Thoughts on pool placement

[Alecia]

Hello all! My husband and I are in the beginning stages of designing and putting in our IG pool. We are most likely going with concrete/shotcrete, but our question is: what are your suggestions on pool placement on our property? The closest I would put it to the house is 25' and the farthest is 75' away. We live very rural and have 4.5 acres to work with. We will have a poolside cabana with a bath, mini kitchen, and covered seating/bar. I'm sure some pools have been installed with regrets on placement, so what do's and don't' and shoulda's have you run across? We will be using a salt pool, we do not want an attached spa, we love our free-standing with comfy seats and 35+ jets, and our children are very nearly all grown. We are doing this understanding that it won't be for added value to the house. We are planning to remain here for at least another ten years. We live in rural eastern central Georgia, 45 mins southwest of Augusta, with the ability to keep our pool open for 8-9 months typically.

What mistakes to look out for?? Thanks so much for all words of wisdom!

Alecia

 

[Texas Splash]

Good morning Alecia! Here are some of my own personal thoughts:
- When you have the room (like you do), push it away from the house a bit. Don't get cramped with the pool right against the back door. Give yourself at least 30 ft or so away. It helps with water traffic and noise from the pool. It may also give you some nice landscaping options later.
- Take into consideration where your electric source will be in relation to the placement of the pool; where's your outdoor subpanel(s)?; any obstructions?
- Consider where will your pump station be, and how big will it be (just a simply sand/cartridge filter, or also SWG, heater, electronic/remote panels, etc); left out in the open, covered, or in a small shed?
- Depending on the design of your pool, you may want it to face a certain way based on the direction of sun. Us for example, our pool has a long bench seat along one entire 40' side. So we have that side on the west so that when we are sitting on that ledge sipping a cold one, the sun is at our back and not blaring in our eyes.

Those are just a few thoughts. I suspect others will follow. Best of luck and keep us posted. Don't forget to order your recommended test kit from TFTestkits.net before you fill with water.

 

[Alecia]

Ahhhh....hadn't even considered sun direction. The area in which I am considering heavily would have full summer daytime exposure since there are few trees near the part of the land. We are going to walk it off this weekend with string and stakes to better identify the sun placement and the view from the house to the pool. Thanks for those suggestions.

 

[pooldv]

We are rural with lots of land too. There are pics in my build thread in sig. Maybe it will give you some ideas. If you can get the pool into partial shade I highly recommend it. Our pool has some shade somewhere in the pool at almost all times and it helps a lot! We also have a stand alone hot tub and love it. Ours is on a covered patio so we can sit in it rain, snow or shine.

 

[otter86753]

I second the shade idea. Our pool is in full sun from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM as a result of cutting three palms on our property and our neighbor trimming a huge elm tree to almost nothing. It is brutal without any shade and i rarely get in the pool until after 6. Also keep in mind the noise from A/C units and your pool equipment. Good luck with your exciting build!

 

[zea3]

Gather up a few water hoses and lay them out in the approximate dimensions of the planned pool and see if you like the orientation and placement. Move it around until it is where you like it, it is accessible to power, easy to watch if you have kids/grandkids, and not over any utilities that would need to be moved (power lines, sewer, phone, cable, gas, ect...) Check it in morning and late afternoon sun. You'll want to plan the deck area so that the chairs are not facing the sun when it is likely to be strongest. Also you will want to determine which direction most of the winds blow and have the skimmer downwind to help push in the floating debris. Use a few stakes to mark the general area and take pictures before putting the hoses away.

 

[ozdiver]

If your home design has rear facing windows from the living area, you might consider centering the pool on these sight lines.
It adds to the view.
As you are not adding a spa, the equipment noise will not be as bad as it could be with a blower.
You still want it around the corner of the house or behind a masonry wall to keep the pool peaceful.
With a lack of shade you should consider how you will keep the pool cool in summer.
Waterfalls, laminars, sheer descents can all help when run during wee hours of morning to cool the water.

If you are planning the outdoor kitchen, cabana, bathroom combo, placement can set the mood.
Placing it on the far side of pool makes it a oasis. Placing it attached to house makes it an extra room.

What you plan to use the pool for will define the style and depth range.
Looking at a few of these build threads will give you a bunch of good ideas or maybe raise the right questions for your own creativity to chew on.