Location:
Southern New Hampshire
Project:
Complete Backyard Summer Pool Project.
Objective: Placing
a modern day pool in a rustic setting. The goal is to maintain an informal
look and add creative esthetics to the area, while staying on a fix
budget.
Challenge: Every spring the water
table would flood the new pool area. We needed to address
the 2 to 3 feet grade transition from the pool area
to the house. As designers our functional assignment
was to get the traffic pattern defined from the back
house deck to the new pool area. We needed to secure
the pool water from little children.
Esthetic Assignment: The
request from our client, was to keep an informal theme by staying away
from the traditional concrete patio or a modular brick pavers. Additionally,
they wanted a summer time seasonal bloom to compliment the pool area.
Finally, they wanted an open space area inside the pool which could
be used as a play area when entertaining guest.
Fencing and Town Codes: The fence
design needed to meet the town code; but also needed
to blend into the informal landscape. On the backside
of the pool we decided to use a tall solid board fence.
The eighteen inch topper of lattice would give our client
the esthetic look, with a sense of privacy; while maintaining
the town code. To face the house side we used an open
4' high lattice fence. It was very pleasing to the eye,
and did not obstruct any visibility to the pool for
safety precautions.
Work Begins: The first process was to remove the existing hard pan soil.
The soil profile was extremely difficult to excavate, like digging in
concrete. The area was prepared properly, to insure good drainage and
a uniform compacting to prevent uneven settling.
Custom Granite Work: Our next step
was to place the poolside granite. We would hand cut
every piece of slab to make a custom fit around the
pool apron. A catch basin with underground piping was
installed to collect the surface water and daylight
it to another area. A set of new steps were hand cut
from granite slabs and then stacked on top of each other
to change the transitional slope from the house to the
pool. Along the lawn area a short retaining wall out
of used granite curbing was used to decrease the steep
elevation from the tree grade to the new granite patio.
Finish Work: After all the hardscape had been completed the plantings were
placed in the high visible areas. To accommodate budget restraints we
seeded the outside areas and sod was installed inside to allow immediate
use of the pool.
The first phase of this project took around 6 to 8 weeks. During the
off season the work crew came back to thermal the granite to give it
a rough texture and non-skid surface. The following spring the landscape
crew came back to install more feature plantings.
