New Pool Design - Looking for feedback

[Jdfoss24]

We are building a new home next year and planning to install an in-ground pool. Attached is our current design, looking for any input you guys might have with modifications. My wife really wants to do the tanning ledge, we have young kids and she's going to spend most of here time there as well. I had the steps built into the tanning ledge area but it got a little crowded, and I figured for an extra 2' of length for stairs wouldn't be too costly. We are in Minnesota so it will also include an automatic cover. Haven't researched salt vs chlorine much yet. Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Josh

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

A salt pool is a chlorine pool. A chlorine pool contains salt. The decision is whether you manufacturer the chlorine on site with a SWG or use liquid chlorine or tablets.

If this is a diving pool it should meet these standards…

https://www.srsmith.com/media/47241/06-052ansi-standard.pdf

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Have you the measurements for the type of lounges you plan on using on the shelf?
7’ is what I advise customers for a shelf so you will have room to walk in front of the lounge especially if they are ledge lounges.
If you wanted to save some length on the pool you could 45 the steps off of the shelf as you did in the deep end, as you have it now your steps are 20’ long and probably not going to need or use all 20’ to get into or out of the pool.

 

[PCR]

We are building a new home next year and planning to install an in-ground pool. Attached is our current design, looking for any input you guys might have with modifications. My wife really wants to do the tanning ledge, we have young kids and she's going to spend most of here time there as well. I had the steps built into the tanning ledge area but it got a little crowded, and I figured for an extra 2' of length for stairs wouldn't be too costly. We are in Minnesota so it will also include an automatic cover. Haven't researched salt vs chlorine much yet. Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Josh

Your pool looks like it's going to be fantastic! Love the deep end, diving board, volleyball net and basketball hoop planning. We have those too, and people enjoy the pool more and use it more with various things to do. And at bbqs, it means everyone is in the pool for most of the party - kids and adults

A few thoughts:
For me, 3'4" is too shallow for the shallow end. Kids grow fast, so don't plan around their height now. I would strongly suggest 4' water depth for shallow end. Also make sure you are super clear with your builder on the water depth you want on your sunshelf. We have 9", which is perfect for us, but others prefer deeper so you are in the water more if on a ledge lounger. And make sure you and your contract specify "water depth" clearly so that they don't build those heights to the top of your coping or something, giving you 6" less water depth.

We have a volleyball net and love it, and it's used all the time! In a perfect world, you would have 10' on each side of the net for playing for a total of 20' flat, shallow end. But that's not always possible (I don't have that either)! If you did change the shallow end water depth to 4', then you would only need 12' for the slope from deep to shallow (3 feet horizontal for each 1 foot vertical is I think the standard rule) so you could gain a couple of feet back as shallow end by taking up less length on the sloped section.

6 feet is ok but might be just a little tight on the sunshelf. I agree with Aquaholics on 7 feet. I have close to 9 feet on mine, and it's more than necessary for sure. If I were ever to build a pool again, I think I would go 7 or maybe maximum 8 feet. 20 feet wide is huge for the sunshelf, so I would think again about recessing the steps into the shelf - you have plenty of room. Do you need steps on both sides? Of course it's nice to have them like you do so people can sit all across the pool at different depths - I really like that alot! But for me, the trade off of a bit more shallow end would be worth it. If you end up changing your mind on the auto cover, you could also have a bumpout sunshelf rather than having it be within the main pool rectangle. But with an autocover (which is a great thing to have!) , that is not an option.
Best of luck with your house and pool build!

 

[Rebuke]

Are you sold on a rectangle? Moving the ledge to the side in the form of a L shape will give a ton of room.

 

[Jdfoss24]

Have you the measurements for the type of lounges you plan on using on the shelf?
7’ is what I advise customers for a shelf so you will have room to walk in front of the lounge especially if they are ledge lounges.
If you wanted to save some length on the pool you could 45 the steps off of the shelf as you did in the deep end, as you have it now your steps are 20’ long and probably not going to need or use all 20’ to get into or out of the pool.

Thanks for the input! We are planning to go with the standard ledge lounger. I was thinking I could sneak a few extra inches in front for walking by keeping them back a bit so the tops overhang the concrete a little. But I agree it's probably better to just add a foot or so and keep them more centered and not worry about it, and younger kids can get around them more easily. The stadium stairs are more for looks and bench seating than easy entry. I also thought if young kids are playing on the tanning ledge and fall off the edge they'd just fall to the second step (and not the whole shallow end depth). I've been going back and forth on that bench seating vs shallow end space. Might keep the long second step as a bench and then 45 the last step as a compromise.

 

[Jdfoss24]

Your pool looks like it's going to be fantastic! Love the deep end, diving board, volleyball net and basketball hoop planning. We have those too, and people enjoy the pool more and use it more with various things to do. And at bbqs, it means everyone is in the pool for most of the party - kids and adults

A few thoughts:
For me, 3'4" is too shallow for the shallow end. Kids grow fast, so don't plan around their height now. I would strongly suggest 4' water depth for shallow end. Also make sure you are super clear with your builder on the water depth you want on your sunshelf. We have 9", which is perfect for us, but others prefer deeper so you are in the water more if on a ledge lounger. And make sure you and your contract specify "water depth" clearly so that they don't build those heights to the top of your coping or something, giving you 6" less water depth.

We have a volleyball net and love it, and it's used all the time! In a perfect world, you would have 10' on each side of the net for playing for a total of 20' flat, shallow end. But that's not always possible (I don't have that either)! If you did change the shallow end water depth to 4', then you would only need 12' for the slope from deep to shallow (3 feet horizontal for each 1 foot vertical is I think the standard rule) so you could gain a couple of feet back as shallow end by taking up less length on the sloped section.

