Today’s swimming pool decisions

 

When looking to having a new pool built here are some options/items to think about doing:

Pool layout/design:

1. Suntan ledges– shallow water, usually the depth of the first step in a swimming pool.  Water bubblers and umbrella holes are popular in suntan ledges and you could chose to mark the edge of it with tile markers.
2. Benches– the depth of a second step for sitting inside of pool.
3. Lighting– this is very important to think of how many and how large of a light you want to put inside the pool.  LED colored lighting is a popular choice with lighter color plastered pools.
4. Pool cleaners– this is the device to make your life easy.  It is like having somebody vacuuming your pool daily.  Polairis is a very popular unit.  There are also, in-floor cleaner systems that act as irrigation and blow debris into drains and eliminates having to look at a pool cleaners hose but this option is very expensive and have downsides.
5. Plaster finish/color–  this is a very important decision.  This will give your pool a custom look.  Traditional pools had white plaster but gray plaster colors became possible but now there are beautiful blue pigments out there.  There are also aggregate based plasters like Diamond bright, River Rock and Beadcrete.
6. Hot tub jets:  Some people chose to have spa jets installed by a pool bench for therapy rather than having a hot tub.
7. Water features-  like discussed above bubblers are popular but also, raised walls and deck jet fountains/spitters are also popular
8. Raised wall –  walls give homeowners a nice focal point.  Things to think about when thinking of a wall is how to face it: stucco, tile, brick, stone, etc and what type of water features like a sheer decent waterfall or spitters with sconces and total size of the wall make up what one will cost to build.

Pool equipment options:

1. Pumps–  There are different sizes of pumps such as 3/4 horsepower to 5 horse power.  Most people are concerned with saving electricity today so chose to do 2 speed pumps (a high speed and a low speed) or variable speed pumps to cut down on the electricity usage.  A 2 horse power pump on high speed will burn about 2,300 watts and at low speed it can go down to less than 200 watts.
2. Filters-  There are 3 different types of filters: sand, DE and cartridge.  The filters come in different sizes.  Remember it is not wise to go cheap here and sand will pick up the least particles and DE will pick up the most but the DE filter is the biggest mess for homeowners.  Crystal Pools and Spas installs mostly cartridge filters because of the ease of usage for the consumer.
3. Heaters-  there are really two popular heaters today for swimming pools, gas heaters and heat pump heaters.  Gas heaters are the way to go if you plan on having a hot tub built but heat pump heaters are great for if you plan on only having a pool built.   Heat pump heaters really maintains a temperature where a gas heater boosts up a temperature quickly but costs more to operate it.
4. Coolers-  there are only 2 real options as of today.  A heat pump heater also, comes with an option where it will cool your water and then the second option is a Glacier pool cooler.
5. Chlorination-  the two most popular ways to chlorinate your pool is traditional chlorine and salt sanitation.  As far a chlorine systems, you can have them supplemented with Nature II or UV to cut back on chlorine usage.
6. Automatic pool fillers-  there are traditional which are like a toilet bowl, with a float but the float can get stuck overfilling your pool until you catch it and there are now automatic ones like the Jandy Levelor that will shut it down to stop filling the pool after 20 minutes.

Hot tubs:

1. Blowers:  you need at least one blower for a spa for the jets, but some decide to put a second blower for their feet and they are put in the floor.
2. Computer system-  a computer system is not needed on a pool but a spa has a lot of features when combined with a swimming pool.  There is also a spa side button that will function 4 different features so that you do not have to bring the wireless system to the spa while you are using it.  Now the computers are iphone/ipad/smartphone compatible and work off of wifi.
3. Overflow/spillway-  you may want 1 small overflow or a solid overflow with a stone facial.
4. Level spa vs. raised spa-  a level spa will cost less but will be more difficult to get into and you will not have a water feature/raised spillway

Decking:

1. Concrete based decks:  there is Kool deck, Sun deck, stamped concrete, stained concrete, exposed aggregate, plain concrete, etc but all are concrete based and you will get cracks (hairline cracks which are minimal)
2. Pavers-  man made pavers, travertine, limestone, etc.  Cost more but are easily fixed and easy to add on decking at a later date
3. Stone/brick-  cost more as it is usually set on a concrete base.

Accessories:   some examples are outdoor kitchens, outdoor fireplaces or fire pits, art pieces, columns, etc.

 

Hope this helps and if you have any questions feel free to email us!

Today’s swimming pool decisions

Today’s swimming pool decisions

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