For a long time we have been wanting an in ground pool. We decided to go ahead and get one. We met with a few companies and narrowed it down to one, and gave a deposit.
We still have to decide on depth, color of liner and features. I am looking for advice.
The pool will be L shaped to fit in the space we have. It will be 29 ft long by 15 wide. However one end will actually extend to 40 ft and 9 ft wide. (That is because we have to deal with an extension to the house jutting into the backyard). In addition there will be stairs in the shallow end. The stairs will be on the side and not part of the above dimensions.
I seek your opinions on:
Tanning ledge or regular steps? I kind of like the look of it but i am not a sun lover. I cover up to protect my skin. We do have the space for it. What is the depth of water while in the ledge? My builder says 4 inches. I thought i read the water is generally 6-9inches while in the ledge. If 4 inches, what’s the point? Does my builder kniw what he’s talking about with 4 inches?
Rail? Do people do handrails? What about a designer rail from sr smith?
What depth of water do you like when you enter the pool? I like 40 or 41 or 42 inches. I am 5 ft 8. Builder says some lots of people do 36 inch. That feels uncomfortably shallow to me. What do you like for your shallow end?
For depth, i think the deepest will be 6ft. We hit the water table at around there. Dewatering costs $3000. So we may want to avoid that expense.
Advice wanted. Do a gradual continuous slope right from the start? Or have a steady shallow section of 40inches stretching for 12 ft across the pool; and then slope down? Or steady shallow then steep slope for 2 ft, and then maintain 6 ft for the rest?
Colors…turquoise or deep blue? I have to use Merlin liner.
Sounds like you don’t trust your builder 100% - did you shop around?
Our pool is 9 feet deep in the deep end (can you allow diving at only 6’ deep?) - when we updated it recently we moved the (plastic) steps from the outside and had stairs built into a corner of the pool to make it look more modern; the top step is our “tanning ledge.” We also removed the diving board (for safety).
I’d say think about how you want to use the pool - do you have younger kids? Can you stretch a net across it for games?
Depending on where you live, are you considering a heater? It’s a sad day today - we’ve closing ours up!
I would think about how long you plan to stay in the house but also how others might use it. Having a shallow end of 36 inches would be important with kids/future grandkids or with folks (like me) that want a more gradual entrance.
Tanning ledge would not be important to me. I prefer wider steps with sides to sit on when I want to warm up a bit or not get fully wet.
I like to do laps, so if I were to have a tanning ledge I’d definitely want it to be on the side out of the main part of the pool. I hate shallow ends that are so shallow you can’t do a crawl stroke. I do think that a place for grandchildren to play is nice. Keep in mind regarding stuff like rails is that even though they aren’t beautiful, if anyone has a bum knee or other mobility issues (possibly even temporary) they make the difference between being able to use the pool or not.
Our pool size, shape, and depth was limited and determined by what was underneath when we dug.
There was a huge granite boulder that sat in the middle of the original pool plan and went straight down. It needed to be blasted (which takes months when you have a homeowners‘ association, neighbors, and your house being destroyed from the blasting). So we ended up with a kiddie area of about 1 1/2 feet of water, and marked that area off with royal blue tile.
There is an area that’s 3 1/2 feet deep and there’s an area that 6 feet deep. That’s all we could dig and blast.
It’s actually worked out well because there is no diving. Everyone, who has used our pool, understands that because it’s so shallow there is no diving. So there’s less horse play and less stupidity.
Are there any contingency plans just in case you can’t dig?
Why are you the primary designer? Our pool company submitted several designs to us so that we could pick the one we liked. Then all bets were off the table when the digging started so they had to re-design and re-submit plans to the city to incorporate the limitations of the property.
It really turned out beautifully because we relied on his expertise with materials, solar, lighting; colors were the least of our worries. We saw pictures of hundreds of pools that he had designed, and went to several of his builds that we chose to see in person and spoke with the owners before we decided to go with this company.
I would suggest a saline pool versus chlorine pool. The saline pool makes a world of difference for swimming and maintenance. Also, you might want to add an inexpensive waterfall type feature to the pool. I enjoy hearing the waterfall all the time.
So much depends on who will be using the pool. Shallow is good for kids - or non swimmers of any age. Some guests might not want to “swim” but just cool down.
Hand rail is important for anyone older or not steady on their feet. My mom, an avid swimmer still at 87 is nervous getting in my brother’s in ground pool because there is no hand rail - we have to hang onto her to get her in the water (then she’s off like a fish!)
I do enjoy tanning and like mentioned above, I LOVE sitting beach side with my feet in the water and a book in my hands. I’ve not heard of a tanning ledge but cool, I’d use one!
Agree with @mathmom that the ledge should not interfere with lap swimming.
Important to consider dogs & kids. Both need steps.
Three feet deep is standard shallow end depth for those with young children / grandchildren / neighborhood kids.
Six feet deep is too shallow for diving. May present an issue if kids will be using pool or upon resale of house.
If only six feet deep, consider a liner with a design to alert others of the depth & that it is not safe to dive in.
Cleaning pools is not fun.
