It was such a scramble to get the pool done last fall, then we were too busy trying to cram in as much fun as we could before it got too cold and I never updated my Construction Thread. Here is a recap of what I learned and the finished pool.
Lots of photos to follow.
I love how everything turned out, thanks to all the lovely people here and the wealth of information in these forums I feel like we went into this very well prepared. There are only a few things I would have done differently, and some things that surprised me along the way that others may find helpful.
THINGS I LEARNED THE HARD WAY
THINGS I AM PLEASED WITH
So there are some decisions you just go into a little blind and hope for the best, here are the things I was sort of guessing on but am very happy with.
Lots of photos to follow.
I love how everything turned out, thanks to all the lovely people here and the wealth of information in these forums I feel like we went into this very well prepared. There are only a few things I would have done differently, and some things that surprised me along the way that others may find helpful.
THINGS I LEARNED THE HARD WAY
- The equipment pad is around the corner of the house in the side yard, which is fine. It’s out of sight, but I now wish I had put it between the pool and the yard so we could have built a shed and had electricity out there for a poor man’s pool house. Lesson to dream big for future plans you never think will be in your budget. I was too limited looking at the existing space.
- I wish I would have realized the pool light was going to be a harsh ultra bright white, all the rest of our lighting is soft white tending towards incandescent shades and I feel like it doesn’t match. The hubby says nobody will notice or care, but I still feel the entire space would be more cohesive if all the lighting was in the same color family. It sticks out.
- I love our pool full of right angles, but I was surprised at how much water splashes up in the corners. It makes perfect sense, I just hadn't considered that when designing it. Knowing that I wouldn't change it still, but it is a definite thing for anyone weighing pros and cons of rectangular vs. curvy pools to consider.
- I have three umbrella sleeves in the deck but I wish I had more. I honestly would have put them every 10’ around the whole deck. They’re cheap, so why not? Then I could have used them to hang shade sails, container gardens, string lights, string volleyball nets, anchor basketball hoops, and of course, umbrellas. Still glad I didn’t put any in my sun shelf though, they're much more useful on the deck.
- I wish I would have had a small one person bench / swim out in the corner under the slide
- I put 5’ of decking around the pool, and it’s workable, but if I had to do it again I would have gone 6’ to allow more walking room once you set up chairs and things on that decking
- I wish I would have recessed my last step into the ledge instead of it sticking out into the shallow end. We were happy to discover we can actually create a whirlpool by jogging around the shallow end (Wheee!!!) but that step now presents a tripping hazard when doing that.
- We put in a Bullfrog hot tub, and I was surprised how much energy it took to keep hot in the winter, far more than the pool took. I can’t imagine the energy bill on trying to keep an in ground attached hot tub warm all winter.
- Sometimes I wish we would have sunk the above ground hot tub in a spa vault, but I’m not sure how much more that would have cost. I wish sometimes that I could sit on the deck and just put my feet in. I worry someone is going to take a fall getting in and out of it.
- When I was testing every week I used up all my cyanuric acid regent far sooner than the rest of my chemicals. It’s a pretty stable reading without much in the way of fluctuation, so I wish I would have only tested it every other week.
- I wish I would have bought a toilet brush to keep the steps clean as soon as the pool was done instead of a week ago. It now lives in the toy bucket within reach of the pool now and is a game changer
- I wish I would have had some more conduit run to the outer deck for future use as well, when we get to the landscaping I'll have that done.
THINGS I AM PLEASED WITH
So there are some decisions you just go into a little blind and hope for the best, here are the things I was sort of guessing on but am very happy with.
- We went with a 9’ deep end and I’m so glad. For a bit I was worried it wouldn’t get used, but with our friends and family there’s always people hanging out in the deep end. I'm either on the ledge or in the deep end, very rarely in the shallow end
- I love our Bella Blue Pebblefina, it’s exactly what I was hoping for in terms of water color, and the feel of the quartz is great. No regrets.
- I love how big the ledge is, lots of room for little kiddos to play without worrying they’re too close, while still leaving room for us to hang out
- I'm glad we put in the hot tub and slide at the same time instead of waiting
- I'm glad I had the patio cover go out 14', I was worried it would be too deep, but especially in the winter with the low sun it's just perfect. We have very mild weather, so we used the patio many times a week except in January when it was really cold. With the curtains drawn and fire table running it is such a great outdoor off season spot for entertaining and is nice and spacious.
