New Build Starting Soon in AZ--Advice Needed :)

[Candicez77]

Hello!! My husband and I have decided to pull the trigger and hire a PB to get started on our pool. We have never built or owned a pool before so I am hoping to get some input on what we have so far. We just moved into our home a few months ago and the backyard is a blank slate with just quarter minus.

Here's the plan so far:

Perimeter 97
Surface Area 459
Internal Area 913
Length 30'
Width 17.5'
Depth 3.6-5.4-play pool
Gallons 15, 969

Pentair Intelliflo 3.0HP VS pump
Pentair 420 SF Clean & Clear Plus filter
Paramount parallel water leveler for paver decks
Paramount Skimmer
Pentair Rebel Suction Side Cleaner

2 Paramount Paraglo Color Changing LED light

(4) 2x2x2 water feature columns (tile on column w/travertine top)

pebble sheen

3 umbrella sleeves

3cm Square Nose Travertine Pool Coping 12x12
Catalina 4 piece pattern rio blend paver for decking 1760 sq feet

Extras
Master Turf Kentucky Blue
Tour Player Green Turf
Belard Paver border around turf
3'x3'x8' masonry BBQ island


So, any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. We have not signed our contract yet so we still have time to make changes. We are planning to sign and move forward next week. I will try and add some photos as well.

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[Texas Splash]

You might think about how you will add chlorine. Manually or automated? Nothing wrong with manually adding bleach each evening, many of us do it. But in many new pools some owners take that opportunity to also include a Salt Water Generator (SWG) or perhaps a liquid chlorine dispenser (i.e. stenner). Something to keep in mind as you move forward with your builder. Have a nice weekend.

 

[Candicez77]

Thank you so much for bringing that up. I will do some research on that. Thank you!!!!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Candice,

I would suggest two things... Ok, three things,

Having a water powered (suction or pressure) cleaner is a little like buying an VCR. While it will work, it is really obsolete technology. I suggest you have your PB supply a Robot instead (See http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/120447-First-Robotic-Cleaner-Doheny-s-Discovery )

I'd go ahead and keep the suction side plumbing, just in case.. Should cost nothing extra to install it.

I'd also go with the bigger 520 Pentair Filter. The 420 is plenty big for your pool, but the larger the filter the less often you will have to clean it. In my case, I only need to clean my filter twice a year.

Not sure if just a typo, but I'd think you would want two skimmers, not one.

Jim R.

 

[Candicez77]

Great suggestions...thank you!!! It wasn't a typo...my paperwork shows 1 skimmer. Hate being so naive on this topic (which is why I appreciate your input more than you know) but why would you say 2 skimmers are necessary? I just want to feel knowledgeable when I speak with the PB. Is having 2 an expensive upgrade? Again, thank you so much!!!

 

[chiefwej]

I have a play pool that is 3.5 ft at one end, 5 ft center and 4 ft deep at the other. If we had it to do again, about the only change we would make is the depth. It's minor but we would have made it 4,5,4. The 3.5 end is underutilized. As far as Salt Water Chlorine Generators, I have owned pools with and without. I would never have another pool that isn't a salt pool.

 

[Isaac-1]

Ok here go a few thoughts, but first let me answer your skimmer question, You want your active skimmer located on the prevailing down wind side of the pool, and you want them to be plumbed with valves so you can switch between them. Where I live we get prevailing southerly winds for most of the warmer months and prevailing north-westerly winds the rest of the year. If your climate is similar you would want a skimmer on the south east side of the pool and on the north side, this way leaves, insects, and other floating debris would blow towards the skimmers.

Now down to the thoughts:

Ditch the suction side cleaner and invest in a good robot, as suggested already above

While we are on the subject of ditching things, ditch the house brand LED light, and get a genuine Pentair Intellibrite LED

Now down to a question of details, your list was not exactly clear on what these water features are, or how much water flow they need to operate, however without a water feature that 3HP Intelliflo would be massively oversized for a pool with the volume of this one, as a 2 speed 1 HP pump operating on low would likely do everything you need for filtration and circulation. Also while water features can be nice to look at, you likely do not want to run them too much as the aeration they cause will mess with your pH and TA.

Depth is a personal choice, but I would go 6 inches deeper all around, I find the idea of a 5.5 inch deep end to just awkward all around, it is too deep to stand in unless you are a professional basketball player, too shallow to dive in, even doing cannonballs from the side, and if you are a taller person it can be just shallow enough to be annoying if your are treading water. On the other end 3.5 ft is just a bit uncomfortably shallow for most adults, and another 6 inches could make all the difference.

Ike

p.s. get everything in writing, include exact brand and models, how plumbing will be ran, spec never-lube valves, this includes such things as type and finish of the pavers. For example we have seen multiple incidents where polished and honed Travertine which can be as slick as ice when wet was mistakenly installed when the owners were expecting rougher tumbled travertine or unfilled commercial travertine and ended up with a big pointing fingers mess as the contract simply read "travertine".

 

[kimkats]

What a fun and scary time for you. Keep asking questions and reading.

Start your reading with the sticky at the top of this section. It has some good info in it.

We love to help someone spend their money lol so make sure to show us your choices and we will be glad to help you pick stuff out.

 

[twinkiesmommy2009]

I agree with just about everything everyone else said. Except depth. I think that should be very personally and carefully considered. My pool is 3.5' - 5' and it's perfect. I'm 4'9" and my husband is 5'9". Even our 6' tall friends enjoy it because our entire pool is utilized. Visit a few pools if you can with your family and really consider what you want to be able to do in your pool .

Also, I'd recommend two Pentair lights instead of 1. The globrite are pretty awesome and we've wished a few times we'd scrapped our big ones and done a few more globrites instead of just our one on the shelf.


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