New pool build in Allen TX

[joepaiii]

Hello... after 20 years of having someone else's pools in two houses we are building our first pool. Our lot is challenging... and will not be inexpensive to build in....here are some pics from the build we like the best so far...

We are moving away from the raised wall at the back side of the pool due to the wall on the front side. Love the way the raised wall an sheer descents look but was worried about a canyon feel when swimming in the pool. I would still like a water feature though... likely some sort of waterfall. I am doing salt so would like some sort of feature that plays well with that.

Also we have about a 4 foot retaining wall on the back of the yard and are dealing with about 3 feet of drop from patio door to bottom.... this builder isn't recommending piers and is keeping pool at least 8 plus feet from retaining wall... hope that is enough. Looking at textured mat concrete and pebble finish. Still trying to decide on kitchen and its location.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Joe,

I'll ask you my standard question...

Have you ever used a gunite spa before? If you have and like it, then that is all I need to know..

If not, then I recommend that you "try one, before you buy one"... Nothing worse than paying 20K for something that you might rarely use.

Could just be the pic, but a diving board requires about 9 feet of water.. It appears to me that would give you a very steep slope between the deep end and shallow end with not much shallow end.. ????

I assume your signature was a different pool, so you might want to update that to lesson the confusion.

Thanks

Jim R.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Oh what do my eyes spy?! A DIVING BOARD!!! Yes! Yes! Yes!! Fun times ahead. <sorry, I miss diving and whine a lot about it>

Looks like a very nice set up to me You can get away with a little less than 9' for diving... 8 is good. Some folks have done 7. Whats your builder suggesting?

Maddie

 

[joepaiii]

Oh what do my eyes spy?! A DIVING BOARD!!! Yes! Yes! Yes!! Fun times ahead. <sorry, I miss diving and whine a lot about it>

Looks like a very nice set up to me You can get away with a little less than 9' for diving... 8 is good. Some folks have done 7. Whats your builder suggesting?

Maddie

I think they have it at 8 or 8'6" getting a depth profile soon. They do have the dive envelope planned into the pool.

 

[joepaiii]

Joe,

I'll ask you my standard question...

Have you ever used a gunite spa before? If you have and like it, then that is all I need to know..

If not, then I recommend that you "try one, before you buy one"... Nothing worse than paying 20K for something that you might rarely use.

Could just be the pic, but a diving board requires about 9 feet of water.. It appears to me that would give you a very steep slope between the deep end and shallow end with not much shallow end.. ????

I assume your signature was a different pool, so you might want to update that to lesson the confusion.

Thanks

Jim R.

I have been in a gunite spa - many times. While they aren't as nice to sit in as the stand-alone I love the aesthetics of the built in spas and have always wanted one so really no question there for me.

As far as the dive depth - 9 feet is required for some board but not all. Depends on board lenght/height above water and other factors. I am looking into the depth profile as your comment about the shallow end is something I have been thinking about as well. We may slide the tanning ledge into the patio a bit to get back more pool in the shallow area.

 

[joepaiii]

Latest iterations.

 

[joepaiii]

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I like it! I like it!

 

[kimkats]

LOVE IT! I think you have found the purrfect design! When do we start??

Do you have a list of the equipment with the model numbers? We will look it over to make sure it is just what your pool will need to be Trouble Free!

Kim

 

[joepaiii]

Here is a list of the equipment right now.... trying to decide on decking material. Travertine is very tempting and isn't that much more than the stamped/textured and sealed concrete. It is on a 9 inch base with 5 inch gravel 4 inches of sand. Likely going with leuders coping.

 

[JJ_Tex]

I would consider upgrading to the Intellicenter for automation, which would replace the screenlogic/easy touch, usually for not much $ more.

Also, I didnt see anything on cleaners. Will you be purchasing a robot separately?

 

[Dirk]

I don't know the Intellicenter, it will likely solve for the following warning. I have the EasyTouch PSL4, and that was/is a big regret. Not because I have more than four things to control, but because that model only allows four schedules (turning things on and off at various times). Whichever unit you end up with, do yourself a favor and read the manual beforehand, before it gets installed. I wish I had an EasyTouch 8, and will likely upgrade someday. Your model of EasyTouch might allow more than four schedules. I have the "lite" version, which doesn't. Check on scheduling capabilities. I wish I could schedule:
- a vacuum run (regular)
- a vacuum run (on demand)
- one or two high-speed skimmer runs (regular)
- a high-speed skimmer run (on demand)
- a filter run
- a light timer (regular)
- a light timer (on demand)

That's eight schedules right there, and I could use a few others. Right now, I can only do four of those things. There is no reason Pentair couldn't have allowed my little guy to schedule 100 things, but Pentair tends to hobble their "lower-end" offerings to get you to spring for more expensive stuff.

 

[mknauss]

That part number is NOT the Lite version of the ET4
Regardless - the Intellicenter is a better choice now. New tech and the software can be updated via the internet. The ET essentially in not able to be updated without extensive intervention.

 

[Dirk]

That part number is NOT the Lite version of the ET4

Right, sorry if I didn't make that clear. I was suggesting that joe take the time now to fully understand what his controller can, and cannot, do before he has it installed, instead of trusting the PB to give him what he needs, which was my mistake. The controller is a major component of the system which will dictate to a large degree just how convenient everything will be. They're too expensive to swap out for "next year's model," so best to get the right one the first time around.

 

[joepaiii]

I would consider upgrading to the Intellicenter for automation, which would replace the screenlogic/easy touch, usually for not much $ more.

Also, I didnt see anything on cleaners. Will you be purchasing a robot separately?

They have the pentair racer listed... haven't given it a lot of thought. Not doing a robot cleaner.

 

[joepaiii]

Thanks all for the feedback on the controllers... will start reading up on them now. Have requested my builder swap in the intellicenter for now though.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

They have the pentair racer listed... haven't given it a lot of thought. Not doing a robot cleaner.

Why not? Far cheaper to run, they do a far better job and they simplify your equipment pad plumbing and save the cost and energy expenses of a second pump. And an added bonus of climbing the walls and brushing them too! All you need is an outlet for power.

Maddie

 

[carnivalday]

Maddie, I agree. Im amazed how clean my pool is after my little Dolphin Echo does its thing. And its fun to watch, too.

 

[Dirk]

I'll probably end up with a robot someday, for its side-brushing action, but for now my suction-side vac does the job. I don't like the idea of a power cord running across the deck, nor having to man-handle a heavy vac in and out of the pool every day. I remove my vac when there's more than just me in the pool (and it's only a few pounds), but otherwise I don't have to think about it, especially in off-season. I used to have a pressure-side vac, with booster pump and all, which I didn't like. An extra pump, extra noise, and that stupid tail would regularly reach the surface and douse my house, yard and windows with salt water (which, when I bought the house, required a day of hard labor to remove the caked on crud from the windows that face the pool). I didn't notice a change in cleaning results when I switched, so I can endorse suction-side vacuums. I'd never install a pressure-side vac (which is what your Racer is).

Robots are technically cheaper to run, that seems true, but I consider my vac run as part of my filtering run, so I don't calculate that as others might. Plus, I'm on PV solar, so the electricity my pool requires is pretty much a non-issue for me.

As I've [half] joked before, when they can make a cordless robot that can either stay in the water 24-365, and/or crawl out of the pool and park itself somehow into its own charger (like a Ruumba vac can), then I'm in!

 

[ajonesaz]

Latest iterations.

I like the new design. I was going to comment on the original that it would drive me crazy to not be able to look out the window/door and see the heads in the pool. Raised walls in the back are great, in the front not so much. The view from inside the house will be better now too!