Thoughts on pool design/layout/features

Hi A5! Looks like fun!!

No need for ozone and UV. They are just unnecessary. I see you don't have a saltwater chlorine generator (SWG). We highly recommend them for convenience. In-floors are expensive and not necessary. And there can be downsides related to maintenance issues. Budget $1K for a good robot and call it a day. You can keep it in or remove it after use like I do. Waterfalls/sheers can look nice, but there is a downside. They can be loud and also raise your pH while running. It's the aeration that raises the pH. I'd personally have the back wall of the pool include a minimal 3' decking and lose the high wall.

On the back wall, if you want it, the process would be to have the gunite crew shoot a wall on the outside edge of the decking (or have a rough framed wall and poured concrete), taking it down to the frost line. Then fill between the pool and wall with gravel and that's the base for the deck. Functionally it's quite nice to have it back there. I could also tell you how much time I wander around my pool, doing nothing really, but it would be embarrassing. You could likely swap the IFCS for the little or no cost. Our pool layout is the same regarding a drop. The back side was 3' out of the ground on one end and about 2' on the other. Then they backfilled with a bunch of the dig spoils which then rapidly drop off in a rounded mound many feet below. One picture (OK two) to show it then I'll quit harassing you! The second picture is deceiving because the drop from the machine level to the grass below is probably 6'.

Regarding the location of the deep and shallow ends. Yes, I would generally agree that shallow should be the first end you arrive at, but yours is not as clear cut and seems fine. Your shallow end is very accessible coming out and is also by the larger of the two seating/gathering areas. Shallow end depth of 4' is not super common but those with it seem to really like it. It's certainly a reasonable choice if you want it. Though gunite pools do slope from the first bit of length, unlike vinyl which have a flat section. Which direction is north in your drawings? I'd be interested in a bench in the shallow end on the back wall in that nook. It seems like that end of the pool will be the more talkative end and talking from the pergola to the far in-pool benches, is a little far.

atlas5 said:

We're trying to keep it as cheap

In-floor certainly has plenty of critics here, however a handful of folks always chime in and say they love theirs,

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IFCS <not equal > Cheap...

You have obviously been reading the posts on the IFCS. I am one of those IFCS lovers. We opted for no- spa to keep costs and complexity down and neither of us were "spa" people. Perhaps that could be a cost cutter.
As for IFCS I think anyone with one would agree that It would be very wise to plumb the pool for both IFCS and conventional retruns. I only have 2 returns, my IFCS and my waterfall. Skimming is the major downfall of the IFCS. To be able to use a conventional return skimmer operation would be a huge improvement. In addition if anything did go terribly wrong with the system then abandoning it would be very simple and relatively low cost. So in hind site I would have definitely paid for the additional conventional returns.

I love my IFCS for what it is... 1990's technology.

If I were building a new pool today, I'd come into the 21st century and buy a robot instead. Better cleaning and MUCH lower electric costs.

Our pool orientation is almost the same. Small item but big functionally might be some Coolaroo shades for the south and west sides of the pergola. We have them and they are great for diffused shade. Somewhere in my build thread you’ll see them installed.

Coolaroo Exterior Roller Shade, Cordless Roller Shade with 80% UV Protection, No Valance, (8' W X 6' L), Sesame https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00AOJOTH2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_UjANFbNRWVYAP?psc=1

Our pool shape/setup is very similar to yours. We did a stepped down deck on the back side (we also have a grade that slopes away from the house), and just kept the raised beam on the back visible. That back deck gets more use than the deck closer to the house, partly because it’s the first to get shade in the evenings, but also because with the raised spa (18”) it’s hard to see every area of the pool from the house side decking. When you’ve got kiddos in the pool, the mamas want to see every kid all the time! We had other reasons to keep the spa where it is and I wouldn’t change the spot it’s in, but having the back deck gives us options for everything we want to do in the space. We have lights built into the steps in the decking which looks gorgeous at night and keeps it safe also. Our kid and his friends love to jump from the raised spa edge into the pool! Here’s pics from several different angles standing on the decking so you can see the only clear view of the whole pool is from the back side.

@Soggydoggies Thank you for posting those. In our original plan we had the spa raised to 18". @kimkats had mentioned making sure nothing blocks the view of kids in the pool. At the last minute I changed it. I wanted it flat but compromised with 6". From seeing your pictures of how much it blocks the view, I am so glad I insisted on the change.

atlas5 said:

@Soggydoggies Great pics, that Tahoe color looks amazing! May have to try to see which Luna Quartz color is similar to Tahoe. Great idea with stepping down the decking on the back side, that may really help the feasibility for us. Also good to know about the kids tendency to jump off the raised spa, I'll have to take a look at depth around that landing area.

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It is pretty water! The added glass made it a tad more turquoise than a usual Stonescapes tahoe I think. We have a sports depth pool, so the deepest point is in the middle and it’s only six foot there. Plenty for people to do cannon balls, but no diving!

YippeeSkippy said:

I leave my robot in mostly.

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Is it ok to leave in? I thought someone said you can't leave it in and it voids the warranty, or something like that. The thought of taking it out and putting it in every couple of days does not sound fun. We'd like to leave it in if we can and it won't cause any problems.

I think you’ll like having the spa near your house. We flipped ours to the other side so that we could see the waterfall from the house, but it makes for chilly walks in wet bathing suits on the rare occasion that we actually use it. A couple of notes based on our experience:

1. Make sure your builder plans for proper drainage and that they know what they are doing in this regard. You mentioned that the yard slopes down from the house towards the pool. I can’t tell you how grateful we are that we spent the extra $ going with a builder who had experience in setting the pool at the proper elevation so that it doesn’t flood. Every pool on our street has flooded at one point or another during heavy thunderstorms except ours. A flooded pool is a major headache. We’ve never had water flow into our pool nor has our pool ever overflowed. I see that you’re in OK, so I’m assuming you get the same kind of storms we get in DFW, probably even worse.

2. You‘ll never have too much decking, so allocate as much space as you can to that. Everyone loves a pool, but our experience is that most people like hanging out around the pool more so than in it. Make sure you have plenty of room for chairs, tables, umbrellas, etc.

3. We’ve had a SWCG for 13+ years with no corrosion issues at all. I can’t emphasize enough just how much easier it makes pool ownership - no constant trips to the store to buy chlorine, no storage of the chlorine bottles and no constant chlorine additions. The SWCG takes care of all of that for you. My only repetitive maintenance task is adding a few ounces of muratic acid each week to keep pH in check. I know what the results of my water test are going to be prior to actually testing almost every time. It’s just a quick verification so that I don’t miss something.

4. My equipment is 13+ years old, so I’m not as well-versed in all the current bells and whistles. The one equipment recommendation I’ll make is to consider a chiller if your pool will have significant sun exposure. Our water temp would hit 95° by mid-July and no one really enjoyed the water. We added a chiller 5 or 6 years ago and it gave our pool new life, as the water is refreshing all summer long. (I keep it in the low to mid-80s.) You can always add a chiller later on if you want to see how your pool handles the sun - just be sure to have space in the equipment area and a circuit available on your controller panel.

Good luck with your build! Our backyard is a huge extension of our living space because of the pool and surrounding area.