Best depth for shallow and deep ends?

[Styx555]

Hi, looking at a 35 foot pool (12 feet width for half, 16 feet width for half). Given comments here, was planning on doing half shallow half deep. Have kids that are 7 and 4. I'm planning on doing an 8 foot deep end, however not sure what a good shallow end would be? Thinking of 4 feet?

Thoughts?

 

[zea3]

Most shallow ends run about 3 ft. With a 4 ft shallow end the kids would need to be about 4'6" before they would be able to touch bottom and keep their heads above water.

 

[JohnT]

Most shallow ends are 3 or 3.5ft, with 8.5' deep ends. I believe 8.5 is the minimum for diving. Your transition from shallow to deep will take up a lot of room, because if you slope it too quickly people will fall down the slope.

 

[Styx555]

What would be the minimum reccomended length for a deep end at 8.5 feet for diving? For example, if I have 10 feet of deep end, 15 feet of shallow and 10 feet of transition, is that enough of a deep end to dive into?

 

[JohnT]

My guess is more like 8ft of shallow and 16 or 18ft of transition. Let me look at some sites I have bookmarked.

 

[Guest]

Shallow ends are typically 3'6", which allows for 12" steps all the way down, and 12" from the deck top the first step (assuming an IG pool!). Diving boards, with the correct diving envelope floor detail can go in as shallow as 7" of water, although 8' is more common. Transition slopes allow for no more than one foot of elevation change in 3' of length, so to go from 4' to 8' (for example) would consume 12' of pool length.

Any consideration of a play (sport) pool, with two shallow ends and a deep middle? As the kids get older (they will!) this seems to be more usable for most folks. Mine is 3'6"-7'0"-3'6", and we get a lot of volleyball or ball throwing back and forth from the ends, and everyone jumps from the waterfall into the middle from about 42" up, so there is a lot of usable area in this type of configuration.

There is no pool that works for everyone though, so make it what you want it to be!

 

[Styx555]

Thought of doing two shallow with deep in the middle, but will then have to work with 2 transitions, thus using more space for transition and having less space at one depth.

 

[Guest]

Transition slopes become more of a guideline in non diving board pools, but I still don't like to exceed 1 foot of drop in three feet of length, if possible. Some folks go to 6' center depth to save transition footage, and others feel that is too shallow. I can hit the bottom of my 7' depth jumping off the waterfall on occasion, so I would not have been happy with 6'. Like I said, you gotta do what works for you

 

[Isaac-1]

I am not going ot try to tell you what is safe, but I will tell you my pool is a 20x40 hopper style deep end at 9.5 ft. (10'x10' flat floor area) The somewhat shallower angled slope up to the shallow end begins at 15 feet from the edge of the pool. There is a pool rule about not diving face first, which people have broken numerous times over the years, and as a result more than one person as kissed the bottom usually around the 5-7 foot deep part of the slope. Including one incident with a teenage girl whose braces cut a band aid size hole through the liner, and resulted in an emergency visit to the dentist, thankfully she did not loose any teeth. Also when diving feet first it is easy to touch bottom and push off to return to the surface. How much longer does the deep end need to be, I don't know, I do know even a couple of more feet would be helpful in lowering rates of kissing the bottom collisions, 5 feet would be better, but it might take 10 or more feet to elimiate it completely, which simply does not work with typical residential sized pools if your going to have any shallow play end. If I had it to do again I would probably do a staged shallow end with 2-3 ft wide 3 ft depth, then a slow transition to 4 ft. and the remainder of the shallow end around 4 ft.

Ike

p.s. I can't help wonder if this diving board vs shallow end vs slope angle delima might best be solved with an odd shaped pool and perhaps a corner area mounted diving board.

Ike

 

[kechefs]

I also have the middle deep end with roman stairs at both ends. We have two transitions aat the bottom of the stairs it is 36" for 3 feet then transitions to 42" then the middle is 8' it works well for water play

 

[JohnT]

Be especially careful not to exceed 1/3 slope if younger children will be in the pool. It's easy to get started down the slope and not be able to stop.

 

[4JawChuck]

I have a 16'X32' kidney shaped pool and the slope must be close to 45 degrees, the first couple times in I nearly slipped down the slope. :lol: My shallow end is 3' and the deep end is 8', you could dive head first but I have dictated its a "foot first" diving area just to be on the safe side.

I find the 3' shallow end too shallow for me but for small kids its perfect, I kinda wish it was at least 4' though. A friend of mine has a 20'X40' pool with the 9.5' deep end, no problem diving head first in that size and depth but he still has the 3' shallow end.

I find the 16'X32' kidney big enough for the 5 of us, but to play a good game of water polo that 20'X40' square is the best.

 

[geekgranny]

How about an L or Lazy L?

gg=alice

 

[Styx555]

looks like the only shape that will fit is a kidney. Shallow end will be where stairs come in, and will be 13 feet wide for about 10 feet length. This will then increase to 17 feet wide at deep point. Total pool will be 36 feet long. I'm thinking of going 4 feet deep at the shallow end for 10 feet, and then having a slow, continuous drop for 15 feet, where it would drop to an eventual 7 feet (1 foot drop per 5 foot length). The remaining 11 feet would be at 7 feet.

thoughts?

 

[Guest]

4' at the shallow end will throw of the 12" increments stepping in to the pool, starting from the deck, if that matters. The reason for 3'6" water is that the bottom step is 12" higher than the pool floor, as are the next 2 steps, and then it is 12" up to the deck (working backwards!). 48" will change this somewhat, making different step transition(s) heights somewhere. Not a real big deal, just as long as you are aware of it.