Deeman, Pool looks great. Looks like the superstitions in the background. I love it when customers create their own delays. At least we got this cold spell for a bit. One comment, you spent all the money to put in all of that stone work and then you put plastic skimmer lids in the middle of it. Have your mason get a matching piece of travertine paver or coping in a 12" x 12" and cut a round lid. Enjoy.

I have pavers with no sand problem and I like them a *lot*...much more than concrete and there wasn't a great price differential...Shop around pricing-wise. I purchased the pavers at Ackerstone in Corona (just north of Riverside, if I'm not mistaken)where they sell overruns to the public at greatly reduced rates on Friday morings (other than that, they only sell to contractors). I had my landscaper install them. I ended up sealing them a year after they were installed. I didn't have sand problems either before or after they were sealed. My only regret is that I should have gone with a lighter color as they get hot (less so than similarly-colored concrete, but more than my light cantera coping).

I feel your pain because I'm fresh off the plan phase and have just had shotcrete. Your pool is similar in shape and close to the same size as mine. I had issues about the narrowness too. I kept stretching and curving to get more width without having to move it to another part of the yard where I have more room, but we'd lose the asthetics of the view. I left it alone and I do still wonder about the narrowness but there's no going back and I'm sure it will all work out. I can tell you that I was just at a pool party where the pool was more narrow and smaller than yours and mine and it didn't seem to phase the kids at all. They seemed to have plenty of room. However, we are talking about ten to fifteen, ten year-olds. On another note, we have a baja/ wetdeck as well. And something you may want to consider, (if you haven't already) are the placement, the size and amt. of steps into the pool which I hadn't even thought of with mine until today when I stepped down into my pool(granted there is no water yet)but our depth is 3.5' off the shelf and even with 3 steps to the bottom, it's still a good-sized step down... sort of a surprise drop, if you're not aware. Now, because you're struggling with the depth thing...if yo choose a 3' to 3.5' depth instead of 4' this may allow you a little more peace of mind as far as the safety issues go for your small child/children. You don't know me from Adam, and I really am not a doomsdayer, but I'd like to share with you what happened to me and maybe it will help in your decission. My son (who is alive and well) was 4 and about 43" and in a 3.5' pool with me right next to him ... looking at him no less... I was not able to see that the water was just covering his nose. I couldn't see any line of demarkation that would indicate to me that he was sucking in the water. My clue that something was wrong was that I realized he was not talking or moving around. And even though he had been taught to hold his breath and had some lessons he just panicked. I finally realized what was happening and got him out in time, but it was a horrific scare. That just reminded me... better to be safe than sorry especially w/kids. Drowning is a such a silent killer and there's no going back. A friend of mine lost her 3 yr old little girl to a drowning accident in her own pool. I don't know if this is too much on a pool info site, but if this helps save you and anyone else from that kind of tragedy, then it's worth the possible discomfort of my opinion. Okay, that's all I'll say about that. Anyway, it will all turn out; right??? Good Luck

Don't let political correctness sway your decision on a pool. This states water problems are not just due to a lack of rain. The state has always been dry. It's the lack of policy on water storage that is causing the issue. A pool will always use less water than grass or your run of the mill plants. If your only worried about evaporation and not safety than you can still keep your pool shape by using a slatted cover from Aquamatic pool covers. They aren't inexpensive but they will keep water and heat in. Proper pool hydraulics and chemical feeders will help keep the pool energy efficient and will cut down on having to drain your pool in the future to correct imbalances in the water. Hope this helps.