ARTICLES Archives - Page 49 of 314

Chemistry may be the big concern for service techs, but it's builders who determine the method of treatment during the equipment selection process. Builder/servicer (and former chef) Steve Kenny believes those decisions set the table for creating what he calls 'gourmet water.'

The Builder as Chef

As a designer/builder I openly admit that I am completely obsessed with water quality. A big part of why that's so is because I started out servicing pools. In fact, I really only moved into building them because I was so appalled by how builders in our area completely ignored the treatment side of the equation. It was so bad that I'd say the majority of pools we serviced had some form of shortcoming in the system that impacted water quality - undersized filters, only one skimmer, no chemical treatment technology, etc. - all which made

Water’s Two Faces

Simply because water is universal does not mean humans necessarily understand it or see it for what it truly is. I've been covering all things aquatic for three decades and the cliché is true, the more I know the more ignorant I become. From the emotional, even spiritual facets of water, to the recreational and awe-inspiring, to the

Turning his attention to a reflecting pool after completing two other watershapes on the same property, Steve Swanson suggested using a detail that was new to him. This bold move involved him directly in the home's overall visual impact and in a high-stakes learning curve.

The Flooded Mirror

After starting in the pool industry more than 40 years ago as a service technician, I gradually became involved in repairs, then remodeling work and, finally, with design and new construction. I've now built commercial and high-end residential projects, done numerous vanishing-edge installations and have pursued designs and details I wouldn't have dreamed of doing back in 1979. But there was one look that I'd never had an opportunity to work on with any of my clients: a perimeter overflow. That all changed last year in a backyard in Alamo, Calif., and the interesting thing is that

Experiencing the Void

When WaterShapes went all-digital back in July 2011, there was one big story looming in the print-magazine horizon: That summer, as finishing touches were being added to the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, we were all set to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the fountain portion of the project in a September issue that never materialized. This missed opportunity with the memorial has been somewhere in

Humble Thanks

After a long, satisfying run, this will be the last blog I'll write for WaterShapes: With the next edition of this newsletter on April 8, that's a privilege I'll transfer to Eric Herman with gratitude and best wishes. While I have this chance, I have some additional thanks to

Designing ponds for special purposes is nothing new to Anthony Archer Wills, who recently worked on this one, meant for horses. The result, set in the shadow of the Bavarian Alps, is beyond beautiful -- even though the four-legged part of the story involved a late twist.

An Equine Retreat

It is rare that any of us are asked to build a swimming pond for horses. But why not? They are admittedly much bigger than Koi and certainly larger than humans, yet I am assured they are considerably cleaner than dogs and genuinely do benefit from the leg-relieving buoyancy that comes with immersion in water. The first pond I built for equestrian swimmers came along in the late 1970s - just after I'd completed several large gravel-filtration ponds for trout: It seemed at the time that the same principles that worked so well for

Staying Current

'With a busy schedule,' wrote Stephanie Rose to open her March 2005 Natural Companions column, 'it's too easy to use the same tools repeatedly in project designs. 'Yes, you can mitigate the repetition to a certain extent by using those tools differently each time, but the fact remains that many of us tend to design over and over again with the same plants, hardscape materials and structural approaches because it's

This all-glass-tile project was about to start on the wrong foot, notes Jimmy Reed. But he became involved at a point when changing directions was still possible -- and the results are not only beautiful but gave his design-oriented clients just what they'd been after from the get-go.

Perfecting the Look

This was a project that might easily have run off the rails. First, the glass tile selected by the interior designer wasn't appropriate for pool applications. It might have been lovely as a backsplash in an interior kitchen or bathroom, but it came with no solid information about its source or pedigree that would have made it a wise choice for use in a critical outdoor application. Second, the tile was rectangular and, at one-and-a-quarter by five inches, was too big for its intended use as an all-tile finish for a complex pool and spa - particularly given

Digging for Insight

'For the best part of 20 years now,' wrote Brian Van Bower in starting his Aqua Culture column from March 2010, ' trend watchers have tracked Baby Boomers and have kept telling us that, as we aged, we'd definitely become homebodies - so much so that the words "nesting," "cocooning" and "staycation" have all taken significant

Set atop a mountain on a beautiful bump in the Atlantic Ocean, this project jumped countless supply hurdles and survived two hurricanes while under construction -- thereby proving to Shane LeBlanc that anything is possible if you step back and learn to live with 'island time.'

No Worries

In recent years, I've become increasingly focused on landing projects on St. Thomas, St. John and a bunch of other paradisal surface eruptions off the east coast of North America: I like the people, enjoy the climate and truly love the laid-back island culture I find even among the high-end clients who call on me to design their poolscapes. Quite often, the settings are the far side of spectacular, too, with views of multi-hued coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean stretching out for miles, often interrupted by