We have a seat under ours so we didn't need any. If the seat wasn't there I would have something, mostly for the kids.

I hated the look of those hand holds on the RBB. Ours is 8 ft long at 18 inches high with a lower step area on each side 12" high. I had the tile installer put in all the wall tile with grout and then TAPE 2 hand holds on until the inspector passed on the entire project. Then we took them down. I personally think they are dangerous the way they stick out from the wall, although I understand the logic of them. We have had lots of kids in the pool and never had a problem. Barb

Inspector? I didn't think it was a code issue. In fact, I am almost sure it isn't here, because we can get our final inspection as soon as the fence and alarms are installed. They won't ever even see the finished pool.

We we live in Socal we had to have a handhold. I used Poured in Place concrete. It worked out well, I would not have done it if it was not required.

Just like airborne101 we had the builder "stick" ours on until after inspection. Didn't have them originally but inspector said we had to have them. My raised BB is in the shallow end of the pool so they were really pointless since we don't have any small children.

Is your rbb covered with tile or stone? Ours has stacked stone, so our builder continued our flagstone coping around the rbb at the pool level as well as for a cap on the wall. So, the flagstone sticks out about 1 1/2 inches at the bottom of the rbb. This acts as a handhold.

We have the same setup as stmiddlebrooks, and I think it is one of the best features of the pool. When we were talking with pool companies, I knew that most of the deep end was going to have a high RBB, and wanted some kind of hand holds, since my youngest son was just learning to swim. Some of the companies suggested the handhold tile, and others suggested a rope, and I didn't like either of these ideas. The company I went with told me they could do a shelf (about 2") all around the RBB, and 3" above the water line. It was PERFECT. The kids can grab on to something from anywhere in the pool (and it is a great place to put your drink when floating around). The cost was pretty small, a couple hundred, and that was mainly for the extra tile. Looking back, I am kind of surprised that none of the other companies suggested this, since our company considered it fairly standard for our kind of pool.

Have a great day,
Deron

St. and Mean, would love to see more pics of both your pools. Are there some in the gallery?

Ras, I love your pool. I'll go check out pics of what you are describing.

We are not having stacked stone. A ledge is out of the question since gunite is complete. Oh well... I like that idea :( We'll just skip the handholds.

The pool interior is beautiful! Is that a Pebble Tek surface? We are building a pool and trying to decide if we want plaster or PT.

Here is a link that might be useful: dawn

Dawn-If you are referring to our pool, then it is PebbleTec midnight blue.

Here's a link to some photos. The color is off in some of the pics. I need to upload some better ones.

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of pool

I thought I posted a follow up here, but it doesn't appear to have posted. To StMiddleBrooks, I saw your extra pics, and I think the pool looks just super! I wanted to find out if you like the feel of Pebble Tec. Is this PT or Pebble Sheen? Is it roungh or do you like the feel of it? Would you change anything?

Thanks for your feedback!

Dawn

We put in hand holds, was worried about the kids. Here are 2 shots:
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

FWIW, the ONLY times I have seen kids get freaked out in a pool was with a rbb and no hand holds. I've seen it twice now to the point where a parent had to get wet to save the kid. Scary. Arms of little ones do not reach high and when they come up gasping and can't grab some thing they really panic.

I have been around pools a bunch, but those were the only two with rbb I've had my kids in and those two times were the only times where I saw kids need to be saved. The kids were young, but good swimmers, they just got panicked. Plus, those raised walls make it hard to reach in and pluck out a flailing kid!

I do not like Handholds, but in Ventura County we need to have it for code for any RBB above 6in or 12in. So we went with Poured in Place Concrete. It turned out ok. But I would have preferred not to have it.

We live in So Cal, specifically Yorba Linda, Orange County and neither of our PB nor city inspector said anything about handholds. I didn't even know what handholds are until I read this thread. I wish they did because I would have wanted them. We have two young boys who are just learning to swim and now I'm nervous because we have an 18" RBB all along one side of the pool. We have not swum in our new pool yet so it hadn't dawn on me what could happen; however, I can visualize what last_mango was describing. We watch our kids quite carefully but now I have to let my husband know what to also watch for while the kids are swimmming.

xnightowl Get your tile guy back out to remove a few tiles and add handholds instead. No big deal, just a little messy. He'll have to lay on his belly or get in the pool to work. Ours had to do it to fix our sheer descent. He got in the pool to reinstall the tile, it was summertime so the pool was warm. Barb

Thanks Barb. I'll definitely look into it.

Deron .. just wondering about the width of the hand hold ledge. I like the idea of being able to set a drink up there (like you mentioned) But I'm wondering how with the specs you mentioned .. 2 inch? How is that wide enough to hold a cup?

Hi Lorriekay,

You are right. I just went out with the measureing tape, and the width is 3.5 inches. The tumblers I usually use have a base of 3 inches, so it is a perfect fit. It really comes in handy since my dog likes beer and wine, so there is no place safe on the deck. But since the ledge is 2 feet below the deck, he can't reach it.

Have a great day,
Deron

We were originally supposed to have some sort of hand-holds, but they didn't do a notch in the gunite. Because we have tile instead of stacked stone on our RBB, and because we have a 3 inch thick bullnose coping (necessary for the pool cover), a ledge at the bottom of the bond beam would have looked silly (kinda like a tongue sticking out). We decided to put excercise bars in the deep end of the pool where the bond beam is 5 feet tall. They provide that bit of reassurance for the little ones and are kind nice to hang on to and hang out under the sheer descents. Also, they will be good for physical therapy when I get around to the joint replacements I'm overdue for....

This is for STMIDDLEBROOKS.....love your pool we are having our pool refurbished and I am trying to decide between 2 pebble tec finishes....Tropical breeze and tahoe blue. I noticed your other "pebble" pictures on your photo link. Were you suppose to get Tropical breeze? The picture "we were suppose to have the one on the left" looked like tropical breeze and the right sample Tahoe blue. Just wondering...since I am still up in the air but need to decide next week. A neighbor has midnight blue, but it was a little too dark for me, especially on the stairs. The pics of your pool are very pretty....I want the blue look rather than the "green" look. My email is gk5040@aol.com. Would love to hear from you. Thanks
Cindy

This company supplies a modern designed hand hold

check there website out

www.streamlinesupplyco.com