We are remodeling our 1960's era pool. Right now there's a shallow end that starts at 3.5', goes to 4' and then slopes down to 8.5'. The shallow end is a little crowded - we and all our friends have 4-7 year olds - and so we originally intended on extending the shallow end and bring up the deep end. Then last summer all our daughter wanted to do was jump into the deep and and go to her friends' houses and jump off their spas/walls into the deep end. So now the deep end stays. We're getting a Turbo Twister and a 2' jumping platform with a little waterfall in the deep end (sufficiently far away from the slide output to avoid collisions).
So, if we want to extend the shallow end but keep the deep end, now we're looking at increasing the slope. Our pool builder (in TX) says we can do that so long as we don't "call it a diving pool" which seems like an ontological exercise in semantics rather than an actual consequence. The pool is currently at the 3:1 slope. So going from 4ft to 8.5ft takes 13.5 feet of slope. If we extended the 4ft shallow end by an additional 2 feet, the slope would decrease to 11.5 feet, thus the ratio would be 2.5:1 instead of 3:1.
How terrible is this? Is is reckless to even consider this?
One key consideration which you all will point out is how far the slope is from the jumping platform in case someone defies the rules and dives from it. I must admit I don't know that but it looks like a long way. I know there had been a diving board there so presumably it fell within the allowed diving envelope distance.
So. Questions are:
1) Can we live with a 2.5:1 slope or is that a dangerous idea? Everyone on here seems to advise the 3:1 ratio -- is there a secret underground of people who go under that? Does the 3:1 Texas pool code only apply to non-residential pools? Or is it totally malpractice for the pool builder to suggest it and reckless for me to consider it. Obviously headfirst diving is not allowed but one can't rely on 15 year old boys not being stupid.
2) What if we bring the deep end up to 8'. That would create a slope of 2.875 and only sacrifice 6" of depth. Is 8' too shallow if we're putting in a 2' jumping platform? People on here seem to like their 8.5' deep deep ends
Thanks in advance!
So, if we want to extend the shallow end but keep the deep end, now we're looking at increasing the slope. Our pool builder (in TX) says we can do that so long as we don't "call it a diving pool" which seems like an ontological exercise in semantics rather than an actual consequence. The pool is currently at the 3:1 slope. So going from 4ft to 8.5ft takes 13.5 feet of slope. If we extended the 4ft shallow end by an additional 2 feet, the slope would decrease to 11.5 feet, thus the ratio would be 2.5:1 instead of 3:1.
How terrible is this? Is is reckless to even consider this?
One key consideration which you all will point out is how far the slope is from the jumping platform in case someone defies the rules and dives from it. I must admit I don't know that but it looks like a long way. I know there had been a diving board there so presumably it fell within the allowed diving envelope distance.
So. Questions are:
1) Can we live with a 2.5:1 slope or is that a dangerous idea? Everyone on here seems to advise the 3:1 ratio -- is there a secret underground of people who go under that? Does the 3:1 Texas pool code only apply to non-residential pools? Or is it totally malpractice for the pool builder to suggest it and reckless for me to consider it. Obviously headfirst diving is not allowed but one can't rely on 15 year old boys not being stupid.
2) What if we bring the deep end up to 8'. That would create a slope of 2.875 and only sacrifice 6" of depth. Is 8' too shallow if we're putting in a 2' jumping platform? People on here seem to like their 8.5' deep deep ends
Thanks in advance!
