Miles Barnard

Hi Andrew. I definitely specified the project I wanted the photos to go into, but only the first 8 went in. I Didn’t realize this until I was all finished of course. Is there not a way to move existing photos in my main album to a specific project?

Gang I have posted some photos. Started an album called natural swimming pools but the project/photo upload interface seems to pretty much not work anymore so only 8 photos made it into the album. The rest are just in my photos. If anyone knows how to add photos to an existing album please let me know. I can also just create a dropbox folder and a link.

All stone is out of NY. It’s essentially PA bluestone in boulder version. Very stable. Yes I’m sure we will get some pieces popping off in the winter. That’s just the nature of natural material which we accept
Deep end is 8-8.5′ deep. Total volume is around 40,000 gallons. No aerator although we have allowed provisions to add one later if we think…[Read more]

Hello Friends. I’m picking back up on our discussion of Natural Swimming Pools. Our pool is nearly complete and will soon be ready for water. We have been consulting with Mick Hilleary of Total Habitat on the design. Our pool/pond has a fiber reinforced polyethylene liner and natural stone walls that separate the swim zone from the filter zone. We…[Read more]

Annie thanks. But we are talking about natural swimming pools. Non conventional chemical pools.  -Miles

Laura I have heard of the reed bed thing for effluent. There actually is some openness from the health dept folks here to talking about treating effluent with constructed wetlands.

Laura I’m out of breath reading your post. Great information.  Thanks so much. We definitely want to have a beach entrance at one end and I like the rocky interior

How about Yellow Mountain Stone?

Todd thanks again. I’m leaning toward hiring the guys (Total Habitat) that wrote this guide to be consultants on my project.

NSP project update. I am going to hire a consultant to provide design guidance on the pool systems and material selections. I will still be the designer of record and also manage the construction aspects of the project. I’m choosing between two companies, BioNova and Total Habitat out of Kansas. I am leaning toward Total Habitat because I like…[Read more]

Gustan those are great reflections. I am right there. My hope is to convince the client to spend a bit more money on the front end with a BioNova consultant but have me still running the show. I’ll let you all know how my ‘pitch’ is received.

My initial reaction to having a client interest in a NSP was that I can figure this out on my own and work with a pool contractor of my choosing to build it. But while the concept is fairly simple, the ramifications of failure are quite large. There are lots of minor details that go into having acceptable water quality and I’m more feeling like…[Read more]

Janine thanks for the links. Tell me which menu to select on the first website to see images of natural pools. I found it on the second site.

Todd this is great. Thank you. I’m currently talking with BioNova Pools about consulting on the mechanical and biological aspects with me designing all the ‘aesthetic’ aspects. But ultimately I would like to be able to design everything myself. Just takes a client that wants one and right now I have one.

Exactly. I would really like to be able to add this to my skillset. But really don’t want to have a failure the first time

Interesting you said that. I’m finding that the book I have is not very well written and has some confusing descriptions. I’m definitely looking for more scientific guidelines.  Maybe I need to revisit the BioNova proposal. So are you using what you learned at BioNova with whatever you are doing now? Are you involved with building NSPs?

Kara thanks for the reply. I have had some correspondence with BioNova and they also provided me with a proposal do consult on the design and construction.  It’s a fairly expensive contract, but maybe worth it.  It does seem like a fairly straight forward system, but I’m also very concerned about making sure it works, and being the one r…[Read more]

Tosh thanks for the great info. Hopefully others will reply also.

Robert thanks for the feedback.  In studying the chiminea I’m thinking that part of the success in these having draw is related to the small front opening into the firebox.  Do you think?

Alan I have run a handful of ads in magazines over the years and have never gotten one call, not one from those ads.  I think print ads are a waste of money to be honest.  You have to get a project published or a piece about yourself published in one of the local lifestyle magazines to have any impact I think.  Around here we have Chesapeake Li…[Read more]