P.S. If no kids & no dogs, I suggest that you get both as they will make you appreciate the pool more than if just for personal adult use. Dogs should have webbed feet–such as retrievers do–in order to facilitate swimming.
P.P.S. Most important is the type of fence installed around pool in order to prevent young children from entering pool without adult supervision. Make sure that the fence gate closes automatically so that it cannot be left open by mistake.
Thanks everyone. In reference to where the steps would be, yes, they are off to the side and not part of the rectangle of the pool. It is hard to explain without showing you a drawing. When i come down from the last step I enter the real body of the pool. The steps dont take up room from the lap or swimming part of the pool.
When i come down the steps, I measured where on my body I would ideally like the water to reach. I would be comfortable for the water to be a depth of 42 inches. Everyone in my family including my teens are 5 ft 8 to 6 ft tall. If the water is less than 42 i assume i feel like i am cold
So i am thinking 42 inch deep for the first 12 feet of length. Then, a gradual slope until 6 ft of water at the end of the pool. If we hit the water table at 5ft 7 then we will only go as deep as 5 ft 7. According to people on my street who dug pools, they hit water at 5 ft 5 to 6ft.
The advantage of a gradual slope, i have read, is that everyone finds their sweet spot on the floor to stand, at the depth that feels right to them.
It sounds like you’ve found the best depth range for you and your family. Mine would be shallower to start because I’m quite short. We have a grandchild who’s barely toddling, so we plan on a Baha shelf (about 6" deep) at our next house. I can’t tan (turning into Swiss cheese due to skin cancer) but still love the ledge that runs the length of our current pool. We set a large patio umbrella nearby and I enjoy a drink in the shade there often.
Our handrail is from SRSmith and is their marine grade stainless since we have a salt water chlorine generator. I’m happy with the quality.
We didn’t do a vinyl liner pool, which it sounds like you’re doing. Ours is gunite with a Hydrazzo finish. While I like the smoothness of the Hydrazzo as compared to pebbletec and other rougher finishes, it was a pain to get done correctly. The color is a light greyish blue, which I like except for scattered black speckles. I’m forever trying to brush or vacuum those spots since I can’t easily tell if they’re just speckles or are bugs/debris. I prefer a light color pool finish. For one thing, it makes it easier to see the scorpions that have died on the bottom of the pool. In FL, we had friends surprised by a snake in their dark bottom pool. Eek!
Good luck on what sounds like a challenging build. Ours took months and had to be redesigned several times due to the excavator hitting impenetrable stone. At one point I was ready to fill in the holes and give up. My husband is very glad we continued.
Like the L shape. I like wide steps, and my steps partially covered by patio vinyl shade. I have turquoise finish, with small 1” glass tiles in shades of blue. When I redid pool, I replaced the old tiles, but kept the color.
I bought a house that came with the pool. I have nothing to say about the depth or the shape. There are two features/functions missing from the 15-year-old pool which I wish it has:
Auto dispense of chemicals
Auto water leveling
The other thing I hate is my pool comes with a lot of palm trees surrounding it. Those trees shad a lot of debris into the pool. So if I have my hands on a new pool, I won’t plant anything close to it.
I also have a pool heater, which was never used. I was told it costs $100 just to warm up the water.
That’s a lot of money toheat the pool. I am in ny and water and electricity are very expensive. My monthly water bill is $200 ( no pool) $700 electricity. So using the heater and its cost will be considered. The good news is we have full sun from 730-5. And by not having really deep water we avoid some water and electricity costs.
There is no way that a New York resident can heat a decent sized pool for just $100 a month. I suspect that adding a zero to that figure would be more accurate.
FWIW Growing up, we had a very large pool & the electricity bill for running the heater & filter was well over $1,000 a month & this was over 20 years ago.
Add in cost of chemicals, cleaning, maintenance, and increased insurance premiums might cost well over $2,000 a month. (I cannot recall. I believe that our electricity for the pool ran about $1,500 a month over 20 years ago, But, it was a large pool. The pool electricity was metered separately from the house.)
P.S. As I recall, the shallow end was 42 inches deep. The deep end was either 9 or 10 feet deep. Pool was 25 feet wide by 50 feet long. (Olympic size pool is 24 feet by 48 feet–if I recall correctly. Standard size rectangular pools are 16 feet by 32 feet.) Our pool was designed with a disproportionate amount of deep end (to facilitate scuba diving training for family members) so utility rates may be a bit higher than normal.
Forgot to add that we love our solar cover. Our pool is 20x40, so it’s easy to find. It’s on a reel and one person can easily either cover or uncover it. Without using the heater (ours is natural gas and raises the temperature one degree per hour {35,000 gallons}), we were able to keep the water at a steady 86* most of the summer. We’re on the east coast and using the solar cover/having the heater extends our pool season.
^^guys, I never said i can keep the pool warm for a Month for $100.
Even in CA, to warm up a small pool like mine will cost about $100 with gas. That is to warm up, not to run it for a Month. Think $3-4000 to keep it warm for a month with gas, think doubke if using electric.
The just of it is NOT to install a pool warmer in the planning.