Las Vegas Owner Build Start (Update: Need skimmer opinions)

[ReyWithAnE]

Hello all,

I'm so glad I ran into this forum. I've already read so much information. I decided to not go with a pool building company and start my own build. I'm located in Southwest Las Vegas (Summerlin South). I would really appreciate some advice and some contacts to jumpstart our family's pool build. We have the drawing and 3D renderings of our pool build. It's nothing too fancy, but it's good enough for our family. Thank you all.

Rey

Edit: Updated Pool Design and Plans

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello Rey and welcome! Wow has that valley grown since I grew up there. Crazy stuff. Post back as much as needed to help solicit replies. The more eyes on this thread the more chances another local who just had some pool work done might see it. Best of luck on the new project.

 

[Jetjohn6]

I'm also in the Vegas valley so I'm dealing with the same climate. A couple things come to mind. Give considerable thought to shade. To me that one umbrella in the sun shelf isn't going to cut it. You will want shade in more areas of the pool so figure out how you'll get it.

Consider wind direction when placing the skimmer. On some windy days the wind is blowing debris away from the skimmer rendering it effectively useless. You may have little choice in placement but if you do then pick a spot that favors the majority of winds you experience.

I see no mention of a heater so there's a decent chance you'll end up using solar heat (roof mounted) or a solar cover. Consider where and how you'll store the cover.

 

[thewolf56]

I'm in AZ and will be going the owner-builder route.

Building on @Jetjohn6's suggestion regarding shade, one thing I can recommend is downloading the trial version of VIP 3D (it's the more feature-rich version of Pool Studio, but you are limited to 100 objects placed and can't save). Using the trial version, I plotted my property and house, walls, terrain, etc. according to my plat map, lot map, and terrain map according to the actual size, location (long and lat) and orientation of the property. Using VIP3D's real-time shadow function, you can pick days and times in the summer to see where shadows will fall according to the time of day (I think July 4, 2022 would be a good day to start). Your house may cast a huge shadow on the pool in the afternoon, or your wall along the property line might. Or your lot orientation may put you where the pool is exposed to full sun and cantilevered umbrellas or shade sails are your only real option for pool shade (like mine). Pool Studio does not have realtime shadows, so anything you see is just an estimate, but knowing how to deal with shade at the onset of the project is much easier.

There's a bunch of tutorials available for it. I did not use any 3D design software before trying it, and I think it helped immensely with trying to figure out shade and overall yard layout. I threw up a couple of my designs on the thread I just started recently, so you can see how easy it is for an inexperienced amateur to use.

 

[ReyWithAnE]

Thank you all for kind words, encouragement, and advice. I went ahead and updated our plans. I shifted the pool 1ft to the left to give us room on the right side. I changed the sundeck depth to 18", which hopefully will require 2 entry steps. I also added a heater and volleyball/umbrella sleeves.

New Design and Plans

 

[an1vrsy]

Let me add my thoughts, in my opinion you don’t want in floor cleaning, get a robot instead, it’s cheaper and will clean better. And you’ll have less complicated plumbing. Get 2 skimmers on opposite diagonal ends, in that way if the winds shift you can still skim. Ditch the rainbow chlorinator, if you must use trichlor pucks put them in floaters in the pool. Seriously, look at installing a salt water chlorine generator (SWG). Size it minimum 2x the size of your pool water volume. It will make your Pool much easier to sanitize. Good luck.

 

[ReyWithAnE]

Can someone look at the skimmer placements (red boxes) and see if it's a good idea to put a skimmer at the sundeck? Should I place them somewhere else? New to pool designing and someone mentioned to put two on diagonal sides. Thank you!

 

[mknauss]

Which direction is the prevailing wind in your backyard?

 

[Rich807]

I'm in vegas & had ours built last year. 2 of my neighbors recently had theirs just built as well. Going own route is smart IMO. I should've done that as I ended up doing all day-to-day supervision & quality control myself. Sore subject.

Smart move on wet deck depth. I have 18" wet deck & everyone loves it being a bit deeper & as a bonus my robot goes everywhere on the wet deck due to that depth. You should only need 1 step between the decking surface to what will be your 18" deep wet deck.

I would nix the in-floor cleaning system in favor of a robot. That $$ could be better spent elsewhere in your yard or on other stuff for your pool. Never personally known anyone that would do it again after having theirs for a while (or longer term). I realize some people in the world like them but to me they're not worth the up front cost nor worth the expense down the road when parts start failing. To each his/her own though.

Do you only want 5' depth in your deep end? If so, zero problem with that but often I've seen it where pb's talk people into this as it's easier on them.

