entire pool.  That pool would still have a liner installed underneath to hold the water, but the look and appeal is incredible!  These last two are the most "natural" looking in that you cannot see the bottom and likely have the black EPDM/PPL liner visible.

I will make a comment or two about these last two; it is easiest/cheapest to just let the black liner be exposed and there are some pros/cons to going this route.  Pros being, ease of installation and use as well as cleaning.  This type of pool will also heat up the most quickly in the spring with the black liner reflecting/holding the most heat which is a plus.  The downsides are the obvious lack of visibility on the bottom which could be a potential hazard if children are swimming as well as difficulty in cleaning while swimming or diving for things that fall on the bottom.  Another con to with this option is if anything sharp is thrown in and makes it with any amount of force to the bottom you could have an expensive leak/repair on your hands.

Here are a couple of options you can consider as you decide look/feel of your NSP.  There are many commercial types of liners you can purchase that have black on one side and white on the other which allows you to have a white looking bottom and at the same time protect your EPDM/PPL liner that holds the water.

As with everything that will end up in your pond, I would recommend purchasing a quality water testing kit to test what you plan on introducing into the NSP will not overly change the PH/Alkalinity/Phosphates in the water.  Here is a decent water testing kit on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002DJNN0/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For the test use distilled or purchased water to ensure they are free of chemicals/chlorine which is found in most municipal water.  Fill up a mason jar half full and place the rock/screw/wood etc into the jar and wait 72 hours and test.  If that item throws off the chemistry drastically it would be wise to not use it.  It can take a decent amount of time testing all items going into the NSP, but it's better do your due diligence now so you're not fighting large PH/Phosphate swings later when you want to be enjoying the NSP.

Having crystal clear water will require a lot of forethought and effort to maintain, but it can be achieved.  Many have argued you can't have a river rock bottom, but it can be achieved through careful execution.  What happens is algae and dirt/silt will eventually accumulate on the bottom which will create an anaerobic bacteria environment at the bottom that will make your NSP stink like a septic tank or at the least a fishy smelling stagnant pond.  You can plumb your NSP to return a 1 1/2" bottom jet to the bottom which will circulate oxygenated water to the bottom, destratify the water so you don't have warm upper levels with oxygen and cold lower portions of the pool with no oxygen.  This should also help stir up any sediment on the bottom returning it to the top where your skimmer or trusty net pick up the debris. 

Finally, our quote for the day, half measures availed nothing is a good principle to live by, but be sure to live by it while building your NSP. Don't cut corners and if at all possible, don't leave your liner open to puncture on the underside or top side.  Don't have a leaky liner that could crumble a dirt wall or require a wasteful water top off every other day.  

Half measures availed nothing.

What kind of NSP look do you want dark or crystal clear?  

Pool Wall

The next few posts will cover specific choices that need to be made to decide which pool wall, which retaining method, which pump etc.  There are a thousand tiny choices that need to be made that are dependent on your design, size and type of Natural Pool you will build.  Will your pool be used by children; if so, you will want to ensure a fence is installed according to local ordinances.  Will you want a diving plank, slide, beach entrance, large boulders for entering pool, dock, zipline or climbing wall.  A rough outline should be made with primary objectives before any other choices are made.  Keep in mind that with every "upgrade" or addition cost to integrate, hire out and size up will incrementally increase your cost.

Another point to consider is, who will be using the pool and what depths of water do you prefer.  A lot pools have a good portion of the pool dedicated to 3-4' of water so people/kids can stand or play without having to tread water.  Consider shape and size of this area as you consider which type of wall to go with.

Pool Wall

If you have read David Butlers experience with building his NSP he laid his liner down without having any kind of support for his pool wall and after filling it, the earthen wall collapsed and he had to undo all of his work.  He told me he had to redo this portion twice to get it right.  I'll take his experience and learn the first time that we need a sturdy structure to hold back the ground and create a vertical or near vertical wall to separate swimming space with the regeneration area.

Cinder blocks

This is a great option if you are skilled with masonry working with concrete, re bar and creating solid structures.  The cost is a little higher than others, but this will give you flexibility in your design and ability to create whatever you want.  Here is a useful site to help determine how many cinder blocks you will need to complete your project.(you will obviously already need to know the approximate dimensions of you pool for this step)
http://www.cemexusa.com/ProductsServices/BlockCalculator.aspx

There are DIY methods for installing underwater lighting, skimmers right into the pool wall which aesthetically looks good.

