The Idea
Since my wife and I bought an old farmhouse to restore and as we go on holiday very rarely, I have always had the idea of building an in-ground pool for us and for our two children. However the years fly by and seven years later in 2001, still no pool. High costs for the restoration work and a very limited budget principally to be used for purchasing the materials needed for the renovations mean that some dreams have had to be shelved.
In particular the dream of a huge natural shaped concrete lined in-ground pool. Even if we had done it ourselves, the cost, without taking into account the time needed which would have had to be spread over two or three seasons since I am not a swiming pool fitter and work alone, would have been prohibitive.
But…but…but, impossible is not French and another project which we have since abandoned, the construction of a 7000 m² pond with a pvc geomembrane, gave me the idea of applying this principle to a water area 100 times smaller (70 m² and 2m deep at the deepest point), but a filtering system needed adding and why not underwater lighting, and all this needed to be made to last.
Well that was what we did ! After the time to find solutions to each of the problems and to perfect our ideas, the work began on the 15 June 2002. The digger was beginning to dig out the hole and on the 14 July 2002 with less than 2500 € o expenditure (including cleaning products and utensils), the swimming pool was full of water, the children were swimming, a month had passed for the pool to be usable and I had done the work alone (that is to say that it is relatively easy). The « on-ground » pool was born…
For many reasons, many people are now convinced that this process more ecological for the construction is the swiming-pool of the future, when simply know that the lack of sand for concrete becomes a Planetary problem ...
The procedure and its low cost had so many disciples in my family and friends, that quite a few of them already used the process or made the project to do the same thing for themselves. Seeing such enthusiasm, the idea of putting together a unique book containing all the information needed to achieve a similar project, soon saw the light of day.
Since then other swimming pools of this type have been built and more are still being built. The dream of a beautiful swimming pool for all has become a reality. With just a little but of work all the same.