Ideas for a swimming pool?

I am going to install a swimming pool this fall,I don't have a huge yard but typical So Cal tract, 40' X 75 I am thinking about a shallow pool, say 5' total? You can swim and play vollyball but not dive. I plan for a full outdoor kitchen, large bar and sitting area. Any suggestions or comments? It was so enjoyable over at TikiFury's place last week around the pool I decided to go for it. I have Prop 13 Taxes and have been here 20 years, would not make sense to move to house with a pool, My monthlys would triple! Thanks, how about some pic's of your yard?

I am not in CA, but had a pool at my last place. I'd go with a bit deeper than just 5 feet all the way around. It's nice to be able to sit in the pool at the 3 feet and jump in okay at the 8.

How about a tiki mosaic on the bottom?

You could add a treasure chest to the side of the pool away from the nearest seating area, like in this post:

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7757&forum=7

And there's some pictures of TraderPup's pool & treasure chest here:

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=3879&forum=4&start=45

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance on 2004-07-04 12:20 ]

I thought it would be cool to paint a pool black or some dark color. it would kind mask the depth a little. i think they did something like that on Monster House where they created a lagoon by painting the pool bottom black they also added a bunch of island tiki type themed things around it. It was sweet. Best of luck!!
Rob

[ Edited by: wushu on 2004-07-04 15:43 ]

I saw that Monster house and I thought "how the hell are you supposed to clean that pool now? I thinkit was a bad idea. You would have aq tough time seeing what's on the bottom to vacuum.

I would like to see a T connection so you could route the out pipe of the pump to a waterfall into the pool. You could turn it off or on full or just a trickle. You'd just need to think about what you put around there to not dump dirt and crud in the pool all the time.

Check online on Ebay for Sunset Swimming Pool books from the 50's and 60's. I sold one recently, maybe these pics will give you some ideas:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4307585450&ssPageName=STRK:MESO:IT

Those new "sports pools" are all the rage right now. Especially in the new tract home with little to no back yard. They're basically 5' deep rectangles for playing vollyball, basketball, and cooling off.

My pool (the treasure chest) is amoeba shaped. Someone in a nearby neighborhood is putting in a new pool, it has rocks all arround it and a small waterslide too. That's sweet! I really want one of those old school slides and I've thought about making a swim-up bar in one part of my pool. Maybe some day...

I think the people who put in pools love to sell those "sports pools" because they're less expensive, easier to install, and require no creative tallent at all. Do you have kids? I have so many memories of swimming, making it to the deep end and showing my parents new dives. I think a standard pool with a deep end would be more fun for kids. Good luck deciding.

Tikifish, Thanks for the idea, I have those in the bookshelf, just forgot about them. I think I will go with a amoba shaped pool but it will be shallow, Kids grown and outa da house, grand kids on the horizon. I have solid rock down about 3 feet and the yard slopes down toward the house so by elevating one side and keeping it shallow, I will only have to go down a little. I like the tiki mosaic idea Cheekytiki, The treasure chest stuff is what I am looking for, anything else?

Banana Bob,
It Just so happens that I design watershapes (Fountains pools and surrounding environs) for a living. Strangely enough I recently designed a tiki themed play pool and lagoon etc. for a post WWII house on a modest lot, (for shits and giggles, as I don’t run across tiki clients often) so I have some pretty well developed and workable ideas. Be cautious of pool contractors or pool builders, sadly it is an industry full of well… ah… lets just say it is easy to get burned. In the swimming pool industry sub standard IS the standard. If you like you may contact me via PM and I’ll drop ya my number if ya wanna talk. I’m not “going after your business” as I work on high end projects at massive scales. Rather I’m offering some sound advice on the best way to get started with your project and keep it on track. It sounds cool and I’d be remiss if I allowed a TCer to fall in with a “Bad Crowd” or go down a rutted road to an unknown destination without a map. Everything that has been mentioned in this thread is achievable although it is a more complex matter than it may seem, (i.e. hydraulics for fountains are much more complex than a T from the pump for example) at any rate I always get excited by this type of project, and I’m So. Cal ta boot so if ya get a mind to track me down, I’ll pitch in my 2 cents.

