This residential pool project includes a 75ft long vinyl liner lap pool, permeable paving patio, automatic pool cover, outdoor shower, low voltage lighting, plants, & 6ft tall black aluminum fencing.

The client's property is situated in a high water table area, close to a forested wetland, where a lot of deer are frequently present and municipal approvals were needed from both the town and state's Coastal Resource Management Council/Agency (CRMC).

The permeable paver patio eliminates water runoff during rain events and allows the water to be captured and stored in the base material, where it can drain into the soil below. The use of permeable paving leads to less erosion and less flooding of the surrounding property. Permeable paving requires a crushed stone base, and a lot of edge restraints don't perform well in that kind of base material, so a new product by Pave Tool called Quick-E-Hybrid HD Edging was used as the edge restraint for the permeable paver patio.

The cost of the pool had to be kept to a minimum due to budget constraints and the husband and wife property owners are avid swimmers, so having a long pool with a length similar to that of a standard recreational lap pool was a must. We settled on having a pool that would be 75ft (25 yards) in length.

One of challenges was that a gunite pool was going to be far too expensive, especially given the pool size/length, so we settled on going with a vinyl liner pool, but had to site the pool in a way that would keep it clear of the high water table or it could lead to problems with the liner (it could float the liner). We resolved this by raising the grade and by keeping the pool depth to a minimum (only 4ft deep). We knew we needed a pool company with a great deal of experience, not just because of the water table issue, but because the pool was going to be so long. The project would require a company that was capable of doing a good job of framing out such a long pool and could create the custom sized trough that was going to be needed for such a long/large automatic pool cover. We end up retaining the services of Pool Source, a company in Cranston, RI, that had a lot of experience with installing vinyl liner pools of various sizes and shapes. In the end, the 75ft long pool was the longest one they had ever installed.

 

The pool fence had to be configured in a way that would deter the deer and also keep the homeowner's dogs out of the pool area. We settled on using a 6ft tall black aluminum fence around the pool area.

Since the rear yard, where the pool would be located, was near a coastal wetland, we had to ensure we took steps to minimize our environmental impact. One of things we did was utilize a permeable paving for the pool patio area, so no additional water would be shed into the forested wetland. We removed only the trees necessary to properly perform the work and some of the forest area that was disturbed during construction was to be revegetated and would remain unmaintained and allowed to naturally restore itself over time.
The construction of the project was during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason I mention this is because it had an impact on the project in a couple of ways. The pool was originally scheduled to be installed in June of 2021, but since people across the country were told to stay at home or had to limit their travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic it caused many people with sizable incomes to focus on doing improvements & projects at home instead of using it to to go on vacation somewhere else. This led to an overwhelming demand for landscape & pool related products, such as concrete pavers, pool liners, and liner pool metal frame parts.

February of 2021 was exceptionally cold in some areas of the country. In February, Texas experienced a deep freeze that caused its power grid to fail. Vinyl pool liners are a petroleum product and a lot of petroleum & petroleum related products come from Texas, so when the power grid went down, it shut down some companies for weeks. This led to a huge delay in liner production on top of an already overwhelming demand.

The pool company excavated in the end of September. All of the parts for the pool frame didn't arrive until mid-October of 2021 and the liner wasn't installed until the winter 2021-2022.

Pool Coping: Ivory Coast Sandstone from Unilock
Surveyor: Steven Pinch of Pinch Land Surveying (now retired)
Landscape Architect: Elemental Designs
Landscape Installer: 4 Site Lawn & Landscape
Soil Evaluation: Daniel Welch, Northeast Engineers & Consultants



The upcoming Hardscapes Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. This project was not chosen for a Feature in the issue, but we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought the project deserved to be showcased online . . .

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