How long is a 11ft deep pool

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TulsaKevin

TulsaKevin

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Dec 8, 2014
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Tulsa OK
Starting a new house next week hopefully, and looking at pool designs, I like an free form L shaped pool with one of the side of the L beign the deep in and the other arm of the L being a 3.5 ft or so activity end. Looking at the ANSI guidelines (which I am not for sure are mandatory for residential, but highly recommended, someone can correct me if I am wrong) but for an 11 ft pool, you need a 31.5 feet to get to a 3.5 deep level if you go by thier recommendations. I wanted the "activity" arm being about 20ft wide to play football, volleyball, etc. We have a big family and we always have alot of people over so we are looking at pools larger than average, but 51.5 feet of pool in one direction with about 40 feet or so in the other direction, seems excessive.

We talk to a pool desinger probably in Feb. Planning on finishing the house around August. I am just in the very early stages of planning to make sure we do not need to do adjustments to the back yard area. Thankfully we live on 40 acres so space is not an issue, but I don't want to have a pool that has wasted space either.

Side note: I have been trolling this forum for about a year since we have been working on house plans, and have gone to several home and garden shows and talked to several pool builders and people with pool. I am amazed how much more that I know than most pool "salesmen" just by reading all of your great post. I would guess about half of the information I got from them was completely wrong ( apparently salt water pools are chemical free :p) and another 25% of what they say was very missleading.
 
Welcome to TFP!!!! :handwave:

Haha that's so funny. I have the salt vs chlorine argument with everyone who asks about my pool. The first question is always "Is it salt or chlorine?" :laughblue:

I look forward to seeing your build!

I can't really comment on ANSI guidelines, but I can tell you that if you have a big family and have a lot of people over often, you should build as big of a pool as you can afford. On 40 acres???? Wow. Post some pics of the yard for us!
 
ANSI Guidelines are generally just that -- guidelines. That may vary depending on your local code and building official. They generally come into play if you are installing a diving board. Many PBs have never heard of them.

11 feet is very deep for any pool unless you are planing on serious diving. Eleven feet would call for some serious additional rebar in that wall and careful shooting by the gunite crew. I would venture to say that most pool builders have never built a eleven foot deep pool.

The pool you are talking about is very very large for a residential pool. That is a lot of water to maintain.

I would talk with some PBs about what you want to achieve and see what they come up with. And keep on coming back. Oh and if you do build an eleven foot deep pool we want pictures!!!!!
 
The slope angle is pretty important. It's easy to get in a position where buoyancy causes you to lose your footing on the slope, and a steeper slope makes it worse. It feels like you are being dragged into the deep end. Not a huge deal for a strong swimmer, but it's a different story for a weak swimmer.

A couple of summers ago, I was playing with my 2-year-old granddaughter and started down the slope in my pool. Because she was in my arms, I couldn't swim, and couldn't yell for help. I ended up having to let her go so I could start swimming and then pull her out of the water. A little frightening! I'd imagine it would feel the same for a non-swimmer, only they couldn't do anything about it.
 
JohnT said:
The slope angle is pretty important. It's easy to get in a position where buoyancy causes you to lose your footing on the slope, and a steeper slope makes it worse. It feels like you are being dragged into the deep end. Not a huge deal for a strong swimmer, but it's a different story for a weak swimmer.

A couple of summers ago, I was playing with my 2-year-old granddaughter and started down the slope in my pool. Because she was in my arms, I couldn't swim, and couldn't yell for help. I ended up having to let her go so I could start swimming and then pull her out of the water. A little frightening! I'd imagine it would feel the same for a non-swimmer, only they couldn't do anything about it.
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The ANSI recommends a 1:3 ration of rise/run, ie to go one foot deeper, it has to be 3 feet long. That accounts most of the lengt from 11ft.

I know that 11ft is deep deep, but looking to put in a good diving board ( yes I know that they kill more people than malaria) and we will have some rocks. We are some what of monkeys so I want the extra depth.
 
I've heard from insurance companies that the highest quantity of diving board injuries by far is from slipping on them. Severity of the injuries is another story...

11' doesn't seem like overkill (perhaps bad word choice) to me. Ours is 8 1/2' and approaching the slope isn't that hard. If I'd had more length to play with I would have done 10'. 11' - really nice if feasible. Makes the diving games for items more challenging too.

FYI - Our pool is 38' long.
 
TulsaKevin said:
The ANSI recommends a 1:3 ration of rise/run, ie to go one foot deeper, it has to be 3 feet long. That accounts most of the lengt from 11ft.

