XL Pools Limited

The Parlour, Saracens Dairy Pluckley Road, Pluckley, Kent, TN27 0SA

enquiries@xlpools.com

InstallationGuide

Thank you for choosing XL Pools for your new Pool. Buying a pool is one of the top 3 most expensive things most customers will every buy. Unfortunately it is also one of the most disruptive to your home due to the nature of any building project. We have written this document to help you understand the process involved in building a pool and how we minimise this disruption and get your pool in as little time as possible. Please can you read through it carefully as it contains lots of useful information and we have attached lots of pictures of pools in their build process so you know what to expect.

PLANNING PERMISSION & ACCESS

It is your responsibility to ensure all relevant planning permissions and consents have been obtained prior to the start date of your pool. We also require a copy of this permission for our records. Please email this through to us. If we need access through someones else’s land we require written permission from the owner along with a meeting between yourself, Landowner and XL Pools. We find it is best that you deal with your neighbours to obtain this and is your responsibility to have it signed off before work commences. It must be made clear to them the size of vehicles going over their land (see below) and potential damage to the grass, you should also budget for re instatement of this.

YOUR NEIGHBOURS

The volume of traffic will increase during your pool building project with some very large vehicles. We find projects always run alot smoother where the customer has spoken with their neighbours. As a company we will post a letter though your nearest neighbour’s door to warn them of impending work giving them our contact details should they have any problems. It is also helpful if you have a quick chat with them. Please see the schedule for volume of traffic.

Introduction

Our shell construction build team work in teams of 2 people on each project, they are responsible for the excavation and installing the pool shell into your garden and providing services and pipework to the plant room. On the day of your pool shell arrival the project manager will also be present.

XL Pools are a Team of highly professional, experienced individuals with an enviable reputation amongst its peers for excellence, attention to detail... a business that installs confidence.

Since commencing business over 12 years ago XL Pools have moved to the forefront of swimming pool companies. Financially sound with an excellent track record XL Pools are the ideal company to design and build a swimming pool to the most exacting standards. The business focus on providing product and service excellence at highly competitive prices, ensures that XL Pools can be relied upon to give the best possible advice to prospective clients.

Our staff and pools speak for themselves and you can be assured that the pride that runs through the veins of our company and its staff will extend to ensuring your pool is everything you ever wanted it to be.

Anthony founded the company in 2002. The company became Limted in 2004. Anthony is the director and head of sales. Anthony started building swimming pools over 20 years ago. You will often see Anthony on-site managing your pool build and getting his getting involved himself, putting his years of pool construction knowledge to use.

Helen co-founded the business in 2002 with Anthony. Helen deals with the business side of the company, managing staff and the business accounts. Over the years, Helen has gained a weath of experience and knowledge in all aspects of the swimming pool industry which to this day continues to grow.

The TeamYOUR INSTALLATION TEAM

ANTHONY EXELL - MEMBER OF SPATA & ISPE

HELEN SMITH - MEMBER OF SPATA AND ISPE

The TeamCont...

David joined XL Pools in 2005. David is the Project Manager and will oversee your pool construction from start to finish. David is our in-house filtration expert and has a fanatical eye for detail. His role is to ensure that your installtion is as economical and efficient as possible making your build project on-time and in budget.

Mike joined XL Pools in 2008. Mike’s role is the Site Manager. He will co-ordinate the work team as well as get heavily involved in all aspects of the swimming pool installation. His specialities are ground works and building insulated pool shells. Mike knows his way around a digger and has an excellent approachable manner. Feel free to ask him anything!

Chris joined XL Pools early 2012. Chris is a service engineer. He has a very self efficent attitude to his work and a great knowldege of the installation process. Chris also handles the mainenance and service side to the business ensuring your pool is perfect all year round.

We try and use as few subcontractors as possible to control all aspects of the build. We will however use a few trusted partners of the following aspects of the build.

