How do You Make A swimming Pool of your own ?

Answer 1

I answered this question some time ago and still have a copy of it. It's long and somehow I knew someone else would ask. :)
I'm assuming this is an inground you are asking about.
Concrete forming is used in a concrete pool. Liners are used in vinyl pools. Two different construction methods for two different types of pool.
If indeed you mean to build a concrete or gunite pool, I suggest you could do the excavation yourselves, but leave the rest for a builder. Using a gunite machine takes years of skill to develop. That's how they can get a perfectly vertical wall, the guys know their mix and how to apply it. Same goes for a poured pool, they know the mix and when to hit it for a good finnish.
If on the other hand you indeed meant vinyl, yes, it's not hard to do, you just need to be accurate. The steps involved are :
1/ Excavation - don't forget a 2 foot over dig with shelf for the steel to sit on and room for plumbing and your deck supports. The dig HAS to accurate or you will have some hard work ahead of you and additional expense.
2/ Steel assembly- assemble the steel and move the entire wall assembly around to match the specs on your drawing. Also take note, the drawing will indicate where the skimmer and return panels need to go.To install the stairs and supports you'll need help, preferably 3 people for this.Also don't forget to take into account the final height of the coping( use a scrap piece) against the stairs. That scrap should be slightly below the top of the stair edge, when you put it on the pool wall. That way, when you do your deck later the stairs will be just above the concrete all around.
The completed assembly should sit pretty close to the edge of that shelf (inside edge of that shelf made on the dig), use a transit (what you used to get your dig bang on) to level the walls, Check each panel's end to do this. You may have to shave some dirt out, that's ok and to be expected.check your dimension measurements again against the drawing. Assemble the deck supports and bolt them in place. Stake them down at the back with the rods provided with your kit, as well as every few feet along the wall sections. Check your dimensions again ( stuff moves, people bang things, better to check often than to make major adjustments), now get the walls vertical, checking each panel and either pushing down the rear of a deck support or raising it and shimming.
Tips: For straight sections longer than one panel, use a string line to get them straight. Your drawing will have measurements from certain panels for radius checks for round sections as well as diagonals.When using the transit to get the panel heights level, don't worry if you are out 1/16 th of an inch,and shimming won't get it bang on, it won't be noticeable, but always try, it can't hurt.The shallow end , by the stairs should be your start point for checking wall heights. There SHOULD be a gap of at least an inch between the shallow end panels and the bottom. This will get filled in when you do your shell and final finnish.This ensures that your final shallow end depth will be the wall height , with no matrial being shallower.
Check all measurements, including depths in both the shallow and deep end. Modify as needed. Don't forget, that if you are intending to put in a shell ( most do) that it will need to be considered as well as the portland/sand/vermicuite finnish coat. You want to shoot for the final finnish being at least 2 inches to 4 inches deeper than what the liner (if it's pre made) is specc'd for. The vinyl will stretch out when you install it and going a little deeper will help ensure that you will have fewer wrinkles to push out.
If you are planning on putting in a main drain, you'll need to plumb it up.Stake it down and make a shallow trench in your bottom and wall for the pipe to sit in, dig out under the wall enough to have the line go through and leave enough pipe out of the trench to reach where you plan on putting the equipment, plus 10 feet. Keep that pipe out of the overdig for now and use duct tape to cover the main drain and it's screw holes.
3/ Perimeter pour- concrete time, no forming needed. Check your perimeter measurements and vertical one last time, after this, you are committed. You need to pour concrete all around the perimeter up against the wall, about 1 foot-1 1/2 foot wide and 10 inches deep, more around all the deck supports and any sono tube. Any places where there are no deck supports need to have sono tube , usually in corners or around the back of the stairs. Make sure you are on virgin dirt and not fill also, don't fill the tubes yet, just a little inside and a lot around the bases. Be careful tipping the concrete in, you don't want to move the walls.When you're done and the concrete still hasn't set, yup, you guessed it, check your perimeter again, the staright walls, likely have moved a bit with the weight of the concrete. Get them now before it's too late, you're committed and this will be the shape of your pool forever.
Let the concrete set, takes a day.Have a beer, have 10 it's tough work, I know this.
4/ Time to do the plumbing. Trench out to your planned equipment location and install the pool plumbing. Mark the end of each line as to what it's function is. Try to keep debris out of these lines, that main drain line can go in the trench now.
Tip: Don't run the plumbing up against any sharp steel edges, try to use single sections of pipe to minimize the number of physical connections underground. They are potential leak spots 10 years down the road. Don't put sharp bends in the pipe, it can kink and that's especially bad news in a suction line as it may collapse later or at least, clog easier.
5/ Pool shell- remove any excess dirt in the pool. Set up a string line across the break point ( where shallow end starts and deep end ends) level with the bottom of the panels. If there are large gaps, where material has fallen away, fill with concrete.Your shell doesn't need any reinforcement ( you can add it if you want), but needs to be at least 2 inches thick everywhere. You accounted for this in your dig. Trowel it out, getting it perfectly smooth isn't important, but getting out humps is. Let it set for a day, have a beer or have 20. Bet you're thirsty now,eh?
6/ Install the liner track/ coping- need two people for this. Make sure you screw it down every 8 inches or so and keep your curves nice.
7/ Back fill day- use 3/4 stone or sand ( we prefer stone) to backfill around the pool in the overdig. Go easy around the plumbing. No need to use the stone in the trench to the equipment, just the dirt you took out. Fill under the stairs well, keep pushing the stone in there untill it won't take anymore, then add more.
