Wooden swimming pool: treatment and maintenance

Whether inspired by exotic or Nordic styles, wooden swimming pools are very trendy. Both original and aesthetic, they also offer excellent resistance to climatic conditions and are attracting more and more enthusiasts, especially since their maintenance is minimal. The main disadvantage of wood is its tendency to turn gray under the influence of the sun and rain, but this characteristic can be easily controlled with appropriate treatments.

Types of wood for swimming pools

The wood selected for building swimming pools must imperatively be rot-proof. It can therefore be naturally moisture-resistant wood, such as teak, iroko, or red cedar. These types of exotic woods, often used for outdoor furniture, belong to Class V, which makes them ideally suited to withstand weathering and attacks from fungi and insects harmful to wood.

Other species such as pine can be autoclave-treated or surface-treated during machining to acquire these rot-proof properties: the wood is then impregnated by injecting a fungicide and insecticide substance, giving it the Class IV label, meaning it withstands even permanent humidity.

If you wish to build your swimming pool yourself, it is crucial to choose an appropriate type of wood in order to avoid progressive degradation. Also opt for wood sourced from eco-responsible practices, meaning from sustainably managed forests. You can rely on certifications such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Plan European Forest Certification).
You can also consider an inground wooden pool, which is also very durable.

Maintenance steps

Maintaining your swimming pool wood is quite simple, but requires three essential steps to restore a new-like appearance to the wood.

Cleaning the wood

To clean the walls, a little liquid black soap or diluted dish soap will suffice, and cleaning can be done with a brush or a high-pressure cleaner. Decks and coping can be rinsed regularly with water without requiring frequent scrubbing with soap, which will only be necessary occasionally. In this case, it is important to rinse the soap well to avoid making the pool surroundings slippery.

Reviving the color of the wood

To revive wood whose color has faded under the effect of UV rays, there are specific products. These are applied after cleaning, using a brush, and require a pause of about fifteen minutes to take effect. Then, simply rinse with clean water and allow to dry for several days before applying a saturator.

Nourishing the wood deeply

The saturator will restore brilliance and protection to the wood by nourishing it deeply. This will protect your pool’s wood from the effects of UV rays and delay its return to a gray tint. The saturator is applied with a brush in several layers to thoroughly impregnate the wood, which must then be wiped with a cloth to remove the excess. These maintenance tasks generally take place once or twice a year, depending on climatic conditions. Do not hesitate to choose a water-repellent saturator if your pool experiences large temperature fluctuations that could crack or swell the wood.