Water Depth of Tanning Ledge / Baja Shelf in a Vinyl Liner Pool?

11 years ago

Our pool in going to be "L" Shaped with the side part being a tanning ledge 8 x 14 (includes the steps and ledge) I would like for the ledge to be between 6 inches deep, and no more than 12 inches but our PB is worried about the liner lifting up or getting wrinkles and wants to do it at 20 inches (16 inches when pool is full of water) he says we need that much water on it to keep from having problems. We live in Syracuse, NY and ledges are not that popular here in fact when I talked to PB's 4 years ago no one knew what I was talking about, since then the company I am going with did their first one last summer. I want to know if this is a legitimate concern or if they are being conservative due to lack of experience with tanning ledges. The PB we have chosen has a great reputation for both the build and customer service. I am in need of recommendations of how shallow an in-ground liner pool tanning ledge can be. Thanks in advance for your help!

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Comments (6)

muddy_water
11 years ago
We just did one that the ledge was at 8inches...They need to add returns over it to keep the liner wet at all times and clean,,,and the skimmers set a little higher too maintain water over the shelf. Also try to go with a full pattern liner (no border) to make it look right...

Rusty
hollyawright
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Rusty, Does that mean the ledge was the first step into the pool? Any insight into whether it will wrinkle or lift sooner than if I went deeper water? I agree with the idea of no border as I am not a big fan of most of the ones available. Thanks again :)
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muddy_water
11 years ago
Yes it was the first step...and the extra returns over it will keep you from having liner problems...

Rusty
PrecisionPoolJay
11 years ago
Hi hollyawright ,

We just started doing these last year, we call it a SpaDeck. We make ours a little deeper, as it is the 2nd step so ends up being 12". Pacific does a great job fitting their liners to it so it fits like a glove.

We also add quite a few returns coming from the header of the first step to help blow out debris and towards the shallow end cleaning heads.

We did a few last year and already have a couple lined up for 2013.

The only problem is finding a lounge chair that won't float in the 12" deep water.

Also with it being the 2nd step you can get a liner with a border and it still looks 'right'

I posted a picture as ours is built a little different than what is being discussed here.

I also posted a youtube link so you could see the rectangle version.

-Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Video of Rectangle SpaDeck
sunnyjim00
9 years ago
Hi in Syracuse. We were surprised and happy to read your inquiry since it is so similar to our design issue and in the same area you are located. We are also in the CNY area and attempted to build a pool last year. We hit many issues-most having to do with our pool placement in our yard, that we have since changed. One other issue we had was the same as yours with the sundeck and how to do it. We have a pool ledge/sundeck in our design and we are wondering if you could share with us how yours was done and if you have success with it. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!! We wish to have it in the first step if it's possible. Our PB was not familiar with the sundeck and has since done one as well. (Maybe we have the same PB?). We are also wondering if you did install returns and if you felt you needed them. We are told we could have 6in water on first step and we are not sure if that's enough, although we think it is. Our sundeck design extends 6 feet. Any guidance/photos you could provide would be wonderful.
Thank you in advance and we hope your pool turned out fabulous.
hollyawright
Original Author
9 years ago
Unfortunately we had to hold off on the pool, we just had a baby a few months ago and decided to do the basement first as we will be able to use that year round and do the pool in a few years. I would love to hear how yours turns out - good luck! We wanted to use Liverpool and Spa (Jason) I really liked their customer service!

Water Depth of Tanning Ledge / Baja Shelf in a Vinyl Liner Pool?

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muddy_water

hollyawright
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Water Depth of Tanning Ledge / Baja Shelf in a Vinyl Liner Pool?

Comments (6)

muddy_water

hollyawrightOriginal Author

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muddy_water

PrecisionPoolJay

sunnyjim00

hollyawrightOriginal Author

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