10891 Pulling my hair out - stone/tile surround for pool

"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"

Hi Steve,

Just returned from a couple of days near you and whilst in Civitanova noticed a building supplies company who had many different types of Tiles etc,
I cant remember the name of the company but if youre in the area its on via Einaudi behind Agos, on the industrial estate where you get onto the Autostrada.
I dont know if they've got the moulded type that youre looking for but they did have a good choice.

Have sent you a PM.
Hope it helps.

The price quoted for the whole job doesn't seem excessive. You can get the Indian quartz (which I have used several times and strongly recommend) for 32-35€/sqm here in Umbria. Preparation for the support is the same: excavation, hardcore, reinforced concrete slab of about 15-20cm. and quartz tiles (3-4 cm thick plus 5-6cm screed). have a look at the pic attached - good luck!
Marco

If I may digress, I expect that we bought our Indian stone for our pool paving from the supplier in Umbertide where, as Marco62 states, it costs 32-35 euros sqm, plus delivery of about 100 eu plus IVA. It is beautiful to look at when laid.

We had our pool paved in ceramic, light terracotta coloured, tiles originally...foolish mistake as they were slippery when wet. (Our Geometra's only big mistake but it was 2000 and things have progressed), so we had a good base but the tiles had to come up and we replaced them with the Indian stone. In our case the stone had to be half the thickness of the usual stone the supplier sold, to meet up with the pool edging stones. Hence 35 eu a sqm. we had to pay more as the stone had to be cut thinner. This is the second year and so far so good at 627 metres.

Nice looking pool (and view) Marco.

Anybody (IMO) laying a pavimento on the sort of backfill around a 'system' pool is destined to be unhappy, even with a 25cm thick base.

Just lay loose slabs (unless you are willing to do a proper solaio) for minimum five years.

Can you explain what you mean please Charles? Ground settlement?

It is about 'system pools' - which means you have to dig a hole at least a metre on each side bigger than the pool. Now this sort of hole is not possible to fill and consolidate adequately using a digger, and even the pools which include reinforcement 'starter bars' which you tie into the pavimento slab, believe me, it is not a guaranteed solution.

If you have the time (even if you have starter bars), then fill in the hole, lay loose slabs, come back after five years and refill the startling collapse which will be evident! Then lay the 25cm slab and do the pavimento.

Alternatively if you are in a mega hurry, build a proper solaio (suspended ground floor type of construction, on seriously founded foundations outside the pool). I am sick of looking at 'guaranteed' pool surrounds where the client is complaining about cracks, and the guarantee is negated because - 'oh wow, that must be because your clay has shrunk'!

Believe me, refilling an excavation with Italian clay is not a 'guaranteeable' solution. Being patient is a very Italian solution!

I had a 1.5 metre tiled surround constructed earlier this year, complete with very expensive non-slip tiles. The pool had been installed by the previous property owner some 7 years ago, but never put into service. Despite constructing an 8" concrete foundation, complete with rebars, 2 hairline cracks have developed at one end of the pool. I have made the builder aware of this and he has assured me that it it is not a major problem, promising to return and repair it next spring. We'll wait and see! The ground should have been well compacted, having had 7 years to settle, but I didn't personally observe the construction of the surround which may prove my undoing. I have noticed that the ground around the pool area tends to dry out and crack during the summer, so perhaps even 7 years wasn't sufficient to ensure adequate compaction! The cost for having the foundation constructed, relocating the pump/filter equipment, installing a pool liner, providing a pool cover and tiling the surround was 16,000 euro, which quite took my breath away, but my wife wanted the pool in service. Need I say more? Anyway good luck with your efforts.

Regards

Roddy

Oh and I forgot to mention that a few weeks after the work was finished, the Corpo Forestale arrived on my doorstep accusing me of constructing a pool without permission. Fortunately I managed to find a piece of paper covering the original permission amongst all the myriad documents associated with the house purchase. However they still insisted that the surround required further permission, but would let it go on this occasion. What is more intriguing is that the pool cannot be observed from outside the property and I'm in a fairly isolated location, so how did they become aware of the work. I suspect I've made a "friend" somewhere in the vicinity.