I’m thinking about my next photobash. I’ve seen photos of projects turning old, likely nonfunctional swimming pools into walipinis, but conventional wisdom has that there’s a big difference between an empty concrete swimming pool and a proper foundation. That the sides will collapse without the support of the pool water, or the water table in the ground will lift the thing like a concrete boat and break it. Just the same, it’s not uncommon to see abandoned swimming pools laying empty, looking more or less foundation-shaped. It seems like a very solarpunk thing, to turn an expensive-to-maintain luxury into something practical, a greenhouse that takes less energy to keep it warm.

So my question is: can it be done, especially if the pool is already nonfunctional and you’re not worried about returning it to its original use? What steps/precautions should you take to make it last and safe? Reinforce the sides? Cut away part of the bottom? Add drainage around it?

Thanks for any thoughts

  • JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.netOP
    3·
    10 months ago

    Yeah I kind of wonder if a lot of the stuff about them breaking when left empty is that they won’t be suitable as a swimming pool anymore, rather than that they become a death trap. And if you don’t value the idea of a swimming pool, or it’s already so broken it would need expensive overhauls or replacement, then a walipini with a cracked foundation isn’t really a big deal.

    But it comes up in every discussion I’ve found about empty pools, so I’d want to identify any precautions or mitigations to include before I start the sketch

    • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
      4·
      10 months ago

      Hmm, I am not really an expert on the topic to be honest and here in Europe private pools tend to be only build in southern Europe in places which I guess rarely have high groundwater tables. But I can imagine it being more of an issue in Florida for example.