New Build in SoCal - Pebble tomorrow, Start up Saturday

[mlggator]

Hi,

I am beginning my new pool construction in SoCal. My plans are currently in with the city and demo on my current patio will begin soon. I feel very confident in my PB as they have been doing this work in SoCal for a long time and their pools are gorgeous. I have a typical postage stamp back yard in SoCal. It's very small, approximately 26 x 55 feet. My PB has pulled up a beautiful plan that can put in a 30 x 17 foot pool with 8 ft diameter spa and room still for furniture and relaxation. I am very excited.

I have a few questions for you. I originally turned down adding an autofill and I am wondering if I should add it back on. Living in SoCal we are likely to get a bit a evaporation, so it might be nice to have. I got scared off of them by stories of being able to detect a leak. I think it adds about $450 to the pool cost, so not much in scheme of things. What is the opinions here on autofills?

Also I am concerned we do not have enough lights for the pool. The PB recommended only 1 intellibrite LED light. I am thinking we need two.

We will have one wall on the pool as a 3 foot retaining wall and will have three scuppers (two into pool and one into spa). Then also spill overs from spa to pool. My husband is worried that the scupper into the spa, which looks pretty, will be costly if we want to run the scuppers while using the spa since it will be adding cold water to the spa and he wants to eliminate it. I think it looks so pretty and want to keep it. What do you guys think? Would it increase the cost significantly if we were to run it while using the spa? If so, we could eliminate that scupper or we could just not turn on the scuppers when using the spa. Thoughts?

*** EDIT*** - I actually think they are sheer descents rather than scuppers. Not sure if that changes anything.

Finally, I keep going back and forth about adding a bubbler to my baja shelf. Is going to be too much in this small space we already have? Or is it a fun detail that should be added?

I am including a picture of the plan so you can look and see. Any other thoughts on the plan?

 

[kimkats]

Love, Love, LOVE your design!! SO pretty and something for everyone!!

So I do have to say I STRONGLY agree with your husband. Any kind of spill over into the spa is not wanted. The two wall spillovers into the pool and from the spa into the pool is more than enough. The one into the spa will be over kill.

Bubblers=party trick and once the novelty wears off then are rarely used. They are loud and cause the pH in your water to go up.

Lights-Have you seen these? Atlantic Color Changing Colorfalls 6" 12" 24" 36" Sizes These would give you light in that area and be extra pretty!

Kim

 

[mknauss]

To me an autofill is necessary. Unless you set up an electric valve on your automation that you can turn on from anywhere. We leave for days/weeks at a time. And our pool can lose 3/4" or more water each day in the spring/summer/fall.

How do you plan to chlorinate?

Have all the water features, including the spa spillover, set up so you can run the pool without them on. All that aeration will mess with your pH.

 

[mlggator]

Ohh, those color changing descents are really cool. I will ask my PB about those. Thanks for the advice on the descent into the spa and on the bubblers. It is all so overwhelming.

 

[mlggator]

To me an autofill is necessary. Unless you set up an electric valve on your automation that you can turn on from anywhere. We leave for days/weeks at a time. And our pool can lose 3/4" or more water each day in the spring/summer/fall.

Ahh, I didn't think about vacations. That is a really good point. Especially in the summer, because in California I expect to get a lot of evaporation.

 

[mlggator]

Hi all,

My builder currently has one intellibrite pool light in our pool. I am concerned that is not enough. Can you look at the attached plan and let me know if you think I need additional lights and where you would put them?

Currently he has the only light marked at the center divot on the house side.

 

[ajw22]

From Pentair LED Pool Lights - Further Reading

Pentair guideline is to aim for 4 lumens per square foot of pool surface. For example, if the pool is 500 sq-ft then you need 500x4=2000 lumens. This would be 4 MicroBrites or 2 IntelliBrite rgb.

 

[mlggator]

Long initial post - sorry

I am completely new to pools. I have always wanted one in my backyard, but never had one. My husband had one as a teen in Florida. It was a vinyl liner and we have a gunite pool going in. So I am sure there will be a learning curve for him too. He’s also now 56, so it’s been a long time since he worked with pools.

I have been reading a lot of threads on here as well as the ABCs of water chemistry. This has shown me that there is so much I DON’T KNOW and so much to learn. I have already posted some smaller threads with questions, but it seems a single thread for my build probably makes more sense.

Here is where we are and the specs of our build. Contract is signed. I have a very reputable pool company building the pool (probably one of the best in San Diego). So I do have a lot of trust in this company.

The plans are currently in with the city for approval.
I have a very small back yard (typical for SoCal) and a ton of concrete to demo including a small retention wall which should start in about a week or week and a half. We are trying to use as much of the original retaining wall as possible to help with costs (basically only demo what will be used for pool). I’ll include pics of current yard on this thread.

Here are the specs and equipment for the pool and spa:
Pool
30 x 17 free form
Depth: 3.5 to 6.5
Perimeter 86 ft
Area 430 sq ft
Volume 16,000 gal
Spa
8 ft diameter
Perimeter 32 ft
Area 50 sq ft
Volume 1,300 sq ft

Our builder uses Pentair products. This is what is listed in contract:
Pentair Intelliflo VSP
Pentair Clean & Clear Plus 420 sq ft Cartridge Filter
Pentair Master Temp 400,000 BTU heater
Pentair Intellicenter 8 Computer Controll System
Pentair IS-4 Spa Side control switch
Pentair Intellichlor SCS
The Rebel Pentair Automatic Pool Cleaning System
1 5G Pentair light in pool and 1 5G colored lighting in spa
I will be adding autofill to the order.