DAVID EXELL - PROJECT MANAGER - MEMBER OF SPATA AND ISPE

MIKE BAKER - S ITE MANAGER - MEMBER OF SPATA & ISPE

CHRIS BARTHOLOMEW - MEMBER OF SPATA & ISPE

SUBCONTRACTORS

Our Working Day

The time that works start on your site will be relative to the distance that you are away from our base. This will be somewhere between 8am and 10:30am. We track all our vehicles so know exactly where staff are at all times. On some days particularly the day of the shell delivery we may work late to ensure all cure times are adhered to. Please be aware if you are a long way away from us we will have to deal with the M25!

Communications On Your Project

If you have any questions with regards to the pool installation please call your project manager at the XL Pools Office on 0845 206 0420, they will also be able to meet up with you on his weekly inspections. We find any small snagging and problems are best sent by email so they can be documented and added to the project plan. Please do not communicate little jobs to the team on site as they need to be scheduled and may get missed if verbally communicated in the pace of the day.Please note our onsite team are only given their job plan for following day at the end of the day, so they will be unable to provide any information on scheduling. Please contact your project manager for a current plan.

Delivery Dates

Once you pool has been ordered and we have a confirmed delivery date we are unable to change the delivery date without incurring costs as a part of the process of delivery is to gain permission from the French, British and Belgian authorities for transporting a pool through each country on its way to your house.If you wish to change the delivery date up

to 3 weeks before pool arriving a £2500 Delivery rescheduling cost to cover ferry crossing and transport permits. This may also affect the build date as we have pool builds scheduled that your pool will have to fit into.

Fence Removal & Access

Sometimes we will need to remove a fence to gain access to your garden, We will always make sure your garden is secure at the end of each working day.Once we have finished we will put the fence back, Please note sometimes we might have to replace parts of the fence due to old age or damage. We will always match up parts as closely as we can, but new items will alway look different until they blend back in. If you would like us to quote on a new fence please ask your project manager. If once the pool is complete other contractors require access then the fence can be left removed however additional costs will be incurred if you wish us to come back and reinstate once the pool element of the job is complete.

DAVID EXELL - PROJECT MANAGER - MEMBER OF SPATA AND ISPE

MIKE BAKER - S ITE MANAGER - MEMBER OF SPATA & ISPE

CHRIS BARTHOLOMEW - MEMBER OF SPATA & ISPE

Building is quite a fluid process reacting to a number of factors including weather, material curing times and site conditions.

The general process will look something like the following:

1. Site Clearing and Access (a few hours to 1 day)2. Excavations & Ground Works (1 day - 5 days depending on access)3. Pool Crane in hold and base (1 day)4. Plumbing from pool to plant room (1 - 3 days depending on distance to plant room and access)5. Backfill (1 -3 days depending on site access)6. Pool room plumbing (1-3 days)7. Pool wiring (1-2 days)8. Coping Stone Fitting (1-3 days)

All of the above excludes any optional extras selected and are a rough guide only. It excludes curing times needed on certain materials.

If your pool is an indoor pool then the normal procedure would be for stages 1-2 to be done by your building contractor. Once the foundations for the building are in, Stages 3-5 then takes place by XL Pools with stages 6-7 once the buildings walls and roof have been completed and it is watertight.

Build Schedule

This is the messiest part of any pool build. We will normally fit in as large an excavator as possible to speed this process up, right up to a 21 tonne machine. The smallest machine we will normally dig with is 3 tonne unless site conditions are particularly tight.

If you have no where to deposit the soil in your garden we will take the Soil away, this involves bringing a grab lorry to collect from a pile of mud. This is an 18 tonne lorry and very large. We will take away between 6 and 25 lorry loads depending on many factors including soil type, weather conditions and pool size along with if there is any slope to your garden that needs grading out. This will be deposited at the site it is to be collected with a dumper truck. When we excavate soil it has a bulking factor. This means that it expands when it is removed from the hole. To give you an idea of the total amount of soil that will be removed, imagine a pile the height of a double decker bus (although its ferried away as we dig)If the soil is to be deposited in the garden, we recomend you are around during the excavation period to advise the shape you would like this made into. If you are not there we will use our own judgement and costs will be incurred if you would like this changing at a later date.

