Get Ready For Summer with a Gorgeous Pool
By Renee Houston Zemanski
Spring is almost here, and perhaps you’ve been thinking about expanding the ways you can enjoy your backyard. One way to extend living space is to add a swimming pool.
Pools can add scenic beauty with rugged stones, rippling waterfalls, or colorful tiles or they can serve as outdoor fitness centers, providing a convenient place for burning calories and maintaining a regular fitness routine. Automatic cleaning systems along with energy efficient filters and pumps make pool maintenance easier and more convenient than it was in the past. So let’s get started.
Shape, size, and style
Once you’ve decided that you’re ready to take the plunge into in-ground pool ownership, you have plenty of choices. If you intend to build a pool that will be primarily for its aesthetic beauty, then you’ll want to consider a pool with a more fluid shape such as an oval, L, or kidney. Freeform pools and natural pools are great because they have continuous flowing curves that can be tailored to match their surroundings, lending to a more natural-looking environment.
If you’re going to use your pool primarily for exercise, you may decide to invest in a traditional rectangular pool that you can section off for lap lanes or purchase a fitness lap or counter-current pool, which is typically long and narrow (see the Do a Lap sidebar for more information on this). Diving pools must be at least 8-1/2 feet deep and have to be built to certain safety standards.
Newest on the scene in pool design are vanishing edge or infinity pools. Creating an optical illusion that commands attention, this type of pool is designed to look as if it extends all the way out to the horizon. This style is particularly effective and dramatic if your pool is facing the Bay. Actually, the pool water runs over an edge into a two-foot trough area that pumps the water back up into the pool. The result: a vanishing edge from one view and a waterfall from the back view. What’s not to like?
A close relative, the perimeter overflow pool, is a pool designed to keep the water level with the surrounding patio or decking. The pool is actually surrounded by a channel that the water drains into, thus creating a visual illusion. It can almost look like a mirror laying flat on your property.
Materials
The latest pool-surfacing materials are easy to maintain. Composite materials made with sprayed concrete and pebbles from rivers around the world offer texture and beauty. The great thing about these newer materials is that they have a naturalistic look but you don’t have to worry about snagging your swimsuit. The newer finishes are also designed to be slip-proof so that while they may have the appearance of slick shiny granite they are easy on the feet and knees.
Italian glass mosaic tiles are one of the many finishing touches you can add as a finishing touch to a concrete pool preferred by many pool owners for its durability. Concrete pools can be created two ways—either poured or gunite (a mixture of concrete sprayed into a frame). Another popular finish choice for concrete pools this season is the exposed aggregate such as pebble or quartz products, often referred to by their brand names, Pebble Tec or RiverRok. While the exposed aggregate option may be a little pricier, it offers a natural look particularly sought by designers.
Better fiberglass and vinyl options can provide you with the opportunity to install a pool quickly with a lower financial investment. However, be aware that these pools are pre-made and thus you can’t alternate the shape to fit your landscape. As the materials are not as durable, components may need to be replaced within 8 to 10 years.
While planning your pool, you’ll want to think about the edges and the decking. Tiles of porcelain, ceramic, slate, flagstone, and brick add texture and color. A solar shelf or tanning deck, which is a very shallow section of the pool that’s built like a deck in the pool, can be a great addition. You can typically fit a lawn chair or two on the shelf and it’s a great way to cool down without getting all the way wet. Rock formation from natural faux rocks, water slides, and water features including fountains, laminar jets, or waterfalls provide beauty and an indirect way to cool off.
To truly turn your pool area into an outdoor living space, consider adding a poolside bar, kitchen area, and cabana. There are many ready-made pool houses and cabana plans to choose from and your pool builder or landscape architect can steer you to the right selection for your poolscape. All of these options can make it easier for wet guests to relax without worrying about creating water puddles inside your home. Hey, while you’re at it, why not consider a swim-up bar so they won’t even have to get out of the pool?
Don’t forget outdoor lighting. Fiber optic lighting for landscape and underwater is a great option because it keeps the electrical power source away from the water. And an added bonus is the ability to change the color of the light.
No matter what you choose, know that adding a pool to your home isn’t always a perk when it comes to selling your home. In this area, it can be looked at as both an asset and a negative, depending on the prospective homebuyer. The best advice: add a pool for your own enjoyment.
