THE KNOWLEDGE ASK THE EXPERT
Making a splash...
How and where to build your new swimming pool, with Julia French
I can’t decide where to site our new pool: next to the house or away from it? When a pool is close to the house it tends to get used more and it is always there… ready and waiting for those impulse swims. If you have an existing terrace to your property you may consider to connect this to your new pool area, to make it one seamless outside entertaining space. With a pool further away you
are more likely to stay there longer and not get distracted by things you (perhaps) would rather not be doing in the house. If this is your preferred choice, I would advise a pool house of some description, no matter how small, to house a fridge for those much-needed refreshments. This option provides you with new space while making use of another part of your garden.
The level of the top of the
pool wall – the water surface level – is an important factor for both scenarios. If the dig is not to the correct depth this could result in the pool being higher than your existing terrace, instead of being fl ush. This is not only unsightly but involves unnecessary work constructing steps in your patio. And if the pool is in view down your garden, you don’t want it poking up. The surrounding ground should be fl at, not backfi lled and banked up to the pool. You wouldn’t see a pond raised out of the ground!
There are also practical issues
to consider, like access for the delivery of materials and, of course, the digger. In addition, you may have
restrictions with regard to the declaration being approved. In some instances the pool has to be within 25 metres of the property. The pool always has to be at least three metres from the boundary or four metres if that is a road.
What size pool should I choose? As a general rule of thumb, a house sleeping up to eight requires a pool of 8x4m; up to 12 a 10x5m; and up to 20 a 12x6m. However I have installed much smaller pools for much larger properties, and vice versa. It is a question of budget, space, aesthetics and who will be using the pool. In addition to the relative
price involved with the increase in pool size, the same goes for the size of pool terrace. This is a commonly overlooked expense; the terrace design needs to be carefully considered to make sure the project doesn’t overspend, especially given the
some description, no matter how small, to house a fridge for those much-needed refreshments”
“I would advise a pool house of
cost of concrete at the moment. Depending on the setting, instead of having an equal amount of terrace to each side, you could have 1m to three sides and 2.5m/3m to the other side giving plenty of room for the loungers. This works particularly well if you have a beautiful vista to overlook as it will not be blighted by a line of loungers on the opposite side.
Which fi ltration system is best: a cartridge/sac or a sand fi lter? The cartridge fi lter is housed in a bloc de fi ltration at the poolside and the sand fi lter is housed in the pump room, which involves pipework to and from the pool, and equates to a more costly installation. However, in terms of
performance the sand fi lter has more capacity to hold the dirt and debris than the cartridge option. To clean the cartridge fi lter you lift the cartridge out and hose it down; this can be heavy but it is simple. The downside is that they
can quickly get clogged up with the grease from lotions. If the cartridge isn’t cleaned or replaced in time this leads to poor circulation, thereby distributing a lower dose of chlorine to the pool, and if left too long, the pump can run dry. The sand fi lter is less
hands-on and is cleaned by switching the setting from fi ltration to backwash. This setting cleans the sand and all the dirt is fl ushed out to waste, not back to the pool. This takes up to two minutes and after a 20-second rinse programme, the sand is all clean and the system can be switched back to the fi ltration setting. To get the optimum fi ltration, your sand fi lter should be fi lled with glass media as this is more compact than sand. Not only that but also the glass only needs replacing every eight to 10 years, compared to every four with sand, and backwashing is only necessary every couple of months unlike the weekly ritual with sand. ■
Julia French is the founder of Pristine Piscines, a company which has been installing and renovating swimming pools in France since 2005
pristinepiscines.fr
92 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: November/December 2023
© SHUTTERSTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148