8/Deck time- Form up your deck. The standard is 3 feet arond the pool , but you can do whatever you want. Make sure that the tops of the deck supports are visible and time to fill the sono tubes with concrete as you progress with your deck. Don't forget your ladder anchors and diving board jig.
9/ Prep for final finnish- remove any chunks of concrete from the wall base, and the bottom. Anything that sticks up. Now for the finnish. Use a vermiculite/sand/portland mix. 1 bag vermic,10 shovels sand, two shovels portland add water sparingly. Mix, add water until it's a little sloppy, just a little. Trowel it on the bottom and slopes. Start in the deep end and work your way towards the stairs. It's difficult trowling pointed downslope, but it makes exiting the pool later, easier. Your final finnish should be even with your main drain ( if installed).and meet the base of the wall as best as possible. Don't forget that string line across the break point. Your final finnish should be up to it and the edge you make with the mix will follow the string to make a nice straight level line. On a nice sunny day, this mix dries fast, so watch your work .
10/ Have some beer. If it's nice out, that mix will dry enough to walk on in a few hours( providing you didn't make it too wet). It will likely be too late in the day to put the liner in, but you can get a jump start on cleaning up. Remove the breakpoint line and pegs, fill in as needed with some vermic mix.Scrape off any of the vermic on the walls, and humps of vermic can be scraped down somewhat, using a hand trowel, same goes for trowel marks left when you spread out the mix. Get them now, they'll be visible later. Duct tape all the vertical seams in the wall panel, duct tape over the skimmer mouth and retruns. Clean out any concrete in the liner track of the coping and off the face. For the face water and a plastic scrubbie, so you don't scratch the paint. If your liner is not pre made to the kit specs, get in there and measure.Your dealer will have a liner measurement sheet, get one and fill it in. Give the manufaturer or dealer your measurements and SPECIFY ( get it in writing) that the measurements are ones you took and exact to your pool, with no adjustment. Include they colour and thickness desired and any other items that may be specific to your pool. That way, the onus is on the manufacturer to get your liner right and add in factors like liner stretch. If it doesn't fit, then you have recourse. They DO make mistakes when making them. Expect an average 30 mil liner for a 16x32 to be about 1200 bucks ( canada).
11/ Liner day and pool fill- get in the pool and scout it for sharpies .Anything that protrudes, will show or possibly hole the liner. Sweep and shop vac, get it all. Time to hang the liner. I also advise you not to do this yourself and get a pro in. A goof at this stage can cost some big bucks, but if you're determined, read on. No hard and fast rules here. It's specific to the shape of the pool and how many hands you have. Put the liner box in the shallow end, it will have markings on the exterior telling you what way to point it to the deep end. Unpack the top of the box, look for the documentation. It sucks having to drain a pool, go under the liner to grab that booklet that dropped out of the box that no one noticed. Unfold the liner and look for two arrows. These are your break points. Start here, hanging the liner into the track at each side of the break. You may have to move the liner this way or that, to get it just right, you can slide it, while it's in the track, do this in small sections around corners so it doesn't pop out on you. When it starts to pop out, it just keeps on going and can put 30 minutes work down the tubes in seconds. When it looks good, start up the liner vac (rent one) to suck out the air behind the liner and make it fit into the shell. You may need two people ( shoes off) in the pool to hold the liner against the wall at each side of the stairs. No stairs, no problem. When it's sucked back, go on a wrinkle hunt. Push wrinkes out towards walls, where you can, it can get lost in the cove at the wall base. Stubbourn packing wrinkles can be gotten rid of with a kettle of boiling water. Just pour on the site. If you are happy with how it looks, great, keep the vac on and install the stair stripping if you have stairs. This part, you may want a pro for. If you goof, even a little bit, it can have huge consequences. You are putting screws through the liner, if you miss the predrilled holes in the stairs, you now have a hole in the liner, that may be in a very bad spot. Also, a pro will know if the liner under the stairs will be problem free and not too tight as to rip when being filled.
12/ If all looks good, fill time. When there's about 6-8 inches of water in the deep end, Install the main drain face plate and cut out the vinyl inside. A nice round cut, not jagged, don't worry about making the cut flush to the main drain, a little excess inside is ok, it won't be seen. Have someone help you out of the pool, it will be slcik getting out. Also a good idea to have the fill water (if by garden hose) run into the pool so that it drops onto the area of the main drain. If there's iron tin that water, it will stain the liner and that metal end on the hose will do the same. Keep that liner vac on until the water is at least 6 inches up the walls.. Plumb up the equipment and do the electrical, gas and what have you. This could have been done at any time after you ran the plumbing lines. When the water is up, time to locate the skimmer and returns. The skimmer is easy to find, but the returns you'll have to scout for. Install the skimmer and return faceplates. Cut out the vinyl inside each. Install the skimmer basket, return fittings, check that you've not missed anything and fire up the equipment. You're done the build .Don't have a beer, get wasted have a case of beer.
Don't put the diving board on that jig, by the way until the deck has cured , about 3 weeks to be safe. It takes a lot of stress and what aint there, the kids can't jump on.
Take a sample of your water to the local pool shop, they'll test for free and suggest what you need for your pool.
And I am copying this out, because I know I'm gonna get another question like this. :)
As you can see, it's an involved process. If you decide to go the baove ground route, with the help of about 4 people, you can get one up in a long weekend.

Answer 2

Check out the site listed below for information on do-it-yourself swimming pool construction.

Answer 3

Pick and shovel. It'll be slow work, but healthy and eventually you'll be pleased and proud.

Answer 4

There are some useful tips here.

Answer 5

Buy a kit-

Answer 6

yo bath tub LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!