design phase of Houston OB

[kimkats]

Okay let me ask some questions..............how big is each pool? The first one you posted and the bottom one from this time.

Are you trying to have more outside of the pool space?

I do NOT like the top one from this time. Looks like a lot of lost pool space AND look at where the house doors are............the steps into the pool are on the furthest end.

I like both the first one and the bottom one from this time.

Kim

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Kim , I think you hit the nail on the head for what I was thinking.

I'd extend the length of the pool to where (in the new drawing) the grill is. Take that plus some of that garden space for pool.

Then I'd extend the deck area to the side of the house by a few feet (currently grass/shadow showing from tree), giving your an area for your grill, or the backs of the chaise lounge so you buy a litle more walking room.

Perhaps less ground garden area and more use of large pots to give color?

I might have missed it but...how many family members will be using this pool again?

Maddie

 

[schwimmen]

Thanks for food for thought. Let me try to answer your questions.

There are five of us - myself, my husband, and three kids. I will probably use it the most. I want to be able to do water exercises, water running, and swimming. The depth goes from 4.5 to 6. The 'shallow end' is along the house, and the 'deep end' is along the fence. This gives a longer 'running lane' and solves the problem of putting a deep end too close to the house.

The first two pictures are one design and the last two pictures are the other design. To give some sense of size, the wall of the house is 39' long. There are another 15' to the back fence. The first design runs nearly the full length. The second design is approximately 26'. Both are approx. 12.5' wide at the widest. The first door is to a sun room and the second door is to the garage/mud room.

Originally, we thought we would just have a patio space at the top of the pool. However, the area at the bottom of the pool has some shade. In the middle of the Houston summer, I thought we would like having a shady area to sit. It would also be more space, since the other patio isn't very large. There is a tree in the corner of the property that we plan to leave in place. We thought it best to keep from getting too close to the tree to prevent problems with the roots. We also have electric back there, so moving the pool closer to the fence probably isn't feasible. The yard that you see off to the side is actually a 'driveway'. Our garage door is in the rear of the property. While we don't use the garage at the moment, I don't think we'll put any 'permanent' patio there.

This has been an exercise in trying to maximize pool function in a mini space.
​

 

[kimkats]

That does complete the picture of your use of the pool with knowing about the kids. You will NEED a lot more seating than was available with the first design. That makes me like the bottom of of this set even more as it has more outside the pool seating. It also has good inside the pool seating and play/swim/exercise space.

Good job making the most of the yard you have. I can't wait to see which one you pick. They are ALL good! You could just put them on a dart board and see what happens! LOL

Kim

 

[schwimmen]

Okay, I think we've settled on a design, and we're ready to move forward with quotes from subs. I'm including dimensions and preliminary equipment list below. I've also included a couple of questions and would appreciate any feedback that you might have.

Pool dimensions:
The main section of the pool is 12.5' wide and 21' long (not including coping, shelves on either end, or spa). If you include all of it(except coping), the max width is 14' and the max length is 31'
Depth: 4.5 – 6 ft; 4.5 ft 'shallow end’ is about 6' wide and runs along the house and ‘deep end’ runs along fence. I realize it's a bit deeper than usual, but I want this depth for water exercise.
Raised beam along fence to assist with drainage/separation from planting beds (3-6”)
Entry: Step 1 - 3 x 1 x 9”; Step 2 - sun shelf 6.5 x 3 x 18”to top of coping; Step 3 – 5: 3 x 1 x 9”
The other option for the entry is to have an 11" shelf with 6" water. (This is what's in the pictures.) Pro - eliminates need for entry step, making. Con - Too shallow? It also increases rise of steps 2-4 to 11" instead of 9". Not sure which is better option.
Bench 2: 6.5 x 3 x 18” to top of coping
Bench 3: 6.5 x 18” x 24” to top of coping

Spa: 6 x 6 ft, 42” deep with 24” deep benches; raised 12” above grade

There are five feet between house and pool, which includes 12" coping, 3' walkway, and 1' bed. There is a 2' bed between the other side of the pool and the fence.

