Central Texas Gunite Pool Plans/ Ideas?

[sayersvillefarm]

First post: I've been trying to sort through all the excellent advice but still would love suggestions in every area. We live outside of Austin on a small farm and my husband and daughter with Down syndrome would benefit from gentle exercise. I'm trying to keep it simple since we have had failures in cheap above ground pools for years. So we are thinking a 12x40 but would also like a sloped entry on the side for wheelchair access/small children access/hangout. Is there a good source of plans to use or buy? I have contractors lined up thanks to some friends who recently built, but if I'm not careful we could go over budget completely. We still have 7-8 kids at home, but hoping a smaller pool will be easier to manage and the primary goal is for exercise.
Is this a good size for laps?
We have a house surrounded by oak trees which I love. Lots of land, but closest placement of pool would be to the south. Any problems there? Is there any guides on easy pool covers?
Below is an aerial. That is not rock or lime--that is sand in the photos and under it is red clay, if that matters.
Struggling with analysis paralysis...

 

[ajw22]

Get a proper soil survey for your property and a set of engineering plans stamped by an engineer who takes responsibility for your pool design. We see way too many cracking pools in Texas and specifically the Austin area. Areas in TX have expansive soil that can be unstable. Many builders will use a standard set of pool engineering plans and hope for the best.

Here is one problem pool in Austin. Using the search bar at the top of the page will find others…

Need urgent help with cracking/leaking pool on a hillside in Austin, TX!

We did hire an engineer and he wants us to make a hole from the center of the pool to the bottom of the outside wall but I am not sure who I hire to do that?!? He said this will give us a good cross section of the construction thru the crack. ... Any ideas on who I would hire to make the hole...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Jaffles]

Hi and welcome sayersvillefarm. Good on you, that's big commitment on many fronts. Firstly, don't rush the pool particularly if you are on an a budget. Its far easier to get what you want planning than after its built.
12x40 is more than enough for laps. I find my 29.5' is enough especially after 4 or 5 laps.

I'd consider wind, sun, shade direction as it plays a part in leaves, dust, usable light, or timing and duration of light. Pending on how many months of the year you can can use the pool, considering the seasons directions and moods. Loosing a well chosen tree may make all the difference to maintenance costs, use, and safety.

Pending age of children, placement of pool where observation is easy and regular, like from the kitchen of a room commonly visited. That also includes access. My pool is-has become part of the house basically combined with an entertainment area. We can see, hear, and access the pool very easily. I have friends however where you almost need a cut lunch to get the pool. Literally its 200' from the house down a hot bitumen driveway.

With my pool I jotted down potential users and ages. That went from my 84yo mother to my wife friends with toddlers, to including our small dog and out teenage children and friends. My likings and hopes also. So I designed a pool that worked for all. I have a beach that runs the length of the pool but slopes from 6 out to 16" in the middle, and 20" deep at the ends. Ledges to sit on both in the deep and shallow end. A good sized shallow end as most users stay there, but at a depth that was usable for swimming and laps, 4'. I have jumping rock off to the side at the deep end, and some basic deck jets for novelty and ambiance to the side of the rock. The pools main area is 29.5 x 16.5, with an arching beach 3 to 10ft for length of the pool. The dog can get out in multiple places, people can exercise, play, or sit in varying depts of water. A ramp is very good idea. The penny didn't drop for me with the pool, but I had ramps made in the pools concrete decking that leads into the house.

Its a simple pool but suits our needs. We installed lights and yes thay are atheistic but not necessary. I have discovered the insects like the lights and get caught in the water, so if you have a lot of insects perhaps saving on the lights, of minimal lights is a consideration.

I went deck jets as they were far cheaper than a waterfall.

 

[sayersvillefarm]

Hi and welcome sayersvillefarm. Good on you, that's big commitment on many fronts. Firstly, don't rush the pool particularly if you are on an a budget. Its far easier to get what you want planning than after its built.
12x40 is more than enough for laps. I find my 29.5' is enough especially after 4 or 5 laps.

I'd consider wind, sun, shade direction as it plays a part in leaves, dust, usable light, or timing and duration of light. Pending on how many months of the year you can can use the pool, considering the seasons directions and moods. Loosing a well chosen tree may make all the difference to maintenance costs, use, and safety.

Pending age of children, placement of pool where observation is easy and regular, like from the kitchen of a room commonly visited. That also includes access. My pool is-has become part of the house basically combined with an entertainment area. We can see, hear, and access the pool very easily. I have friends however where you almost need a cut lunch to get the pool. Literally its 200' from the house down a hot bitumen driveway.

