My wife and I bought a nice plot of land just outside of Dallas, near a local state park. We’re considering different home designs now, almost all of which include a pool. Most of the pools are longish & rectangular. I had the thought to make it long enough for a lap pool. Has anyone on ST done this? What was the experience?
Where do I find the “official” markings for a lane? And do I really need all of those markings?
I’d love to be able to start each day with a 30 minute swim…
Opinions?
My opinion is…is that I hate you. Purely out of jealousy, I’m sure you are quite the nice guy. Just saying.
Other than that, I have nothing to contribute to this thread. Sorry. 
It sounds awesome.
I assume whoever ends up putting the pool in could get ahold of the necessary markings, and if not usa swimming could probably direct you. If it’s for personal use I don’t think you “need” the markings (maybe the depth numbers are required…not sure)
Do it.
I think that’s a great idea and opportunity that you have. I have dreamed of having my own lap pool for years as if I would ever have the money for it. I would suggest that you not try to get by with something too short if you’re really serious about getting a good swimming workout. If you have never tried to swim laps and actually get a good workout in a pool smaller than 25 yards, I don’t recommend it. My parents have a 20’ X 40’ pool in their back yard which makes it just over half the length of a 25 yard pool. It is actually fairly large for a typical back yard pool, but still too small for lap swimming. I swim laps in it occasionally for a little extra pool time, but it’s really tedious. You really have to put no effort into your push offs and you can’t do flip turns consistently because you just get too dizzy.
You probably don’t need the official lane markings if you would rather not have them. You could build something the right size that looks nice and fits in with your home, rather than looking like a typical gym pool. I don’t think there is really any downside to going with the larger size if you have the space and budget for it. Heating more water volume can get expensive in the winter time, but I doubt that is much of an issue in Dallas.
It would be cool if you plan to be in the house for a long time. I fear that a lap lane would be a plus for only a fraction of would-be buyers and a minus for most. Talk to a realtor.
As for markings, I think you can do whatever you want. It’s not like you are going to be hosting swim meets.
A neighbor 2 houses down was a all american swimmer at Standford (guy at 50 years old can still swim about a 25:00 in a 50scy fly with no training). One of those guys thats’ about 6’3" with almost a 7’ “wingspan”. His 2 daughters are also accomplish swimmers of course. He built a single lane width 25y pool. I could see it being multiuse with a 10’ depth at one end and a diving board. Standard residential type fitler and gutters, so he has 2 lane markers he puts in when you don’t want to simular open water. Our YMCA was closed last week and they graciously let to swim in it at lunch.
I would be ALL over it if I … uh won the lottery. However, as a triathlete, if you planing of buildign a pool, I woudl totally spend jsut a little extra and make it a lap pool, even if you had to shorten it to 20 yards and make it a minimum 3’6" on one end. You might price some different lengths and configurations. The convenience and time savings would be huge! Do swim/bike bricks out your back door at 5AM before work. Nice!
Markings can just be painted if you pool is epoxy paint coated concrete or tile. I don’t think you “buy” markings. But you can probably find standard templates online and the reference distances.
Consider this. Think about your lifestyle and what you spend the most time doing. Do you spend a lot of time watching movies or working out. So why not build a lap pool instead of on of those home theater rooms. DO you spend more time cooking or swimming? Then why get th fanciest kitchen appliances you can find, get regular stuff and get the pool. Hell… I 'd rather have a lap pool than a 2 car garage… although and appraiser or realtor would consider that a poor choice.
what would be very cool is having a lap pool with a retractable roof.
I probably wouldn’t heat the pool too much. Even in Dallas, that’s a lot of power to use. However, you can easily get 6 months use out of it each year, sometimes more.
This would be a stupendous splurge for us, but we like to host parties, and a pool really helps to make that happen. Since our prefrence for home design is very modern, a long narrow pool isn’t out of place (too much).
How deep should it be? I very much prefer swiming in deeper pools, since the water feels better (not sure why).
I don’t think you really need a heater… in the midwest the parents do very well with a solar cover, so much so that when they moved and put in a new pool in 1988, they didn’t even put in a heater.
Dallas in the winter - I hear it snows there once in a while. So you might not use it much in the winter. But hey, in the winter you might want to get out and swim with other people around anyway to ward off ‘depressing winter’ type things.
if/when I ever build a house or have a pool put into a yard, it will be at least 25 yards for at least the width of 2 lane lines. The stairs will not be at either end of that section (I say this because a condo I have access to has a pool that is 25 yards long, but there are stairs–built into the pool- at both ends)
It’s a great idea.
i’d put in some tile or some sort of markings so you know what they are, but not the full up black line. You could arrange the tile so you have a line to follow (space them 3 feet apart or something) and then put different colored ones at the ends the distance from the wall that the black line is.
A more-compact option (if compactness matters) would be to get a smaller (but still decent-sized) pool and an endless pool fastlane - http://www.endlesspools.com/fastlane.php. The pump outlet just goes onto the side of any pool, and the pumping system would probably go near your normal pool filter machine. Spring for the big motor though, I found the 5hp machine couldn’t sustain more than about a 1:15/100 pace.
