Pools transform your home and your lifestyle. When I was growing up in the 70's we had an inground pool installed in our backyard. The process of the projects was full of so many details and days of hard labor. All I could think of was how great it was going to be to have a pool but what I didn't expect was how it changed the whole dynamic of our home. Our house became the place to hang out, creating cherished memories.
TIPS FOR POOL DESIGN OPTIONS
1. Coping Is The First Decision - Coping will keep you in budget or blow the budget so it's important to understand the consequences of your coping choice. Coping options are mainly concrete or natural stone. Lagoon shaped pools tend to be with a narrower concrete paver to create the needed curves. Natural stone is an option for lagoon shaped pools as well but to create the needed curves and sizes the stone would have to be fabricated out of stone slabs at a higher cost. One of the best kept coping secrets is if you keep the coping at 12" wide and you have a rectangular shaped pool, then you can use standard stock stone treads with a significant savings to you.
2. Base Material - Stone dust is not great material for base. It has been used for years because it compacts very well but it does not drain. Water sits with stone dust. Base materials have improved over the years; better materials like Dense Grade, Road Material, Processed Base anything that has stone, dust and other recycled aggregates in it. The layers of a good base are approx 6" of Base Material and 1"-2" of Setting Bed Material. Setting bed options are Course Sand, 3/8" Stone, Chip Stone or yes even Stone Dust. Stone Dust can be used as a setting bed because it is only a few inches deep. There is another option for base installation called Open Graded Bases. *See more info on that with Tip #3.
3. Open Graded Base - There is debating about this kind of base. Basically the base is 6" of 3/4" Crushed Stone with a setting bed of a smaller Crushed Stone. This is what would be done for a pemeable base but this process can be used for any non-permeable base. There are may benefits with Open Graded Bases; the crushed stone interlocks, there is no need to compact every 2" and there is a savings on labor time. A secret in the trades about the setting bed being installed with 3/8" or Chip Stone compared to a Course Sand is that if you get rained on you can continue to work with the stone setting bed but with the sand setting bed you have to cover that sand as the water affects the sand compaction with the pavers.
4. Paving Area - Pool paving tends to be a good amount of square footage. It is important to know the function of that area. For example usually there is an area for the pool lounge chairs, a sitting area, maybe a table and chairs, possible a firepit area. All of these ideas lead to need square footage for the use of the space. I have seen people install too much square footage of paving where the budget is wasted and the space is not utilized properly. It's always good to walk your pool area and mark out the paving, walk it, look at furniture choices and figure out the furniture footprint. I tip in the trades here is a Firepit Area will eat up approx. 150 square feet of paving. This allows for the Firepit and the sitting area around it. Regarding paving options know that with Concrete Pavers you will have many more colors, textures and sizes to choose from.
Keep in mind that the above for Tips will start you off in the right direction to creating your perfect pool area.
