New construction: Retaining wall on slope or not/ circulation questions

[19grigg87]

I'm so glad I found this site! We are getting bids for a new in ground pool nort of Austin ,TX and I have construction differences on 2 bids. First, our property has a 1' slope difference. PB1 has 24' of retaining walls while PB2 is bidding 8-10" walls and floor with 12" where out of ground. The removed dirt will be used to back fill where out of ground and exposed wall to. Be sponge finish stucco. PB2 is coming in $10k cheaper. They are both putting drainage lines in to rout the heavy rain water to the low side of the pool.

The second question is about the plumbing. PB1 is using 3" sch 40 PVC ' 2 indep plumed skimmers, 5 slotted inlets looped. PB2 will use 2" sch 40 PVC, 1 large capacity basket skimmer, 4 inlet returns. I'm worried PB1 won't have enough to keep the water circulating and cleaning. As everyone in this area, we have a lot of oak trees. Our porperty is 3 acres so there will be a lot of leaves.

Any help ya'll can lend would be greatly appreciated. We're both retired and looking for a good basic pool to help my husband adjust to life from his home of Seattle to the hot summers here.

Barbara a

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

Both approaches, on both questions, sound reasonable, unless there are additional constraints you haven't mentioned.

 

[pooldv]

We have a slope of about 2' from one side of the pool to the other over 41' or so, we did 12" all the way around and put flagstone on the 2/3s of the pool that is sticking out of the ground. No retaining walls. I would go with 2 skimmers, one downwind in winter and one in summer.

 

[bmoreswim]

With three acres, and presuming you have some nice space around the pool, you certainly don't need any retaining walls for a 1' grade change. unless for other reasons. You can just grade up to the edge to reduce costs. Just feather it out a much as you want/need to make it look nice. You will have an unlimited supply of dirt to do it with, trust me. Don't let them take all your dirt if you need it.

We graded up massively on the back side of our pool.