I am not a fan of the recessed pool for the automatic cover. Maybe it is the coloring on that pool but I dont like it. Maybe it could work if the curb was recessed far enough back, but I dont see how it will look like the pools in your picture. Can you put in a really good top notch in floor cleaning system? Maybe also have the mobile pool rover too? I have an in floor cleaning system and it is not great, but I know there are better brands out there.

These are very cool!

You can get a cover that goes under without the dopey extra deck with good planning. You might need to limit the curves and I'm not sure you can get rocks. (You can't retrofit one into an existing freeform pool though...grrr).

Do you need it to be a safety cover or just a leaf/insulation cover?

I do NOT have an automatic cover and I DO have trees (there's an orange tree literally over the pool). A cover on a clunky reel makes a huge difference in temperature and pool maintenance so when we get the backyard redone we'll put in an automatic safety cover and lose our ugly pool fence. We WILL, however, be stuck with a big ugly rectangle cover on a groovy 60s freeform pool, but I think it'll be better because we're going to be using a cover regardless and it'll never be pretty.

Yours will be pretty. 'Cause you're planning ahead!

Scroll down and look at the extended cantilever deck on this website:http://www.coverpools.com/products/cover-any-type-of-pool/

Thanks! I can put in a great cleaning system... the auto cover is so expensive, I could probably hire a pool boy for five years for the cost of the cover... maybe that be my solution :)

I only need a leaf cover, the pool area will be fenced separately from the rest of the yard. That cantilever deck solution is better, but I'm still not sure I like the gap created by that...

sabbath7, your yard is amazing! Maybe I should just deal with cleaning the pool and forego the cover entirely. Or find the aforementioned pool boy...

Beagles- Thank you. Our pool is 18 years old built by the previous owner of our home. We are happy with everything that he did. A feature that I really like is having a patio area that's higher near the spa and then another that's lower.

We don't have a pool now, but when we did..... Make sure you get the best pump and filter system you can. Don't go with the smallest size for your size pool. Run it more than the mininum time. I ran ours 24/7. That really cut down on the trash in the pool. You really don't use that much more power. Empty the skimmer baskets daily.

sabbath7, I am shocked to hear your pool is that old. They did an amazing job making it look timeless and beautiful. I would have guessed the whole thing was done w/in the last year or two by looking at your pictures.

OK, so great pump, great filter and great cleaner and I could potentially avoid the design problems created by automatic cover!

I've also sent my PB the pictures of the cantilever deck to see if that is an option for us if we do decide on cover.

Thanks!

I don't know if it can be freeform shaped, but for a pretty penny, they also have pool covers that come out of the pool floor and rise up. It sounds like your goal is to keep the pool clean vs retain heat, so that crazy expense is probably not worth it. I imagine the leaves just wind up in the pool when the cover moves anyway?

We had a pool near big trees and at certain times of year, it would get pretty dirty, but the systems would clean it eventually (and the weekly visit from the pool boy). I'd only get a cover if I was trying to keep heat in, otherwise the pool boy is my vote.

We had a pool with waterfall and vanishing edge on our very wooded property at our last home. We had the in floor cleaning system which worked very well except for the fall. During the fall we had to scoop leaves daily. But, we did not cover/close our pool for the winter in our climate. If you plan to cover for winter (probably will in PA) then you just cover before most of the leaves fall and you will be fine. That is what we did when we had a pool in MA. Your inspiration pic is so far from that pic of the fiberglass that I don't think you could ever be happy with that. Somewhere on Houzz are pictures of my pool...on pool forum and one here on a pool thread years ago. But I don't know how to search for them and I don't have photos on this computer. Anyway..I think you can get your vision more easily with a gunite pool. We have had two and never had any issues with them.

Judy

We're in the process of building an infinity edge pool, which is being built on a hillside with a steep slope. We have some trees surrounding the pool but most of them are Monterey Cypress or palm trees which do not shed many leaves. The quotes for the pool cover for our pool were in the $10K to $12K range. After talking with a number of pool contractors and our landscape designer, we decided not to do the automatic cover. It didn't seem to justify the cost.

