Our SWFL Oasis is Underway

[The_Mother_Thing]

Good morning! I’m hoping to get feedback on your experience having natural stone in/around your saltwater pools. We are leaning toward a travertine pool deck, coping & spillover for our spa/pool. We’re presently under contract & in permitting, and need to make our various selections on materials. I’ve read everything from “yea go for it” to “don’t do it” all over the Internut-house, so I’d love to hear from actual folks who have it, pros/cons, and please share any pictures you may have or a link to them.

I’m up in the air on whether to have a single flat ledge across the spillover (will be 6’ wide) or a short, stacked stone step down sort of spill over. Hopefully the attached pictures (examples/inspiration) show what I’m thinking. Our spill over will only be about 12”, as we’re keeping our spa low.

We’re in SW Florida, and the spa/pool will largely be in full sun year-round, though inside a screened pool cage, if it’s of any consequence.

Thanks much, in advance, for your input/experience!

ETA: Just stumbled upon & added an example of an in-between spillover (single flat ledge spillover to step-down stacked stone). Just not sure how travertine might wear in this scenario.

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

Good day all! It was suggested I start a thread here for our build process. Hubs & I moved here from NC last year & bought what we plan to be our retirement home (one level, on a lake w/beautiful sunrise & sunset views, etc.). We’re 49 & 50, our kids are grown/out of the house, and we’re enjoying early retirement. Thus, our pool plans are for us to enjoy vs. needing to cater to youngins.

I found this site after we were already under contract & in permitting with our builder (Premier Pools & Spas). We’re building a 6’x6’ spa that spills over into a 12’x26’ pool with a 6’x8’ tanning deck. The pool/spa will be gunite with a Pebbletec finish, and we’re at a point now of choosing our tile, decking, coping, etc. It’s expected that our pool will be in the full sun almost all year, given it’s placement on our property; the spa will be in full sun at least half the year, as it’s closer to the home & would receive partial shade during the daytime.

If anyone has something similar to what you see here, I absolutely welcome your experiences & pictures if you don’t mind sharing!

Our Oasis Project:
For visual purposes, here is a short video rendering from the builder; however, the tile, pavers, etc. in the video are not what we’ve settled on, and we’ve had to ‘clip’ the corners of our pool cage/screen enclosure due to a setback we didn’t know existed (wasn’t on our survey either).

Engineer‘s schematic (there is an updated one but I can’t put my fingers on it right now).


My own rendering that I play with b/c I’m a visual person and because it helps me to see the positioning/compass when thinking about exposure. We currently have the two pergolas shown here, and (thankfully) they will be re-incorporated in the project as shown. Fifteen feet beyond the three larger palms is a lake with 3 fountains that light up at night.


Some of my inspiration pictures are below. We’re leaning toward a clean-minimalist approach because we are blessed with a beautiful view/landscape behind our home and do not wish to detract from that; rather, provide a calm, comfortable, beautiful space to take that view in. Also, I‘d love our spillover to be natural stone if possible, but not sure how that wears with a saltwater pool.






Some of the choices we are leaning toward:
**Waterline tile (left) & Spa surround (right & below): The waterline tile would have the colors appear vertical vs. how they appear in this picture, which I took to see the colors together.


**Updated selections as of 6/23.

Decking (Travertine ~ Ivory):


Pool Finish ~ we’d definitely LOVE feedback from others who have PebbleTec! Also, it’s my plan to have the tanning ledge/deck be a sand color (see my drawing above) … have not yet decided/figured out how to make that happen, if it’s an additional PebbleTec color, other material, etc.


Spa Walls/Surround:


I think that’s probably a good start & representation of where we are today, and again, I welcome any feedback/questions/experiences from those who have paved this pool-path before us!

 

[mknauss]

a single flat ledge across the spillover (will be 6’ wide) or a short, stacked stone step down sort of spill over.

A 6 ft wide spillover will take a lot of GPM to create a waterfall effect. Likely more than a pool pump can put out. You might consider lessening the opening to 2 ft. That way you can run the pump at a lesser rpm. Be sure the Spillway is created so you do not run the spillover all the time the pump is running.

Stacked stone is very pretty when new. But remember, you then have lots of surface area for the water to evaporate on and create scale on. Pretty, but not too soon after, a maintenance headache.

