Planning, designing new pool.

[Dr. Spike]

Hello, I am a new member and also new to owning a pool. So I really can't comment too much.

I think that for size, go with what would make you and your family happy that falls in your budget.

I have kept many types of aquariums over the years ranging from various fresh water, salt water, reef, and brackish. With these, the larger the tank, the more it would cost to run and maintain, on the flip side, the larger the tank, the easier it was to keep the system balanced and the tank dwellers happy.

I would think that the larger the pool, the higher the costs associated with it. But since I am new, what do I know?

I have an IG 21'X40' vinyl lined rectangular pool which is 4' deep at the shallow end and 9' at the deep end. (That seems like an odd size for a lined pool doesn't it?) I personally would like it to be bigger and deeper. But that is just me.

As a new pool owner I don't think a 21'X40' is all that hard to maintain. I do not have any robots or automatic anything. Just a soft brush, a manual vacuum, and a leaf skimmer (rarely used). Seems to work just fine.

I should mention that my pool is not really an outdoor pool, technically it is outdoors but it is fully enclosed. So besides bathers, I only get a few stray bugs, a few worms when it rains hard, and so far, 6 mice before I opened the pool (ick, glad to have the leaf skimmer though). No leaves (unless someone brings them in on their feet), rain water, or direct sun at all.

Sorry to go on so long. I guess I am just happy I found this place!

[georgiapoollover]

My husband and I built our own pool from a kit 3 years ago. I would NOT do it again. However....we had a 16 X 32 IG with deep end and diving board. Our daughter loved the shallow end to do hand stands and stuff. Our shallow end was small because of the slant to the deep end. To be honest, my 14 year old was 11 at the time and loved the diving board. I stayed in the shallow end, but we didn't have much of one. That sucked. I am only 5 feet tall, and I hate deep water. We are now doing a 14 X 28 Lagoon style vinyl IG pool 3.5 to 5.5 feet deep with a swim out. It is just perfect for us...not too big... not too small. To use it 4 or 5 months out of the year, it is just big enough. We are investing more in concrete, stamped and colored. Plus, we are doing a salt system this time.

[Jeffski]

Thanks everyone.

More questions:

Regarding the salt system referenced above, two different pool company owners have told me they are no longer recommending salt because the long term effects are showing rust and corrosion. I was sold on the idea until I talked to them, and I think I am now going to skip that. Any thoughts?

Will I regret only putting 4 feet of concrete on the sides of the pool? Again, I have lots planned for each end.

[Bleach=Chlorine?]

Our pool comes off the back of the house so we have 4 ft deck around half the deep end then wrapping around the far side to halfway around the shallow end. The near-side deck is 20 feet X 40 feet so plently of room for patio furniture, grill etc. We do enjoy the 4 ft outer decking because people can lay on the grass, etc and still be only a few feet from the pool.

[beary]

We just had our 18 x 38 dug this weekend. We talked about 40 x 20 but our builder said he could only squeeze a 38 x 18 in on our $40000. The 38 feet does not include the six foot sun tanning ledge or beach entry as some are calling it, at one end of the pool. We are installing a diving board at the other end. We wanted the length for laps and the width for play. Most folks around here are doing lagoon pools, but we like the more traditional roman shape. I didn’t realize that we were building all that big of a pool until we started hearing comments from the builder's crews that our pool was really big. They hauled out 300 tons of dirt last Saturday.

We have, or will have a saltwater system. I have not heard anything about corrosion, but I can't think of what metal is exposed to rust. I didn’t want ladders or ledges sticking into the pool because it took away from the Roman lines, so we added swim-outs and tanning ledges in the natural roman design for easy exiting of the pool or just relaxing in shallow water.

Our goal for making the larger pool easy for us to maintain is adding options that make maintenance easy. Saltwater system, robotic cleaners and whatever else folks on these forums recommend from experience. I am open to all ideas; best cleaners, pumps, filters, heaters, timers, even placing lighting and electric receptacles.

One last thing, while you may have a $40000 budget to build a pool, we are realizing to budge a little more. Pool contractors don’t talk much on your responsibility to pay for electrical hook up and plumber for the heater. But also plan for the unplanned things like hitting your sewer line during the dig. That is delaying our build a few days and adding $1500 to the cost while the plumbers install a new sewer pipe around the pool. He is going to run my gas line at the same time however because the new sewer goes right by the gas meter. Lucky me.

Good discussion.

Beary

Edmond Oklahoma

[Jeffski]

The rail between the cement and liner was one problem area with the salt system. Maybe these guys are making a mountain out of a mole hill, I don't know. I was just shocked to hear these guys talk me out of something that would be more profitable for them.

At this stage of the negotiation/planning I am under $30k with the builder which leaves me plenty of room for fence and extras.

Thanks again for the advice.