Landscape Architect Articles

A Natural Debut07-12-16 | Feature

A Natural Debut

Photos By Jay Winter, Homepixs Media

The DIY Network chronicled the construction of this natural-looking pool and surrounding hardscape in the Nashville, Tennessee, area for the third episode of the inaugural season of Pool Kings. Peek Pools and Spas from nearby Thompson's Station was the contractor on this project that included a natural boulder waterfall, custom slide, two-tier retaining wall, and an extensive paver patio with fire pit and seatwall.

There was no level ground in the backyard of this Franklin, Tennessee residence, just a slope about 15' feet in overall height. Company owner Kyle Peek and his son Justin used a rented excavator and crawler, and their own skid steer to excavate 500-600 yards for the wall, which took the two men, the only equipment operators on this part of the job, a day and a half to complete. The bases of the walls are 18 inches of "crush and run," which is gravel mixed with decomposed granite that is then wetted during compaction in layers. The first course of the 8"-high wall blocks, as well as half of the second course, was set below grade. The installation comprised about 40 pallets of the blocks and caps, which came in a shade called driftwood by the local manufacturer Red River Concrete that has since been bought by Belgard. Geogrid was used as reinforcement for the engineered structure.

After digging the pool, the crew from Peek Pools installed the underground plumbing and then laid down a 6" gravel base. Next they assembled the steel structure for the pool. The company Rebel Gunite applied the shotcrete to that structure, but the contractor's workers helped cut and shape it. A 1.5-horsepower, variable speed pump circulates water in the pool. Split-face Tennessee stone supplied by Noble Tile was used to veneer the face of the vanishing edge and the stairs' risers. The pool deck and patio pavers came in a color mix of driftwood and mocha.

Around 80 tons of Tennessee Valley boulders were used on this project, mainly to build the waterfall. The excavator, skid steer and a telehandler were put in service to place them. Washed river rock from local supplier J&R Stone helps direct the water and hide the liner beneath it all. Two 3-horsepower pumps keep the waterfall flowing.

All the landscape and hardscape lighting and the underwater lights in the waterfall were provided by Kichler. Planting wasn't part of Peek Pool's original contract but because the project had to show well on TV, the contractor brought in JVI Secret Gardens, which selected and provided all the plants, and with the help of the contractor's crew, planted everything in one day. They also installed a semi-trailer load of sod. The washed river rock at the base of the lower wall was part of the six tons total used on the project at various places besides the waterfall.

Appearing on television for the first time carries a certain amount of risk even if that appearance is being made by a what and not a whom as was the case when a main character on an episode of Pool Kings, which is in its first year on the DIY Network, was a nature-inspired pool and its surrounding backdrop.

To get to that point, the production company of the show first contacted Peek Pool and Spas, a renowned designer and builder of water features from Hawaii to Georgia. According to founder and owner Kyle Peek, who had already appeared on two HGTV Cool Pools episodes, an audition took place, after which the producers asked to see the plans of four or five upcoming projects of his company based near Nashville, Tennessee. The project they chose was also, unknowingly, selected by LC/DBM for this issue.

Talk about an overnight sensation.

However that was not necessarily the case for Kyle Peek.

Earning His Chops
"I started 37 years ago now, mixing cement as a summer job for my brother-in-law when I was a junior in high school," he recalls. "And I loved it."

Peek's relative installed pool tile, coping and decking, as well as masonry walls and waterfalls. Peek went full-time with him after high school doing all the various jobs needed to build a pool, and eventually worked his way up to director of operations for the largest pool-building company in the U.S.

Several years later, Peek decided to form his own company but before breaking ground on that venture, he learned from a friend that an international pool construction company Pacific Aquatech was looking for a general manager for their sister company Maui Waterscapes. He got the job and moved his family to Hawaii. Three years later the tug of Tennessee brought him back home where he started Peek Pools and Spas.

His son and occasionally his wife work there as do about 10 other people. The business model called for custom pool builds only, of which the company constructs about 15 a year, typically in the $250,000 to $600,000 range, but some over $1 million.

