Our backyard needs some work. MAJOR work. I hate being out there. It’s buggy, it’s junky, and it’s overall not good looking. We’ve been making small improvements here and there, but have spent the majority our house project time/money elsewhere. Last spring, we spruced up the patio area a little by painting the deck with black and white stripes. We also made these fun planter boxes out of old filing cabinets:
Click here to read about how to make those.
Those two things made a big impact on our outdoor space, but MUCH more needed to be done. I have always dreaming of having a pool to beat the Houston heat, but putting in a pool equals major money signs. Last summer, we made due with an inflatable kiddie pool:
David enjoyed it more than me. I found it cumbersome to fill-up, keep clean and fully inflated. So, as I always do, I got to searching for DIY pool ideas. The internet is full of great stuff. People make pools out of all sorts of things – old shipping containers, truck beds, and holes with tarps covering them. No ideas stuck me as do-able until I stumbled upon the gloriousstock tank pool.
Some of you may be asking, what exactly is a stock tank? According to wiki, astock tankis used to providedrinking waterfor animals such ascattleorhorses. Stock tanks can range in size from 100 L to over 5500 L (30 to 1500 gallons) and typically are made ofgalvanized steel.
Here are some other fun FAQ’s:
- Where does one purchase a stock tank? Tractor Supply Stores
- Are there tractor supply stores in Houston? Not really. The closest one to us was in “old” Katy
- How big are they? Pretty big. It seems like the 2 feet deep by 8 foot round ones are the best option for house pools
- Did we end up purchasing a stock tank? Yes. Yes, we did.
- Are we crazy?! Yes. Yes, we are.
- How the heck did we get it home? Strapped it in the bed of David’s pick-up truck. It was a harrowing drive home. The tank was hanging over the side of David’s truck by a couple of feet. It was do-able, but dangerous. Definitely invest in a few strong men (to help lift into the truck) with a separate car for following along the road (to prevent accidents/honks).
David here – Now on to the specifics on how we did it:
Material list (click to follow links):
- 8′ Stock Tank.
- 4 Common Sink Drain Pipes
- 1 3/4″ Hole Saw andArbor/Mandrel
- Pack of #18 O-Rings
- Play Sand – about 20 bags of this kind.
- Pool pump. This one on Amazon is right about perfect for the volume.
- Pool chemical float.
- Chlorine Tablets.
- Ph Balancing Tablets
- Water Test Strips.
First off… I grew up swimming in stock tanks- above ground and built in, so this doesn’t seem crazy in the least to me. Second, a real pool is like $40k… so no, no, no on that. Third- apparently this is a trend (see above), making it, like a lot of old school redneck/hood stuff, suddenly cool.
Steps to build your very own:
1. Procure said tank. We got ours at tractor supply. It’s 8′ in diameter X 2′ deep (which is way deeper than you’d think – about neck deep if you’re sitting). Here’s the link to ours.
2. Drive that bad boy home. My truck is a 1500 short bed dodge. It fit, but was a bit harrowing. We drove that sucker from rural “old” Katy into downtown Houston, and on down to the Tre. Fortunately HPD has seen way stupider stuff on the roads, so we didn’t even get pulled over.
3. Make a nice cozy spot for the old gal. We had a nice little patch by the sunroom. Mark off where it’ll go- we used orange marking paint:
4. Dig out that marked area and fill with play sand to level. We went down about 2 inches and filed all the way up. I used a 2×4 and level to make sure it was perfect.
5. For ours, we wanted to landscape around it, so we went ahead and laid down weed blocker fabric.
6. Finally, when it’s all good and level, find 4-5 friends and slide ‘er on into the sandbox. We used Dana, Dana’s mom, sister, Kenneth (photographer), and 187.5 lbs of pure West Texas man-meat (myself) to get it done.
7. Now the tricky part – making the fittings to hook up the pump. This is where your drain pipes come in. I used these really cheap (but good looking) PVC glacier bay drains from Home Depot. They’re about $5 each and fit the pump’s hoses perfectly.
8. Remove all the fittings and washers from the drain pipes. Use a hacksawto cut the upper part of the threads off 2 of the pipes. Cut just below the vent holes as pictured below:
9. Next, take the drain stem and cut the little plastic ball off. This is to plug up the hole where it goes- so after you cut it off, unscrew the side fitting on the pipe and stick the ball in there and screw it back together.
10. Cut about 3 inches off the smooth end of the drain pipe. This is where your hoses will connect.
11. On the remaining 2 drain pipes, you’ll only need the top nut and rubber washer. This will help you create the seal.
12. Using your trusty 1 3/4″ Hole Saw (don’t forget the Arbor/Mandrel )drill 2 holes into the side of the tank. I put them as far apart as I could while still being stacked. Remember, you want to be able to screw in the rubber washers and create a seal, so do it on the least textued part of the metal. Also, the holes have to be covered in at least 2″ of water, so don’t go too high.
13. Take your modified drain pipes and screw into the side of the tank. I used channel locks and a pipe wrench to make sure they were tight.
14. Once installed, place o-rings on the smooth end of the pipes and connect the hoses. You’ll need to use a flathead screwdriver to work the o-rings into the hose grooves. Once-on, these will create a water-tight seal.
15. Inside the pool, use a rubber mallet to tap in the inlet fittings. These will just go in snug to the drain pipes since they’re tapered.
16. Hook the hoses to the pump and make sure the chord can reach an outdoor outlet. Don’t forget to purge the pump per the manufacturer’s instructions before turning on.
17. Get yourself a chlorine float. We got this light-up rubber ducky and drilled a teeny hole in the float to accommodate our small setup. We’re using Clorox chlorine tablets and arm and hammer PH balancing tablets to keep it clean. Just toss a couple into the float and run the pump a couple hours a day. The water should stay pretty clean. Test it with your test strips ever now and then to make sure your water is getting what it needs.
Happy tubbin’ bruh! Here’s a sneak preview of how it turned out:
UPDATE 5/8/18: It’s finally warm enough to test the pool, and David has taken his first dip! Definitely an upgrade from the inflatable kiddie pool.
UPDATE 8/12/18: We have now had the pool for a few months, so we have put together a FAQ pool post too! There’s a few things we have learned along the way. Check it out here:
