Creating The Pool Area

Now that the pool has been installed and in working order, we are now concentrating on the area around the pool, building up so the decking will be flush with the pool edge, installing the glass wall panels, making a seating area at both ends of the pool and camouflaging up the ugly fence.

We decided to use wooden posts for the glass wall panel as our back yard gets some really ferocious winds and Scott was a bit unsure as to whether the metal brackets that you can get to hold the glass would be strong enough, he felt that  by cementing the posts into the ground it would give a lot more support We dug the holes, inserted them and poured cement around the posts to secure them.

He put paving stones down to give extra support for the joists that are going to support the decking, nothing but extra cautious is my guy 😉

He built the steps with the same decking boards as the main deck. We painted the top half of the fence green to give some camouflage behind the hedge sections. He cut out grooves in the fence posts to hold the glass panels and attached the gate to a larger post.

He used cement sheets to make a 'wall' like feature under the hedge which he painted the colour we chose. Then the hedge was positioned and secured on to the fence, loving this low maintenance look. Then we came to the heavy part, carrying the glass panels all 40 kg per panel from the front of the house up the steep path to our back yard, Scott carrying the front and I carried the back, boy they were heavy!!, then we had to position them at the top of the fence post and gradually slide them into the cut grooves.

We used cement sheet and hedging to disguise the shed making a more oasis type feel, it is not quite finished in the bottom right photo, the trim to hide the joint between the wall and the decking was still to be put on.

Next to be done was the construction of the seating area and finishing the deck area. We used cement sheet to cover up the gap between the upper and lower deck area. 

We have worked on this project every weekend (weather permitting obviously) and most evenings since 3rd July 2018.

The whole process has taken longer than it would have had we got a company in to do it, but it gives us a great deal of self satisfaction knowing that Scott and I did the whole thing from start to finish by ourselves, I think you appreciate things more when you have to work at it yourself, you get the satisfaction of seeing things take shape, going from nothing to something and being able to say to yourself, we did that!. We have had countless cuts, bruises, splinters, back ache, muscle ache, squashed fingers and toes, backs, wrists and elbows have had to be strapped up at some stage but it's ours and we did it ourselves!

And here it is.. Our very own creation!!, we could not be more in love with it.

Cerys came across these photos she had taken during the construction of the pool area, she found them during our isolation period 19th January 2022 due to Darren testing positive for covid-19.

These were taken September/October 2018, just before her illness kicked in and we lost sight of who she used to be for 3 years, now we are finally on the mend after many, many appointments, sessions, meetings, doctors, nurses, therapies, I've lost track of the various things we have done in our quest to help her on the road to recovery.