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

A 6 ft wide spillover will take a lot of GPM to create a waterfall effect. Likely more than a pool pump can put out. You might consider lessening the opening to 2 ft. That way you can run the pump at a lesser rpm. Be sure the Spillway is created so you do not run the spillover all the time the pump is running.

Stacked stone is very pretty when new. But remember, you then have lots of surface area for the water to evaporate on and create scale on. Pretty, but not too soon after, a maintenance headache.

Thank you for weighing in! I definitely don’t want to create a maintenance nightmare with the stacked stone, so if we do decide on ‘steps’, it may be better to go for a small tile with a stone look to it. And I’m almost certain the spa/spillover will have separate controls, but will double check. I do know we’re not looking for the spillover to be a major focal point though, and we don’t want it overly noisy, as there is a huge fountain in the lake behind our home that lights up at night.

Does saltwater wear on natural stone and/or grout differently than traditional chlorine pools? I love travertine, and I know it’d need to get sealed; just not sure if it loves pool water.

 

[mknauss]

Any stone will erode from water flow. The salt used to make chlorine will not appreciably change that.

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Just a few things that you may want to consider,
Only one light in the pool will give way to many dark shadow areas.
Their are 4 steps to get to 3’ pool depth, typically their are 3 steps to get to 3 1/2‘ depth.
6’ sun shelf will be tight for lounges if they face the pool length.
If you are looking for therapy relief from your spa you will be disappointed with only 1 jet per person.
Location of the skimmer should be decided by the wind direction and located 1/3 from the corner.
The step or steps in the spa should be at a 45 to obtain the most seating area.

 

[kimkats]

I like your design. Looks like it will fit just right with your house and needs.

One thing I want to talk to you about is WATER depth. Some people measure it from the bottom of the pool to the coping where the WATER depth is from the bottom of the pool to the middle of the skimmer. If you go to the coping you lose any where from 4 to 7" of water

Now lets talk about your depths listed in your print out. 3' is mighty shallow. Measure where 3' hits you. You will not be able to do a full swim stroke in 3' of water without scrapping your knuckles. I think 4' of water is much better for standing around and swimming. Your "deep end" is not deep enough for a good cannon ball. At 5'6" there should not be any cannon balls or such fun stuff

I say go 4'5" to at least 6' OR go all 4'5"

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. The engineer’s schematic I attached has since been updated with a few things; I just cannot put my fingers on the latest version.

Just a few things that you may want to consider,
Only one light in the pool will give way to many dark shadow areas.

We thought about adding more in-pool lighting, but do not want lights in places they’d be shining into eyes in the evening, which includes seating in & on each side of the spa. We spend a lot of time on our lanai in the evenings taking in the sunset & looking out over the lake with friends, so having light aimed back at the house or seating areas will make that hard to enjoy.

There are 4 steps to get to 3’ pool depth, typically there are 3 steps to get to 3 1/2‘ depth.
6’ sun shelf will be tight for lounges if they face the pool length.
If you are looking for therapy relief from your spa you will be disappointed with only 1 jet per person.
Location of the skimmer should be decided by the wind direction and located 1/3 from the corner.
The step or steps in the spa should be at a 45 to obtain the most seating area.

We will review and take these items into consideration; thank you! Re: the skimmer, what do you mean its location should be “decided by the wind direction”? Our pool will be inside a screened cage, and our property receives wind from multiple directions given the proximity to the Gulf.

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

If the pool is inside a screened room then the wind direction does not apply for the location of the skimmer.
You can add more lights on the same side of the pool as the original light so to shine away from the house.
One light in the spa will be sufficient.

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

I like your design. Looks like it will fit just right with your house and needs.

One thing I want to talk to you about is WATER depth. Some people measure it from the bottom of the pool to the coping where the WATER depth is from the bottom of the pool to the middle of the skimmer. If you go to the coping you lose any where from 4 to 7" of water

Now lets talk about your depths listed in your print out. 3' is mighty shallow. Measure where 3' hits you. You will not be able to do a full swim stroke in 3' of water without scrapping your knuckles. I think 4' of water is much better for standing around and swimming. Your "deep end" is not deep enough for a good cannon ball. At 5'6" there should not be any cannon balls or such fun stuff

I say go 4'5" to at least 6' OR go all 4'5"

I need to locate our updated schematic; I know our water depths changed, but I think they were sent to hubs & are on his laptop. I want to say we went to 4‘ - 5 1/2’.

