Trouble picking a spa shape for pool.

[northernvapool]

My wife and I are close to our final decision on layout and placement for our pool. We are going with a rectangular shaped pool with auto cover. The size approximately 18 x 40, with an 8 and half deep end. Because of some constraints in the yard (Slope and trees) we are trying to limit the 18 foot width. We know we have to allocate more space for walkway etc. The builder we have selected has shown us a unique spa design. It is L shaped wrapped around one end on the shallow side. Because of our space concerns this solution looks like an interesting idea to us. Our concern is we can not find any example of this design anywhere. This is a red flag for us. Why have we not seen pictures of L shaped spas anywhere? Are there problems with this? We are meeting again next week and will ask these questions but any input would be greatly appreciated.

- Other points:
We want a spa.
Interior sq. ft. is 40 ft.
The spa will be seasonal, closed when the pool is closed.
We would consider a more traditional square but are limited, placing along the longer edge pushes the pool too far into the yard, placing inside the pool limits our shallow end play area, placing at the shallow end patio area cuts into our limited patio area.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

I would guess that an L is not popular because then you can not see the other people in the spa. Would having a full square spa work that enters part of the pool or is entirely in the pool rectangle?

Would be easier to offer thoughts if you added a drawing or picture of the design.

 

[northernvapool]

Thanks. You are right about not facing others. The issue with the full rectangle, partially in the pool may be the auto cover, current thought process is a slightly raised spa. You are right about the drawing. I will try to put something simple together to illustrate the issue.

 

[jblizzle]

So do not raise the spa. Have the wall separating it from the pool right at water level and the auto cover will go over both.

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

I was also wondering about the auto-cover with this shape. L sounds like it could be interesting in a large area, but if pressed for space, may not work as well.

 

[bmoreswim]

If you were to inset the spa, with the autocover I would recommend making the protruding corner rounded as it approaches the water line, say with glass tiles perhaps. Any squared-off corner will eventually be an issue dragging an autocover over that repeatedly.

 

[northernvapool]

Here is rough sketch of the considered design. The interior of the spa is 40 sq foot, longer inside size is 7 foot, shorter inside size is 4 foot. I think the size is large enough. I will have one of the seats built a little lower, I'm tall. I also want to see if we can get the back built with slight incline. The original design has the spa on the other shallow corner, but we though about what part of the yard we want to look at the most and the view is more interesting on the current side. We are meeting again with our chosen PB Friday.

Not sure about lowering the spa to pool height, we like the height variation. It would seem to me that if we ran heat in the spa it would dissipate much quicker into the pool? Thanks for the tip on the corner if we go that route it will help. Our space is tight but not unmanageable. Our plan is to regrade the downside portion of the yard some with the fill to make it more usable. We are also considering a beam (18 inches..?)on the spa side 40 foot length with water features or a reverse beam 18 inches on the other side.

 

[spool]

20x40 is a decent sized pool. Where are your stairs? I really like this design:

 

[wjr75]

We have a built in spa to our pool which is raised about 2 feet above the pool and also have an auto pool cover. There is an over flow into the pool that is about one foot wide and is notched out so the water flows into the pool when the cover is closed. We have a separate three piece Spamate cover for our spa.

 

[spool]

My bad, I missed the auto cover in the original email. The elevated spa creates a challenging situation.

 

[northernvapool]

Thank you all for the replies. Met again with PB and we walked off several options regarding patio spa placement. We have better clarity but have not made the final decision. The drawing I attached is not completely representational, so I will try to update it. We have decided through elimination not to build spa in the pool and not to center it on the longer up slope side. We are 90% on the wrap around spa. There is still a chance we will set it back some in the shallow end patio area. We are going with the reverse beam and adding a water feature - something like a rainfall - off the spa wall. We are going to receive a new quote and I'll start a new thread to get feedback regarding most of the particulars.