Vinyl in ground questions

[kevgle4587]

I'm in the process of signing the contract for a 16x32 free form vinyl pool. They have the depths as 3.5'(3'of water) to 6' (5.5'of water), I would like to change the depth to 4' shallow (3.5' water) and 5.5' (5' of water ). Should this add any cost? Does this change the kit the builder orders since the walls will be taller in shallow end? I'm 5'11 and think that 5.5' of water would be just at the point where it would be at my nose or mouth , I feel 5' would be better. Any opinions? Thanks

 

[JamieP]

The depth of the shallow end is determined by the height of the walls. They come in two different heights from what I have seen, 42" and 48", and the same height wall is used all the way around the pool. It does cost more to get the taller walls. From my understanding, the shallow water depth will be 6" below the wall height, but the deep end can be dug deeper. The only way changing the depth of your deep end would make any difference, is if they consider it a "custom" depth and charge you more for the custom liner that would need to be made.

I hope that helps.

 

[kevgle4587]

Thank you so the deep end has the same size walls as the shallow? Is that so you can have the slope around the edges of the deep end? I never thought about that

 

[JamieP]

Yes, the walls sit on a level "shelf" around the perimeter of the pool. For the shallow end, that shelf is also generally the same depth as the floor. For the deep end, the walls slope down towards the hopper bottom of the pool. The deep end of a vinyl pool has to be angled like this so the walls can be supported by something, unlike a gunite pool where the structural stability comes from the rebar and gunite themselves.

 

[Cool pool]

I build 40 plus pools a year and if your builder knows anything he can make the pool any depth you want. If you want your shallow end 4 feet deep he would just need to dig 6 inches below the ledge "what the walls sit on". Then when the pool is trowled it would be similar to the deep end being that you would have a slight slope from the bottom of the wall to your actuall shallow end depth. As far as a custom liner goes it's not a big deal don't let him charge you for that. When a pool kit is purchased most builders will order the liner off the dimensions of that kit. Well if everything is not placed exactly perfect your asking for winkles. All this can be fix with is what is know as and A-b measurement I personally do this to every pool I build it saves a lot of trouble in the long run

 

[kevgle4587]

Thanks allot for the great info.