With my pool I jotted down potential users and ages. That went from my 84yo mother to my wife friends with toddlers, to including our small dog and out teenage children and friends. My likings and hopes also. So I designed a pool that worked for all. I have a beach that runs the length of the pool but slopes from 6 out to 16" in the middle, and 20" deep at the ends. Ledges to sit on both in the deep and shallow end. A good sized shallow end as most users stay there, but at a depth that was usable for swimming and laps, 4'. I have jumping rock off to the side at the deep end, and some basic deck jets for novelty and ambiance to the side of the rock. The pools main area is 29.5 x 16.5, with an arching beach 3 to 10ft for length of the pool. The dog can get out in multiple places, people can exercise, play, or sit in varying depts of water. A ramp is very good idea. The penny didn't drop for me with the pool, but I had ramps made in the pools concrete decking that leads into the house.

Its a simple pool but suits our needs. We installed lights and yes thay are atheistic but not necessary. I have discovered the insects like the lights and get caught in the water, so if you have a lot of insects perhaps saving on the lights, of minimal lights is a consideration.

I went deck jets as they were far cheaper than a waterfall.

Thanks for your thoughts. You have read my mind on all these things, but I am no closer to perfect answers on any of these points after three years. I did have a pool builder come and okay our location as pretty much the only close option, but it in no way integrates well to the house as I would like. And the trees are huge heritage oaks, and even cutting down a couple would still not clear space for a pool. Kids are 5-22, so a big range but I've exited the years of being paralyzed with fear because they are all excellent swimmers. (Now when the grandkids come we'll be back on high alert, but so are their parents!) I'm so glad you have found the slopes to be helpful because I'm really sticking to that so my mom may be able to use that too. My husband and sons did light competitive swimming, and we're wanting our daughter to compete in swimming for Special Olympics, so that's where the length is coming in. My husband says 40' would be necessary considering a decent push off then lap, but my cousin who is a swim instructor, said his dream pool would be 6'x75'! But I really don't need more to take care of, so I'd like a pool that is easier to maintain and is more function over fun. My husband is the fun parent though!

 

[Jaffles]

yeh tend to agree with the cousin. If your training for competitive swimming or hoping too, I think longer the better. But I'm no swimmer either.
My first pool I drove a peg into the grass and tied a push bike tube cut in half to it. I looped one end around my ankle and swam away from the peg.
It worked ok but its much better moving through the water as opposed to treading it.

Its hard too tell the lay of the land from the picture. I presume the house faces Sth from the pic. Is there room in the front left or left side of the house. I'm confident pool shells are stand alone in strength. So battering or backfilling around a pool to level some land is just a matter of moving dirt. You get the dirt from the dig. They build pools with exposed 6' walls facing the environment or with infinity edges, so to even leave one side of the pool exposed if its on a gentle slope I don't think is an issue.

I like my trees, and it would pain me to loose a few old girls, but "heritage" sounds like it suits someone else rather than your family. No harm in
planting two or three for every one dropped, actually I encourage that. "Heritage" may also be a fire or falling hazard to the family home, plus trees don't live forever either. I live on a high plateau that was de-nuded 70-80 years ago for dairy. The industry has gone but the birds haven't, we have lots and lots of 145' trees back making it look a little like it once was.

Perhaps an alternative to an in-ground pool, is you can get pretty big swim-spar pools these days. They are like a plunge pool, spar, water propelled swim centre all in on. Not sure if all the kids will fit in at once, but they are almost ready to go from being delivered.

 

[Newdude]

But I really don't need more to take care of

More gallons translates to more expense by an equal percentage, but if you were to spend (let's just throw a # out there) $300 on pool chemicals for the year (Because TFP is AWESOME), going 1/3 larger really wouldn't be noticed with the extra $100 spread over your long season. So yes it's more expensive to maintain, but not in a way that matters.

A $800 robot will clean the pool for you no matter what the size. We'll teach you to maintain the chemicals on the cheap and easy. I fought getting the pool for years and had no idea how simple it was. It turns out, all the friends with pools that just HAD to know everything, knew nothing. That's why theirs were so much work. You'll have none of that, I promise.

We chose bigger pool over every other option. You can always add a waterfall when the kids all move out and it's too quiet. You can't add 5 more feet without substantial expense.

You will want a 4ft shallow end for sure. It's always wall height and the pool is usually 6 inches below 'full', so 4 ft is 3.5 of water. If it's 3.5 ft (3 ft actual) most people hit their knuckles on the bottom when doing laps.


