Who determines the specifications for Fibreglass Swimming Pool Installations in South Africa - and what are they?
Shocking but true - NO ONE - and there are NONE
A few industry formed organisations has seen the light in South Africa
over the years, but although they all claim to have the end user at hart,
inherently only serve as a marketing ploy of a group of individual companies.
Unfortunately, and to date, no legislative and / or regulatory body has been
instituted in South Africa, enabling anyone to enter the market, do as they
please, and leave.
Advance Pools, in an ongoing effort to improve, had a look at what is done
in the rest of the world, and found that every major manufacturer, and
the vast majority of smaller firms worldwide, recommend that fibreglass
swimming pools be installed with a sand substrate. This is based on more
than 40 years of experience and hundreds of thousands of pools around the
world.
Advance Pools have had the privilege of installing several hundred fiberglass
swimming pools over a number of years. We have used sand as the backfill material
in every project and we
recommend that sand serve as backfill for our pools.
This specification has been approved
by the International Code Council (ICC) as a practice for the installation
of fiberglass pools in the United States. Several other U.S.-based manufacturers
have also received ICC approval for the installation of their products,
and every one of them specs the use of sand as backfill material.
Additionally, there is a national standard in Australia and New Zealand
(AS/NZS 1839:1994) that specifically states that a premixed cement/sand ratio
of one part cement to 16 parts sand be used in installing fiberglass pools.
Additional backfill materials that can be used in Australia and New Zealand
all include high volumes of sand or very fine crushed stone. The objective
is a very high compaction rate on the backfill around a fiberglass pool.
It is also interesting to note that more than 50 percent of the swimming
pools installed in Australia and New Zealand are fiberglass pools.
Our personal experiences with sand have been outstanding. The key to using
sand correctly is to start by digging the hole to
specifications. This leaves a very tight area between the outside pool
wall and the surrounding excavation. A base of sand about 100mm thick
is laid in the hole, wetted, and then screed to create a very level and
solid bottom for the pool to set upon.
The pool is then lowered into the hole, and sand is shoveled into the hole
while wetting it to make sure it compacts completely. This type of compaction
cannot be achieved with most other backfill materials, including gravel. Although
the gravel may appear to be completely compacted, it is still subject to ground
movement and settling over time. Sand, when compacted correctly, will form
a very dense, and secure, barrier between the pool and the excavation walls,
offering support without jagged edges to scrape against the plumbing lines
and the pool shell.
If the excavation was properly prepared and drainage was considered, the
sand will hold a permanent space between the pool shell and the excavation
wall. Even with ground movement, it is difficult for sand to shift without
tremendous outside influence.
Other backfill materials cannot make this claim, as they do not compact
as well as sand and therefore leave air space. This can cause settling and
potential bulging of the pool walls, or spaces under steps and seats. Even
at the initial installation, there will be air spaces at the bottom radiuses,
which are structural points in a fiberglass pool. No support in these areas
can lead to cracks.
The entire process of using a non-recommended backfill creates a real dilemma
between the manufacturer, builder and homeowner. The homeowner expects
an installation based on the manufacturer’s
recommended practices. When this does not occur and trouble arises on the
site, the finger-pointing begins and it becomes questionable whether warranties
will be honored.
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