Pools & Spas
Everyone knows that muriatic acid, when applied directly to a plaster finish, will dissolve and remove material from the surface. This is why the practice of "acid washing" is so widespread: It removes surface stains and restores a finish to an approximation of what it looked like when new. The problem with this acid application, of course, is that it
Some building sites are just tougher than others - and there are few of them that will complicate the construction process as much as the steep slopes discussed in the video linked below. To be sure, top contractors love these difficult sites: Not only do they give us the opportunity to incorporate nearby and distant views into our design vision, but they also
In many parts of the country, it's not uncommon to encounter the unexpected when you start digging to make way for a swimming pool or some other watershape. There might be field stone, a rock ledge, a buried outcropping or even hardpan. Depending on the size, depth and extent of these stony intrusions, running into any of them can, as the video linked below suggests, take a homeowner's budget expectations and throw them right out the window. And it's not just rock that can be a hidden issue: Various types of soil can be problematic, as can the groundwater level in the
For the most part, the equipment sets that power pool and spa systems are placed outdoors in spaces near their watershapes. Maybe that's behind a gate along the side of the house, or behind some shrubs or a wall in a corner of the yard. Wherever they go, these equipment clusters should be positioned so that the noise made by various motors and pumps isn't so pronounced that it
Of all the points that are hard to get across when working with clients on a pool design, the one highlighted in this video can be among the hardest: You can paint word pictures until you turn blue; you can show countless photos; you can even take your clients on tours of completed projects and try to show them what you mean: If they have their hearts set on a colored interior finish (that is, pretty much anything beyond plain
Through the past 15 or 20 years, designers of custom swimming pools and spas have focused considerable attention on aesthetics and on making their clients' backyards easy on the eye. In crafting all of those integrated spaces in which nothing is out of place, they start by dismissing project elements that might stir up otherwise calm visual seas. For lots of designers, this has made them reluctant to consider such things as
It's understandable that some would think that too much cyanuric acid - that is, the stabilizer used to keep the sun from destroying the chlorine in outdoor pools and spas - might be bad for the interior finish. It is, after all, acid, which instantly conjures images of surface corrosion and ruination. The fact of the matter, however, is that high cyanuric acid levels do not cause
Since the very beginning, WaterShapes has been a strong advocate for the importance of working in context and making certain that what's done with a watershape, its landscape and various exterior amenities all align in fairly specific ways with the architecture of a home and the nature of its surroundings. I'm all for that in principle and toe the line carefully in almost all of the projects I pursue. But it's only almost, because in select sets of circumstances, creating
Of all the new twists that have been added to the realm of swimming pool design in the last dozen or so years, one of my very favorites is on display in this video. I absolutely love the way acrylic walls add an exclamation point to just about any suitable project. I'm also of the opinion that, as watershape designers, we're only beginning to scratch the surface when it comes to exploiting their potential in our
It's a plain fact: Nothing cools the affection of a new owner faster than confronting an under-equipped swimming pool's need for lots of routine maintenance. He or she doubtless wanted the watershape for the good times it would provide; vacuuming the walls and floors and skimming leaves off the surface were definitely not part of the conceptual bargain. That's why, as this video relates, it's so important to include some form of automatic cleaning system along with the pool right from the start. Yes, there are
