Removable pools on terraces

The placement of removable pools on terraces has increased exponentially since the pandemic in 2020.

Risks

Motivated by the situation of several years ago and the restrictions on the use of community pools, many residents have opted for the installation of portable pools on their terraces or patios. In the patios, initially there would be no danger, unless there is a basement below.

The problem is in the terraces since it is necessary to take into account the structural load that the weight of the pool with the water

Loads

According to the technical code there are permanent charges and other variables.

The permanent loads are the own weight of the materials that make up the building such as the structure and the partitions.

Variable loads are those that vary, such as use, wind, rain, snow, etc...

Typical overload values would be:

For use 200kg/m²

In case of snow it would be 100kg/m²

That means that the overload the terrace would easily withstand would be 300kg/m².

Detachable pool load calculation

We are going to calculate how much the load of a removable pool would mean with an example.

A pool 3 meters diameter, filled with 0.5m of water, the volume of water would be 3,534m².

The weight of water corresponds to 1 liter → 1 kilo and 1m³ is 1,000 liters, this would make a weight of 3,534k, which distributed over the surface of the pool, would mean 500kg of weight for each m².

If the pool were filled to a height of 1 meter, the load would be double, that means, 1000kg for each m².

To reach the pre-established overload of 300kg/m², it would mean that the pool could be filled 30cm high and possibly up to 45cm as long as this last amount of water is not prolonged over time.

Advice

To install a removable pool on a terrace, it would be advisable to carry out a prior study of the loads it could bear, as well as the most appropriate location to avoid problems.

It would also be interesting to take out civil liability insurance, to be covered in possible accidents that could happen such as the pool being punctured or bursting and the force and volume of water could cause damage to people and/or objects.

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