Key question on skimmer: Which way is everything orientated on your lot N/S/E/W? Due to our prevailing South-to-North winds skimmer placement is crucial IMO.

What's on the other side of the wall in your house from your proposed pool equipment location?

I would suggest you consider extending your deep end platform, shelf, seat or whatever you want to call it all the way to your wet deck making 1 continuous shelf connecting the two. That worked/works super good in ours but ours is a fair bit wider than yours will be. Anyway, just a thought.

Have a couple of electrical J-boxes plumbed in during your project on the ends or the back side of your pool. Super nice having some electrical outlets on the outskirts or each end of the pool.

I have a list of subcontractors that was used for my build. Some of them were awful, some good.

Strongly suggest you DO NOT go with a tablet-based Rainbow chlorinator setup as a means of sanitizing your pool. If you're going to go with the management style of maintaining a pool as it's done here at TFP you will have ended up wasting your money on the Rainbow chlorinator and moreoever, tablets or 'pucks' are the Debbil here in TPF land. Either use liquid chlorine or spend a couple of bucks during your build & start from day-1 with a salt water generator as the heart of your sanitization system. I wish I had & I will be converting over if hopefully the prices of SWG's go down in the fall. I wasted money on the Rainbow chlorinator as I used it for a minute until I found TFP & have no use for it now.

STRONGLY suggest that whomever you contract with you make it a contract stipulation that no concrete/gunnite work of any kind nor any inside finish work such as plaster, pebble tec etc be done outside of being the 1st job of the day nor be started later than say 10:00 am. SUPER important to me if your pool work will be done between May-Oct here in the Vegas valley. It's not in your best interest to have a crew showing up at noon, in 100-degree heat, & with our typical building of winds hour by hour, after they've just finished up slaving on another back-breaking job earlier that day. It's a recipe for shoddy workmanship & is easily avoided if you make it a point of the contract.

Have some kind of provision in your dig contract for if/when they run into caliche. My contract had x-amount included in the dig price. Hammer Time can cost a fortune if you get unlucky enough to have it in your dig area (& the stuff pops up here/there all over the valley).

 

[ReyWithAnE]

@Rich807 Thank you for the detailed response! I keep going back and forth with the 18" wet deck and because of the cleaning, I'll stick with the 18". I went ahead and skipped the in-floor as not many people here seem to like them. I'll definitely go the SWG.

@mknauss and Rich, My house faces north so the pool is on the south side. I have a walkway to a park where the equipment are and don't have any neighbors behind me (it's the park). Do you think the skimmer locations are good or should I move them? Please send me the contractor list that you have and let me know which ones were the good ones when you get a chance.

Thanks again,
Rey

 

[mknauss]

Just be sure the skimmer is located so the prevailing wind pushes the debris to it. No amount of water flow will overcome the wind.

 

[Rich807]

For clarification, your wet deck is on the north east end of your pool then, correct?

At this point if I understand your geo layout correctly, I’d say your draft deep end skimmer location would be quite ineffective (SE corner of your pool).... Unless you get some non-Vegas-standard prevailing winds in your part of the valley.

I would not put a skimmer inside your wet deck location. But that’s just my non-expert knee-jerk on it. Thinking you could go with 1 skimmer along the north side of your pool & be fine. Consider pour-a-lid setup for your skimmer(s). IMO they are super nice looking & very functional if you have your skimmer(s) in high traffic locations (like between your pool & your main patio &/or house.

I will see about scrounging up my vendor list here from last year & passing info to you. ETA: Sent info to you via 'conversation' here on the board.

Forgot to ask about return jet locations. IMO those are super important to the function of your pool. I wish I’d had paid attention to it as I didn’t & wish I’d have changed what the PB did with mine. I could’ve used 2 more to cover my wet deck. Would’ve been ideal pushing water toward skimmer & working with the prevailing winds here. Also just thinking about this, I'd say a strategically placed return jet in your sun/wet deck area (blowing straight toward the deep end of the pool) could negate the thought you would need a 2nd skimmer in that portion of the pool.

 

[Nikilyn]

I would do 2 steps out of the Baja step. Ours is 15” deep and we only had 1 but it was way too big of a step out of the pool. We didn’t notice it until the deck went on. We have a cantilever deck so it added 4” on top of the bond beam. We ended up having the shotcrete guys add another step when they came to fix our spa depth. It’s a short step so not ideal, but I’d rather have it than nothing. I would have preferred they were more even but it is what it is.

