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Need help with water depths for our pool please!

7 years ago

Would sincerely appreciate help with our pool design. Per the picture we are building a 51' long pool that from a 10' lap lane ( 24' of the pool) to 14' wider more shallow space (27' of the pool). You come off the back porch and enter the pool at the 4' kickout in width. We would like the depth of the pool to span from 4' to 6'. Since the kickout is at the midpoint that puts the stairs/entry point of the pool around a 4.5' depth. Does anyone have any experience with that? The contractor expressed concern that he should grade the floor at the steps to 3.5' since it is unnatural to enter the pool that deep. I'm struggling to visually that and don't want something awkward. We envision using the 27' but 14' section the pool as an area you could play volleyball or such. Any advise would be sincerely appreciated!

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Comments (3)

5birdy
7 years ago
You're very smart to really take time to consider the usage and depths of all these elements. Pool builders like to build in dimensions most commonly used; it's faster and convenient. But they can build to any of your dimensions! Our pool is very similar to yours except it is all one depth (approx 4.5'....the depth is not exact and actually shorter than planned. A reasonable variance is allowed during construction. One end is 3.5' because the rebar guy was so used to doing it! If redoing we'd aim deeper). We have a baja shelf where your bench/back porch is so that the pool is a large rectangle. Our stairs come down the baja shelf. You need to take the pool coping depth, allow for 6" water tile, then decide the depth for the critical first step so it is not too deep to step off from coping. In our case, the coping 3" + water tile 6" + 3" baja shelf (which is actually 6" using half the water tile) made the first step down 12" but half is water. Then the other 3 steps were equally divided (somewhere around 10 to 10.5") to meet the floor. Hard to measure after the fact when the finish is on. I love having both a swim lane and a free play area.
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Erica Mobley
Original Author
7 years ago
Do your steps enter into the 3.5' area you mentioned or the 4.5'? I've since been reminded that my mother's pool is a sport set up, rectangular, with the stairs descending to the deepest section in the middle at 5.5' deep and flanked by a 4.5' and 4' section on each side of the rectangle. The contractor had stated you don't want to enter into water over 3.5' but clearly my mom's pool already breaks that rule. I swim there regularly with my children and if they want they just push off the stairs and go over to the 4' area where they can stand up.
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5birdy
7 years ago
The steps enter into the 4.5' sports section (the accidental 3.5' area is on the "drop off" swim lane side of the baja shelf). Sounds like your mother's pool is a great place for you to start measuring and finalize your numbers!
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