EXCAVATION AND SOIL AWAY

We will have done a survey of your garden, however we can never be sure what’s under the ground until we start digging. You may have noticed in your contract that there is a provision for finding things like services and drains. We can sometimes also hit rock. If found we will need your co- operation and signoff of any costs to enable to pool build to continue. These will always be at cost, but the speed to rectify them is the most important aspect to allow the project to move forward as the pool shell arrive is quite inflexible.

We can sometimes encounter groundwater. This is seasonal and very variable throughout the country. Until we have excavated we will not know if it is a problem. If this is the case there is a provision in your contract to install additional equipment to cope with this. If it is a straightforward installation then it should cost around £2500 but depends on the site.

Soil type will also vary, if for example we encounter sand or bedrock then additional costs may be incurred to ensure your pool is installed to it optimum strength. This will normally take the form of additional costs for support of the ground or backfill material. This is charged at cost. Your project manager will evidence this for you to see.Within your contract we provision for a specific excavation time and average weather conditions, but in exceptional weather conditions then additional costs may be incurred in the form of rescheduling crane hire, transport, additional machinery hire or additional cleaning.

In all of the above eventualities your project manager will be on site to ensure any problems are overcome in a swift and as cost effective manner as possible and will answer any questions you may have. No works will be done without your signoff and approval.

This is the most exciting and busiest day on site. It is imperative that no other contactors are on site on this day as its a very time critical and dangerous operation. You pool will arrive either the night before or the morning of delivery on an arctic lorry. It will then be either craned off with a crane mounted to the lorry (when we can get a lorry close to the hole), the excavator (where we can fit a 13-16 tonne digger) or a dedicated crane (where access to the garden is limited). We will often restrict access on the road your house lies for a few hours. Its a good idea to let your neighbours know when this day it. If we block the road entirely we will often have to request a road closure from the council.

EXCAVATION AND SOIL AWAY

PROBLEMS WE CAN ENCOUNTER

THE DAY OF THE POOL ARRIVING

Between the excavation and the shell of your pool we will fill with dry mix screed concrete. This will either be deposited with a lorry (1 per day) in a large pile placed on boards in your drive or a designated suitable area or with a concrete pump (at additional cost) where site access is difficult. Depending on ground conditions this may be needed to be left for a few days before filing of the pool with water.

We require 5 Degrees Centigrade Plus to work with concrete

Filling of the pool with water takes between 3 and 5 days in normal water pressure. During this time very little can be done on site. A shutoff water valve will be placed on your hose pipe but we ask that you check the fill level twice a day and turn off when the pool is full.On the initial fill, the pool will look quite dirty, don’t worry this is normal and will be vacuumed out by the pool equipment once it is connected. Once the pool is filled it does pose a safety risk so children and animals should be kept away until the safety cover (if specified) has been fitted. The pool should not be used under any circumstances until it has officially been handed over to you.

The coping stones around the perimeter of your pool will be glued down. We also offer matching slabs that will need to be tiled onto a concrete base around your pool. Please speak with your project manger for a spec should you wish to do this and refer to the appendix images.

You will have specified a coping stone option in either a light or dark colour normally in natural stone.

Coping stones are laid from each corner of the pool with one or two shorter cut stone in the middle or end of each length.

If you have a different type of stone in mind we are able to provide a specification for their size but unable to fit stones manufactured by other suppliers. Please see the technical drawing the the appendix for how they are fitted.

Patios are always laid off the level of the coping stone. Your patio slabs or concrete bases should not be laid until the coping stones are fitted. It is the person laying the concretes responsibility to ensure no concrete stains the stones or pool.

Patio’s should always have a concrete base on them as per the cross section in the drawing in the appendix.It is strongly recommended that the patio and coping stones around the pool are sealed to prevent frost damage. Please ask your paving contractor for this. Please ensure that the sealant is suitable for pool

surround as some contain arsenic.Please also make your paving contractor aware that the gap between the paving and the pool copings should be of a flexible variety and they are designed to expand and contract with the pool.If you would like the grout within your slabs to match your surrounding paving to blend in, we can leave the coping stones un grouted. Your paving contractor when grouting the paving can then match it in. The grout line will need to be 4mm or under, we recomend it is grouted with: Ardex Flex available in 32 colours.

