Swimming Pools

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Choosing

Restrictions, codes and other regulations

Health and safety codes

Climate, weather and your swimming pool

Consider the wind

Sizing up the landscape

Slope, soil and drainage

Rules-of-thumb for choosing the site

Lots with a challenge

Climate, weather and your swimming pool

Though official climate and weather records can help determine the average length of the swimming season in your area, it’s the day-to-day weather on your property that will determine your poolside comfort.

Since the warmth or coolness of you pool will be decided largely by its orientation, it’s wise to study the microclimates of your property along with the regional climate and weather. Buildings, trees, or other obstructions on or near your property can have an effect on the amount of sunlight and wind your property receives.

A pool in almost any location may serve will in midsummer, but wise planning can extend the outdoor season by several weeks, or for most regions in Thailand even months.

The general outlook

If you’ve lived in your present area a number of years, you should have a feeling for the general climate in terms of average seasonal air temperatures, rain, prevailing wind directions, and number of sunny days.

If not, you can get climate information from your national weather and atmospheric administration office. Request the current annual issue of the local climatologically data for your area.

You also may be able to get accurate climate and weather information through the weather bureau offices, public power and utility companies, meteorology departments on college and university campuses, and agricultural extension offices.

No matter how much official information you gather, take personal stock of the local weather as well as you can. Your neighborhood almost certainly will vary somewhat from the recording stations, And by all means talk with the “old-timers” in your neighborhood. They can extend your knowledge of the local climate by many years.

Sun and shade

Observing and recording the patterns of sunlight and shade created on your property by the sun as it passes across the sky will help you place your pool so as to make maximum use of the available sunlight during swimming hours.

Changing shadows during day and in different seasons affect amount of sunlight on swimming pool site.

>Theoretically a pool with a southern exposure will be warmer than one that faces north. A west-facing pool will be warmer than one with an eastern exposure. And a pool facing south will be warmer than one facing west.

There are exceptions to this rule, though. In desert or tropical areas, where noontime temperatures can be extremely high for several months during the year, a north-facing pool can hardly be considered cold. In some coastal areas, on the other hand, a south or west-facing swimming pool can be cold because of ocean winds and chilly fogs in summer.