New pool build - Central FL East Coast

[unintelligible]

Hi everyone - I’ve been itching to have a pool built for a few years now and am finally making the move. I have sat with a few builders so far and think I have settled on one. They are one of the largest in the area, come well referred and I like their design the best out of the builders I’ve interviewed so far.

The biggest challenge for the design is the property. My lot is small to begin with, but the inclusion of a 15 foot easement along the back plus my city not allowing any part of the pool to be closer than 5 feet to the house means I am very space limited. Given part of my reasoning for building this pool is for exercise, the tight space has driven a somewhat unusual design but it checks all of the boxes for me. I get a good 34 foot swim lane along the back for exercise, and for recreation I’ve added a table/sitting area with hydro jets opposite the porch where down the road I plan on mounting a TV for weekend sports watching. The back wall of the seating area has an 18” sheer descent incorporated to give it a little extra flair.

I will be enclosing the pool and equipment wise I’ve been specced out with the following:

Pentair Intelliflo VS pump
Pentair Clean and Clear 150 filter
Pentair Intellichlor IC20 salt system
Pentair Ultratemp Heat Pump
Pentair EasyTouch 4 Automation
Sch 40 PVC with 2” and 2.5” piping for flow and return chase lines & 1.5” at the returns

Hope to sign within the next week or so once I have a close date for my home equity loan. I work from home so once construction begins I’ll be around to document every step.

Look forward to joining the ranks of pool owners here and if anyone has any feedback on the design or equipment I’d love to hear it!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP!

 

[riley00dog]

I love your swim lane! Being around during the build will be a huge advantage. Looking forward to following your build.

 

[sehrmude]

Welcome! You've come to the right place for advice, sound judgement and some good fun. Do you have an estimated # of gallons for the pool?

You want the salt water chlorination to be capable of at least 2x the number of gallons - this way the SWCG does not have to run at 100% to keep up with demand and the cell will last longer. The IC20 would be good for pools up to ~10,000 gallons. Consider upgrading to the IC40. (My pool is 10,500 gallons and I have the Hayward SWCG for pools up to 40k gallons - in Tampa, we have it set to about 45% to keep up with chlorine demand)

Similar situation with the filter - The Clean & Clear 150 may be spec'd above and suitable for your pool - but the Clean & Clear 200 is only ~$25 more and will extend the time between cleanings. My builder actually argued with me about this when I requested the upgrade, stating that the 150sqft filter was already more than I needed - but I asked what the cost difference was to the 200sqft filter and it was a no-brainer to upgrade...for an extra $20 I get another 2 months between cleanings.

You didn't mention lighting - but the picture shows three...additional lights can be expensive, but the nichless color changing LED lights are completely worth it to me (and my wife). Think about the placement - given where the PoolStudio design shows placement, your pool steps will be dark...and that's an important area to be lit at night.

 

[unintelligible]

Really appreciate the advice! I checked with the PB and Pool Studio has it at 10,400 gallons, so I'm right about where you are. I'll ask about moving up to the IC40 and 200 filter. Also a good point about the light, I hadn't thought about the steps - I wonder if just moving it to the midpoint between the steps and the wall where it is now would be enough to help illuminate them. I'll have him try it and see how it looks.

 

[unintelligible]

Just found out from the PB that they are going to bump me up to the IC40 and 200 filter at no cost in addition to moving the LED light to the other wall. (forgot to mention before that all 3 of those are Globrites).

Signing the contract on Friday and closing on the loan on Saturday - now it's going to feel like another 2 years go by before they start digging!

 

[Brentr]

Welcome to TFP Here are some things you may want to also include

Congrats, some suggestions if I may?
1. Speaking from experience. Put in a double door on one of the sides. I only had one door and ended up putting in a double door and another single door on the opposite side. I should have listened to my wife
2. Plan on plumbing electrical and water for a future summer kitchen.
3. Plan on adding solar and heat pump in your equipment pad.
4. Make sure that you have a very large equipment pad, our equipment pad is 19 ft long x 9 ft wide.
5. Put in water spigots in all 4 corners of the screen cage both inside and outside the screen cage.
6. Put in electrical outlets in all 4 corners of the screen cage both inside and outside the screen cage.
7. Go with a large outdoor space as possible. We have 1800sq ft of pavers and we wish we did a larger space. You will be quite surprised how much room tables chairs and lounges take up.
8. Run conduits for speaker wires if you plan on wired speakers.
9. Put in footers for future screen cage. Some people do not like the pool cage however we believe in it as we swim a lot at nighttime.
10. Plan on positioning your pool so that you can watch TV comfortably when you are in it. I know that this may sound strange but we love watching TV, football games, NASCAR races and movies when we are relaxing in the pool.
11. Place pool light facing away from the house, we had ours facing towards the house and we notice some glare from it.
Look at the 3 links in my signature bar for ideas. Post lots of pics

 

[kimkats]

I love it!!! It has everything you could want in a pool! Nice job!

Now lets talk about the details:

-depths

-returns-how many and where?

-skimmer-how many and where?

Make sure to get a light put by the equipment pad. You will thank me when you have to go do something out there at night!

I would love to see where this jewel is going! It can be your before pic!

Kim