We put in a pool at our beachhouse last yr. Our contractor dissuaded us from an automatic cover; he said they often have mechanical issues in climates where you have freezing (where you are) and esp., for us, on the ocean with the salt water.

I have seen fiberglass pools with the boulders right up to the edge so I think I can achieve the look as long as I don't try for the cover. I really don't want another gunite pool. I also like my pool builder, who did the rest of our landscaping, and I think he only does fiber glass.

After reading this, I'm pretty convinced no cover is the way to go. Mtn, what did you do as an alternative? Do you cover it at all?

I'm going to look into and research good cleaners. It's really only spring and fall that we get massive leaves, so maybe it won't be too bad.

Beagles - Do you have an idea how long you'd like to keep your pool open in the fall? Our automatic pool cleaner does a great job of removing debris from the pool during spring and summer. We have many trees plus a sycamore tree overhanging the pool and it seems to drop leaves daily. The cleaner does a pretty good job until fall - when there are just too many leaves.

I think we have the same climate and we usually close our pool around the third week of September but leave the detached hot tub open until November. My pool company cleans the pool weekly and in the fall I could ask them to come twice a week. But I like the water to be warm and my heater can only raise the temperature one degree an hour so for warm water I'd have to leave the pool heater on 24/7. And even then when the temps drop to the 60's at night the water isn't really warm enough for me.

Do you have an idea how many gallons the pool would be? My pool happens to be oversized (45,000 gallons) with a large deep end and that makes it harder for the heater to keep the water really warm. We don't use a solar cover to retain the heat either. We also discounted an automatic pool cover because we'd really only need it for 2 to 3 weeks - and it wasn't worth the $.

We keep our outdoor waterfalls going until about beginning to mid-Sept when our leaf issue gets too bad. I think I would probably try to close the pool around that time and hopefully leave the hot tub open like you do, maire_cate. I do not think we could handle the leaves in fall.

The pool I want is 30' long, 14' wide, and max 6 inches deep. I don't have room for a huge pool because of the sloped yard and the fact we already have extensive landscaping, patios, etc. We're going to do a gas heater. We have a heat pump in FL. What kind of heater do you use? I'm assuming your hot tub heats up quicker than a degree per hour?

I actually won't swim unless a pool is at least 84 degrees (and even then, by swim I mean float on a raft), which isn't generally possible except in the warmest months. In Fl, I use our hot tub every day and I also use our tanning shelf almost every day (e.g. sit in a lounge chair on the tanning shelf and put my feet in) and I am putting the pool in to be able to use it in much the same way in PA, so the pool doesn't have to be super warm. The puppies swim regularly, but if the pool is in the high 70's, I think they're fine to swim.

jmck_nc I just went to google and searched with your name and the word
pool. Several posts came up from 2007 on. Looked at a few but didn't
see your pool.

I live in ny and we had a pool for 9 yrs. we just moved, but will be putting in a pool when we can . I would not have a pool without a powerful heater and a solar cover for heat and debri. I want to be able to go in the pool when I feel like it, and not 4-5 hours later. It is way too cold without a heater on for some period of time. We had a heater but not a cover in the last house. PO put it in.

I would rather design it in it in a way that I can live with in terms of looks. And ensure ease of use. Otherwise I might as well just build a water feature. For me, I think that will mean giving up on a natural looking free form pool, but I am ok with that.

It is expensive to heat a pool 24/7 and I think the cover will really help with that.

Our PB also mentioned that the automated tracks at the time of our build were not recommended for salt water pools due to corrosion. My neighbors have one and it is broken more than it is working. We are on the CT. coast line. We have a heat pump with a solar cover on a reel. It helps keep leaves from sinking in the pool and when we roll it up the surface leaves are left by the filter wall and easy to skim most out....

i like my pool 85 but in October in Ct I settle for 80. We usually close it a week or two after Columbus Day.

roarah - does the solar cover help with the temp? do you find it worth it? how much of a pain is the reel? does the reel kind mean you can have any shape pool? :) as you can tell I have not really started looking in to this.

I am an old school rectangular pool lover. I swim laps and like the function and look of a rectangle pool just dropped into the grass with almost no coping so my pool cover is easy peasy to roll now that we have a top of the line reel. My first reel was cheap and my pool is 40x18 and the cheap reel did not support the weight well and was messy to roll and unroll.

