Renovation
Giving an existing pool its light back.
Worn finishes, uncertain waterproofing, an outdated plant room. The question is almost never whether to start again: it is working out what is still sound.
See the completed projects
The principle
The same pool, reworked.
The existing structure is not demolished, it is reused and adapted. The shell and the base slab stay where they are, the overflow channel is formed in the existing edge beam, the waterproofing is made continuous again and the plant room gains the components it was missing. That is how a skimmer pool becomes an overflow pool.
The visit
What we look for on the visit.
A survey is not a quotation. It is a list of questions asked in order, the first of which can stop the project and the rest of which set its scale.
The structure
Cracked reinforced concrete, settlement, an old construction joint. It is the first thing we look at, because it is the only one that can rule out a project. A sound structure can be renovated.
The waterproofing
Where is it, what is it made of, is it continuous? On many older pools the finish alone acts as the waterproofing, and that explains most refurbishments that do not last.
The waterline and the extraction
Skimmers, overflow channel, or nothing identifiable. The way the surface water is drawn off determines what the renovation can aim for, and in particular whether a conversion to an overflow pool is possible.
The plant room
Filtration, pumps, pipework, valves, treatment, controls. This is often where a renovation pays best: a plant room brought up to standard changes water quality and consumption without touching the pool.
The surroundings and the services
Loose copings, a slippery deck, lighting out of service, original pipework. They do not put the structure at risk, but they determine what you see every day.
The works
Five areas of renovation.
They are rarely all combined, and never out of order: what lies underneath is dealt with before what shows.
Renewing the waterproofing
Depending on the state of the substrate, it is redone with a reinforced membrane welded on site, which is designed to go over an imperfect substrate, or by rebuilding the whole build-up. This is the point where we open up before deciding.
Changing the finish
A reinforced membrane goes on quickly and can be repaired. Glass mosaic needs a perfectly flat substrate, and therefore often preparatory work before laying. The choice is made on the actual condition of the substrate.
The move to an overflow pool
The most requested conversion: forming the channel in the edge beam, finding room for a balance tank, reworking the hydraulics and raising the waterline to deck level.
Bringing the plant room up to standard
Undersized filtration, original pump, seized valves, no controls. A plant room brought up to standard improves water quality, consumption and ease of operation.
Energy saving
Cover, submerged slatted cover, heat pump, controls, insulation of the plant room. On an existing pool, energy is saved first on evaporation, the main source of heat loss from a pool.
What decides
When renovation works, and when it does not.
A renovation is decided on site, on the basis of what we find when we open up.
A sound structure
As long as the structure holds, almost everything is possible without rebuilding. It is the first point of the survey, and the only one that can stop everything.
Access
A pool built thirty years ago is often surrounded by a mature garden, a terrace and a wall. Access for plant and materials determines the method.
The timing
A renovation is prepared out of season, and a major conversion is designed before it is quoted. A pool opened up in a hurry in the middle of summer is a bad job for everyone.
When we advise against it
Sometimes a refurbishment is not worth what it takes: a structure too far gone, a position that no longer suits the way the pool is used, or a succession of past renovations whose make-up nobody knows any more. We say so, on the basis of what we have seen on site.
Next
Arrange a pool survey.
A survey is carried out on site, with the pool full or empty depending on what we are looking for. It gives a condition report, a list of possible works and an order of priority. It is from there that a quotation starts to mean something.
Your next pool or wellness space
Everything begins with a meeting.
A place, a wish, a project to imagine together.