Hello, TFP members! Long time Houzz user here and I have appreciated that group there so much, all who pointed me to this group of folks to help us troubleshoot a new pool build in Minnesota. We just settled on our pool builder who has a good reputation and builds a lot of pools in the Midwest. Pool will be in-ground vinyl.
We have two kids, 7 and 3 1/2 who are the primary reason we are building this pool but my husband and I are both very excited about it as well. I have wanted an in-ground pool my entire life, in spite of the short season we enjoy here in Minnesota. We figure with a good heater and an auto cover we can use the pool from May to end of September.
I'm attaching our estimate here from our pool builder and I would very much appreciate any insight/advice as to what we need, don't need, may be forgetting, etc. I'm also attaching a photo of the back of our house. The pool will run longways, parallel to the back of the house and those lilac bushes you see along the lower deck will be removed and replaced with concrete for the pool deck. The steps you see coming down from the lower deck will be moved to the opposite side to allow easier access to the pool entry steps which will be on the swingset end of the yard. This is primarily going to be a family pool that we would love for our kids to enjoy for all of their childhood and for us as we get older and entertain our friends and family.
The size is not very negotiable as our yard is a bit narrow and long so it'll be 18x40. We are leaning toward chlorine, not SWG as for some reason our daughter's eczema seems to flare anytime she swims in a salt pool, though I do know chlorine is chlorine no matter how it gets into the pool. Maybe the pools she's swimming in are just not balanced.
Biggest desires: Slide for the kids! Thinking wedding cake steps that then transition into a long full-width bench running across the 18' width of the pool which is priced in the estimate. That would be one bench, not full end steps which we were told would eat into the useable space of the pool. We don't want a big concrete jungle in our backyard so we are aiming for 3' of concrete on the long 40' sides of the pool with a bigger pool deck on each end of the 18' width for a few lounge chairs, but again, trying not to do too much concrete. We like the green, natural look of our backyard. Love the look of the natural Hamptons style pools but in Minnesota the minimum for concrete along the edges is 3' for structural purposes. We have two large decks, one that sit close to ground level as you can see in the photo so that can also be utilized for eating, lounging, etc. We do know we will need a larger concrete pad for the slide and we are okay with that.
Thinking maybe deck jets for the nice sound, or are those overrated? How about lights? Undecided on depth, but we were thinking the pool would run shallow to deep with the max depth being 6'5" of water depth under the slide area.
Huge investment for us financially and one we have been considering carefully for years. Pools aren't inexpensive in this area, and we are very nervous we're going to get this wrong.
Let me know what we might be missing and thanks in advance!
We have two kids, 7 and 3 1/2 who are the primary reason we are building this pool but my husband and I are both very excited about it as well. I have wanted an in-ground pool my entire life, in spite of the short season we enjoy here in Minnesota. We figure with a good heater and an auto cover we can use the pool from May to end of September.
I'm attaching our estimate here from our pool builder and I would very much appreciate any insight/advice as to what we need, don't need, may be forgetting, etc. I'm also attaching a photo of the back of our house. The pool will run longways, parallel to the back of the house and those lilac bushes you see along the lower deck will be removed and replaced with concrete for the pool deck. The steps you see coming down from the lower deck will be moved to the opposite side to allow easier access to the pool entry steps which will be on the swingset end of the yard. This is primarily going to be a family pool that we would love for our kids to enjoy for all of their childhood and for us as we get older and entertain our friends and family.
The size is not very negotiable as our yard is a bit narrow and long so it'll be 18x40. We are leaning toward chlorine, not SWG as for some reason our daughter's eczema seems to flare anytime she swims in a salt pool, though I do know chlorine is chlorine no matter how it gets into the pool. Maybe the pools she's swimming in are just not balanced.
Biggest desires: Slide for the kids! Thinking wedding cake steps that then transition into a long full-width bench running across the 18' width of the pool which is priced in the estimate. That would be one bench, not full end steps which we were told would eat into the useable space of the pool. We don't want a big concrete jungle in our backyard so we are aiming for 3' of concrete on the long 40' sides of the pool with a bigger pool deck on each end of the 18' width for a few lounge chairs, but again, trying not to do too much concrete. We like the green, natural look of our backyard. Love the look of the natural Hamptons style pools but in Minnesota the minimum for concrete along the edges is 3' for structural purposes. We have two large decks, one that sit close to ground level as you can see in the photo so that can also be utilized for eating, lounging, etc. We do know we will need a larger concrete pad for the slide and we are okay with that.
Thinking maybe deck jets for the nice sound, or are those overrated? How about lights? Undecided on depth, but we were thinking the pool would run shallow to deep with the max depth being 6'5" of water depth under the slide area.
Huge investment for us financially and one we have been considering carefully for years. Pools aren't inexpensive in this area, and we are very nervous we're going to get this wrong.
Let me know what we might be missing and thanks in advance!
