FOUNTAINS & SWIMMING POOLS - 7
Other accessories
Of the variety of luxurious accessories
that can be built in conjunction with
a swimming pool, a bathhouse s probably the one most often needed.
If bathers must go to the house to change out of their wet suits,
some damage to rugs and
floors is almost inevitable. The house
is a particularly inconvenient
place for clothes-changing when a large
number of guests are being
entertained.
A simple bathhouse
Structures of this kind are not inexpensive
even when they are small
because of the plumbing that is required.
As we have already men-
tioned, people with plenty of money sometimes
go much farther in
the provision of facilities for clothes-changing,
eating, recreation,
etc., at the pool. A very good arrangement,
if there is money avail-
able for it, is a building which combines
dressing rooms, showers,
and some form of indoor recreation such
as a pool table to which a
retreat can be made when a shower comes
up during an outdoor
party. Facilities for serving drinks
are practically essential in a setup
as elaborate as this. On estates outdoor
recreation centers combining
tennis courts, swimming pool, and a building
of this kind are not
uncommon. Elaborate buildings can include
also kitchens, dining
rooms, bars, and facilities for listening
to music or looking at tele-
vision. The design of swimming pools
is properly a matter for en-
gineers or contractors who have had a
wide experience with them.
There is no such thing as one design
which is adequate for all lo-
cations or even a majority of them. The
nature of the soil and the
height of the water table must both be
considered in determining
how the pool should be based so as to
avoid uneven settling and
consequent cracking. Likewise, the nature
of the soil which will
press upon the sides of the pool is a
considerable factor in determin-
ing how much strength must be built into
its walls. For example,
solid rock will exert little or no pressure
on the sides of the pool even
when the pool is empty, but wet clay
will exert a great deal. The
sides of rectangular pools are often
designed on the same principle
as retaining walls, but, more often,
they are designed as
panels and are given a considerable degree
of tensile strength by
incorporating a large amount of reinforcing
steel into the concrete.
Even the proportion of this steel and
the best ways of placing the
concrete around it are engineering matters
which cannot be generalized. Although
it is true that some homeowners, without
previous experience in masonry, have
designed and built fairly successful pools, the procedure is risky and is
not recommended. Sometimes some money
can be saved by having the excavation done separately from the actual construction.
If the excavation is made, the builder will not have to allow
for such expensive contingencies as the
striking of bedrock or a strong flow
of ground water. However, the engineer
who is to design the pool should be engaged before the excavation is made;
or if it is to be built by a contractor who does his own engineering,
the contractor should be\ approached first even though no contract
is to be signed with him until after the hole is dug. These preliminary
contacts can save you
money because an expert will have a fair
idea of the condition that
probably will be encountered underground
and can perhaps suggest
changes that will reduce the cost. An
example of this occurred on a
site where expert observation of surface
features indicated that the
bedrock under the soil sloped steeply
in one direction. An expert
suggested changing the pool layout to
take advantage of this slope
and save costly excavation of rock.
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