Should i avoid an L shaped pool?

ahreno

Member
Apr 11, 2024
13
ukiah, ca
I'm close to pulling the trigger on a royal swimming pool in ground vinyl pool. we had decided on an L shaped one with a tanning ledge. It fits in our location with a little bit extra brush removal (they'd probably get removed anyway). We like how the Tanning ledge is on the L leg and then there's basically two almost separate sections (shallow end and deep end) as well as getting the full length for excercising. I'd be looking at like a 18'w deep end, 40' length, and then the L leg somewhere around 30.

I went down a rabbit hole of reddit threads of "what would you do differently" and the most common theme i saw was people saying I wish i went rectangular. I assume thats vs organic/curvey pools but not sure.

A rectangular does fit nicely in my spot, could go 20'w x 40-50 long so even with a 6' tanning ledge i'd still get a very usable shallow/deep end.

I will have leaves to deal with as theres a good amount of trees that wont/cant be removed. I have no intention of getting an auto cover (way out of budget) but i do want to cover the pool as i'm in an area with high heat and low humidity. I do have a couple kids so safety cover is probably somewhere on the to do list too.

I know end of the day, either choice will be great, just curious if the issues with circulation and tarps on an L shape are worth ditching it and going pure rectangle.
 
Welcome to TFP. Rectangular allows you to install an auto-cover. It's by far my pool's best feature. Maybe reconsider the cost/benefit ratio.
 
I'm anti auto cover FWIW. We bought the pool to look at the pool, not a cover. Looking at the womter cover for months at a time makes us all sad.

When my kids were little on pool 1, i fenced the pool for safety purposes and we still had a great view.

This was from the roof but the 6ft sliding door was just below. This was the kitchen table view.

Screenshot_20240412_061141_Gallery.jpg



Ls are awesome and gives you tons of room for a shelf or to play volleyball, etc, while not sacrificing any valuable deep end.
 
I'm close to pulling the trigger on a royal swimming pool in ground vinyl pool. we had decided on an L shaped one with a tanning ledge. It fits in our location with a little bit extra brush removal (they'd probably get removed anyway). We like how the Tanning ledge is on the L leg and then there's basically two almost separate sections (shallow end and deep end) as well as getting the full length for excercising. I'd be looking at like a 18'w deep end, 40' length, and then the L leg somewhere around 30.

I went down a rabbit hole of reddit threads of "what would you do differently" and the most common theme i saw was people saying I wish i went rectangular. I assume thats vs organic/curvey pools but not sure.

A rectangular does fit nicely in my spot, could go 20'w x 40-50 long so even with a 6' tanning ledge i'd still get a very usable shallow/deep end.

I will have leaves to deal with as theres a good amount of trees that wont/cant be removed. I have no intention of getting an auto cover (way out of budget) but i do want to cover the pool as i'm in an area with high heat and low humidity. I do have a couple kids so safety cover is probably somewhere on the to do list too.

I know end of the day, either choice will be great, just curious if the issues with circulation and tarps on an L shape are worth ditching it and going pure rectangle.
Just get whatever works for your yard and goals. Circulation is manageable with any shape pool and its not nearly as important as some internet guru’s make it out to be. As long as the pump is running, circulation will be fine.

But you DO want to maintain the correct Chlorine/CYA ratio to keep it clean. Heres a link to what that is: The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Also considering adding chlorine via a Salt water chlorinator, you wont regret that.
 
I'm getting a $20k L shaped inground vinyl pool package from royal pools. what should i be looking at for "automation" obviously its not in my budget to drop another $10k but a couple thousand might be doable.

i know i'd like to be able to see my chemical levels on my phone but dont mind dosing myself. they suggested the Sutro Water Monitoring System which looks quite useful.

I wont have a ton of features. no spa, no heater for now (may try DIY solar). few LED lights [probably maybe these](https://www.poolsupplyunlimited.com/pool/sr-smith-poollux-3tr-plx-prm-premiere-kit/156530p1) and i'm debating between bubblers on my sun tan ledge and returns. i guess if i do bubblers, it'd be nice to be able to control those from my phone, but probably not worth it if it's $5k

i'm fairly home automation savy but im lost with pool stuff.
 
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the L shape pool the best of all pool shapes! It gives you the best of all pool types. See the "foot" is where all of the fun games can happen as it is all one depth. Watermelon Ball, Volley ball, Marco/Polo, etc. Then you have the "leg" of the pool for swimming laps and cannon balls!

What are your depths going to be?
 
I had an L shaped pool for my first inground pool and it was the best design we ever had! It was 42' long. The deep end was the top of the L and was 18' across x 17' long. The shallow end was 25' long x 30' across. We had basketball hoops on either side of the shallow end and had a dozen neighborhood boys in the pool every weekend playing basketball. It was awesome because one group could play b-ball or volleyball in the shallow end while another group could dive or use the slide in the deep end. The folks that bought our house 15 years ago are still using that pool (now over 30 years old).
 

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