Earthbag Swimming Pool

Earthbag swimming pool
Earthbag swimming pool

From the Permies Forum:
“i am now in process of building it need help filling sand bags and placing them then plastering them, i am also doing walls and out buildings I have sucessfuly built a sand bag green house and am growing citrus trees in it. I have a little expereience in building with sand bags and a lot of ideas. I am currently undertaking the swimming pool, garden wall upper wall, almost all done, then the parking lot wall 60 plus feet over 6 feet high with 2 windows in it, almost done. then the grotto bulding not yet finished, the 2 story cabanna, 9 ft under ground done 10 feet tall above ground just started. then the 20×20 garage just started need sand bag wall up 6 feet finish with steel siding first 3 courses done. then the chicken coop not started, then the outdoor storage shed not started, then the water tank room not started, all of this work needs to be done. i keep reading on the internet that classes or work shops cost 500 to 1600 dollars. if you bring a 90 lb bag of cement per day and you are a hard worker i will show you how and how not to do it. for free. please contact me. I live in a small town in northern arizona the dirt is good the weather is crisp and the work is rewarding. if you would like hands on experience at doing this type of building please let me know.”

Source: Permies Forum

20 thoughts on “Earthbag Swimming Pool”

  1. Hi Guys!
    Can some help me to find the bags for the earthbag swiming pool? what material is made of?

    Can some give me a contact in Europe to get it?
    Thaks!

    Reply
    • Search online for polypropylene bag companies. Most people use 18″x30″ polypropylene sand bags. You can also use tubes. Look for companies near you to reduce shipping costs.

      Reply
  2. I usually do not comment, but after reading through a few of the responses on Earthbag Swimming Pool. I do have some questions for you if it’s allright. And, if you are posting on other places, I’d like to keep up with you. Could you make a list of all of your shared pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?

    Reply
    • I have never built an earthbag pool but am versed in ferrocement construction. I would use poured reinforced concrete as the bottom and plaster it inside and out with ferrocement. Both do-able for a DIY project. If you don’t know about ferrocement a quick google search will teach you all you need to know. No liner needed with ferrocement and very strong. Ferrocemrnt is used for water storage tanks and cisterns all over the world and is cheap to do. I think the combination of earthbag construction and ferrocement would be super strong. I plann to do a small pool built into a retainer wall using earthbags and ferrocement next summer.

      Reply
    • We have two blog posts here that describe the process. Search for the keyword pond or pool using the search engine on the right. Let me know if you can’t find it. A few blog posts got deleted when we moved to our new server.

      Reply
  3. Have you read about natural swimming pools? The basic idea is that you have a regeneration zone about half the size of your swimming area. This regeneration zone is made of expanded shale and has aquatic plants in it. Bacteria grows in the regeneration zone on the plants and in the shale. Under the expanded shale you run tubes that are connected to a pump. The pump draws water through the plants roots and expanded shale. The Bacteria cleans the water up to drinking standards. The pump should run fast enough to cycle all of the water twice a day.

    There is a large public pool in Germany that is made in this fashion and the quality of the water stays above EU standards for drinking water.

    Reply
  4. Wow that is a great project. I would love to help you. I am in south Florida and building a building from bamboo and palms now.

    I would love to see the plans for the swimming pool too. Is that possible?

    Thank you

    Jerry Thornton

    Reply
  5. Hi ….I would be very interested. If I came for a week, is there places close by to camp or stay ?? I’ll work as hard as I can….and throw in extra bags of cement when I can’t keep up with the youngsters. How can we connect up to share information ???

    Reply
  6. would love to see this project finished and the swiming pool working. I was wondering if someone had done a swiming pool out of sandbags before?!

    Reply
    • Great effort and good Spirit! Keep it up!
      We have some experience in natural pools/ponds. First we dig out the organic material and set it aside for agricultural usage. Then we dig the hole which later converts to a pond until we start feeling more resistant material. In our case this happens when we reach a depth of about 3-5 meters. At that stage we stop digging out the material and we set in Tilapia and a small water inlet from a well we have. Then we let the water, fish and nature do their thing. We have 2 such ponds now in Panama where the material has been extracted to use for our Dome and Adobe buildings. Nature has practically sealed these ponds as we have very little loss of water. So far we did not need to help even with compacting. Hope this serves you as an idea to look into to.

      Reply

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