I do not think the cover helps heat the pool as much as it helps retain the heat of the pool at night or when it is windy. I use to hate seeing the steam rising off the pool in the early am. I could actually see dollar signs floating into the air....

Not sure about free form but I assume one could be cut to fit they have round covers....

thanks roarah - how is the heat pump? we had a propane furnace at the last house. the propane was pretty expensive.

Do you leave the pump on all the time?

The solar covers can be cut to fit a pool of any shape. For free form pools, I've seen people have them cut into multiple separate pieces so it is easier to take on and off.

I thought about a cover on a reel but am not thrilled with the idea of having a big reel sitting around in the space.

We use solar sun discs in FL to keep the heat in the pool and I think that they do help a lot. They are supposed to actually heat the pool, which I do not believe in any way that they do, but they do keep some of the heat from rising off. I don't think they look too bad, and it is easy for me to move them by myself if I want to take the pups swimming and no one but me is home. We could do this as an option in PA too, although of course they aren't quite as effective at keeping heat in as a full solar cover is.

We have been happy with our heat pump. It is set to 86 all the time till end of sept and than I put it to 80. Like the house heat on a thermostat, it turns on and off to regulate the heat. In July it never turned on this year it maintained the desired temp with the cover on and warm days. Heat pumps heat slower than a gas heater it only raises the temp two to three degrees per hour but it is more efficient and less expense to use, more to purchase though, so we maintain the desired temp rather than cycling on to heat it from say 75 to say 85 for a special event. The heat pump will not turn on if the air temp is below 49 degrees I believe.

Am going to add I am so happy to have a cover cause it turned out we had a family of raccoons enjoying our pool area and adjoining outdoor kitchen, they have since been removed! They would open our out door fridge, chew our blue foam rafts and the night camera showed them trying to get in our pool but the solar cover over the swim outs and steps prevented them from getting in so even when warm we cover. If a raccoon poops or dies in a pool you need to fully drain it and sterilize the filter, pipes and heaters! Chlorine or salt generated chlorine is not enough to kill a deadly parasite more tha a third carry I their poop and fur...

Roarah Haha. We had several racoon families who used to take their babies swimming in our old pool. (Was one of the cutest things I've ever seen). The buzzards used it as a birdbath too. After 8 years and probabaly a hundred raccoons in the pool, they never pooped. I guess it could happen though. We know people who routinely find drowned rodents in their pools and they are never drained. Our pool guy found a drowned buzzard (sadly) in our overflow area and he never suggested draining it then either. Maybe it's not the same thing?

Rodents are ok to clean by super shocking for a period of times...baby lambs and cows?! And dead raccoons have a totally different cdc protocol. It is recommended to have a dead raccoon or any feces found in your pool to be tested to determine the proper cleaning protocol.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/residential/animals/raccoons-and-pools.html

cleaning by animal recommendation https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/residential/animals/dead-animals-and-pools.html

We had pools in our last two houses... over 30 years of pool use. We lived in the NYC suburbs. Now we are in NE PA and have a lake in our backyard. :-)

We had a freeform gunite pool with granite rock coping in our first house. It was large.. about 45'x25'. It was not heated. We found that the solar cover heated the pool but made it dirty. When the cover was on, the skimmers couldn't do their job and debris just collected on the cover. It was nearly impossible to get the cover off without the debris falling into the pool. We did not have trees directly over the pool, but all manner of stuff falls into the pool spring and summer too. Mostly bugs.

We've had all kinds of small rodents die in the pool. Mostly find them in the skimmers... mice, moles and the like. In a pool that size, one little mouse isn't going to affect the water quality.

We just sold our house with a basic rectangular pool. We are in the Midwest. The automatic cover is what made us choose the rectangular shape. When we built the house and pool we had young twins and I wanted the pool to have a 4-sided fence and an automatic cover for safety reasons.

the automatic cover was worth its weight in gold. We had to replace the top once because of a rip otherwise no issues in 12 years.

-it made opening the pool a breeze. The water was amazingly clean.

-extends the season because it helps keep the heat in the pool.

-less chemicals needed.