If the pool adds value to your property, so much the better.
Costs and Other Factors
Most often when homeowners contemplate adding a pool, the biggest question on their minds is cost. While adding an in-ground swimming pool to your yard is a major investment, when you think of the years of pleasure, fun and exercise it provides, it is money well spent. Costs often average range from $35,000 to $85,000 (plus about a $20–40 monthly increase in utilities).
Maryland weather does offer us an advantage—there are plenty of sunny, warm days, but being surrounded by large bodies of water (rivers and the Chesapeake Bay) also presents its unique challenges. Look into zoning restrictions and then make sure your backyard is large enough. What is the terrain like—is it level or will you need to make it level? You also need to determine the size and shape of the pool. Surprisingly, a rectangular pool could cost you more than an irregular shaped pool because pool manufacturers often base prices on the pool’s perimeter.
Additional costs can include swimming pool chemicals, cleaning equipment, cleaning services, pool opening and closing costs, deck furniture, landscaping, and fencing. Your best bet: craft a budget and then decide what you can and can’t live without, and then enjoy.
Fences or barriers are required by some counties and should surround all four sides of a pool with self-closing and self-latching gates. A house can be part of the barrier, but a door alarm is must when small children are present. Check with your county for more specific restrictions.
Before you build, don’t forget that you’ll have to get a permit and approval from your homeowner’s association (if applicable). Adding a pool can be a major disruption to your life—as is any major construction—so expect at least 6 to 12 weeks of excavation and construction (and that is if the weather is cooperative).
Consider the costs, of course, but then consider this—you’ll be able to walk out your door and be on vacation.
Do a Lap
Known as a swimmer’s treadmill, lap, counter-current, or fitness pools are becoming increasingly popular as an addition to a regular pool area or installed on their own. Using a counter-current pool, swimmers can swim, jog, or walk against a current of water. Many swimmers use these types of pools to train for meets and triathlons.
In a counter-current pool, the flow of water resistance is usually created by a series of jets or as in the case of a company called Endless Pools, with a 16-inch propeller that is driven by a hydraulic motor. In an Endless Pool approximately 5,000 gallons of water a minute travel through two grills to create a regenerative loop. You can adjust the current of these pools so you can begin slowly and work up to an almost Olympic pace. The Endless Pool also has a low chlorine requirement and uses less energy, so it’s a little more eco-friendly.
These pools can be installed inside or outside, aboveground or in-ground. Because of their relatively small size (they range from 7 to 10 feet wide to 14 to 20 feet long), they can easily be installed inside of a home, making year round swimming a possibility even in Maryland.
Fitness pools go beyond exercise; they are very effective in treating many health or chronic conditions such as arthritis and orthopedic pain. Traditionally only found in physical therapy and sports centers, these pools are now becoming more and more common in residences. While they can cost around $20,000 (not including extra costs such as plumbing and electricity), the benefits far outweigh the costs especially when it comes to using them for therapy.
They can also be a cost saving when it comes to exercise. Many people spend thousands of dollars on gym memberships or building an outdoor recreational pool that can only be used during the summer and early fall. With an indoor fitness pool, you can basically flip a switch, and get your aerobic workout in about 35 minutes.
Speaking of exercise, did you know that there are underwater treadmills available? There are several companies such as HydroWorx, which offer underwater treadmills that are either separate or integrated into the pool floor. And research at the University of Michigan found that the range of motion and ankle and knee joint angular velocities were greater during aquatic running compared to treadmill running (on land), which can be advantageous for injured runners who are restricted from running on land and need to maintain their fitness and flexibility. That fact, combined with less impact on the legs, feet, and joints, make water running a healthy alternative to jogging on land.
Whether you choose to add an underwater treadmill or counter-current pool to your home, you still have to do your research. Go online, talk to your doctor or a physical therapist, and ask your sales representative if you can try them out before you “jump” into anything.
Contributing home & style editor Renee Houston Zemanski often enjoys a dip in her neighbor's pool, but prefers to keep her backyard available for pickup football, soccer, and lacrosse games. She also has two huskies that don’t particularly like water.