We are overall very happy with our pool from size, to shape, to depth. My biggest concern was the shallow end with 42" walls, but it actually is perfect for us. The kids are getting older and will be out of the house before we know it so we chose a pool that will work long term for myself and my husband. Getting into the pool and having the depth a bit shorter is fine for me as I like to slooooowly get myself into the water if it is even somewhat cool. Chair type floats work just fine in the shallow end and my feet don't touch bottom. He swims laps without his knuckles hitting bottom. The PB did point out that the last step with a 48" shell would be quite a drop, too. It just wasn't worth the additional $3k for us. The slope to the "deep" end at 5.5 feet is so gradual, the kids can walk down it without it feeling too steep or slippery. There is nothing about the choices we made there that we would change.
There is 1 spot that doesn't get illuminated by the 3 LEDs in the pool. That bothers me a teeny bit, but there was not a really good place to put one that wouldn't shine directly into the house. Not sure how to prevent footprints as everyone I know with a vinyl pool has footprints and other indentations on the bottom. The area with the most footprints for us is right by the stairs. The ground there was very wet before they laid the vemiculite and I'm sure that has something to do with the amount of indentations we got right there. Not at all visible when the filter is on, but definitely apparent when it isn't. It is irritating to feel so many underfoot when you first get in. When we change the liner, we may do it at end of season and not get in the pool hoping it will cure for months and be less affected by foot traffic.
We have 2 skimmers. Happy with their placement. Extremely happy I pushed for entirely gray skimmers and not just gray face plates. They blend in very well so we don't have to stare into a white box. We do have 2 inch lines. The variable speed pump is a must have. This skimmer basket handle is a must have:
GABco Skimmer Angel® | MKM Pool Spa Reaching into the skimmer when it is full of leaves, the water is freezing or it is being inhabited by spiders is not my cup of tea. These basket handles are wonderful! Also in the back of each skimmer, we had the hole drilled out and installed a 1 inch drain line so if the pool ever gets too overfilled, it will just drain itself. When the hurricane came through in October, they worked really well to keep the water at a reasonable level. Because the drains don't let the water get more than halfway up the skimmers, we just installed plugs at the ends of the pipes where they drain down the hill so we can keep more water in the pool during swim season, but open them up if we get a lot of rain. Our PB recommended this as we have a great slope to be able to drain water away from the pool.
Under the swings are plain old zoysia grass. The kids don't really use it as a swing set so we're switching out the swings with hammock swings for them as they've expressed they like those better. (We have 2 hanging in the bonus room for them) Last year we had to find a gift suggestion for the grandparents that the kids might actually use and I wouldn't donate to charity the first week of January. My in-laws love to buy "stuff". Lots and lots of "stuff" that never gets used or gets opened and lost pieces. I seriously fill the back of my minivan with "stuff" after opening gifts half of which we don't use. So incredibly wasteful. When they are done with swings, I'm putting up a porch swing on that thing!
