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.