Should I give plumbing specs?

We will be getting shotcrete with NPT stonescapes mini pebble over.

We have currently in specs, but I may change, 3 sheer descents (2 to pool and 1 to spa) on a separate pump.
Also have 3 spa overflow areas, 2 to pool and 1 to small pool area outside of main pool but connected to pool.

Our plan specs out a large number of natural boulders to be placed around pool. I have these already, so they will be taking what we already have to place. You can see three of them in one of the side yard pics.

I am also posting side yard pictures, so you can see the space available for an equipment pad.

Questions:

• Anyone see any red flags?
• I am pretty sure I need another 2nd light in the pool. If I add it, where do the lights go?
• @kimkat says to eliminate the sheer descent into the spa. Husband also doesn’t want it. I love it, but could let it go. Any other thoughts?
• I started thinking about the separate mini pool that is catching the spa overflow. This is connected to the pool. Do I need to worry about his creating cleaning and chemistry problems. I also LOVE this little features, but want to make sure if we keep it, we take care of it.
• Placing boulders. These are real, big and heavy (see pics). Do I need to ask PB about extra engineering to place these? What engineering issues might I have? I didn’t even think about this until I started reading this site. I did ask the PB at time of quote if they had experience working with real boulders or fake ones. They said they have a lot of experience working with both.
• What else should I be thinking about at this point.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Pentair Intellicenter 8 Computer Controll System with Screen logic

The Intellicenter by itself has the functionality that ScreenLogic adds to the older Pentair controllers. Delete ScreenLogic from your list.

 

[mlggator]

Getting closer to dig time and I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my tanning shelf depth. I would love to know what depth each of you have and if you are happy with it. Right now mine is proposed at 18", but I think that might be a little deeper than I want.

 

[Cavmedic]

I think ours is around 18'. We basically made it the same depth of the second step so that it is just one continuous level. Has worked out good. Our 4 year old is getting more adventurous and does not spend too much time on it but he knows its there and uses it as his "base".

 

[TimZ]

Ours is about 12" (actual water depth, a few more to coping). We've only had water for about a month but so far it's a good depth. Great for our 3 year old and 1 year old. When you sit in a low chair on it you get plenty of water around your mid-section, which is what I want when I'm lounging in the pool. It's also a good height for just sitting on the edge of the shelf with your feet hanging into the shallow end.

One thing we've run into is that a lot of the purpose-built tanning ledge furniture is really targeted at 9" of water or so, and based on reviews will float away if you get more than that. Also, the deeper you are the more likely an umbrella is to be in line of sight from people walking on the patio. Things to consider - though if I could do it again I'd still keep the same depth.

 

[TimZ]

One other thought. Ours serves as the second step, but at 12" water depth (or less would work too) most people can take a big step in/out from anywhere around the tanning ledge. If you go much deeper that's not as feasible. Not a use case we had considered, but it seems to be happening more than you might expect. The top step's only in one little place, which isn't always where people want to go.

 

[Tres Gatos]

I think 18" is a little deep that's over your shoulders when you sit. Mine is 16" but I think 12" would be a better depth for loungers & Adirondack chairs.

 

[S S]

We tried a bunch of different depths, but since we want the ledge loungers and umbrellas we opted for 9" of water. Think about how you will use it (our kids are older and dont need the shallow area for play)

 

[Rich D]

12" works great for us. We like to use reg patio chairs and just have our feet and thighs in the water with the seat of the chair out of water. We can sit on the coping to get our legs in deeper and if we want to get low chest level we can sit on the ledge.

 

[Tenamarie123]

Ours is about 11-12" of water. Works great when you sit on Adirondack style chairs. We have two deep end benches that are 18" of water depth and would not want the tanning ledge that deep.

 

[ManiacalMama]

We had our small baja shelf added when we replastered last year. I just went out and measured and it is 14.5" deep at the water line (so probably close to 17.5 to the bottom of the coping). We also added an umbrella sleeve. We have some plastic adirondack chairs that fit perfectly on it, just deep enough to cool off. Our almost 2 year old grandson loves it too, which was the main reason we put it in. It's basically his splash pad, but he does love to jump off it and paddle around.

I'll try to add a picture this afternoon with the umbrella and chairs set up (I take them out when not being used).

 

[panic_button]

Ours is 10" (water depth), perfect for our 3 Ledge Loungers.

 

[ManiacalMama]

We had our small baja shelf added when we replastered last year. I just went out and measured and it is 14.5" deep at the water line (so probably close to 17.5 to the bottom of the coping). We also added an umbrella sleeve. We have some plastic adirondack chairs that fit perfectly on it, just deep enough to cool off. Our almost 2 year old grandson loves it too, which was the main reason we put it in. It's basically his splash pad, but he does love to jump off it and paddle around.

I'll try to add a picture this afternoon with the umbrella and chairs set up (I take them out when not being used).