Another in Texas - Cypress

I think I know what looks "wrong" about it (at least to me) and why you aren't in love with it (some design things are universal and can cause this effect). I believe it's the angled line of the pool going away from the house. Below is a link of the type of shape that I think pleases the eye better than having a side of the pool angling away from the house. I was actually thinking of the "stepped" side being on the house side but you get the idea. Open the pdf in the first post for the drawing.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/95730-Owner-Builder-North-Texas
 
Do you mean that as much as we want it parallel to the fence for a better view we also need part of it to be parallel to house to even up lines? Hmm... Dang I wish I could draw. My skills are on a Pre-K level trying to put on paper things I can kind of see in my head. Lol

Thought of that! Where we're placing the pool we'll be able to see the whole thing from the patio and the living room windows. Anywhere else and that would be a problem. I have 6 year old twins and a different teenage daughter for 11 months every year (exchange students).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Do you mean that as much as we want it parallel to the fence for a better view we also need part of it to be parallel to house to even up lines? Hmm... Dang I wish I could draw.

Yes, it could still be parallel to the fence on that side and stepped on the house side. Then both sides give the appearance of being parallel to their nearest "neighbor" though one is via a bit of a mind trick. It's just the small stepped sections of the pool that are parallel with the house with this concept.

You aren't trying to do a 3-D drawing, it should be pretty easy to just sketch out in 2-D the basics shapes on paper to get ideas of how they look. Your mind will know quickly if a new shape works better even without a perfect drawing. Just draw on copies of your plat drawing.
 
Last edited:
To answer your SWG question, while I do not own one, the Hayward SWG's are very popular around here, it is a simple case of most bang for the buck. As to the pool design I have to wonder if a more organic free form design would work better with your tapered fence issue as it looks to me to be a case to too many angles going on.

p.s. This is just personal opinion, so take it as that, but I feel 5.5 ft is just about the worst depth for a pool, at least for a 6 ft tall person. It is too shallow to safely dive into, just deep enough that you can't comfortably stand and just shallow enough to be uncomfortable treading water as ones toes will tend to bump when you get down low in the water.
 
[emoji23] Easy for you bmore! My stick figures barely resemble people! What do you mean by 'stepped'?

Isaac, I appreciate the perspective. Originally we were going with 6' but ultimately decided less. We're a family of short people and felt more of a sport pool would benefit us. I'm not totally set on it but... I'm 4'9'' and my husband is 5'9'' so... Our kids are tiny for their age. We might get the occasional tall person but it wouldn't be often so we're trying to make a decision based on what would work best for our crew.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Like the side of that pdf pool against the fence.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I really like the design as is, and for a while, I couldn't even see the shape issue that was mentioned. If that bothers you, have the deck at the end mirror the shape of the 'deep' end of the pool.

I'm not saying someone else won't come up with a better plan, but for your needs and where you want to position the pool, I personally really, really like the design. I like the few soft curves giving it an elegant Grecian touch.

I love where my sun shelf is on our pool which is similar to yours. It hasn't been an issue that chairs on the sun shelf would have backs to the house.

For us, the one sheer is noisy all by itself. So when I have friends in the pool and we're wanting to visit, I have to turn it off. So whether, I have one or three sheers going, I'd still have to turn them off. I like your three sheers.I have a thought about your feeling that something is missing. For the plans submitted to us, I had my sons look at them. And each time, they picked the plan that had more landscaping and details surrounding the pool. They were tricked into seeing that rather than the pool itself. One plan, I sent was the exact same one sent earlier with one difference - and they loved it, because the designer had used a paver design on the decking rather than a plain deck. It wasn't the design of the pool that needed more, it was the rest surrounding the pool.

Just a few things to think about....
Suz.
 
Lol Thanks Suz! I totally know what you mean. My daughter couldn't see past the color of the decking and the water used on the different designs. She was making me crazy. That's all she could see when deciding which one she liked. For me I was in real estate and my Mom gutted and remodeled several homes when I was growing up. I can see beyond that pretty well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Most of the time it probably is, but I would hate for someone to get a broken ankle or worse if they hit wrong. My pool is over 8 ft in the deep end and occasional people doing cannon balls from the side do touch bottom, just not too hard, this is usually "adults" trying to jump up to make a BIG splash. In 5.5 ft I would think they could hit hard enough to be a jarring experience and perhaps letting out their breath, etc. I am rather paranoid about such things now though as I fell and broke my back (compression fracture of L2) just under 5 years ago in a stupid household accident where I landed just wrong on a brick sidewalk.


Ike
 
Lol Thanks Suz! I totally know what you mean. My daughter couldn't see past the color of the decking and the water used on the different designs. She was making me crazy. That's all she could see when deciding which one she liked. For me I was in real estate and my Mom gutted and remodeled several homes when I was growing up. I can see beyond that pretty well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, then it sounds like you probably are wanting a little more to the design. After I had typed my first response (a few hours ago, but hadn't posted yet), I saw Bmore's suggestion of using the stepped or graduated angles on the house side of your pool. That would be awesome. That could also push out the sun shelf some towards the house which would open up a better shallow end and a better swim lane.

Leave it to Bmore to come up with a great design option. I pulled up the drawing he suggested and placed it next to yours - it really could be super.

Take your time and have fun with the design plans!
Suz.
 
I installed the Pool Studio Demo last night and played around. There is a bit of a learning curve since I'm familiar with Photoshop but in an hour I had some ideas...

It's not a perfect drawing and would need some evening out. I also couldn't figure out in the time I had how to get the stairs and benches in where I wanted to see them, but at least it's an idea.





In the little area between the sun shelf and the spa I was thinking of putting a bench and table maybe? I have waterproof card games from my twin pregnancy days when I'd hang out in the tub for hours to get babies off the sciatic nerve and that seemed like a fun way to use them again!

Thoughts? Like it any better than what the builder came up with?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I like that version, it would be in the running if it were my place.

I know it's not a lot of room, but leaving that space between the spa and shelf open would be a big plus for swimming laps. Otherwise you won't have a wall to swim up to and I know your husband mentioned laps. I don't swim laps really, just a few at a time, but it is nice to be able to do my unprofessional turns against a wall. I'd personally put a full-length bench in the cove from the spa to the first "step". Then smaller (say 4') benches in the next two corners. I can't overemphasize the value we get out of the many benches we have. While I was at it, I'd also put a standing bench (about 42" deep) in the corner diagonal from the spa, say 3' wide along the end of the pool. Can you tell I like benches? You can see ours in our build thread in my signature. All of those bench places (except deep bench) are opposite your primary seating areas and would create good ways to have conversations with people in/out of the pool being able to face each other while resting.

I'm not a fan of tables in pools personally. But I don't have one so I could very well be missing the best thing since sliced bread.
 
Good points on the swim lane! My husband helped me with the ideas and he didn't notice that so I'll mention it to him. I like benches too, especially as a short person often caught in the deep end, lol. I just couldn't figure out how to do them in pool studio with the time I had yesterday.

Should I keep straight corners or should we look at rounded edges? Couldn't figure out how to do that quickly either so we could visualize it.

I'm pretty sure I want the table. Another thread in here said it was the best thing they did and I know we'd use it a lot. I just want to make sure it's out of the way and not a potential hazard.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
We did straight corners on the pool (obviously, it's a rectangle) but rounded edges and very rounded corners on the benches. It looks nice.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.