Need some help before construction starts

[wej1106]

Builder is starting tomorrow afternoon, hopefully. We are still trying to decide where to place pool. We are thinking 16' from the screen porch (not the steps) and 18' from the garage. I can't get my scanner to work to load a sketch showing placement but I'll try again later. The blue flags are the edges of the pool. Ignore the dog and orange flags.

Would you remove all planter beds and concrete up to the house and the garage? How much space do we need for chairs and lounging? How far from edge of pool do pool steps go? I was planning on having them pointing towards the house on the shallow end (16' side). We are constrained on the 24' shallow side (along garage) but a propane gas and water line. We are planning on just concreting over them but don't want to relocate them.

Sorry for the choppy grass, we scooped up and relocated all the sod.

Thanks,

Wanda

 

[JohnT]

I don't know that I'd concrete up to the house and garage, but I'd get rid of the grass and landscape in a pool-friendly way with rock and plants that don't lose a lot of leaves or flower parts.

The distances are tough to advise on. Be sure to allow for a sitting area, probably near the porch steps. Consider where you want the equipment. Maybe around the corner?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I agree with John. I'd leave a few feet between the deck and the house & garage. If you concrete right up to them any water will have to go somewhere and that'll either be in the pool or under the house & garage. Neither of which os a good option.

 

[jcmac]

I like some green around a pool actually I like a LOT of green around a pool. The various landscape textures, pool and decking work together to create a very nice environment. Everything doesn't have to be concrete. The advice I give to anyone building a new residential pool is .. don't build it too big. With the style of your house some distance back from the porch seems best. You don't want to step off the porch and fall in the pool. Space between the house and pool will give you some seating area. With space you can figure out suitable landscape after the pool. Place the pool light so you don't see the bulb from the porch if possible.

 

[GCS]

I definitely would not concrete up to the house myself. I don't care for the look is all. I also agree about the water runoff that has been mentioned as well.

My only comment would be to give yourself either a concrete path or a paver path from your steps to the pool itself. I did this with the 27' AGP we just put in and I sure wish I had done this for our previous Intex pool. It always sucked getting all the grass clippings in the pool from the 15' or so walk from the deck to the pool. Now we not only don't have that problem but you can easily go barefoot from the door to the pool and back.

Greg

 

[wej1106]

Thanks for the input. DH is the one that wants to concrete everything ease of maintenance. He was planning to slope away from house and away from pool to a "valley" to drain. We wanted the pool a little close in b/c we are going to tie the fence into the garage and house. Right now we don't use the screened porch, so we hoping we will use it while enjoying the pool. I wanted to keep the planters and switch out the plants and mulch for the little white rocks. Have to get rid of the spirea b/c DH says that is the ugliest plant he has every seen!

We want to put a small pool house (shower, toilet, changing area) and have the pool equipment next to that probably on the left side of the house opposite the garage.

 

[geekgranny]

For many many years I had to use planters for the majority of my plants due to our huge herd of GIANT dogs. Active giant dogs can do major damage to most plants in the ground, even if they don't dig. If you listened well enough you could hear the plants scream whenever a giant passed by too close them. :sad: It really got old watering all the planters. And I had to have green houses for the container plants in the winter. I dragged 1/2 ton planters into the greenhouse, every fall. That got really old too. (Actually I used PVC pipe rollers but ya get the point) So I used drip irrigation; loads of it. The squirrels, rats, and other critters, who need to regularly grind down their teeth, kept me busy, most of the year, patching the tubing. Having a bit of planting area up near the house does take a lot of the work out of keeping the plants watered. Another issue is if you ever need to run any drains. When we first moved in, there were concrete walks around three sides of the house. Thank goodness there was some ground between the concrete and walks as we ended up having to run drainage all the way around one side of the house and most of the length on the pool side to a drain that empties down the hill. It would have been a much more difficult and costly job if concrete had been all the way up to the house. You don't have to put plants there and have a multitude of choices for mulching. On the pool side I did have plants, then planters at one time, but I like the look, now of just the river rocks, There is enough soil for Ivy to flourish and it now covers that whole side of the house, reducing cooling cost considerably in the summer. Just like with any area near the foundation you don't want to over do it on watering, and that is easy to avoid.

Besides that, I really don't like the look, either, of concrete right up to the house, especially when the concrete starts shifting, as is common here.

gg=alice

 

[geekgranny]

Its nice to have a sitting area between the house and pool. Close enough to the pool to watch the kids but convenient to the kitchen for food and drinks. Also, think about being able to see the swimmers when you "just take a moment" to run into the kitchen for a cold one. So don't put any obstructions, walls, furniture, plants, umbrellas right between your view from the porch, doors, and windows and the pool. Also, having the lounging area close enough to the house reduces the amount of loud shouting you have to do if you want to communicate to someone just stepping in to grab something. I don't know how many trips I've made back and forth to get things for people, because I couldn't hear them as I was stepping into the house. You know, right when you get back with napkins, a jug of tea, someone remembers something else, "while you are up?? , and this can go on for several backs and forths. Even if the kids are older, and you want a break from them, you'll still want to be able to check on things, especially when it gets too quiet.

I wish I had this and would if we were building the pool. My neighbor put enough decking on one whole length of the pool wide enough to accommodate several lounges, with small tables between each, facing the pool. leaving room at the end of lounges for pack of kids and pets to "run" by, as they are back on their way to the diving board or deep end if there is no board. They have a covered porch off the house, about 15 ft from the shallow end and enough deck at the shallow end for some chairs. If is wide enough the you have to have a very skilled "cannonballer" to get any splash on you.

We have a fabulous 30' X 30' Trex deck off the kitchen with table, huge umbrella, and lots of room for chairs but we can't see the pool very well so DH and I end up at the small deck area at end of pool, most of the time. Just the extra seconds, to get to the kitchen, from that area vs the Trex deck, where the table and umbrella are only about 10 ft from the back door, seems too long to be gone at times. I never tire of watching the younger grand kids and doggies playing in the pool and yard even if I am not on "guard duty".

I don't like seeing any of the pool tools, when I'm lounging by the pool but it is nice to have the poles, heads, cleaners, hoses within easy reach. Our property is quite rustic. It seems yours is too. Aged, brass, copper and wood are best used look best. The manufactured or painted things, especially primary colors seem to clutter up the ambiance. I just moved our big beige poly bins closer to the pool, up against the house. They blend some what but I don't like the look and I certainly can't replace them as they are in such good condition. I had a wood storage bench where one of them is, and it looked great, but there wasn't enough room to hold much. So I'm going to use plastic paint on the dark green top and bottom to help them blend better with the beige brick.

I'm in the dining room right now, right beside a 10' window that gives me a view of the whole pool area. Only obstruction is the edge of the gas grill. I just hides the side steps in shallow end. I can move it but it crowds one of the bins but I don't feel comfortable with just that small amount of the pool out of sight. So I'm going out now to move it a couple of feet and move it back when DH next uses it.

Hope this helps a little.

gg=alice