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

Lots with a challenge

Because of their shape, some lots demand special attention from the pool builder or designer. Though the challenge of the hillside or unusually shaped lot is obvious, creating a unique pool and landscape environment on a typical rectangular suburban lot also requires careful consideration.

If your lot falls into the category of a challenging site, take heart from the suggestions and examples that you find here. You’ll also want to thumb through the succeeding topics – they’ll stimulate your imagination toward finding a solution to your particular situation.

Hillside lots

Designing and building on a hillside requires the services of experts. The steeper the hillside, the more important these experts are. The angle of the slope, the design of the pool shell, and the method of anchoring the shell to the slope all must be considered.

Despite the problems, a hillside can allow a designer to create a magnificent swimming pool not possible on a flat site. The swimming pool can appear to soar into space or be nestled in a grove of trees. A hillside can host a swimming pool on land that was previously unusable. Few hillsides are too steep for a pool builder – pools have even been suspended from the edges of cliffs.

A hillside swimming pool needs to withstand earth pressure on one side and have well engineered support on the other. Down-slope supports for the pool should be built on a solid foundation, preferable rock. Retaining walls on the upslope side, sometimes incorporating the pool structure itself, must be sufficient to contain a possible earth or loose-rock slide.

Surface water must be routed from the hill around the pool to a lower slope, and decks must be designed to prevent water from seeping into the ground near the pool.

Depending on the lot, you may be limited in the choice of pool size, shape, and type of construction. Take, and time to seek out companies and contractors with a reputation for tackling tough problems. A report from a soils engineer and the services of a structural engineer may be required.

Swimming pool access and adequate decking can be a challenge. It’s a good idea to plan the area completely on paper, including all steps, decking, and structures. If the sit is too confined, a pool may be impractical.

Finally, consider costs. The additional expense of building a pool on a steep hillside can equal and even exceed the cost of the swimming pool. But if your lot is not excessively steep, expect only a moderate increase in cost.

The standard lot

Because of the sameness in both the style of the houses and the shape of the lots in suburban housing developments, there is a tendency for the landscaping to conform to a neighborhood (Mooban) norm.

Lots with unusual shapes

An unusually shaped lot might at first look like a liability, but it can often be just the opposite. A little imagination used in designing and placing a pool can transform an awkwardly shaped lot into a very functional and appealing environment.