Your Guide To Backyard Swimming Pools
Keep Your Backyard Pool In Top Shape
Build A Backyard Oasis
Everyone deserves their own slice of paradise. At Bask Pools + Outdoors, we combine a team of veteran architects with experienced swimming pool builders to design and build picturesque backyard pools for residents throughout the Lafayette area. We employ a collaborative design process in which we work personally with each of our clients to craft a swimming pool design that includes all the right features and attributes to bring the oasis of their dreams to life right in their yards. We have the expertise and experience to integrate a pool seamlessly into your property, so what are you waiting for? You can kiss hot, muggy summers goodbye with just one phone call. Call Bask Pools + Outdoors to get started today!
Bask Pools + Outdoors offers a variety of pool design and maintenance services to residents throughout the Lafayette area:
- Our pool maintenance team can handle any kind of pool repair or upkeep, from equipment fixes to chemical and water quality issues
- We can extend the life of your pool with routine pool cleaning and maintenance plans conveniently arranged around your schedule
- Our swimming pool builders can design and build you the backyard pool you’ve always dreamt of
- We can remodel your existing pool to refresh its appearance and quality, add new water features, or even expand its size
- We specialize in building gunite pools — the sturdiest type of pool in the industry!
Your Guide To Backyard Swimming Pools
Dreaming of your own backyard pool is easy. Bringing it to life involves… a lot of decisions! At Bask Pools + Outdoors, we make building your dream pool from the ground up easy, with a team of experienced architects and a veteran pool construction crew. When you work with us, we’ll walk you through every step in the process to ensure every aspect of your idyllic backyard oasis is perfect, down to the last detail.
We’ve compiled this Backyard Swimming Pool Guide to give you an overview of the things we’ll cover as we build you a pool, from the first phone call to the final touches. Start reading to dive right into the start of the swimming pool design, or click one of the buttons below to jump to a specific step in the process!
Choosing Your Swimming Pool Design
Choosing what type of swimming pool you’d like is the first step in the pool design process. While the differences between the different types of pools is mainly aesthetic, each presents its own distinct advantages.
Before we run through the types of pools we offer, it’s important to note that when we refer to pool type, we’re referring to how the pool is integrated within the surrounding landscape of your property, not the method by which your pool’s foundation is built. We only install one type of pool — gunite pools — and we’ll explain why below.
The Importance of Your Pool’s Foundation
When pools are installed, it’s not as simple as digging a hole, plunking a pool liner in it and calling it good. You need to build a solid, dependable foundation for your pool so that it can look its best and retain its shape.
The two main types of pool foundations are poured concrete and gunite. At Bask Pools + Outdoors, we only offer gunite because of its superior durability and performance compared to poured concrete foundations.
Poured concrete has long been more popular due to it being cheaper and quicker to install than gunite, but we at Bask Pools balk at this method because it’s not as reliable. Poured concrete pool foundations rely on a wooden framework to hold the pool’s shape, and on top of that, they necessitate the addition of a pool liner for security.
Gunite pool foundations, on the other hand, use sturdy rebar frameworks and a mixture of concrete and sand and do not require a pool liner. They also hold their shape longer and more reliably than their poured concrete counterparts. It may cost a little more and take a bit more time to install, but the investment will pay for itself over time in the form of fewer problems and a longer lifespan.
Now, back to the types of pool designs to choose from!
Types Of Pools We Offer
Inground Pool: This is a catch-all term referring to any type of pool that is built into the ground, as opposed to being a standalone, above-ground pool. Inground pools are more valuable than above-ground pools and can be designed in a variety of shapes, including rectangular, square, oblong, or circular.
Infinity Pool: An Infinity pool is a special type of inground pool design in which the pool is integrated into the surrounding land in a specific way so as to make the pool blend in with the landscape around it. The Infinity pool design style is popular for how it appears more ‘natural’ than other types of inground pools.
Zero Edge Pool: A zero edge pool is a type of pool design in which the pool water is made to be exactly level with that of the pool liner (as opposed to a standard inground pool, in which there are a few inches of space between the water level and the coping, or edges of the pool). Zero edge pools are popular for their aesthetic, and also because pool pumps in zero edge pools only need to run while the pool is in use, saving water.
Pool Cover: Pool covers are an essential piece of safety equipment for your pool, keeping debris off the surface of your pool and preventing non-swimmers from falling into your pool. But did you know your choice of pool cover could also help your pool retain warmth and save energy? Special types of pool covers, such as automatic and solar pool covers, can help prevent the warmth from escaping from heated pools or even help power your other pool equipment. Be sure to mention if you’re interested in these special types of pool covers during the design process, as they’ll have to be accounted for in the pool’s electrical design.
Filtration System: Choosing a specific type of filtration system for your pool is an important step in the design process. Every pool has filters to keep it clear of debris, but there are different types, each with their own set of strengths and weaknesses.
