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Home lap pool design considerations - who has them?

67King
over 2 years ago

Greetings all!  I know from some searches that there are people who have lap pools.  67Queen and I are building soon.  SPot on the lake, dream home and all that blah, blah, blah.  I'm in Tennessee, so the climate here won't be too bad.  So I'm starting to noodle on this. How many here have built lap pools?

Question 1 is how wide?  This will mostly be just me.  On occasion, there might be a second swimmer.  I have kind of noodled over having a 2-ish lane pool.  Figuring 12 feet as a baseline.  When just me, I could swim in the center.  If either of my daughters wants to train in the pool, aside from the fact that the one who'll be competing in college will clean my clock, would 12 feet lanes work, or would that be too little space, considering we would be doing vastly different workouts?  We are both butterflyers, so that may be a factor, though I wouldn't necessarily need to be doing it at the same time as her.  But those cases would be far and few between.  Would a 2 lane, 12' wide pool be sufficient if two folks were doing almost exclusively long axis strokes?

Aesthetically, would something so narrow look ungainly?  Going to 14' would help, I assume?  Flip it the other way, how about a single lane, 8' wide pool?  Inclined to think that that would look pretty funny.  Also, knowing there wno't be any wave mitigation, would such a narrow pool make the turbulence unbearable?

Any general thougths would be appreciated.  I will likely integrate some recreational areas into it, but not impeding the pool.  The house we are building is kind of W shaped (think L with an estra point to increase glassed area to get view of the lake from multiple directions), withi a walkout basement, and 76' wide along the side where the pool would go.

Parents
  • over 2 years ago
    Just a few thoughts here.  Up front…I have an in-ground pool, but it’s traditional rectangle…not a lap pool. Not completely sure, but it sounds like you want to make TWO, 12-ft lanes??? I’m thinking you meant two lanes at 6’-ish per lane, for a total pool width of about 12 feet. Just pointing out that the a Google search indicates FINA standard is 8.2 ft (8’ 2.4”). But, that many pools go down to 6’6” lane width. That width would probably work for you. Maybe even just 2 x 6’ if you’re swimming just one person per lane. And also pointing out that the 76’ side of the house you mentioned might not be enough for a 25 meter (82.021 feet) length pool. But, you could go with a shorter length. I’ve swam in 20-yard (60-ft) lap pools.
    Another consideration would be the depth, and the volume of water. I think that 3.5 feet might be the shallowest you’d want in order to flip-turn safely. So with a 25m length, 12’ width, and 3.5 depth…you’re looking at around 25,830 gallons. Just for perspective…my traditional in-ground pool is 16’x32’ and is 12’ in the deep end…is 32,000 gallons. (Not sure why it’s that deep. We’re not original owners. Guys at the pool company that worked on it told me it’s the deepest residential pool they’ve ever seen.) Just adding 6” to both the depth, and width takes you to 30,000+ gallons. More water = more chemicals to treat it (and heat it if you go that route). So, if you’re concerned with operation costs…just a few inches in depth, length, and width and add to that considerably. 
    Dan
Reply
  • over 2 years ago
    Just a few thoughts here.  Up front…I have an in-ground pool, but it’s traditional rectangle…not a lap pool. Not completely sure, but it sounds like you want to make TWO, 12-ft lanes??? I’m thinking you meant two lanes at 6’-ish per lane, for a total pool width of about 12 feet. Just pointing out that the a Google search indicates FINA standard is 8.2 ft (8’ 2.4”). But, that many pools go down to 6’6” lane width. That width would probably work for you. Maybe even just 2 x 6’ if you’re swimming just one person per lane. And also pointing out that the 76’ side of the house you mentioned might not be enough for a 25 meter (82.021 feet) length pool. But, you could go with a shorter length. I’ve swam in 20-yard (60-ft) lap pools.
    Another consideration would be the depth, and the volume of water. I think that 3.5 feet might be the shallowest you’d want in order to flip-turn safely. So with a 25m length, 12’ width, and 3.5 depth…you’re looking at around 25,830 gallons. Just for perspective…my traditional in-ground pool is 16’x32’ and is 12’ in the deep end…is 32,000 gallons. (Not sure why it’s that deep. We’re not original owners. Guys at the pool company that worked on it told me it’s the deepest residential pool they’ve ever seen.) Just adding 6” to both the depth, and width takes you to 30,000+ gallons. More water = more chemicals to treat it (and heat it if you go that route). So, if you’re concerned with operation costs…just a few inches in depth, length, and width and add to that considerably. 
    Dan
Children
  • over 2 years ago in reply to ForceDJ

    Sorry for the ambiguity, looking at 2 lanes and TOTAL width.  And yeah, I know standard width is in the 8' range, I think it may be 2.5M?  I'm just considering wingspan for fly.  I THINK the pool I swim in may be 3' at one end, and 4' at the other?  Not sure, I don't recall.  Was just assuming I'd be in the 4' deep range for the whole width, depending on integrating a recreational pool, it may get down to 8' deep on one end, but I'd put a ledge at the wall, as hanging onto the side of a pool when swimming intervals is annoying (talk about first world problems!).

    Was thinking a 25 yard pool, rather than M.  Of course, there is nothing that would prevent it from extending beyond the width of the house, would just be more grading (which obviously we'll have to do for the house, anyway).

    Looking at solar.  I have a nice big workshop garage on one end of hte house.  Had hoped to do a solar shingle roof, but that isn't looking like the best option.  However, I am thinking I can install a 24 panel array on that side of the house as an awning, and I can park my truck and trailer (for teh race car) underneath it.  So if I'm able to do that, it would pretty drastically cut down on any sort of heating or wahtever costs I'd incur.  Obviously the chemicals would come into play, though.