Need advice! Under contract in NTX.

[AGGIESARAH]

New to TFP and looking for advice on my new pool build in North Texas. Loving TFP and all the great things I have learned so I want to send out a huge thank you ahead of time for any and all suggestions! I put *** next to my main concerns.

We looked at tons of companies and made it all the way to design and quote with three before deciding on our builder (father/son team putting in pool in our area for 30 years and did our neighbors which they were happy with).

Our specs are:

Size- 41x22 feet, 15,369 gallons, free form

Perimeter – 108feet

Sq Ft – 560 feet

Depth – 3.5, 5, 3.5

Spa size – 7x7feet with 12 inch height


Finishes:

Salt deck with color

Plaster PebbleSheen

Coping – leuders

Tile – glass

**** I am thinking about adding a rolled edge spa with 1x2 tiles. Any comments on rolled edge? Glad you did it or wish you had not? Would probably use a corresponding 6x6 tile for the pool waterline.



Structure (the part I don’t know enough about yet! Learning so much for you all.)

Minimum 8 inch thick gunite shell with 12 inch box beam reinforced with ½ inch rebar at min of 10inch centers on the floor and walls and ½ inch rebar in the box beam. Additional steel at transitional areas.

***11 grounding and helical piers*** (We have the typical expansive/erosive soil found in North Texas. We did not do a soil study. They recommended piers in our area as did most pool builders we spoke with. Comments welcomed lol)



Plumbing

2.5, 2 and 1.5 inch schedule 40 PVC pipes and fittings.

Pool will have 2 skimmers, 5 inlets, 2 main drains, overflow, fill line, and a pool sweep line.

Spa will have 6 jets, two main drains, and a pool return.



Equipment (also don’t know much about)

Starite 450squarefoot multi media filter

Starite Interlli-Pro 4x160 pump

Starite 400,000 btu heater

Polaris 280 pool cleaner with pump

Pentair Easy touch 4 electronic controls with screen logic or wireless remote

Jandy 3 way or 2 way control valves

Salt cell, rainbow chlorinator,

1.5 hp silencer blower

4 pack micro brite lights

****Want to add that the location that we picked to place the pump/pool electrical system is about 4 feet higher than the pool. The location is perfect however functionally I am not sure if the elevation difference will be a problem for the pump. Builder says it will work fine but is not ideal.



Electrical

Shut off, time clock, freeze protector, GFI receptacle, switched to control lights.



If you made it this far – thanks for reading! Appreciate your comments!

 

[JJ_Tex]

Welcome and congrats. Here is my 2 cents:

Depth - 3.5 is okay, but I would consider making it a few inches deeper since most adults like hanging out in 4-4.5" water. I would consider the same with the deep end in going to 6 feet. That spa is temping to jump off of and I would rather kids be jumping in 6' water than 5' water.

Pool in relation to the house - I typically like the pool closer to the house so that everyone on the patio and in the pool can interact with each other. We also can easily see the patio TV from our spa and the shallow end, so that has become a family favorite year round. With your pool being so far away, you almost have 2 separate areas.

Starite equipment - I'm not familiar with them, but I will say that is not a common brand that I have seen on here. I would make sure that will work with your automation/other equipment.

Pentair Easy Touch - This is an older version of Pentair's automation. For almost the same price you can upgrade to the Intellicenter which is their newest automation.

Salt cell - Do you know what kind, maybe a Pentair Intellichlor? Also if you get this, there really is no reason for the Rainbow Chlorinator since it is easy to add chlorine in the winter when the salt cell doesnt work.

Polaris 280 - This is also dated technology and requires a booster pump to work properly. I would swap that out for a robot cleaner, you just need to make sure there is an electrical outlet nearby that it can use.

Good job on the piers. They are expensive but help you sleep better at night knowing that your pool is not going anywhere.

Hope that helps and good luck.

 

[AGGIESARAH]

Welcome and congrats. Here is my 2 cents:

Depth - 3.5 is okay, but I would consider making it a few inches deeper since most adults like hanging out in 4-4.5" water. I would consider the same with the deep end in going to 6 feet. That spa is temping to jump off of and I would rather kids be jumping in 6' water than 5' water.

Pool in relation to the house - I typically like the pool closer to the house so that everyone on the patio and in the pool can interact with each other. We also can easily see the patio TV from our spa and the shallow end, so that has become a family favorite year round. With your pool being so far away, you almost have 2 separate areas.

Starite equipment - I'm not familiar with them, but I will say that is not a common brand that I have seen on here. I would make sure that will work with your automation/other equipment.

Pentair Easy Touch - This is an older version of Pentair's automation. For almost the same price you can upgrade to the Intellicenter which is their newest automation.

Salt cell - Do you know what kind, maybe a Pentair Intellichlor? Also if you get this, there really is no reason for the Rainbow Chlorinator since it is easy to add chlorine in the winter when the salt cell doesnt work.

Polaris 280 - This is also dated technology and requires a booster pump to work properly. I would swap that out for a robot cleaner, you just need to make sure there is an electrical outlet nearby that it can use.

Good job on the piers. They are expensive but help you sleep better at night knowing that your pool is not going anywhere.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I will look into all of that : )

 

[Deepwater]

Very nice! In building mine, I ended up reducing the amount of decking around the pool. Especially in North Texas, where the soil is expansive and a bit unstable, I didn't want to deal with the decking cracking, and expensive replacement. Instead I used several concrete "pads" on one end, and put rocks in between the pads, as well as between the pads and the pool. Seems like they are less inclined to crack (vs. decking), and yet serves the same purpose. The yard grass comes right up to the coping, and it's been fine. I also don't see your pool equipment in the pic you posted - assume it's behind the plants?

Love the North Texas mountains in the background!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Love the North Texas mountains in the background!