« Hello, first of all, sorry for taking so long to answer. I received your last email but the days are just not long enough to do everything I want to do - in particular to answer your message. Of course you have my permission to use our photographs and our testimonials to add to your site. I have often looked at your web site and the testimonials and photos encouraged me to go ahead with the project.
So here are a few photos and some information that might incite somebody to get on with it.
We dug the hole for the pool in October at the same time as we were doing other terracing works in particular the creation of a car parking space as the pool was supposed to be situated here (south exposure sun all day).
We bought all the necessary materials in Toulouse, at Zyke who didn't know this concept and who were a little sceptical.
As things were not meant to be that simple, the weather got worse and so we could not continue the work whichis why I sent you the first email to ask whether the hole could be left « bare » for several weeks or several months.The first difficulty appeared at that time or more precisely after three months of more or less continuous rain.
In fact there was water at the bottom of the pool and as the rain kept on and on, the hole really filled up (1m30 of water).
When the weather got a bit better, I connected a pump to empty the water, the level of which
went down, of course, but began to fill up again even when it wasn't raining. The earth was soaked all over the area, the fields were flooded, the streams overflowing... We had to accept the obvious. The level of the water table had risen and it was impossible to empty the hole completely. At the beginning of April the level dropped but there were still about 30 centimetres of water that we couldn't get rid of. We decided to raise the level of the pool, so we put about 20 cm of earth into the bottom and built up the edges with earth that had been
compacted. Our earth is full of pebbles and rocks which leave small bumps on the side which gives it an appearance of a "little lake".
For the bottom, we decided, as you suggested, to put a layer of sand. So, in order to prevent
a possible rise of the water whilst the geomembrane was being fitted, we made a drain for the bottom which is in fact a simple layer of pebbles (between about 5 and 7 cm) on which we put the sand. The result is a flat base on which it is pleasant to put your feet. We also decided to concrete the three top steps so that they are more comfortable to walk on or to sit on as well as to consolidate them a bit.
As far as the connections are concerned, I did them myself, even though I am not the greatest DIY expert in the world.
The savings made on the building allowed us to buy good quality material with a sand filtre, electrolyzer and even a PH corrector. My fitting of the electrolyzer was disturbed by a small leak but thanks to the informed advice of the technicians of Cash piscine in Gaillac (more available and closer to hand than those of Zyke in Toulouse), the problem was solved straight away.
With water in the pool, the children couldn't resist a swim on the first day...at 16°...mid-May. My wife and I waited until June and water at 24° to make the most of our pool.
Thank you again for your idea and the "colossal" investment needed to buy your book was worth it.
I am available should you wish to have any other information
and will send you some photos from time to time in particular when we have got a bit further with the surrounds of the pool.»
« As promised, I am sending you some extra photos of our pool. We will only be doing the area around the pool in the autumn and the winter because we need to get some top soil to even the ground out and sow grass. We are also going to make a wooden decking which will cover about a quarter of the circumference of the pool..... but for that we will need a bit of time.
Thank you again. »
Eric GUISSART
PS: For those of you who are worried about the temperature of the water, ours remained at 29° for the whole of the month of July.