-easier to keep clean

we are building a lake house and I'm so over having a pool. But if you are going to have one the cover makes life easier.

Good luck.

Rockybird, I'm a bee lifeguard too! I save everything because I don't like anything to suffer, even things I don't like. Where we used to live, our pool had an infinity edge which enabled most things to get out. When we do our new pool, I'm going to make the edges flush with the water (can't remember what that's called right now!) so everything can presumably get out too. I never knew about Frog Logs, so thank you for that link! My friend built a little ramp in her water feature out of rocks so the mice and other critters can crawl out of there too. Putting water out so they don't need to get it from the pool is brilliant. I am going to keep our pool warm all year so will definitely need a cover. I still need to find out if it's critter proof, or if they get in, that they don't get trapped under the cover.

Building for the cats- that is a great idea! I wish I had thought of it! Oh well...if I do another pool ever I will remember your idea!

I am glad I am not the only one who rescues bugs! In the summer, I do pool patrol. Even bugs at the bottom, I will pull out, because sometimes they make it. LOL I did get stung a couple times when bees came after me, but luckily I am not allergic, and it hasn't deterred me.

We find frogs, moles, snakes and once I found a snapping turtle in the pool. Most of them I can save but sometimes they are dead already. I always enjoy pouring fresh clean water on them after I get them out. I don't use the pool very much either as we live on a lake and I like to paddle board and swim in the lake. This last summer I swam 8 times which has been the most I have ever used the pool in a season. I decided that the pool was so expensive that I need to swim in it. We get a lot of huge black spiders in the pool in the fall. They remind me of baby tarantulas. I think they are from all the trees. I asked my pool man about it and he said the little bag that skims the stuff on the bottom was so full of them that he screamed when he picked it up.

We had a pool in a previous house than the one we just sold. It did not have an automatic cover. Gross...but we had dead mice in our skimmer constantly.

The pool with the automatic cover in the house I referred to in the earlier post did not have this problem. So the cover definitely did deter trapping the critters.

You guys are making me nervous because I know there are mice in our neighborhood. We see dead ones on our walks once in a while. We also have deer, a fox, groundhogs, and a lot of other woodland creatures. And spiders.

Hmm. I was basically convinced I could go without the cover.... but now I am concerned again :(

I know we will use the pool b/c we do in FL. I go in the hot tub and put my feet in every day and the dogs swim whenever it is above 80 degrees or so outside. They love chasing tennis balls into the pool. But I don't want anyone getting sick due to exposure to dead animals in the pool....

I've been thinking on this. I have waterfalls and a stream already in my yard. I don't know of any animals drowned in this steam yet (it's shallow). Haven't seen dead mice or anything. I wonder if the animals will stay at the water falls (if they come at all) and leave the pool alone since the pool will be salt water....

We do have a gas heater for the pool and hot tub and it does heat that very quickly. Depending on what controls you get you can also turn on the hot tub with your smart phone.

Is your yard already fenced? We usually get 2 or 3 voles a year in our skimmers and maybe a chipmunk. Once we found a rabbit but we have lots of them and only one in 20 years. The first year the pool was in DD looked out her bedroom window and saw some little creature swimming for dear life and ran down to rescue it. When she got the chipmunk out it just lay on his side panting for about 20 minutes then it hopped up and took off.

Our favorite stories though involve the frogs. One year I took the cover off the skimmer to empty it and a huge bullfrog jumped straight up and since I was bending over managed to smack me right in the face. Other times we've gone out early in the morning and discovered tiny little frogs swimming away. We do have a stream 3 houses from ours and I assume that's where they come from.

We've never drained the pool for dead animals but the time I found the rabbit I shocked the pool with chlorine. Every now and then a pair of ducks will land in the pool and swim around but that's when I let our Lab out - I don't want to clean up duck poop.

Beagles, only three dead animals or fecal matter are an issue, normally maintained chlorine levels are enough if rodents or other small animals fall in to kill their germs. I doubt you will find a dead lamb, cow or even raccoon in your pool. And if you do, have them tested for the dangerous parasites.

Again most dead animals are not a need to drain issue just, cows, raccoons and lambs who can often carry a deadly to humans parasite also their fecal matter is the issue.