6 feet is ok but might be just a little tight on the sunshelf. I agree with Aquaholics on 7 feet. I have close to 9 feet on mine, and it's more than necessary for sure. If I were ever to build a pool again, I think I would go 7 or maybe maximum 8 feet. 20 feet wide is huge for the sunshelf, so I would think again about recessing the steps into the shelf - you have plenty of room. Do you need steps on both sides? Of course it's nice to have them like you do so people can sit all across the pool at different depths - I really like that alot! But for me, the trade off of a bit more shallow end would be worth it. If you end up changing your mind on the auto cover, you could also have a bumpout sunshelf rather than having it be within the main pool rectangle. But with an autocover (which is a great thing to have!) , that is not an option.
Best of luck with your house and pool build!

I think 9" is our ideal water depth also. How are your stairs set up to get you that height? I'm having a hard time getting it exactly right (or close even) while incorporating the coping (concrete deck), uniform stairs 12" height or less, and standard sizes for steel walls (with vinyl liner). My brother's pool has 11" steps which works out to about 6" water depth on his first stair, which would work for our sun shelf, but with his concrete deck that first step is a doozy at 15" height. I'm thinking our design should be uniform steps including the coping / deck but that's causing problems. With ~4" of concrete and ~5" above the water it's not leaving much left for water depth (3" or less), and adding a first step before the sun shelf then makes it too deep. Any ideas?

If we do get 9" to work out, are there any issues with the ledge loungers floating at that depth? It's right on the borderline for what they advertise.

I'll look into upgrading from 42" steel walls to 48" and see what the price difference is. I like the idea of more shallow end, I think it would gain us 1.5 feet.

We're pretty set on the auto-cover, we'll be covering it all the time when not in use to retain the heat (and add some solar heating). Hoping the ledge loungers aren't too difficult to take in and out?

Thanks!

Josh

 

[Jdfoss24]

Are you sold on a rectangle? Moving the ledge to the side in the form of a L shape will give a ton of room.

We like the L shape look but we're in MN and need an auto-cover which I don't think would work with the L shape.

 

[PCR]

I think 9" is our ideal water depth also. How are your stairs set up to get you that height? I'm having a hard time getting it exactly right (or close even) while incorporating the coping (concrete deck), uniform stairs 12" height or less, and standard sizes for steel walls (with vinyl liner). My brother's pool has 11" steps which works out to about 6" water depth on his first stair, which would work for our sun shelf, but with his concrete deck that first step is a doozy at 15" height. I'm thinking our design should be uniform steps including the coping / deck but that's causing problems. With ~4" of concrete and ~5" above the water it's not leaving much left for water depth (3" or less), and adding a first step before the sun shelf then makes it too deep. Any ideas?

If we do get 9" to work out, are there any issues with the ledge loungers floating at that depth? It's right on the borderline for what they advertise.

I'll look into upgrading from 42" steel walls to 48" and see what the price difference is. I like the idea of more shallow end, I think it would gain us 1.5 feet.

We're pretty set on the auto-cover, we'll be covering it all the time when not in use to retain the heat (and add some solar heating). Hoping the ledge loungers aren't too difficult to take in and out?

Thanks!

Josh

Here is a pic I found of our sunshelf. It is 14 feet at its widest along the front edge so much smaller than what you are planning. It is about 9 feet at its longest from front to back. This is 9" water depth. We have never used ledge loungers so I can't speak to that. The two chairs on there in this pic are adirondacks - one is a $11 plastic one from Lowes we bought a few years ago, and the other is a Polywood chair. Both of their seats are just out of the water. We enjoy just sitting on these times when we don't have suits on and just want to cool off/enjoy looking at the pool. Or of course when we are swimming and take a break in the pool with a drink and a book You can see we had them put a small step onto the sunshelf because stepping down 15" is, or will be in the future, not that easy! That's something I'm glad we did. It's probably 8-9" from top of coping to top of step and then another 6" onto the sunshelf. Then we have two steps down from the sunshelf into the pool you can see in the pic - those steps are probably 10-12" tall each and work out just fine. For some folks, sunshelfs are a waste of good pool space, but we really like ours, and it gets alot of use by us and guests.

I also included a pic of volleyball in action. Probably 8-11 feet depending on where you are standing between the net and sunshelf and then 8-9 feet on the other side between the net and where the slope to the deep end starts to get too low to stand and play. Our shallow end is 3'8" deep, and 4 feet deep would have been great. Width where the net is is 18-20 feet - I don't remember exactly and too lazy to go measure! I'll say again - volleyball is one of the major activities in our pool. The net stays up pretty much all the time. People of all ages are in playing from the start of a bbq to the end (until midnight for our July 4th party this year). So if you want volleyball, I wholeheartedly concur and suggest you make sure it is very clear in your drawings and with your builder what your depth profile is so that you can make sure you get what you want and that you triple check your dig depths to make sure it's all as per the drawings.

Other notes - suggest you get a heater, get a Salt Water Chlorine Generator, get automation.

 

[ajw22]

I'll say again - volleyball is one of the major activities in our pool. The net stays up pretty much all the time. People of all ages are in playing from the start of a bbq to the end (until midnight for our July 4th party this year).

Three women versus four men. Tough games you play.

Yeah, I know, someone had to take the pic.

 

[PCR]

Three women versus four men. Tough games you play.

Yeah, I know, someone had to take the pic.

Well, it was youth vs age experience To be honest, I can't remember who won this one!