My goodness. Please excuse my terrible manners. Welcome to TFP.

 

[sayersvillefarm]

More gallons translates to more expense by an equal percentage, but if you were to spend (let's just throw a # out there) $300 on pool chemicals for the year (Because TFP is AWESOME), going 1/3 larger really wouldn't be noticed with the extra $100 spread over your long season. So yes it's more expensive to maintain, but not in a way that matters.

A $800 robot will clean the pool for you no matter what the size. We'll teach you to maintain the chemicals on the cheap and easy. I fought getting the pool for years and had no idea how simple it was. It turns out, all the friends with pools that just HAD to know everything, knew nothing. That's why theirs were so much work. You'll have none of that, I promise.

We chose bigger pool over every other option. You can always add a waterfall when the kids all move out and it's too quiet. You can't add 5 more feet without substantial expense.

You will want a 4ft shallow end for sure. It's always wall height and the pool is usually 6 inches below 'full', so 4 ft is 3.5 of water. If it's 3.5 ft (3 ft actual) most people hit their knuckles on the bottom when doing laps.


My goodness. Please excuse my terrible manners. Welcome to TFP.

That was such a kind and helpful response! I needed the information about the depth and wall height--I had intended to go 4' minimum but forgot to expect the 6" water level difference. I'm so encouraged that we'll "get it" someday because our above ground pools have been an expensive nightmare.
I'm a minimalist at heart, so I want to go smaller, but with so many of us, that has not played out well for me at times. My husband wants a bigger fun pool. We hope we are not going to regret our choices. Pools on a ranch seem like they don't belong, but work so much in the heat we sure enjoy them. I can't find a way to "cowboy up" this pool. I originally wanted to make it look like a concrete water trough but they said it needed to be smooth.

 

[sayersvillefarm]

yeh tend to agree with the cousin. If your training for competitive swimming or hoping too, I think longer the better. But I'm no swimmer either.
My first pool I drove a peg into the grass and tied a push bike tube cut in half to it. I looped one end around my ankle and swam away from the peg.
It worked ok but its much better moving through the water as opposed to treading it.

Its hard too tell the lay of the land from the picture. I presume the house faces Sth from the pic. Is there room in the front left or left side of the house. I'm confident pool shells are stand alone in strength. So battering or backfilling around a pool to level some land is just a matter of moving dirt. You get the dirt from the dig. They build pools with exposed 6' walls facing the environment or with infinity edges, so to even leave one side of the pool exposed if its on a gentle slope I don't think is an issue.

I like my trees, and it would pain me to loose a few old girls, but "heritage" sounds like it suits someone else rather than your family. No harm in
planting two or three for every one dropped, actually I encourage that. "Heritage" may also be a fire or falling hazard to the family home, plus trees don't live forever either. I live on a high plateau that was de-nuded 70-80 years ago for dairy. The industry has gone but the birds haven't, we have lots and lots of 145' trees back making it look a little like it once was.

Perhaps an alternative to an in-ground pool, is you can get pretty big swim-spar pools these days. They are like a plunge pool, spar, water propelled swim centre all in on. Not sure if all the kids will fit in at once, but they are almost ready to go from being delivered.

Thank you for your thoughts. You made me go back outside to take a look at two trees I'm not attached to. Our house faces NE, but mostly east. Septic tanks are SE. The optimal location would be west just outside our great room area. Too many trees that I'm very fond of there, but if I walk out past the fence line, there maybe space and I've tried to make that space work. I'll look again tomorrow.
I don't think anyone is extremely competitive, and Special Olympics modifies swimming for my daughter--she doesn't have tremendous stamina. I'm not a fan of swim-spas.

 

[Jaffles]

how about a pool in the shape of a coiled whip. A lap pool for the handle, and a round day spa with seating for the family at the end? You could off set the round to the hand to fit amongst the trees. Ye ha!!

 

[kimkats]

L shaped pool will give you the best of both pools-The bottom of the L will be all 4' deep for playing volley ball, hanging out, WATERMELLON ball (the best pool game ever!!), etc. Then the leg will be for swimming laps and cannon balls.

What I am picking up is you saying the above ground pool has been an expensive problem. I want to help you with this as the inground pool can also be problem IF you don't don't know how to care for it. What I want to do with you is to teach you how to care for your pool so it will be easy and cheap!!!! If you learn how to care for the above ground pool it will be SUPER easy to care for the inground pool. Are you up to a bit of learning? Pool Care Basics This will get you started!

Kim