equipment pad
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
If I had my way, each of our watershaping projects would start with participation in the design-development phase, followed by a teamwork approach aimed at delivering a wonderful composition to deserving, contented clients. This, however, was not one of those smooth-sailing projects, not even close. By the time I was contacted about this one, remodeling of the house had already been under way for three-plus years and seemed to be following a roundabout path toward completion at some elusive future date. I wasn't surprised to learn that
When you step up to tackle what might possibly be the most challenging job your company has ever pursued, there's definitely a gut check involved. Do you have the required staff? Can you call on top-flight subcontractors? Do you have the stamina to get involved and stay involved for the duration of a seriously long, seriously complex project? As we found in building the seven watershapes
When my family started in the pool and spa service business some 25 years ago, it didn’t take us long to recognize that there was very little available to us by way of education about water chemistry – or, for that matter, about most of the other skills involved in maintaining pools, spas and other waterfeatures. That didn’t make much sense to us, even then. After all, how could an industry devoted to the health, safety and comfort of millions of people function without addressing the need for standardized approaches to water maintenance or
It’s a project I won’t soon forget, believe me. In the April 2008 issue of WaterShapes, I offered the first of what ultimately will be three articles on an enormously ambitious project I began working on more than two years ago. In that span, I’ve found myself taking whatever solace I can from the fact that everyone who’s become involved with the project (or has even heard about it in any detail) concedes that it’s probably the most complicated backyard watershape they’ve ever encountered. Last time, I covered the scope of the project in general terms, outlining the design-development process and rolling through some of the more intricate details of the early construction phases. This time, we’ll move along to take a close look at the multiple water systems and effects and the hydraulic approaches needed to make them all work. (In thinking things through in preparation for writing this article, I began to suspect that there might be enough here to fill a small book; being a merciful soul, however, I’ll stick to the key points and keep things moving.) To recap briefly: The project features
