HARD SLABBING

You may well think that we have been spending all our time lately lazing round the pool but you would be wrong.

Getting the pool in was only part of the story, as the finished pool was surrounded by a sea of mud. So we started work straight away, building a patio around the steps.

The digger man had scrapped away the top layer of soil, down to a firm base, so the first thing we had to do was to build it all up again with hardcore.

To make sure that I had the levels right, I staked out the beds to the correct height ( 8 cm). I re-cycled the wood from the pallets that the pool came on ( green/tight) as they were the right width for the concrete layer, and then we filled all the bays in with hardcore, rubble and gravel, up to the bottom of the wood.



We compressed it all down using a home made stave, and then started filling it up with concrete. It took a lot more concrete than we thought, half a tonne for each bay, about 40 wheelbarrow loads. It all proved too much for the patched up tyre, so I had to nip out and buy a new one, and take the wheelbarrow into the pits lane for a quick change.

Each bay took a day to fill, so it took a week for the concrete to be ready for the next stage

We carefully laid out the slabs to make sure it all lined up OK, and then had to make a few adjustments round the edges, adding a few Cm's of concrete here and there, where the concrete pad wasn't 100% square.

Finally we were ready to start laying the slabs. This involved Tina doing more mixing, as it needed a 3cm mortar base for the slabs.



The first few rows were fairly easy, although it took time to check that each slab was sloping in the right way (1/100) away from the pool in both directions. Then we got to the steps, and it got a bit tricky.



It took a lot of patience to cut each slab to the shape of the steps. The edging slabs on the pool overhung by a few Cm's but it still required cutting, fitting a recutting a few times to get it right. I tried making a template for the first slab out of cardboard, but found it easier in the end to scribe each slab using a block of wood, as I'd watch the carpenter do to fit the doors.

One week on, and it was all finished, including the grouting in, which only took us a few hours, using the secret mortar formula left for us by Michel the pool man.



We can't do the other sides of the pool until next year, to allow the earth to settle, which is handy in a way as we were both knackered by the time we'd finished the top end.

My levels have checked out quite well, as it rained for most of last week and there were no big puddles anywhere, unlike my first attempt at our old house.