Should I make my pool less deep?

13 years ago

Hi there,
I'm new to this site and forum. I'm seeking help with a question about my new pool. We bought our new home six months ago and several months back started construction to upgrade our huge inherited pool what was built in the 50's with old plumbing etc. But the project quickly expanded to rebuilding the retaining wall, all the backyard concrete, and now building a BBQ. We've spent and spent and the contractor is great, but now that we're near the end, he's highly recommending to fill in our pool so that it's less deep. Right now it's 9.5-10 feet in depth and is 24 feet long, 15 feet wide, a 42,000 gallon pool which I'm told is huge. My pool contractor feels that it's TOO big and if we make it 6 to 7 feet in depth, then we'll have less water and will save money in the coming years on heat and maintenance. Also, he feels that it will burden the systems and will be harder to maintain with so much water. But it's another 7K at least we're told and we've already spent more than 100K plus lots of extras-lights, granite. My husband is done, and has had enough! But should we worry about the size of our pool in terms of it being TOO BIG, TOO much water to maintain efficiently? We won't ever want to do this again so if we're going to, now is the time!

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Comments (3)

truxtc102
13 years ago
I'm not a pool expert since I just got done with a new pool building myself! From what I remember, the depth of your pool is great for diving but the length is not quite 'up to code' and quite dangerous for it to be a diving pool. Not that it matters since it was not a recent built as far as coding goes. It is alot of water and maintenance to be thinking about in my humble opinion. Since your PB has been paid so much for all your projects already, I just think it's reasonable to give you a great discount if you choose to have one more project with him!:) Good luck to you and please keep us updated!
michtx
13 years ago
I'm going to chime in with my two cents worth. We just finished our gunite/pebble pool in December. Think about how you will use the pool. If you love to dive, swim laps and do kick turns, then I think what you have is suitable. We're in Texas with long hot summers. We designed our pool to have 3 large ledges for lounging/ tanning in different depths. The main body of the pool is only two depths with a sharp transition between them, going from 4.5 feet to 8.5 feet. Two thirds of the main body is the 4.5 foot depth so we can easily stand and play, with a smaller deeper area for diving ( without springboard) and testing SCUBA gear. With a single and deep pool depth, you are either swimming or floating. All the best luck with your project!
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Fori
13 years ago
Did your pool builder upgrade all your plumbing and THEN tell you he didn't upgrade it enough for the pool you already had?

I think it's borderline sleazy to hit you with this after all you've done already. He should have mentioned this when he first bid on the job. It's not like the pool depth is a change order.

(I am not a pool builder but have done enough remodeling to think he'd better have a darn good excuse for missing something this obvious.)