Plunge Pool Concrete Slab in Mooroobool

A residential property in Mooroobool needed a solid base for a new plunge pool. A pool holds a lot of weight once it's filled, so the ground had to be able to carry the load without moving. That meant getting the excavation and compaction right before any concrete went down.

We stripped back the existing ground and excavated to depth. From there we laid a compacted road base foundation to build up the load-bearing capacity. Cairns gets heavy rainfall and the soil here is reactive, so compaction and drainage were the parts we couldn't cut corners on.

Once the base was set, we boxed the slab with timber formwork. We set the steel reinforcement, then poured to precise levels so the plunge pool would sit square and structurally sound. Getting the levels right at this stage saves a lot of grief later when the pool goes in.

The slab sits beneath the elevated timber house, next to the existing brick-paved area. Along one edge, where the slab meets the paving, we ran a drainage channel with a metal grate. That takes water away during the wet season and keeps it off the slab.

The surrounding ground was left stripped back and levelled around the finished concrete. It's straightforward earthworks and concrete work, but the prep underneath is what makes it last.

We do the same groundwork on jobs like our concrete sleeper retaining wall in Bentley Park, where compaction and drainage decide how well the finished work holds up over time. Far North Queensland conditions are hard on anything that isn't built for them.