 

[Rich807]

I would do 2 steps out of the Baja step. Ours is 15” deep and we only had 1 but it was way too big of a step out of the pool. We didn’t notice it until the deck went on. We have a cantilever deck so it added 4” on top of the bond beam. We ended up having the shotcrete guys add another step when they came to fix our spa depth. It’s a short step so not ideal, but I’d rather have it than nothing. I would have preferred they were more even but it is what it is.

Hmm. We have 1 step between our cantilever'd deck & the bottom of our18" wet/sun deck. Our toddler grandkids don't have a hard time going in & out. Will have to measure / take a pic & post for discussion purposes.

 

[Jetjohn6]

I recall reading on here someone ended up with a pool not as deep as they wanted. Make sure when discussing depths that it's clear you're talking about water depth and also make sure contracts include details about tolerance of that depth (you probably won't be happy if they say 5ft deep ±6" as you'll likely end up with 4.5ft depth).

I've personally never understood the appeal of these built-in hot tubs. Sure, they look good but are they actually good hot tubs? They look uncomfortable. They typically have only a few jets. I'm quite glad the house we bought has just the pool. We have an above ground hot tub with way more jets than any built-in. It's well insulated and a much cheaper purchase. It has a spot where you can lay down or others where you can sit but it's easy to get comfortable. We can also drain it in the summer and not worry about it. This also means we don't have the expense and maintenance of a large pool heater. I'm also glad I don't have all those extra nooks and crannies to keep clean.

 

[ReyWithAnE]

Thank you @Nikilyn @Rich807 @Jetjohn6 I'll definitely keep track of the steps. The pool and spa was something the kids and wife really wanted, but I'll make sure the waterline depth is at least 5ft. Thank you all again.

Edit: @Rich807 Confirmed. The wet deck is on the NE side of the pool. The plan was to originally have one skimmer on the north side, middle of pool. I might just go ahead and put it back. I haven't thought about the return jets. Thank you for mentioning them. As soon as the engineers finalize the design, I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks again!

 

[Rich807]

I recall reading on here someone ended up with a pool not as deep as they wanted. Make sure when discussing depths that it's clear you're talking about water depth and also make sure contracts include details about tolerance of that depth (you probably won't be happy if they say 5ft deep ±6" as you'll likely end up with 4.5ft depth).

I've personally never understood the appeal of these built-in hot tubs. Sure, they look good but are they actually good hot tubs? They look uncomfortable. They typically have only a few jets. I'm quite glad the house we bought has just the pool. We have an above ground hot tub with way more jets than any built-in. It's well insulated and a much cheaper purchase. It has a spot where you can lay down or others where you can sit but it's easy to get comfortable. We can also drain it in the summer and not worry about it. This also means we don't have the expense and maintenance of a large pool heater. I'm also glad I don't have all those extra nooks and crannies to keep clean.

Could not agree more with the above.

 

[Nikilyn]

We love our built in spa! My husband and I don't really like his brother's free standing one.

 

[ReyWithAnE]

@Rich807 Sorry, The wet deck is on the North West side of the pool. Here is a satellite picture of my home and location of the pool. The wet deck is indicated by a green box, spa would be red, and equipment location is indicated by a pink star. Where should I put the skimmer(s) and returns? I've also attached some wind info for my area online. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

[Rich807]

Forgive me if I've missed it but have you indicated yet where you or a design/engineering company you're working with have proposed returns to be?

You'll have to make up your own mind in the end but for me I'd probably always set up for South-to-North winds in the Vegas Valley. Your weather data indicates that during the swim season the winds are mostly out of the south.... that tracks with the rest of the valley & my thoughts on how to best set up for having pool equipment working with the wind vs against it. With that said I'd be thinking about putting a skimmer on the northern edge of the pool, probably centered somewhere along that linear East-West run of the pool. If I did do that, I would 100% go with a pour-a-lid type skimmer cover as #1 it's going to be in a high foot traffic area given where your house is in relation to the pool (people walking on plastic skimmer lids after they've been beaten up by the UV & heat here isn't the best IMO), and & 2, it's going to be in bigtime visual line of sight as well due to it's relation to the house being where it is i.e. having something that matches the rest of your deck should be more appealing to most folks' eyeballs.

I'd like to hear from others who are FAR smarter than I am on this stuff regarding total number & exact placement of pool returns. That said, I would 'think' that a return jet centered on the west side of the wet deck could be beneficial in keeping water from stagnating in that corner & help it move debris to a skimmer location. Again, I'm not an expert so you'll have to go with what makes sense to you &/or what others you enlist for opinions say.

Good luck!