Do-it-Yourself: Build an Inground Swimming Pool

After all the walls were scraped vertical (well almost vertical - I left an outward slant?), I added high density foam insulation. I used 1 inch along the walls, 1.5 inches on the floor, and 2 inches in the spa. This will save me more than 40,000 BTU/hour (45, 000 BTU/hour without versus 5,000 BTU/hour with insulation). Insulating is a no-brainer. The pool will weigh no more than 3.5 psi and the foam can handle more than 25 psi! You should check out www.poolnut.com for more details.

This photo also shows a layer of rebar started on the floor. I decided to use two layers of rebar in the floor: one layer at 2 inches and the second at 4 inches. The concrete will be a minimum 6 inches thick. The two layers places steel at the critical tensioned areas in the slab. Because no one can convince me that either the top-side or the bottom-side of the slab is in tension more, I covered my bases with about $100 of extra rebar I had laying around from the construction of my house!