Pool equipment:
Pump - PentairIntelliflo VS 011018 Thoughts on appropriate HP?
Filter - PentairClean and Clear What size filter is best: 520, 420, 320, or 240? I want to go big but not unnecessarily so.
Chlorinator - PentairIC40 Salt Generator and Power Pack -or- Circupool RJ (30 or 45 Plus)
Valves - JandyNever Lube Valves How many of these valves should we plan on getting?
Heater - TBD We would like to consider option with chiller, possibly solar. Suggestions welcome.
Cleaner - Doheney’s Discovery
Returns - 6 (We're thinking 5 in pool, 1 in spa) Brand recommendations? Since we're not currently planning on bubblers, we thought it would make sense to have at least one return on each shelf. I would appreciate suggestions on the best placement for drains, skimmers, and returns.
Main drain - DualAnti Vortex drains
Skimmers - 2
Pool light - PentairLED Intelibrite or Globrite -or- Paramount Paraglo I'm thinking that one pool light would be sufficient if placed midway along side near house (facing fence) and one spa light facing back fence. Not certain if it's necessary to do lights on shelves. I thought about the fiber optic star lights but thought that might add unnecessary headaches Light-wise, we only have one light on the house (in between doors). We'll need more light, but because of the limited space, it might be challenging to find lights that will work. I'd like path lights I the planting beds, but there's only five feet between the pool and the house. Any suggestions from those who've found a good solution welcome.
Spa light - see above
Spa jets - ParamountPar-A-Jet (6+)
Automation - PentairEasytouch
Current generator - Fastlane
Water testing kit - TF-100 w/Speed Stir
Surge Protector - Square D HEPD 80

 

[Nectarologist]

Hi. Great design. I have a 340 filter (Jandy) so I'd get the 320 from Pentair. Mine is plenty large enough for 20/21k gallons. Anything larger would be super overkill. I'd place the skimmers on opposite ends, opposite sides. Consider placing a return or two on a bench. When the heater is on it's nice to sit in front of.

As for Jandy valves I'd get two on the suction end (that lead to the pump). One is for the 2 skimmers (1 off, 1 on, or both off or on) and a 2nd valve for the main drain. On the return end it depends on how they plumb the returns. I have 5 returns with 2 valves. One is for 2 returns in my stairs (one run that branches to two returns) and the other is for a bench I have that is one run that branches into the two returns there. The other is for a side wall return. The important thing is to have the PB have the skimmers on separate runs (if one fails you have a 2nd independent one). This is simple and inexpensive to do so don't let the PB tell you otherwise. The main drains are tied together as one run for safety reasons.

I have the Doheny's Discovery...awesome!!

A serious safety concern is a power supply. I believe the NEC requires power at least 10 feet from the pool but no more than 20 feet away. With your house only 5 feet away it raises a flag that there could be an outlet less than 10 feet from the pool. Scary to say but this means you could have something plugged in that can fall into the pool. Don't count on GFCI. Since they are digging up the yard it's easy to place it where it should be (even if local code doesn't say so). If you have an outlet on the wall of the house less than 10 feet from water I'd disable it.

 

[schwimmen]

Thank you for the feedback!

My husband contacted a potential plumber today, so we'll be sure to bring this up with him when discussing the set-up. As for the electric, I think we will definitely need to remove the existing outlet between the doors then. We should be alright putting one or more on the rear wall of the house. I think it's approx. 12 feet from the pool.

It's amazing how much detail goes into a pool build. It's tempting to go with a PB, but truth be told, it's a lot more interesting to learn about this stuff. Even if it does feel like drinking from a firehose.