Once I went through this process and figured it would take over 10 trips to the store and back with my trailer to get the correct amount along with $1800 not including the cement and rebar plus work, I decided to go a different route.  If this is the choice in wall you go with you might want to consider buying the plans and step by step process from a place like this to ensure it will hold up under the immense pressure and weight of the water.
http://www.homebuiltpools.com/plans/plans.htm

Cement/Gunite

These pools are highly durable versatile and provide the greatest amount of flexibility in terms of what you want out of your pool.  These are often "shot" out of the end of a hose where the mixture is equally mixed with water at the end or once it hits the wall and fills in a re bar netting as depicted here.

As you can see here, you can create extremely smooth corners and essentially go as deep as you want.  The cost for this option is the highest seeing you will need to hire this piece out which a lot of pool builders want to do the entire project.  The typical cost for a concrete pool excluding everything else like plumbing, coping, landscaping would start around $18k- and go upwards from there that is if you have a relatively small pool 15' X 20' with little customization.  Anything bigger would obviously increase your costs dramatically.

Gabion

Gabion walls are often used my state municipalities for erosion control.  It is a high gauge steel mesh basket that is filled with rocks tightly from bottom to top and help hold back earth while at the same time allowing passage of water.  This is an excellent option to act as a pool wall if your budget is tight and you have access to a large amount of 5" rocks this will create a relatively cheap wall.  You can buy 20' stock panels from stores like IFA/Cal Ranch for cheap and build your own as long as you secure them properly to each other with a high gauge wire.  As you fill them you need to stop every 2' or so and secure the front portion of the basket to the back with a high gauge stainless steel wire so you don't get a bulging in the middle of the basket.  Online you can find methods of building and filling these so I would recommend you go this route.  Dave Butler has recommended this type of wall for some in the UK when your budget is tight.

No wall

You can also just dig a hole, put a liner in or use bentonite clay which seals the bottom from water leaking out.  This is option is less than aesthetically pleasing, but cuts cost and makes the NSP usable for swimming, though it makes it harder to egress/ingress.

Wood wall

A final option I will discuss for your NSP wall is a wall made of wood.

You might think that wood kept under water for an extended period of time will eventually rot, but this is not the case when you use the correct type of wood.  White Oak, Yellow Cedar or Western Red Cedar, Port Orford Cedar are kinds of wood that will not rot in water.  Total Habitat is a US based company that builds NSP's and has great resources for those looking to build their own.  They also offer consultation if you're a bit leery about doing the entire thing on your own.

These walls shouldn't be more than 4' or so in height so they don't have too much pressure weight from rock and they should be built on a shelf and the middle portion of the pool can be deeper to allow diving etc.  These should be built in an octagonal or hexagonal shape so once you back fill the special gravel it will help lock the wooden frame into place.

This option is cheaper than most and easiest to install, but limits your flexibility in the shape of the swimming section.  One benefit of doing wood is you can build this offsite and in advanced and install once the liner has gone down.

 Here is an excellent video Total Habitat put together on this pool shown above.  It gives a great description of how the NSP works as well as shows the process they went into building it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-qAQ5oYahM

Keep in mind that as you are planning your NSP, the wall needs to allow 4-6" of water to travel over the top from the swimming section into the regeneration planted area.

Pace yourself.  If you are seriously considering building a pool by yourself or without professional help, take all the time to consider every single piece of the pool, then rethink it and rethink.  You'll find that your ideas and plans will evolve and slowly come together once you know how skimmers work, UV Sterilizers, heaters, lava rocks, bacteria, pond liners, waterfalls, streams, aerating water, algae etc.  You need to know these concepts in and out and how they interact with one another.  Even knowing about these concepts, when you are actually in the dirt shovel after shovel your experience will triple what you actually learned and provide real tangible knowledge about how these work.   I have a boatload of Evernotes on each of these topics to help me understand and organize my thoughts and pictures/concepts.  Don't be overwhelmed.  One piece at a time.  Make notes on every topic. Check out the picture at the end of the post; this should give you ample excitement about what yours can be like!

To end this post, here is a great thought to consider.

Avoiding all opportunities for mistakes is avoiding all possibilities to progress.-Dallin H Oaks

Ping me if you have comments or questions about walls/your project.

Why Swim With Nature?