My wife and I have been considering putting a pool in at our new home as well. She was a swimmer in high school and college, so she is all about the swimming. That being said…we decided that if we put a pool in we will put in a regular pool (18’ x 44’) in ground. We decided to do that instead of a lap pool for the value it will add to our house. While we don’t plan on selling any time soon (we just bought it brand new in December 2012)…a lap pool offers little value to someone who isn’t a “swimmer.” Most people can find some form of value in the form of a swimming pool.
The other thing we considered is that our daughter is 11. As she gets older, we would prefer to give her and her friends a place to “hang out” where we know what’s going on, rather than have them finding “that place” as we did when we were younger. The kids would get a huge benefit of a safe pool/patio to hang out and be kids at that they wouldn’t find in a lap pool. If you have kids (or plan to), this may or may not be a consideration for you.
I don’t know where you’re from, but I know it’s a been a ton of work getting reliable information and there’s hugely variable costs in pools. Be patient, do your research and see what’s best for you. One thing we did that was super helpful was to go draw shapes in our yard so we could see the difference in sizes of what we were thinking and what works with our house and pool placement. Hopefully by spring we will make our final decisions…and start construction.
Shane
To quote Ferris, “If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
I’m jealous, so you have to build it.
Consider this. Think about your lifestyle and what you spend the most time doing. Do you spend a lot of time watching movies or working out. So why not build a lap pool instead of on of those home theater rooms. DO you spend more time cooking or swimming? Then why get th fanciest kitchen appliances you can find, get regular stuff and get the pool. Hell… I 'd rather have a lap pool than a 2 car garage… although and appraiser or realtor would consider that a poor choice.
This is our view point in a nutshell. We both are very active people, and we don’t watch much TV (although we are movie buffs). We DO like to cook, but we don’t need a $5000 stove (who does?) Our plan is for a relatively simple, modern home that would lend itself to having our large extended family over.
If you use a cover…which you should to save chemicals… they pay for themselves… heating it might not be that bad. You could also install a small solar array and a heat exchanger to heat it. Otherwise, if oyu have natural gas, it will still be pretty cheap to heat. You can also do geothermal if you all electric. The pool cover is the key. Evaporation makes up I think 2/3rd of the heat lost by a pool. I think you can also insulated the concrete as well.
if/when I ever build a house or have a pool put into a yard, it will be at least 25 yards for at least the width of 2 lane lines. The stairs will not be at either end of that section (I say this because a condo I have access to has a pool that is 25 yards long, but there are stairs–built into the pool- at both ends)
It’s a great idea.
i’d put in some tile or some sort of markings so you know what they are, but not the full up black line. You could arrange the tile so you have a line to follow (space them 3 feet apart or something) and then put different colored ones at the ends the distance from the wall that the black line is.
as an architect, this would be my approach. put some markings in that are subtle. if i designed it, i would go for a 25yd, 1 lane width and then add a larger rectangular area at one end to provide a little extra space for the parties (hell, add a swim-up bar with a beer tap / gatorade tap). and yes, make sure the stairs arent at the end of the lane.
as far as the heating, i wonder if there is some way of treating the pool, or using salt water, so that it is wet-suit safe. then you could conceivably swim year-round in your wetsuit…maybe in the dead of winter you would have to add a little bit of heat with a cover to keep the water at a tolerable temperature.
sadly, as an architect, the only way ill ever be able to afford my own lap pool is if i go the caveman route
What’s the humidity like in Dallas? An outdoor lap pool might only be useful at night when the humidity is low. Is humidity acceptable or are you prepared to make an air conditioned pool enclosure?
How would you cool the pool in the summer? Keeping pool water cool enough for a strenuous workout may not be possible for an outdoor pool in Dallas. Are you prepared to make a water cooling system and air conditioned pool enclosure?
We are very lucky to have two good friends who own a large pool and landscape company. We’ll almost certainly ask them to do it for us, because then we’ll know they did it right. Our soil in Texas has a LOT of vertical movement, so it’s critical that pools are built to withstand a lot of movement.
No children here, so that’s not an issue. But, from 2nd hand experience, it’s very hard to make your home “that place”…since one of the things that kids crave is freedom from supervision.
Also, my swim coach owns a pool service and cleaning company. He’ll be able to tell me who makes a good pool, and the types of options that work well. At this point, I’m leaning towards a saltwater pool.
I have a pool, 16 yards length with lane lines. It Came with the place. I never use it for lap swimming because I get dizzy with the multiple turns. I go to the Olympic size pool nearby. Nothing beats 50 meters. You will realize that when you have your pool.
.
The humidity isn’t too bad most times. Usually around 40-60%.
The local Lifetime Fitness gym has an outdoor lap pool. If the temperature is at all reasonable, I’ll use that. Usually by October, the only people in the pool are me and the human walruses.
During the summer, the pool will get a little warm, and that probably does affect the level of training that I can do. But, all the Tris around here are in the local lakes, which get VERY warm, and also carry the summer threat of that brain-eating amoeba.