Sand filters are the traditional choice for many pool owners as they’re cheap to install and replace. However, others prefer cartridge filters or diatomaceous earth (DE) filters due to their superior filtration performance. DE filters do the most thorough job filtering out particulates from your pool water, however, they’re the costliest of the three types of filters, and they require special maintenance over the course of their use. Cartridge filters fall in the middle, providing better filtration than sand filters while requiring less maintenance than DE filters.
Heating System: Your choice of heating system for your pool is important not only for swimmers’ comfort, but also for the health of your pool water. There are two types of pool heaters — heat pumps and gas heaters. Heat pumps are more expensive to install than gas heaters, however, they typically last longer and have lower operating costs than gas heaters.
Our Swimming Pool Design Process
When you work with Bask Pools + Outdoors to design a new swimming pool for your property or to plan renovations for your existing pool, we'll help you to establish a budget, understand your desires and expectations for your new pool, and come up with a design that realizes your vision cost-effectively. Here’s how the process works:
We’ll have an introductory phone call with you in which we’ll learn about your ideas for your new swimming pool build or renovation, and acquaint you with our design staff.
From there, we’ll schedule a design meeting with you to hammer out the details of your dream pool and outdoor space in order to put together a design concept for your approval.
Once you’ve approved the design concept, we’ll complete a walkthrough of the site in which the pool is planned. Then we’ll begin construction!
Once your new swimming pool is finished and all the fine details have been squared away, we’ll start up your new pool and give you a brief “pool school” to run you through basic pool maintenance tasks, such as changing your filter, monitoring water quality, and how to use pool cleaner chemicals.
Finally, our support doesn’t end once we’ve left you to enjoy your swimming pool. If you ever have any questions or need help with maintenance, we’re just a phone call away!
Maintaining Your Swimming Pool
Once you have your pool finally designed and installed, it’s important to get the longest life possible out of your pool by keeping up with regular cleaning and maintenance. And we’re not talking just skimming leaves and dirt from the surface every so often — maintaining water quality in your pool is key to keeping it a safe and fun place to relax. Read below to learn why!
The Importance Of Water Quality
Water quality is everything in a pool. Without monitoring and adjusting chemical levels in your water, your pool could become uncomfortable or even downright unsafe to swim in over time!
It all has to do with pH balance, or the balance of acidic and alkaline properties within a liquid or substance. Most liquids on Earth are either acidic or alkaline to varying degrees — citrus juice, for instance, is acidic, while drain cleaner is alkaline. Water is one of the few liquids that isn’t either acidic or alkaline.
pH is scored on 14-point scale, with 0 being extremely acidic, 14 being extremely alkaline, and 7 being neither acidic nor alkaline. Drinking water should have a pH of 7, while pool water can have a pH of anywhere between 7 and 7.6 and still be considered safe for swimming in.
If your pool water gets acidic, it can damage your pool and pool equipment, and even cause swimmers bodily discomfort. If your pool water becomes too alkaline, you’ll notice calcium deposits and a light-gray ‘scale’ forming on surfaces in your pool.
Water quality is the most essential aspect of your pool’s health, and most pool maintenance tasks revolve around maintaining that precise chemical balance.
Essential Pool Cleaning Equipment
- Algaecides
- Chlorine
- Flocculants
- Skimmer
- Stain Removers
- Water Quality Test Kit
Essential Pool Cleaning & Maintenance Tasks
- Clearing The Surface: Keeping your pool clean of surface-level debris by skimming or vacuuming the water with a pool vacuum is key to avoiding clogging your filter.
- Cleaning The Basin: The surfaces in your pool get dirty, too. It’s important to brush the surfaces in your pool by hand, or with an automatic pool cleaner, to keep dirt, algae, or other contaminants from building up in your pool. You can also wrap your skimmer in pantyhose to skim finer particles from your pool water.
- Keeping Algae Away: Keeping your pool pump running at least 10 hours of the day, if not 24/7 is the best way to prevent algae buildup in your pool. The slow, consistent circulation of your pool water is key to its health and safety. If you get algae buildup anyway, use an algaecide to kill it off before it can spread! Don’t swim in a pool with algae contamination.
- Backwashing: Backwashing your filter is another key to ensuring proper water circulation in your pool. Backwashing refers to reversing the flow of water through your pool’s filter to shunt the dirty water and the contaminants that have built up in your filter into the waste port and out of your pool. We’ll teach you how to do this after completing the construction of your swimming pool.
- Shock Treatment: Your pool will occasionally need a little extra help in maintaining clean, safe water, particularly after rainstorms and after lots of people have swam in it. Shocking your pool involves pouring in a high amount of chlorine into the water to kill off bacteria, running your pool pump for 8 hours to circulate and integrate the chlorine into the water to ‘shock’ your pool water back into a clean, healthy state.
Start Designing Your Dream Pool
Now that you have a better idea of how swimming pools are designed, customized, and maintained, what’s stopping you from realizing your own dream oasis in your backyard? Call Bask Pools + Outdoors today, and connect with the swimming pool design build team that has been bringing the dream of splashy summer fun to homes all throughout Lafayette!