 

[kimkats]

Steps-Get a tape measure and go sit in a beach chair or one of those plastic adirondack chairs at Walmart or any chair/lounger you might think about putting in the water. Also measure the different depths on YOU. Pretend you are sitting on the coping of the pool. Where would the water hit you? I know several people like just sticking their feet in to cool off and enjoy some down time without getting all the way into the pool.

11" step rise is a LOT of rise. You will not have a rail so stepping up the last step could be hard for older people or if you are hurting for any reason.

Rail-you can have the holders put in now to that if/when you ever want to put on in you can. Until you want to use it you put the cap on and call it good. MUCH harder to put one in later.

I really like the design you have landed on! Has everything you are looking for!

Kim

 

[riley00dog]

I really like how you’ve tweaked your design. I think youve done the right thing taking the advice given here. This design is much more functional than the others and will meet your needs well. Good luck with your build, I’ll be following.

 

[rhawke]

Let me know if you are looking for pool builders (not sure if you are contracting it out yourself?) We are using shingle's builder and we are inside the city limits (near Meyerland) but I have a second builder I can recommend as well that we had thoroughly vetted. They were the "runner up" option for us ...

one more topic: since your pool will be very close to the house you may want to get an engineer designing your pool shell. The city will only require it if your pool excavation (=coping) is within 5 feet of the building line, but your house appears quite tall and I don't know what type of foundation you have. So if you are at 5 or 6 feet distance from the house, paying the extra money to have an engineer make sure you won't have any issues for your pool but even more important, your house!

 

[schwimmen]

Hi, rhawke. We found a pretty solid builder with a very reasonable bid and good references. We haven't signed a contract yet, but I'm hoping we can finalize the details and move forward in the not so distant future. Please feel free to send the contacts anyway. Just in case I drive this one away with all my questions

You're right about the engineering. I've been over to the city permitting office a couple of times to make sure we had what we needed. It is a frustrating experience because the answers seem to vary depending on whom you speak with. The guy that I talked to was more worried about the pool being within five feet of the fence than within five feet of the house. The whole thing seems highly subjective, especially when the city has recently decided it's ok for builders to build single family homes 18" apart in our neighborhood. It's quite entertaining watching them try to put up siding. Sorry, venting. Anyway, we're pretty confident about the house foundation. There are a plethora of 15' bellbottom piers beneath the original slab, so I don't think it's going anywhere. And we have to replace the fence anyway. The house on the adjacent lot is a relatively recent build, so it's highly unlikely there would be anything going in that lot - except maybe a pool.

To be continued....

 

[rhawke]

I can relate to your style, I also did the design myself and spent hours over hours reading about various city regulations, engineering topics, materials, equipment, etc. If my main focus weren't right now on getting our new house completed, I would have probably spent even much more time on just the pool ...

Awesome that you have those 15 ft bell bottom piers, that way you really just have to worry about satisfying the city permit office and not really worry about your house. As long as you are 5 ft away from your house they won't require engineer approved drawings, so you can save that money. And the distance to the fence is probably not an engineering topic, just an easement / set back question. Do you have a survey that would show those?

I just sent you the PB names via PM.

Based on your nick name I wonder if you have any relation to German? I'm originally from Austria, moved here 9 years ago.

 

[schwimmen]

Hi, rhawke.

I just saw your response on the 'design phase' post. Sorry for the delay.

To answer your question, I'm not German. Well, my great grandfather was, but I was born in the US. However, our family did just spend 4 years in Hannover, Germany, as expats. Loved it. Miss it. Which part of Austria do you hail from? What brings you to the US? Hope it's been a good experience for you.

And in other news... we just signed a contract with a PB! Yay. I found someone who was very reasonable, has good recs, and could handle my very detail oriented approach to this whole crazy process. Will probably start that thread this week. Hope it goes smoothly, but have to get past permitting first!​

 

[Marlahoutex]

In reference to someone who asked about electrical, if I remember correctly from our build, outlets only have to be 6’ from the edge of the pool. Goes without saying that they also have to be GFCIs.