Nervous new buider design questions

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Tammylinde

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Aug 16, 2012
7
Central Florida
First time new pool owner/builder and I am afraid of making mistakes that will last me a lifetime.

We recently moved to Central Florida from NJ with our 2 children ages 13 and 16 and we are looking to build a pool so that they can have their friends over and my husband and I can relax in. However, we need to compromise because we do not want a huge pool.

Our design that we are having quoted is a 22' by 12' pool with a 12' by 7' sun ledge off to the side. The pool will go from 3.5' to 5.5'

There is so much that I do not know about pool plumbing and equipment that I hope to learn from this site - but my immediate questions involve therapy jets and beach entry which I need to get resolved so I can get some accurate quotes.

1. In lieu of a hot tub/spa which is not in the budget the PB has suggested two therapy jets on the deep end swim out. My husband thinks they will be useless since he can not see how they would hit anything but your lower back or your legs if you place them on the swim out. Does anyone have them and are they a waste of money? Would it make sense to just place them on the wall in the shallow end with no bench underneath them so they can hit your neck and shoulders?

2. I definitely want a sun ledge but I wondered about the pros and cons of it being "beach entry" Is their a greater scaling or cleaning issue with beach entry? And can anyone who has a sun ledge please tell me what they think an optimum depth is? I want the ledge both for me to put my chair in and relax and for some of our smaller guests to play in.

Thank you for any help you can give me. I have been looking at pool plans for 2 months so far and I need to start making decisions so we can get swimming!
 
I decided against a beach entry ONLY because I like the rim where people can sit and just put their feet in the water.. The beach entry only has seating on 2 sides.
 
I had planned on a beach entry as well but was talked out of it by the pool builder because it takes up alot of the pool space/slope to have the beach entry and also birds like to bathe themselves off at the entry. We went with the tanning ledge (8" deep I think) with bubblers. Don't know how I like it yet because it's taking forever to get the pool finished.
 
Thank you waterworx - was just on the phone with the PB and he is talking me out of the beach entry. Like you said, it takes a lot of space. I just liked the idea of standing in the water up to my ankles and I thought it looked nice. I am back to a tanning ledge and I think 8"-9" does seem about right. Sorry your pool is taking so long - hope it will be done soon so you can get some use out of it this year.

Since we are just starting now, I am guessing ours will be done for Christmas. Not too useful for us this year, but hopefully, it will look nice and have the right features for us in the future. If only there weren't so many choices! I have yet to think about finishes and equipment. I am overwhelmed.
 
Great point imrodee - If I have people over with little kids they may want to sit on the edge of the pool around the tanning ledge. I think the pools that have the beach entry and look so nice are a lot larger than my pool. Looks like I should go with function over form in this case.
 
NYunderground - my PB said that the therapy jets will hit the lower back area. My husband said if it can't hit his shoulders (which it can't without holding his breath!) he is not interested. But I still think they might be nice. How many do you have? I was thinking two so you could sit with someone. Sounds like if you could go back you would put them in again?
 
Your husband is certainly right that it wont hit his shoulders but I would say middle back. There are two jets on the bench but we typically have 3 people hanging out on a 6ft bench (although is can be comfy at times!) Would certainly put them in again....especially since I have a heater and love turning the heat and jets on to give a Jacuzzi effect.
 
Tammylinde said:
First time new pool owner/builder and I am afraid of making mistakes that will last me a lifetime.

We recently moved to Central Florida from NJ with our 2 children ages 13 and 16 and we are looking to build a pool so that they can have their friends over and my husband and I can relax in. However, we need to compromise because we do not want a huge pool.

Our design that we are having quoted is a 22' by 12' pool with a 12' by 7' sun ledge off to the side. The pool will go from 3.5' to 5.5'
Click to expand...

I'm curious as to why such a small pool? The upkeep on a slightly larger pool won't be any more trouble. I also have a smallish rectangle shaped pool which we thought would be large enough(32' long, less than 14' wide as the pool company said it is supposed to be but we were also dealing with a very sloping lot). I must tell you I seriously regret not getting MORE! I wish it was longer, wider and DEEPER. I really love to dive in and can't :(.
Your kids will have friends over and it might get a lot more crowded than you realize. Is 22' going to be long enough to do any real swimming laps or friendly playful races in?
 
I have a tanning ledge. It's 7x7 ft and 16 inches deep. That provides enough room for two pool lounges and brings the depth right to the level of the seat in a lounger. My wife loves it for tanning and watching activity in the pool. My pool is rectangle 16x36, and I wouldn't have it any smaller. My depth is 3.5 to 5 ft center back to 4 ft. If I had it to do over it would be 4,5,4. I find that no one uses the 3.5 end. Real little kids are on the 16 inch deep ledge and as soon as they can swim they are at the 4 foot end or in the center.
 

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I have to second the size question as I had a 32 x 16 and no kids at the time and it wasn't big enough. It was a sport pool and I will now be doing a deep end like 6 or 6.5 due to having a little boy that will be having friends over and from what I have read, kids love to jump! Now, your kids are older so that probably is not as much of an issue... I forget if they are boys or girls.. boys are much more active etc. But, the size, I would definitely do bigger if you can. That is a really small pool.

Good luck and have fun!
 
It's been staked for a week now and after a little fine tuning, I think this is our size. Yes, it's quite small. We could make it a little longer if we eliminated and area of pool deck where DW wants to put chairs. It can't easily get wider without changing how we park our RV in the back yard. We will see... I think we have settled on a GC for the plans and shell so dimension will be set very soon.
 
davelinde said:
It's been staked for a week now and after a little fine tuning, I think this is our size. Yes, it's quite small. We could make it a little longer if we eliminated and area of pool deck where DW wants to put chairs. It can't easily get wider without changing how we park our RV in the back yard. We will see... I think we have settled on a GC for the plans and shell so dimension will be set very soon.
Click to expand...

Can you park the RV elsewhere? Not only will it improve the ambiance of the backyard and pool area, you'll free up space for a bigger pool! Seriously, your kids will want to have fun in the pool with their friends and it would be such a shame to later be disappointed in the size.
 
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