"Stefek Zaba" wrote in message
...
LetterBee wrote:
Wifey has just bought a 10foot circular paddling.swimming pool. Its 36
inches deep but gets filled to 30inches. As you can imagine, thats a lot
of water.

Let's do the numbers, rather than imagining. 10ft = 3m, NADI. Call the
30ins 0.8m (NADI, again). Area of your circle is pi * 1.5 * 1.5 (that's
pi-rsquare, r being half of d), or 3.2 * 2.25 = 7sqm NADI. 7sqm * 0.8m
gives us 5.6 cubic metres, and (since a cubic metre of water weighs a
ton - or tonne, with the precision we're working to) that's between 5 and
6 tons of water.

Now, wood's pretty strong, especially in compression; but I wouldn't want
to support 5+ tons of fun on "four corner posts". Since you only want to
raise the decking a few measly inches, I'd be looking to construct a base
of tannalised (preservative-impregnated) timbers of the right thickness -
maybe sthg as crude and widely-available as 4x4 fenceposts would do? -
resting either straight on the ground, or on paving slabs bedded into a
small depth of concrete, with a couple of ground fixings to encourage the
whole thing to stay in one place (not that it's going to go far, when
filled). As the attraction of an unheated, uncovered,
cracking-after-a-season-or-two paddling pool will fade after a season or
two, I wouldn't aim for a structure of great permanance...

I was looking at supporting it with 9 4*4 posts, three foot in length,
buried two feet in concrete, that should hopefully give it a firm and steady
base to work on. I was then going to place the joists at 12" intervals (in
effect causing just 10" gaps if using 4*2). The cross supports on the joists
would also have been placed at 12" intervals. The decking would be 6" wide.
Just for my own peace of mind I'd have probably jammed bricks every couple
of feet underneath the decking as well but this would still have the effect
of a raised area.
Even with the calculations given I'm not sure it would be strong enough.
Opinions?
Onto the attraction side of it.
You obviously dont know my wife lol.
Its a solar heated, covered and totally flexible pool (only the best for her
and the worst for my wallet) and the kids are at the age where a pool is
unlikely to be a novelty for now.
As an upshot, the wife has decided that if the decking is 11ft square then
when its too cold for the pool and its been stored away the decking could be
covered by this 10foot square gazebo she just happened to see in town. Ooh
look, somewhere to sit and have a barbecue with the neighbours.
You sure you dont know any good divorce lawyers instead?