The purpose of this blog is for me to document for myself and others who might tread this path of building their own Natural Swimming Pool.

Last winter my family moved into a new home and we and by we, I mean mostly me were excited about the new big yard and potential for having an awesome place for the kids to play, space for parties and just a nice private yard to spend time outdoors.  I spent last winter planning layout for fruit trees, grass, playground, and space for possible future animals.

I knew it would be a lot of work, but here are a couple of pictures of our yard with before/after.

By fall we put in a sprinkler system, curbing, sod, fruit trees and even a pizza oven that we saw on Pinterest as a DIY.  We saved a pretty penny and learned some new skills and had a ton of fun making our space exactly what we wanted.

With the winter snow melting, here is a picture of the pit, as my son lovingly calls it.  The previous owner complained of run off getting into the house so he dug this pit to handle it.  (I have since this time created an alternate way to handle run off... I think.)

This hole has potential

This summer as I pondered what I could use this pit for, I mused if I could possibly have a pool in my own yard.  I figured it would be A LOT of work and I obviously didn't have enough coin to pay a contractor to put one in; maybe I could put in my own redneck pool.  I felt I had successfully designed and executed in putting in the most difficult part of the yard last summer, so why can't I build my own pool?

This hole needs tender loving care

As I read online and found different kinds of pools, from concrete(shotcrete) gunite, to fiberglass, to liner pools, one kind of pool stuck out to me as not only as an option to DIY, but to one that looks aesthetically pleasing as well as self maintaining and cost effective.  Natural Swimming Pools. Sounds green...

For those who do not know what Natural Swimming Pools are, here is a quick explanation along with some resources I would recommend you read at the end of the post.

Natural Swimming Pools, NSP, do not use chemicals, but use natural processes found throughout nature to bring balance to a pool of water to beautify and limit the amount of algae which fights for nutrients in the water.  For an NSP to be successful you need a hole in the ground, a wall to separate plants from swimming area, a way to retain the water either through a liner, concrete, fiberglass, circulation of water through the pool so the water does not go stagnant, substrate of lava rock for your trillion man army of bacteria to remove the nutrients the algae lives off of and finally specific water plants that help clean the water and compete for the remaining nutrients.  On the flip side, Chlorine pools purpose is to kill everything in the pool except the swimmers.

That's my understanding of how they work though it is much more complex process with balancing water PH at 7.2/alkalinity, picking clean river rock that don't change the PH or alkalinity.  We want a specific kind of bacteria that will consume all kinds of diseases like ecoli and organic materials like hair, skin cells, fish poop that will inevitably end up in your pool.   The resources I list below are ones that I have read through several times as well as many other sites/books that help in the design and construction phase.

As I mentioned before, the purpose of this blog will be to document my journey of building my own swim pond.  I have a lot of plans and ideas of what I want it to look like and which materials I will use for the pool wall, lava rock, surface rock, skimmers, plants, pump etc, but the real journey will begin once the ground thaws.

Let me finish with my question, why swim with nature?  Have you had the experience of swimming in a clean refreshing mountain lake, river, stream or natural body of water?  It is so completely different from the feeling when you climb out of a chlorine pool.  Your skin and eyes burn because chlorine by design kills living things.  A few years back my family went on a cruise and one of the stops was in Guatemala where we took a bike ride and followed a stream to a waterfall and pool.  I will never forget how inviting and good that water felt.  Barring a peeing boy upstream, that water was the cleanest/softest feeling water I have ever felt.  I hope I can recreate even a small portion of that feeling with my NSP and I will be a happy man.  No peeing in the pool though!  There is obviously some serious potential for failure at every stage in this process, but I can already feel myself gliding into this clean clear water on a hot day, so who will stop me, but myself.  I came across this quote today and This Year I'm going to be a dreamer and a doer.

The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.  But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.

Recommended Reading/watching on NSP's.

Mother Earth News has a great article- Free
http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/natural-swimming-pool-zmaz02aszgoe.aspx

Natural Swimming Pools & Ponds by Total Habitat ~$100 USD
Natural Swimming Pools by Michael Littlewood ~$35 USD
Organic Pools DIY Manual- found online
BioNova Plant a Pool- found online

David Butler is a great resource.  Check out his Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/davidpaganbutler

There are a lot of blogs and articles that copy one another so if there are others that you know of or that provide good technical descriptions on construction, please message me.  Look forward to your thoughts/comments.