Deck/structure overhanging pool

[mautado]

Hi everyone,

I live in SoCal, summer is here and my pool is at 86 degrees and pretty clear.

The issue: My pool takes about 70% of my yard. I have always wanted to have a pool house/office, however, I do not have free deck or ground space in my yard.
As you can see in the picture I have a diving board which whenever I need to do anything to my pool the city will make me remove it for safety reasons. I love having the board.

My (crazy) idea: I am allowed by my city to have a prefab accessory structure(shed) of up to 120 sq ft in my yard without a building permit and put it adjacent to property lines.
My thought is having a 15'x8' shed with a door facing the pool, which I'd call a diving door, and an access door on the right side of the shed.

The catch: Part of the shed would be overhanging the pool, 3 feet into the pool at the most(which is how much the existing diving board overhangs).
The joists of the shed would be 13" above water. 8 foot of water below diving board. That's 9'1" from existing deck to pool bottom.

I've looked everywhere to see if anyone had ever done anything similar and I couldn't find anything. I also looked for pool building codes to see if there's any required head clearance in case of a deck or any structure above a pool, and still nada.

The only risk I see is that you could potentially hit your hand on the structure as you try to swim, but that can also happen at any point at the surrounding deck.

I would like to know if you guys have an opinion on potential risks I haven't thought of, or if you guys know any building code violation that might be or if you guys have ever seen anyone who has covered part of the pool with a deck or a structure.

Pictures:

IMG 0959 — imgbb.com

IMG 0963 — imgbb.com

Thank you

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum! :handshake:

I am not following you very well! I see the diving board there. Are you saying the city is making you remove it? Now I could your home insurance company not be willing to insure you but I cannot see how a city government can force you to remove it.

The structure to hold your 'diving shed' would have to be permitted and built to code, I would think. It would not be 'temporary'.

Wishing you luck on this project!

Take care.

 

[ajw22]

Assuming your shed is code kegal as you say, what materials would you construct it with? What would be its foundation? How would you anchor it? It sounds very tippy to me with the overhang. Also sounds like it would he hard to maintain the structure with little access to the sides.

 

[mautado]

It would be prefab with wood siding and I would put vinyl siding over it. I’d have it built with pressure treated 2x6’s for floor joists. The sides and front would actually be accessible. For the front I can just put my tall ladder inside the pool. The only part access would be an issue is the tight back. Movement is not an issue unless there’s a big quake, but I suppose I could anchor to my concrete deck.

 

[ajw22]

If that 8’ side is what overhangs the deck and you have 5’ on the deck and 3’ overhang you must anchor the shed.

Talk to an engineer about how the centery of gravity of that shed will shift as it tips. I would not try to balance a structure on 60% of the floor.

 

[mautado]

Welcome to the forum! :handshake:

I am not following you very well! I see the diving board there. Are you saying the city is making you remove it? Now I could your home insurance company not be willing to insure you but I cannot see how a city government can force you to remove it.

The structure to hold your 'diving shed' would have to be permitted and built to code, I would think. It would not be 'temporary'.

Wishing you luck on this project!

Take care.

The city is not making me remove it, but whenever I pull a permit let’s say to refinish my deck or replaster I know they will want me to take it out because people in my area had to remove it in order to have work done to their pool. My pool is basically too narrow to have a diving board per today’s building codes.
A shed in my city is only required to be permitted if I add electrical or plumbing or if it’s over 120 sq ft or more than 8 foot tall, so technically I don’t need a permit for that.

I’m more concerned of safety issues if there’s any. Or if today’s building codes have requirements for minimum head clearance between water line and structure overhanging the pool. Like I said I’ve never seen anyone who’s built a deck or a structure over hanging the pool.

 

[mautado]

If that 8’ side is what overhangs the deck and you have 5’ on the deck and 3’ overhang you must anchor the shed.

Talk to an engineer about how the centery of gravity of that shed will shift as it tips. I would not try to balance a structure on 60% of the floor.

I got your point, but the 4 corners of the shed would actually be sitting on solid concrete. You can see in the picture my pool is curvy at the end, so only part(3 feet) of that curve would have the overhang. I would probably anchor it anyways mostly to keep it from moving. if I ever felt like it might tip over I wouldn’t even think about putting anything over there. And even if it tipped over, the pool at its widest point is 16’

I’ll try to draw a plan to scale and check back with you guys.

Have any of you guys ever seen a pool with any overhanging structure before?

 

[ajw22]

I think even pressure treated joists will rot over time being exposed to so much moisture. I think short term it will look nice. Long term it may require maintenance or replacement.