Bigger isn t always better when it comes to swimming areas

Post on: 2011-08-26 By: admin

Move over, large lap pools. Smaller swimming holes are making a
Sure, the economy is playing a role in making this luxury
littler: Smaller pool equals smaller budget. But it's more than
that, says Brett Berry, owner of Landscape Renderings, a Missouri
business that designs and builds outdoor living environments.
"You can create a fantastic sense of intimacy and atmosphere with a
Berry, who has tucked small pools into courtyards and secluded
spots. "It's easier to make an outdoor living area feel like an
extension of a house when it's a small versus a large pool.''
Plus, care and maintenance are a lot less with a small pool, says
Berry, who grew up with a 20-by-40-foot backyard pool that had to
be vacuumed and chemically treated each day. "Most people,
especially working parents, want a hassle-free pool.''
When Berry was working with Don and Lucie Black of Prairie Village
on replacing their deck, he suggested a small in-ground pool
instead of an above-ground hot tub. Initially, they weren't
"Before we moved into this house, we avoided looking at houses with
swimming pools,'' Lucie Black says. "I couldn't imagine taking care
of a lap pool every day.''
But what Berry envisioned with brothers Kirk and Dennis Strobel of
Land and Water LLC, a swimming pool design and construction company
in Kansas City, Mo., was much different than a rectangle that
soaked up a lot of real estate in the backyard. They came up with
an 8-by-12-foot hybrid hot tub and pool that some in the industry
"Too big to be a spa, too small to be a pool,'' Kirk Strobel says.
The average hot tub is 7 feet in diameter, and a conventional pool
The Blacks' spool looks more like a natural water feature than a
swimming pool. The backdrop is a water fountain that flows down a
rock ledge into a g unite basin. A U-shaped bench inside the pool
surrounds spa jets. The front end is for swimming. The typical pool
raft takes up the width of the pool.
"I wouldn't want it any bigger or any smaller,'' Don Black says.
"The pool, combined with a pergola, has given us a whole new place
to entertain. We sit out here on evenings and have the family over.
Our granddaughter plays here.''
The Blacks' spool takes up only a small slice of their yard that is
mostly devoted to gardens. Often, smaller pools coincide with
"The housing boom created houses of a significant stature with not
much room left for a yard,'' Berry said.
Another reason for more diminutive backyard swimming pools is the
rising number of swim parks, says Jim Dott, designer at Blue Haven
PoolsSpas, a national company.
"They feel like they can get the slides and those kinds of features
at the parks,'' Dott says. "So they're trying to make their
backyards more like a beautiful resort. They can do that with a
And with smaller pools, the landscaping is much less, Dott points
out. That's a big consideration because the surrounds are typically
one-fourth the cost of pool projects.
Heating a spool is 75 percent less than the cost of a conventional
swimming pool if the correct equipment is used, Strobel says.
Because of their size and minimal maintenance, people can use small
pools for many months of the year. For example, a spool's
temperature can increase by 30 degrees in about two hours. Based on
1,000 BTUs of gas per hour, this would allow someone to maintain a
temperature of about 50 degrees in cold months and within two hours
be swimming in 80-degree water. Or enjoy the temperatures of a hot
tub in about three hours.
With computer-managed pumps, the electricity required to maintain a
spool would be equal or less than that of a refrigerator.
The Blacks use their spool year round, even Christmas. They keep
the pool covered in the fall and winter. "It takes about 10 seconds
to put on the pieces,'' Lucie Black says.
And the spool has kept them cool and entertained during these hot
"The only downside is filtering out the June bugs,'' Don Black
says. "But at least we don't have as many of them as we would with
Size Dimensions Water Construction costs for a concrete pool Annual
Small 8 by 10 feet 4,000 gallons $35,000 $50 to $100
Conventional 18 by 36 feet 22,000 gallons $60,000 $300 to
- Sources: Land and Water LLC, Blue Haven PoolsSpas
WHAT ELSE IS HOT IN POOLS?
Ozone for cleaning: Ozone gas is an active form of oxygen that
reacts with bacteria, viruses, algae and other water impurities. At
low concentration levels in the water, it has no effect on your
skin and eyes. Many municipal water purification plants use ozone
to treat local drinking water. When the ozone gas dissolved in
water comes in contact with impurities, it oxidizes them as
chlorine chemicals do. It also causes particles and body oils to
clump so the filter can more effectively remove them. An ozone
generator is installed in the existing pool or spa filter plumbing.
The generator injects ozone gas into the pool water through a small
tube. An ozone system is not chemical-free because you still need
to keep a level of chlorine in the pool water, about 20 percent as
much. There are two types of ozone generators: ultraviolet, which
uses a fluorescent light to create ozone as the sun does; and
corona discharge, which uses an electrical arc inside a generator
to create ozone as lightning does. Ozone is often used in
combination with saltwater (salt-generated chlorine) pools.
Sun ledges for lounging: These 6-inch deep integrated areas allow
people to sit in the water without fully submerging. "People who go
to pools at the hotels in Las Vegas experience these and want to
bring them home,'' says pool designer Jim Dott of Blue Haven Pools
Sources: www.poolcenter.com; Blue Haven Pools
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T EXERCISE IN A SMALL POOL?
Sure, you can't play a regulation water volleyball game. But you
can still do water aerobics and even swim laps.
Water "treadmills'': Badu SwimJet Systems can be installed in any
type of pool, new or existing, vinyl liner or concrete, large or
small. Capable of creating a current of 5,000 gallons per minute,
the jets can be adjusted to provide resistance for a walk, jog or
swim. They cost between $4,000 and $6,000.
Aerobics: Have a certified water instructor come up with a workout
based on your pool's size, depth, temperature and number of
participants, says V. J. Blaney, assistant fitness supervisor at
Matt Ross Community Center in Overland Park. A deep-water workout
in 5 feet of water would require special equipment like a noodle,
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