BACKFILLING OF YOUR POOL

FILLING OF THE POOL

COPING STONES

Once the pool shell is complete the plant room will be plumbed. Depending on your design this will either be a new building or an existing.

No plant room / Indoor poolWhere no plant room exists and we are not installing a plant rooms ourselves we will supply ducting to run the pipework to the location advised by the installer of the building. We will then return once the building is up to put the plant room in. We will require 3 weeks notice of the date that you require the plant room installed. See schedule above for time to install.

Between the time of shell installation and installation of the plant room the pool will be uncovered. If the site is not secure or there are other trades working around the pool we can offer a service to board over the pool to protect it. In all situations we will require you to sign off the pool as undamage from the point we leave site to our return. This will include the signoff of pipes and cables as intact and undamaged.

XL Pools Installed Plant room / existing buildingIf XL Pools are installing the plant room or there is an existing building that it is going into, this will be done at the same time as the shell is installed. Please note the for existing buildings the pipes will be brought up on the outside of the building before entering at right angles and will be visible. If these are likely to offend you then we recommend that you hire a carpenter to box these in.

ElectricsThe electrical service required for the pool will range from 16 amps depending on the specification of the pool. Unless contracted we will require the cable to be installed and isolated at the start of the build unless agreed. This will normally be an armoured cable and must be protected by a 30ma Class D RCD along with a IP65 Rotary Isolator Switch. All electrics within the plant room area should be a minimum of IP55 to protect against water ingress.

DrainageThe pool will require a drain capable to taking 20m3 an hour (standard pump) 30m3/h eco pump, alternatively could be spread on a large area of grass to soak in. This will be used on a periodic basis 1-2 weeks to backwash (clean out the filters) This can either be connected to a hose or if quoted for connected by pipe to a drain. We also offer systems to recycle the water back into the pool if required. This drainage should not be allowed to flow into a septic tank or reed drainage system.

Other servicesIf you are having form of heating other than a heat pump we will require all services run for these prior to the pool build (gas / oil)

BACKFILLING OF YOUR POOL PLANT ROOM

FILLING OF THE POOL

Gas or OilIf you are having a gas or oil heating system you will need a supply fitted to the plant room, please contact us for more information

Heat PumpIf you are having a heat pump installed as part of your package this will require a free air space around it as seen in the diagram below.The heat pump will also naturally produce a small amount of water from condensation. It is advised that a small soak away it put by the heat pump in the form of a strip of gravel to allow this water to drain away

Minimum Room SizeThe Room need to be a minimum of 2.5 metre x 1.5metre. We need a Minimum of 2.2 metres in height ( if this is a problem please speak to us) It is best to have a concrete base in the room due to the water and vibrations of pumps. This dimension excludes any air handling equipment on indoor pools.

Electrical RequirementWe Require a Comando Socket on the WallThis will normally be an armoured cable and must be protected by a 30ma Class D RCD along with an IP65 Rotary Isolator Switch. Please discuss the amp rating with your project manager, this will depend on the options you specify.

Waste WaterWe recommend a Waste water pipe in the plant room that enables you to easily carry out backwash (If you have a Cesspit or Speptic Tank that waste water goes to please let us know as you can not backwash into Cesspits or Speptic Tank)

Water SupplyIt is always useful to have a water supply inside or just outside of the plant room for maintenance and cleaning. If you have specified auto topup this will be required by a 22mm blue pipe inside the plantroom.

Floor DrainsFloor Drains and a non slip floor are recommended as during maintenance you might get water on the floor.

Wall MaterialThe recommended material for the walls should be either wood or a cement based board and should not be susceptible to water damage.

PLANT ROOM SPECIFICATION

Please speak with your project manager regarding defining these areas within your garden.We are able to offer at a cost ground protection plates, these are however quite expensive but we can provide a quote.

