ARTICLES Archives - Page 42 of 314

Detail: A201

This time, Dave Peterson shares a simple, reliable way to extend stone veneer from the deck surface all the way down into the pool's interior. It's a great way, he suggests, to create a transition from dry to wet surfaces that is durable, graceful -- and visually seamless.

Art of the Waterfall

No matter whether it's a pond, stream or swimming pool, waterfalls are an appealing part of the composition -- which is why Larry Carnes includes them in most of his projects. Here, he shares some approaches to making these features both naturalistic and completely mesmerizing.

Working with an ample budget, great clients and a large, open canvas all spelled 'opportunity' for Jason Brownlee -- a chance to integrate multiple design elements into a composition in which water, stone, tile and fire define a European look that also offers a dash of mystery.

Design and Desire

This project had it all - balance, symmetry, style and luxury on a grand scale, and fantastic clients. More than three years in the making, and recently finished this past spring, the design integrates a number of key principles and modalities with the clients' desires for elegance, all with a European flare. It was the kind of project that makes you love being a watershape designer. I'd worked with the pool contractor, Lee Seelig of Waterscapes Backyard Resorts in Nashville, on several past high-end projects. In this case, he was in the early stages

Botched Plaster Bonding

Construction defects often first reveal themselves on the plaster surface. When the concrete substrate isn't right, those issues will always transmit to the plaster and become painfully visible. Making sure that the shotcrete bonding plane is up to standards is key to successful plaster installation. While the subject of plaster's relationship with

Long Live the Sundlaugs

As an admitted word geek devoted to writing about all things aquatic, it's always exciting to learn a new term or phrase. I recently read a great story from bbc.com about Icelanders' love or even obsession with public swimming pools, which in the Icelandic language are known as "Sundlaugs." The story chronicled the day that public pools reopened in Iceland after two months of shutdown due the current pandemic. At midnight on that Sunday, throughout the

Imagination in Demand

Back in our June 24 edition, we ran a provocative feature by Texas designer/builder and Watershape University instructor, Mike Nantz. As the title "Charging for Design" suggested, Nantz used the space to make a case for pool designers requiring a fee for their design work, rather than using it purely as a sales tool. It's a subject that has been tossed around for a long time and always seems to touch nerves, especially among

Living with Devastation

As wildfires rage through the western U.S., countless lives are impacted, upended and lost. It is an annual wave of devastation that has become far too familiar. This past month, our colleague, friend and Wolfpack team member, Wallace "J" Nichols lost his family's home as the Lightning Complex fire raged through the bucolic coastal hamlet of Davenport, Calif., just north of Santa Cruz. His is one of hundreds

Trade Show Respite

Back in March, the Western Pool & Spa Show was set to open in Long Beach, Calif., when live events were suddenly and summarily canceled in the state due to the onset of the COVID19 pandemic. It was unsettling, massively inconvenient for everyone involved, and even a little spooky as an unseasonal downpour rolled through the region. At the time no one knew how long such prohibitions would be in place and unfortunately five month later, we still don't. We do know that the live trade-show cancellation trend is continuing. In recent days, organizers of the International Pool|Spa|Patio Expo announced

Comedic Chasm

The descriptive blurb on Turner Classic Movies definitely caught my eye: "A swimming pool tycoon is coerced into giving a vacationing tourist a sales position so he can chase after a girl who saved him from drowning." I was immediately intrigued: In a lifetime spent watching odd movies, I'd never seen a

Movable pool floors have been around a long time, but perfecting and popularizing the concept has proved an elusive goal. Here, Diego Merkenbreak explores the process of changing that situation -- and making these projects more functional, reliable and common.

Raising the Floor

Sometimes you never know how one thing can lead to another. That's certainly been true of my journey into the world of swimming pools and specifically movable pool floors. Today, our company Custom Pool Systems is making steady headway into the market by offering a system that solves many of the challenges associated with movable pool floors - but it did take us time to get there. My first contact with the pool industry was 25 years ago when