As Peek puts it, "It's hard to do (many more) projects for that kind of dollar volume and give that type of clientele the attention that they require."

Crew size on these projects is around 30 including subs. This project began as a backyard with such an intimidating slope that the three children of the homeowners, who had all lived there about a year, did not use it much, and other prospective contractors would not take it on. That was not the case with Peek.

"We came up with a design. They fell in love with it and we took it from there with a few tweaks."

Roll Cameras
Peek and his son Justin used the company's skid steer and a rented excavator and crawler to cut back the slope and dig the pool. His crew installed all the plumbing for the pool and built its steel frame. Lighten Up Electric wired all the pool equipment and lights. Rebel Gunite was brought in to apply the shotcrete. Olympic Pool Plastering handled the final layer.

The blocks and caps in the fire pit and the seat wall were sourced from the same place as the rest of the hardscape materials. The fire ring came from local landscape supplier Embers Grill and Fireplace Store. Nothing was used to cover the ring at the homeowner's request because they wanted the option to burn wood in it.

A 31' slide was designed by Peek Pools and manufactured nearby at Paradise Slides. It was installed on 6 piers that are set 6' to 8' in the ground. Sono tubes, thick, hollow, cardboard cylinders, were used as forms for the piers. The tubes get stripped off after the concrete dries.

Half of the boulders in the waterfall were set in concrete, mainly for stability such as was needed with the rock stairs. The rest were set back into dirt for a more natural look. Those boulders are as long as 6' but may only have as little as 2-1/2' exposed.

The foundation for the wall is what is known as "crush and run."

"Its gravel mixed in with like a decomposed granite," explains Peek. "When you compact it and wet it, it's almost like concrete."

The crush and run was 18 inches thick. The first course of the eight-inch-high wall block and much of the second course was also installed below grade. For the two-tiered wall, Peek estimates that they used about 40 pallets of the block that came in a blend called driftwood.

"It didn't necessarily need two tiers," he says. "But because of the aesthetics of what I was trying to achieve with the natural look, I didn't want to see a big wall. And I wanted some planting in front of (the upper tier) to give it a little depth."

To help the walls blend into the landscape better, Peek designed a natural looking waterfall and custom-built slide to one side of them.

As he describes it, "The waterfall with slide just kind of flows into the yard. There is not a hard line where the wall just stops."

And Peek prefers to use as few manmade materials as possible when creating waterfalls. He admits that sometimes setting boulders in concrete has to be done for stability reasons, but planting the boulders – Peek used 80 tons of them in this project – into the ground is how he would rather set them.

"The boulder may be six feet long and you only see two and a half to three feet of it because we're using what is back inside the hill to hold it," says Peek.

Also included in the installation was a 3,000 square foot paver patio with a fire pit and seat wall, and closer to the house, an outdoor kitchen. Installing the softscape was not part of the original plans but that changed to make sure the project was ready for its beauty shots. Peek hired JVI Secret Gardens, which picked out and supplied all the plants, and installed them in one day with help from the contracting crew.

Segura Masonry was another subcontractor with a contributing role - installing the tile on the vanishing edge, the stairs' risers and the tile and coping around the pool.

That's a Wrap
Building the stairs was one of the few challenges on the project that Peek mentioned.

"They were difficult because as the wall graduates up, it goes back," he explains. "So as the stairs graduate higher, they get wider and it's very difficult to space cut and to make sure you have a nice clean line, and that you have your compaction right."

Unsurprisingly, having the camera crews on site for three months made the whole project more challenging.

As Peek puts it, "You get miked up at six in the morning and they turn the mikes off at six at night."

He was happy with the Pool Kings episode but wouldn't have minded a longer running time. "It was a three-month project cut down to thirty minutes."

But still, the exposure that national television can bring should provide dividends for Peek Pools and Spas. The company's owner summed up the project's objective simply: "I just wanted something natural looking and free flowing."

The final result was a television debut delight.

As seen in LC/DBM magazine, July 2016.