I know that 11ft is deep deep, but looking to put in a good diving board ( yes I know that they kill more people than malaria) and we will have some rocks. We are some what of monkeys so I want the extra depth.
Click to expand...

Be sure to check with your insurance company before you build. Having a diving board has limited us on choices for our homeowner's insurance.
 
Ours too. We had to change. Our current one only required that the surface be non-slip. Nationwide is on our side.
 
I don't usually post here, since most others do a better job answering than I ever could. However, I am not sure what your question is? You seem to know that the deep end would need to be 31.5 feet, which seems to be consistent with everything that I have ever seen.

Are you just asking if your desired size is OK or not? Seem huge to me, but if you have the space and the finances, then I'm sure it will be fine. My only 2 cents is that a pool of that size will probably require a good amount of hard scape and landscape around the pool to make sure that they pool doesn't seem oddly large for your yard

Will this be a concrete or vinyl pool?
 

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JohnT said:
Be sure to check with your insurance company before you build. Having a diving board has limited us on choices for our homeowner's insurance.
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I did add $500k in liability but my insurance company said as long as the pool meets the proper shape and the board is installed per specs there was no price increase for the diving board. I would think in CA things would be worse than other places. Maybe i just got lucky with the right one.
 
Yes. Different insurance companies care about different things. Some are against diving boards some are against slides most are against trampolines. Some don't care about any of it. Also remember that they can always change their minds.
 
Yev said:
I don't usually post here, since most others do a better job answering than I ever could. However, I am not sure what your question is? You seem to know that the deep end would need to be 31.5 feet, which seems to be consistent with everything that I have ever seen.

Are you just asking if your desired size is OK or not? Seem huge to me, but if you have the space and the finances, then I'm sure it will be fine. My only 2 cents is that a pool of that size will probably require a good amount of hard scape and landscape around the pool to make sure that they pool doesn't seem oddly large for your yard

Will this be a concrete or vinyl pool?
Click to expand...

I was wondering if anyone had a 11 ft pool that was shorter, if so, where did they deviate from the ANSI guidelines. Did they have a steeper slope, or did they have a rounded drop off, because to have 10ft or 11 ft deep in, plus some room to wade in, the dimensions are at least 40 to 45 feet, which I have not seen many dimension posted that size. But, most do not post how deep it is either.

We are planning for concrete pool, the rest to to be decided, still trying to educate myself on SWG vs Chlorine pumps, what is best for me. I am also looking at some of the Pentair automation systems. The best PB in Tulsa, which is more accurately described, as the PB that most of the elite house builders turn to has a 15k pool or so he just put in yard which he used Trichlor tablet system. Which proves to me, the best product is finding which best suits your needs.

Also toying with the idea of using a chlorine safe flexible pipe and putting it in our upcoming asphalt driveway and running a pump to circulate the heated water to the pool, I like pool on the warmer side. There is a company that has a product that would work, though there are a lot of pitfalls of the idea. That being said, OK is a energy rich state and NG is cheap, so probably does not pan out. I have giving up on a geothermal pump, there is still not a lot of skilled people out there and the results seem to be hit or miss.
 
45' would be a good workable length for an 11' depth. The slope will still be pretty decent but I think the negativity towards steepness of slope is overrated (aside from clonking your head). Just my thoughts based on my pool dimensions/profile and use for 2 years. My pool is a rectangle so the SF is maximized within the dimensions.
 
I dont know about OK, but in Texas (at least where I live), if you dont live inside the city limits, then building permits are not required and you can build your pool (and slope) however you want to. All the county cares about is that there is a fence around it. Check with your local regulations. Most municipalities and cities base thier pool regulations upon ANSI.

One way to minimize the slope to the length, is to make the shallow end a bit deeper, if you can tolerate it. For example a 4 ft shallow end instead of 3 1/2 will decrease the angle of the slope.
OR,
a 4 foot shallw end and maintaining the 1:3 rule for the slope will allow you to shorten the length by a couple of feet.

As for SWG, vs Chlolrine feeder, there are plus and minus to both. I have a SWG and couldn't be happier. Its so low maintenaince it will make you lazy!!
 
Don't know if you've come across this thread in your exploration of the site but it is an L shaped pool with an activity area and deep end. I linked to the last page so you can see the finished pool with people in it. The dimensions are in the poster's signature. Seems like it would be inline with what you're looking to build except the deep end isn't as deep as you want. It might give you some good ideas though.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/71652-New-L-Shape-pool-in-Georgia/page5
 
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