Please note that once the pool has been completed other building works going on around the pool will create an abnormally large amount of dirt in the pool even if it is covered which will mean more regular cleaning is required. You will also need to backwash or clean the filter more regularly to keep the pool clear and heater operating (flo error)

Please note building a pool involves a lot of construction which does create mess within your garden. We fence off the area of your garden at the start to ensure the building work stays with in the build area.We will tidy up as we go ensure rubbish is removed. The biggest problem is always the amount of mud that is created especially when it rains. This is something we do not have control over.

Once your pool is completed we recommend that you have a landscaping company lined up to reinstate the area around the pool (blue), including the patio and landscaping. You should also budget to have the access route (red and pink) that leads to the site of the pool re seeded or turfed if it is grass as large machinery will have damaged the grass.

The works area around the pool will be defined as follows.Orange = The works envelope (area that large machinery will be working)Pink = The access route (to and from the pool area with dumper trucks, will also leading to soil away deposit location if separate)Red = Material delivery and soil away pileYellow = The pool itself (decorative finishes end)

Reinstatement

During your pool build there will be between 1-5 vehicles on site. Your project manager will discuss the location for parking. We also have a site trailer that will park on site with our tools for the duration of the job, we will also require a 13amp plug to plug this in to enable us to work.

If you do a school run or need to leave at a specific time each day please advise us so we can ensure that vehicles are not blocking your access.If you have security gates please could you advise us of the code to put in the project plan. We if access is through these gates they may be needed to be kept open whilst we are on site.

ServicesDuring the build we will need access to a power supply, a water supply and toilet facilities. If you would like us to quote on any of these items so we don’t have to use yours please ask.

MachineryDuring the build we will be using some large machinery. We request the children and animals are kept away from the site as there are potentially dangerous. This includes the route to and from the road for access.

The pool location sign offIf you have a drawing we must have this prior to our arrival on site. We are limited to a tolerance on the pools location of 10cm. A measurement must be provided as to its location from a solid object to the inside edge of the coping stone. We advise that if this location is critical that landscapers or builders are available on the day of delivery to confirm.If any walls or paving is to be aligned with the pool it is recommended they are put in once the shell is in the ground.

When budgeting for the surround to your pool we recommend a 10-60% of the price of the pool for landscaping depending on your specification. Please ask for spec for patio. Do not use softwood decking. It goes slippery and splinters very quickly. Drainage under the decking is vital to stop water runoff under the decking into the pool.

Grass should not extend upto the coping stone edge of the pool without prior consultation with your project manager and prior to coping stone installation.Please be aware that other trades should not be scheduled to be onsite working around the pool until handover as this will delay the build and incur further costs.

VEHICLES / TRAILER / PARKING

GARDEN DESIGN & LANDSCAPING

It is important that the area around the pool has proper drainage so that the surrounding ground does not flow water towards the pool (except indoor pools). If this is unavoidable and in the case of indoor pools a gully drain along the edge of the coping stones will be necessary. See also notes above about heat pump drainage.

Once your new pool is installed, in order to ensure it is in the very best of condition we offer service and maintenance on your pool. As a minimum we strongly recommend that we winterise your pool as this is a very different process to a regular pool that many maintenance companies are not familiar with, and failure to carry out properly can irreparably damage the pool.

The final payment is due once the pool works are complete. This is often prior to the landscaping works being completed surrounding the pool. At an additional cost we can provide a cover for the pool to protect it from other trades and dirt going on around the pool. Whilst this is strong its not full proof against things like falling objects, brick blocks and heavy machinery. We recommend that you have your contractor sign off that the pool is in good condition before he starts work.

The final hand over of the pool is a training session with you and those who will be maintaining the pool as to how to operate the pool and look after the water within. If you have paid for additional protection for the pool whilst other building works are going on around the pool we will also give it a full clean and service so it is ready to use once it has been unwrapped.

VEHICLES / TRAILER / PARKING

SURROUNDING DRAINAGE

ON GOING SERVICE WORK

SIGN OFF & HANDOVER

XL Pools Limited

The Parlour, S

aracens Dairy

Pluckley R

oad, Pluckley,

Kent, TN

27 0SA

enquiries@xlpools.com

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w.xlpools.com