Salt water pools reek havoc on cover tracks my pool company, quite a few years ago albeit, advised not to use salt with the track.

Ilovered.. Great to know that the cover seemed to deter the mice!

Beagles, because of the natural look your doing, you could probably set up a 'ladder' of rocks to save anything that might fall in. I bet you could make it look like a feature. FWIW, our pool was salt and it didn't deter the raccoons or birds. In fact, our infinity edge provided quite a show because the song birds would line up on it to take a drink. I used to call our pool the world's most expensive bird bath :) Also, I know you have dogs, so may you want to educate your neighbors about using snap traps instead of poison for the mice (and god forbid glue traps). If you routinely see dead mice on your walks, that is most likely the cause. That also means your dog is in danger, in addition to the owls, hawks, cats, foxes etc. Most people don't think they are killing those other animals and a friendly talk may be appreciated, unless they don't care of course. Our friend's cat died that way and it even kills mountain lions, which are much bigger than your dogs.

FWIW, I never found any poop in our pool, but maybe we just had polite raccoons. . I wouldn't think Raccoons, unless it's a baby, wouldn't down in a pool because they are pretty agile and good swimmers. But, plenty of other animals would't be able to get out, so I'd put in an attractive ramp.

Rockybird. I never thought of getting them from the bottom! I do know I've pulled out many floating bees that looked 100% dead and 10 minutes later they come to. Have the time they'd fly right back into the pool.. it was so hard getting my laps in!!! You will probably appreciate knowing that I have a humane pet vacuum I use to catch and release bugs in the house and I live trap rodents and release them in the park :)

roarah, I'm thinking about our next pool being ozone or something that isn't salt, so maybe that will help.

We have raccoons around and often see them, I haven't seen any poop in the pool. During the early summer we get frogs in the pool everyday, I put little frog logs out but many don't use them. I go out every morning and rescue them. I wouldn't especially worry about critters. The spiders are the worst imo. I had a huge spider attach it's self to my hand and boy did I let out a holler hahaha. When I took it off my hand it felt like velcro detaching from my skin.

Thanks. The cause of death for the mice we see is generally obvious- squishing! It is amazing because there are very few cars in our neighborhood but somehow a good number of mice end up run over. We even managed to run one over in our driveway.

We have some nasty looking large spiders but I will have to check the pool thoroughly to make sure none are in there before we get in!

We had a baby deer once when the gate got left open :( was sad. lots of frogs. I don tknow what else DH has found, he must not tell me.

In our first home, we put in a pool that was literally surrounded by mature trees (I told my DH no pool if a tree was harmed). We had maple, oak, pine, dogwood, magnolia, etc. There was always something falling in there. We had frequent service and DH also enjoyed keeping it pristine himself as well (even the little kids liked to skim for some reason). We had a removeable cover to keep heat in, and a permanent cover off season.

In our second home our pool is indoors but even so we have it cleaned professionally every week.

We put a pool in at the beachhouse last year. This is along the coast about 1hr N or Boston. We did not do a retractable cover. One half of the pool's edge is right up against planting beds, and there are mature trees as well ... so we get plant debris, esp w wind off the ocean. We have it cleaned 2-3x a week, and we have an app on our phones to run the filter, heater, etc. We only cover it off-season. We chose a dark finsih to the pool because I like the look and it also really holds the heat ... it was too warm in July, and we would add cold water!

One thing -- none of our pools was visible from the house. That makes a difference IMHO. I do not like looking at covers.

We have never had spiders (yikes), once in a while ducks, and yes, baby frogs. Nothing else, or if so the maintenance people were kind enough to stay mum.

We had copperhead snakes in the pool. More than once. My sister can move fast when that happens.

beagles - I wouldnt worry that mice getting in the pool would make the water unsafe. It's great that you have a water source nearby. I'm in the desert, so I think these animals are really drawn to the pool. Once, my friend was swimming in the pool and found a baby snake swimming with her! She pulled it out so it wouldnt die.

building for the cats - I dont pull the bees out of the bottom, as they tend to float, but I have found large beetles sitting at the bottom. They tend to be dead, but every now and then I pull one out that makes it.