TikiBob......our deep-end is 5'.....no problem diving off raised spa level. If you want a diving board the city will require a deeper pool. My mom can't swim and was afraid of her 8' deep pool. She likes being able to walk into ours since it is not over her head. Also heats up faster. Heed BwanaTiki's wisdom regarding pool "builders". Many do none of the work and sub it all out with minimal supervision. I would recommend a hands on (ie:expensive) builder if you have the bucks, or contract it yourself (if you have the time).
I spent more time supervising their subs than I should have, and they still sucked. Give me a call and I can lead you in the right direction. A freeform shape is a lot easier and forgiving thing for them to handle, they seem to have difficulty with a straight line!

Sorry to jump in so much but this stuff is my passion. Bongo makes very good points as far as structural aspects. I recently designed a pool with a strong Moorish influence. The deep end was formed in a facet. There were 2 octagons of different diameters, aligned and set at different elevations with the larger octagon at the higher elevation. The corners of the octagons join to form the facets, a very complex form. I had to be on site for the dig, the steel and the gunite shoot, and it was still like pulling teeth to get the crews to install the proper form and material and labor cost bore the brunt of the difficulties. The upshot is, more fluid shapes are more forgiving and cheaper to install. The problem with pool builders stems from template building system and an eye towards maximizing profit at the expense of quality. The most common way to make good money building pools is to build as many as you can and build them all essentially the same. The common procedure is to build to meet minimum legal requirements. This cookie cutter approach results in an affordable product that will perform to minimum standard for a good 5 or 6 years before it begins to develop problems, usually due to poor hydraulic planning. Commonly people end up with a shell they don’t like that well, oversized pumps, undersized plumbing, and ugly tile.

Did I mention that you can have a sand bottom pool…
A shallow bottom pool is a good candidate for a sand bottom. Volleyball anyone?

Ah, sorry guys, missed a few days of TC, just got back. Bongo, your pool started all of this, along with your B-B-Q. Since I have Prop 13 taxes and a micro mortgage, I will fix up this place. A Eichler would be nice but... I am a General Contractor and have had subs do pools for my clients before so thats the way I would go, I will call you and get some names and ideas. Bwana Tiki, sounds cool, I got your PM, I am getting amped about this! Thanks.

Wait, I just re-read your post, a sand bottom? How do you clean it? Gosh, shades of Sponge Bob's house eh?

Hey, i'm probably too late but i got an idea floating around in my head for a pool. Get a natural shape (like a kidney). Before you fill the pool mural the entire surface as an underwater scene. I'm thinking coral maybe some fish from above... To make it more realistic, do the bottom from a looking down perspective, and the sides as looking side on at the coral. The way the water distorts depth it could work really well. Your own tropical plunge pool

You know how Liberace had a piano-shaped pool? How about a pool in the shape of a Moai's silhouette?

I am still planning, I like your idea of a mural under water, I used to go to P.O.P. in Venice as a kid and they had a bathyscaphe (sp?) that was lowered into the water and they had "planted" stuff, buried treasure ect on the bottom and I always wanted a pool like that but I think I will have to go a little more conservative on the pool and dress it up with TiKi, resale and all you know. I have been playing with a waterfall with lights in the water, red and yellow, trying to make it look like lava flow, then add some gas jets at the top and then rename my bar to "Lava Lava Room. My wife just rolls her eyes...

How about a spitting Tiki somewhere spitting water into the pool? I saw something like that on e-bay a while ago. I'm sure you could rig your favorite tiki to spit... eh?

Did someone say spitting tikis?

I'm with Wushu on the dark-bottomed pool. I don't know about black, but I like the idea of taking aqua way down to midnight aqua. That and a deck of dark and varigated stone with the mystical and engulfing landscaping as exemplified by that of the Laney! She knows her palms. Thousand Oaks is rather more arid than the westside and you probably already take that factor into account. Laney would be a good advisor on the palmage.