With a swimming pool in your backyard, the vacation begins as soon as you walk through your door. Refreshing yourself in the cool water, relaxing in the sun, what could be more enjoyable? For your swimming pool to be visually beautiful and to blend harmoniously into the landscape of your home, it is important to choose the right paving. But it’s not just a question of visual appearance, since you don’t really want to wade through the soil of your garden when you get out of a pond.
Instead, you want a stable, solid surface that’s comfortable to walk on bare – and wet – feet. So you need a suitable paving. But what is the best material? Be imaginative and creative! So that your paving matches your outdoor space, particularly in terms of color, and that it forms a real unit with the swimming pool, look at our ideas and advice below and opt for a material that is rough but not too rough, which suits you. allows a pleasant barefoot feeling when leaving your swimming pool.
The most common solution: tiling
Not so long ago, tiling was the only option for swimming pool paving. There were very few alternatives. It is true that we find them everywhere, in all shapes and colors, including models that imitate wood or stone. Unfortunately, tiling tiles have one major drawback: they slip when wet. Admittedly, they offer a wide choice, they are easy to maintain but it is necessary to take certain points into account when purchasing, in particular the non-slip side. Tile can really pose an accident hazard when wet. To avoid injury, only non-slip tiling tiles should be laid around your swimming pool. You should also find out about the water absorption capacity. What about in case of humidity, will your tiles resist freezing?
For a natural look: stone
Again, it is important to raise the issue of safety, because it is very easy to slip on wet stones. Those that will be used for your paving will have previously been treated accordingly. Properly treated, bare stone is slip-resistant and provides a pleasant walking experience. Smooth stones feel good to you, rough stones tingle slightly more under your feet. You don’t have to worry about burning your feet, because natural stone stores heat and only releases it gradually. You have the choice between granite, sandstone, limestone, slate, travertine, etc.
Comfortable and authentic: wood
Wood is preferably used in the garden because this material creates a warm and natural atmosphere and harmonizes well with plants and plant decorations. So why not think about a wooden pool paving? You can for exotic woods but also for certain more classic types of wood. Exotic woods have the longest lifespan, but are also expensive and often difficult to obtain. Not all woods can be used for this purpose. Here are some species that are well suited for swimming pool paving:
- Teak: It is a particularly valuable wood. It has been used in shipbuilding for centuries and is extremely robust.
- Larch: Larches grow in Eurasia and North America. Particularly robust Siberian larch is recommended for swimming pool edges.
- Douglas wood: It is a very stable and durable wood. It has a nice red-orange color.
- Cumaru wood: It is also a strong wood that can absorb water. It presents a great variation of colors, sometimes yellow-brown or red-brown.
- Itauba wood: It is an extremely resistant wood to temperature changes. Itauba wood comes from Brazil. It is also used to build bridges.
- Ipe wood: It is also a tropical wood from South America. Many boat jetties are constructed from Ipe wood.
- Massaranduba wood: It is an exotic wood, one of the densest that exists. Particularly noble, its color variations oscillate from reddish to purple. However, after a few years, its color changes significantly.
- Kebony: It is a soft wood which has been specially treated to make it rot-proof and particularly solid.
- The pine Pine wood is less prone to cracking than larch wood.
To avoid unpleasant surprises and having to replace your pool paving in a few years, you absolutely must opt for robust and resistant wood that can defy bad weather and fungi. Because the wood fades over time and acquires a silvery gray patina. The sturdier the wood, the longer the natural color will remain.
Tropical woods split easily and require a lot of attention. Some woods tend to break, which can be dangerous when walking barefoot. Larch or Douglas wood can be an alternative. Some heat-treated woods have ecological value and become water-repellent and fungus-resistant through the heating process. This is the case of Kebony wood, which is also the name of a company launched in Norway that treats this soft wood by making it harder and more stable. The paving of your wooden swimming pool must be oiled annually. After prolonged use, sanding also makes sense.
And many more materials
The choice does not stop at tiles, stone or wood. There are even more creative ideas for designing your pool paving. If you want to forgo the conventional laying of the materials just described and still create an attractive pool landscape, you still have the following options:
- Composite wood: In recent years, composite wood has increasingly competed with wood. It consists of wood and plastic. Unlike pure wood floorboards, it has some advantages. Composite wood is easy to maintain, lasts longer than wood planks and does not tend to break. However, it is regrettable that a good number of raw materials and energy are needed to produce plastic.
- The gravel : Apply it over a large area around the pool. Then the pool also acquires an attractive and natural look and you can enter the pool area without wading through mud or mud. The marbled gravel offers a particularly attractive view and allows pretty light effects.
- Pavers : If you like it more rustic and Mediterranean, cobblestones are also an alternative. You can use the coarse stones in different colors and thus create a mosaic appearance.
Simply be inventive and interrupt the laying to incorporate various elements such as flower boxes, raised beds or water features. And if you can’t decide what material your pool paving should be made of, you can simply combine different materials with each other. Wood, for example, goes very well with natural stone. Cobblestones and natural stone can also be combined very well with each other.