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floating pool patios
8 oct 1996
nick pine wrote:
>here's another recipe: make 1 picture-frame mold out of 2x4s on edge with
>a 4'x8' id, and put a $16 4x8x2" styrofoam panel inside and place 1.5" of
>concrete on top of it, and push a 1/2" diameter hole diagonally through each
>corner of the concrete, so you can tie these slabs together later. repeat
>26 times. make the perimeter slabs with cedar strips and plated screws to
>hold down a single $40 24'x36' sheet of 6 mil poly film, on top of the cover,
>and inflate the film slightly to raise the cover and make a 768 ft^2 solar
>collector, and lower it 2" every so often, letting some water leak in around
>the lower film edges, using a thermostat, automatically, to remove the solar
>heat. you can't walk on this, but it would keep the pool warm in december.
come to think of it, you could walk on it, if the poly film cover were
sufficiently inflated. poly film pillows on commercial greenhouses are up
to 3' thick, as inflated on 4' centers, and they hold up more than 15 psf
of snow, so a pool cover like this could be 36' tall in the middle, with a
3' rise every 2' in from the edge. we might paint the north side dark, or
hang some greenhouse shadecloth across the middle, and blow down some air
from the top through floatation pipes in thermal contact with the water,
to collect more solar heat. i'd clip this cover to the edge of the pool
for parties, so we don't somehow end up like guido.
there must be a simple way to make an airtight door in the film itself...
overlap 2 pieces of film, and slip between them to get in? not quite...
nick
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