Pools in our area seem to largely serve as social venues & our friend circle rotates hanging out at each others’ homes for drinks, laughs, and the occasional swim. Other than that, hubs & I will just be floating around to cool off; no diving or cannonballs.

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

I found a few other examples of spas with wide spillovers that have ‘dams’ built in that serve both a functional & visual purpose.

The ones with copper spillways/scuppers (my first choice), given we’re going with a salt pool, I’m not sure how they might fare. (It’s been a loooong time since I took a science class lol). I know I read stainless is a no-no with salt.

Might anyone have experience on this or a suggestion for alt materials? Otherwise, I’m kind of liking #3 w/the channels.

 

[kimkats]

I like ALL of them!!! Here are some thoughts that popped into my head when I saw them:

-copper-LOVE it when it is copper color BUT what does copper do??? Patina aka turn "green" over time and it takes quite a bit of effort to get it back to copper color and that does not last long.

-That channel one intrigues me as it is SO different! I bet it looks really neat from the front. I do wonder what it will sound like as it falls down. I wonder what it is made of.

I am going to ping @AQUA~HOLICS to get his input and thoughts.

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

I have only seen copper used on higher end pools that are only going for a specific look at any cost.
The channel spillway I’ve seen with the use of tile and not a masonry product.

 

[kimkats]

@AQUA~HOLICS are you thinking what I am thinking? The channel spillway they used "bricks"? I don't see bricks standing up to everyday water running over it. It would wear away fairly fast. What else could they use to make the channel look?

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Yes that’s what it appears to be from the picture, some customers don’t think too far in the future regarding maintenance and are only going after a specific look.
The bricks could possibly be sealed against water erosion but that would require a strict maintenance regiment.
The Shotcrete crew could form the channels and it would be tilted, this I have seen before and it works fine.

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

I appreciate everyone’s input on the spillover options. I’m having to set that aside for the moment to ask another time-sensitive question …

How odd/bad would it look to have a wider waterline tile vs the standard 6”? For example, would a 12“ or 13” waterline be bad if the Pebbletec color is close to the tile color, and it’d appear to run together under water anyway? Hubs & my opinions on this are split. Is there something I’m not thinking about/aware of here?

 

[kimkats]

It is YOUR pool. Do YOU like the look? There is no reason to not use the waterline tile you want. You could use 1x2 in several rows if you wanted or 6x6 as well so why not use the bigger tile? I will keep looking for a build that had a WONDERFUL wide and long tile. It really looked WONDERFUL!

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

It is YOUR pool. Do YOU like the look? There is no reason to not use the waterline tile you want. You could use 1x2 in several rows if you wanted or 6x6 as well so why not use the bigger tile? I will keep looking for a build that had a WONDERFUL wide and long tile. It really looked WONDERFUL!

Thank you so much; I’m searching trying to find examples, but not sure what terms to hunt for! I don’t really see what the big deal is … until we were in this position of building a pool, I’d have never known there was a ‘standard’ size for waterline tile. I doubt I’d ever notice if someone else’s tile was one size vs. another.

 

[kimkats]

Look at what I found!!! Make sure to click on it to enlarge it so you can see it good!

6x12 waterline tile

I’m deciding on pool tile. There are a lot of amazing stone look tiles that are 6”x13” that I love, we like modern not your typical glazed tile. Our builder isn’t too found of it because he says it looks more like a wall tile. Is there any functional reason to stay away from a 6x12” and do a...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[The_Mother_Thing]

Look at what I found!!! Make sure to click on it to enlarge it so you can see it good!

6x12 waterline tile

I’m deciding on pool tile. There are a lot of amazing stone look tiles that are 6”x13” that I love, we like modern not your typical glazed tile. Our builder isn’t too found of it because he says it looks more like a wall tile. Is there any functional reason to stay away from a 6x12” and do a...

www.troublefreepool.com

Thank you so much for passing that along. It is beautiful, and I did enlarge it, but it’s kind of hard to make out which is what from a distance since it’s a lot of white.