Dec 11, 2024
10
Tulsa Oklahoma
Hello All,

As we are in the process of designing a pool and features, I am curious if anyone has ever added a foot sprayer/cleaner to their pool deck setup. We are considering the below build and live on a large open lot. I am expecting the kids to do lots of volleyball and basketball chasing into the yard that will end up with feet covered in grass clippings and dirt. With the wall available to mount a fixture I am thinking I would like to add some sort of foot was on the far side of the pool. I would like to hear any guidance, experience or horror stories. I attempted to search on the forum, but didn't find much. However, could be using the wrong keywords.

 
A previous house had an outdoor shower with a separate sprayer for feet. Loved it. No problems whatsoever, although I did have to keep the deck between shower and pool swept.

I'm not sure which side you mean by the "far side", but try to arrange things so the shower is between the yard and the pool. If the pool is between the yard and the shower, the kids will track debris onto the deck, wash their feet, and then walk back through the debris to get into the pool.

I assume there will be a fence around the pool. Maybe locate the gate right next to the shower.
 
I can tell you that with kids, there is no way to get them to wash their feet off before they get back in the pool. Ours will run across the lawn to jump in. Toys and balls that fly out are chased down and they immediately jump back in. We just rely on the skimmer to do it's job. Now, mud would be a different issue so you might want to fence that off or get your landscaping done. I do hose myself off, arms and legs, before I jump in after mowing.
 
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Well, 30 yrs on in pool ownership, and even on school class pool party days, tracking of "stuff" into the pool hasn't been an issue. As noted, it will be VERY difficult, anyway, to get the excited users to use the foot wash. Kids now very grown, but more recently at times there have been a number of dogs using the pool at the same time - so same issues concerning mud and vegetable matter. And they don't use the foot wash either. (Now hair is a different issue...)

The bigger problem? Wind and mower discharge on mowing days. It can take a fair amount of logistics to plot out the mowing plan to avoid clippings in the pool. And if you do get clippings on the decking, it seems like you can never get to them soon enough with a broom or blower to avoid getting a good amount into the pool.

But, as said above - the skimmers can do a great job. So rather than invest in a special build for a wash station, put the money into the best skimming solution you can design!
 
I’m tend to just jump in the pool to cool and rinse off after mowing/yardwork. The skimmers gets the minor debris that results.
I'm the same way. I built the pool with that being 90% of the reason to use it. That and I'm the one that does the maintenance/chemicals on it so I understand the ramifications of my actions.

Hair nets on the skimmer baskets helps catch most of the debris anyway.

--Jeff
 
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My grass clippings blow in all week, every week.

The amount of time the kids playing may track some more in will pale in comparison to what naturally happens.

Besides, you'd probably spend more effort being the fun police than you would cleaning the debris in the long run.

Grass clippings float well long enough to find the skimmers more often than not. If they don't, you'll never see some blades on the pool bottom, not even with TFP clear water.
 
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The only real issue I had over the years was convincing my wife that it was a really bad idea to stick a very muddy dog into the pool, rather than a separate hose down or actual dog bath. Most dirt could be delt with, although I hated getting out the manual pool vac, but sometimes the sand in the bottom was really hard to get out. Thankfully, she has slowly changed her ways.....
 
I have one and use it a lot for washing my feet and also filling up the watering can to water flowers. I just had an extra hose bib added to my underground sprinkler system and hooked up an outdoor shower and foot wash. If you have a sprinkler system already, its going to have to be rebuilt and adding the hose bib is an easy add. Mine is underground for easy winterization too, just unscrew the hose and let the water drain out. Note that I built mine along with an outdoor showerhead but there are many options for a premade foot wash that connects to a hose bib.



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When our pool was finished but before the landscaping was done, I kept two buckets by opposite corners of the pool for this purpose. I dumped them daily and refilled with pool water. I found adherence to be moderate among others and high for myself. To the extent they got used, it helped.

That said, I like the idea. We will be in a somewhat sandy locale for our next pool so we will have one or several wash/shower areas.