Lagoon Right Pool 18' x 29' x 35' - NEED ADVICE ASAP

[karynkjd]

Hi everyone, we are building our pool in the next 30 days. In South Jersey. I have a little girl who is 4, and nieces and nephews very close who will all use the pool.
I am currently doing a 18x29x35 lagoon pool to try to maximize the shallow end. I anticipate that we will play volleyball, basketball, games, as well as hang out on the tanning ledge and relax. My concern and question
is if this pool is big enough - and whether or not I should go to 8' To go to 8' I would have to start the slope very early in the pool, and virtually make 1/3 of the pool unusable.
Do i need the diving area or not and should I go with the larger lagoon pool to get the bigger shallow end.

 

[duraleigh]

No one can tell you what type pool you want or need as well as you can determine for uyourself.

I will say that few if any on the forum have regretted their pool as too large.

 

[bmoreswim]

It's always interesting to me how many people feel the deep end is wasted space and unusable. For me, and not just my kids, the deep end is where I spend the a lot of time - whether it be jumping in catching balls, treading water (i.e. exercise), floating, diving, etc. For me a pool is as much about swimming (or moving about both up/down and side to side) as it is for lounging.

Always good to think about the ages the kids will be while you are in the house. If you plan to be there for 20 more years, the you may want to account for how all ages of kids will use the pool over that period.

I will suggest though, that if you are going to go with a diving board pool, go for 8 1/2' or 9'+ versus 8' to give some additional "insurance". The risks are still there but the deeper the safer. Though from what I hear, most diving board accidents are from people hitting the board, not the bottom (may not relate to severity though). Also check with your insurance regarding boards (both your primary and umbrella coverages) - and everyone who has a pool should generally have umbrella coverage.

 

[Patrick_B]

I agree bmore. I love the deep end too, for all the reasons you mention.

 

[karynkjd]

I think I explained that incorrectly. I do not think the deep end is wasted space at all. I personally grew up with a 20x40 rectangle pool with a diving board and loved it, but we didnt' have the requirements then that we have now, and I also had a large shallow end. The part I am afraid will be 'useless' to things like volleyball, is the severe slope angle. And I could be wrong, that is why I am asking all you experts!

I agree though I thing bigger can't be a regret I will have later. I won't be heating it, so it isn't large increase in cost over the long haul.

 

[pooldv]

EXERCISE? Pffttttt! All of the pools in our yard are for lounging!!!

We are very happy with our play pool. It has lots of room for lots of people to hang out and play. I do like to swim some laps and I also enjoy swimming underwater but our pool is deep enough for that to be good for me. 4'-5' of water gives me enough depth to feel like I am swimming underwater and be happy about it. If I had it to do again I would start at 4' instead of 3-1/2'. We have lots of kids from age 6 to 15 in our pool a lot. And it really works great.

I've never had my own diving pool in my own yard so I cannot comment about if I miss that or regret not having it from that standpoint. But, I certainly have spent plenty of time in plenty of pools with 10' high diving boards and do not feel like that is something I miss or wish I had.

I do agree with you that you need plenty of room in the shallow end to play volleyball/catch/basketball in the pool. I would say about 30' of shallow is the minimum for kids and our 41' pool isn't big enough sometimes when the big kids and the old, big kids (me and my bro) start to play and rough house.

 

[Patrick_B]

I think I explained that incorrectly. I do not think the deep end is wasted space at all. I personally grew up with a 20x40 rectangle pool with a diving board and loved it, but we didnt' have the requirements then that we have now, and I also had a large shallow end. The part I am afraid will be 'useless' to things like volleyball, is the severe slope angle. And I could be wrong, that is why I am asking all you experts!

I agree though I thing bigger can't be a regret I will have later. I won't be heating it, so it isn't large increase in cost over the long haul.

If it is volleyball you want to do often in your pool, do not get a deep end. Get a "sport pool". Shallow on the ends, sloping to the middle. There is no argument or opinion about this. A deep end pool is a poor choice for this type of activity.

Unless you know some really, really tall people to cover the deep end. :lol:

 

[doobs41378]

We spend a majority of our time in the deep end as well and I have a 5 year old daughter......

 

[jblizzle]

Pool in the first house I built I had setup for volley ball ... I think we used the net twice in the 5 years I was there. Did not have enough people over in the pool often enough. BUT, if I had kids at that time, the story might have been different.

Now my young kids swim all over our current pool and likely spend more time in the deep end on the slide and diving board than in the shallow end. When they get a little older, the volley thing might have been nice, but not an option with this pool. I think they will still have plenty of fun in out big pool and then can play volleyball at their friend's smaller pools

 

[jmjorda2]

Hello, I know this post is very old but I wondered if you ended up going with the 18x36 lagoon with the deep end? I am under contract now for the exact pool and worry that there will not enough shallow to play, if you did indeed go with this design would you please let me know how it is working for you? Thanks so much!

 

[jenlov9]

Hello, I know this post is very old but I wondered if you ended up going with the 18x36 lagoon with the deep end? I am under contract now for the exact pool and worry that there will not enough shallow to play, if you did indeed go with this design would you please let me know how it is working for you? Thanks so much!

We are under contract for this same pool, and I just went in today to change the liner from 6 to 8 feet. We just spent a week on vacation at a pool that was 6.5ft deep and could not stop thinking about the fact that 6' was too shallow for us after all. We have 7 kids ages 6.5 to 21, so we have a wide range of ages. All the big kids were insistant that they did not like the 6.5 ft depth of the pool we used all last week. Glad we figured it out before it went in! Three weeks from tomorrow!