Infinity edge swimming pools defects
My name is JANINE WILSON.
I assist homeowners across the United States to evaluate problems that they have with infinity swimming pools. And these swimming pools are built by reputable swimming pool builders. So, why is it that reputable swimming pool builders make big mistakes with infinity pools? And why is it that some of them end up in lawsuits that will cost them not only the original price of the pool, which might have been $200,000, but will also cost them legal fees and the additional cost in some cases, of removing the original swimming pool and hence rebuilding a new pool. And this, I want to show some case studies in which I was hired by homeowners across the United States to evaluate their swimming pools and to write a report as to ways that they can be resolved, the problems can be resolved. Also, to evaluate in depth other issues that need to be resolved.
I was hired by a homeowner to evaluate and determine the reasons that this infinity pool had problems. And this is the problem that the homeowner described to me. The basin would overfill water would flow over the top of the basin, and then the homeowner had to come up with ways to prevent that from happening. The other problem was, as it was flowing from the spa over into the basin, so again, as it was flowing over from the spa into the basin, the swimming pool water would decrease, but the spa water would stay at the same elevation or level. And so, the owner wanted to know, how could this be prevented.
This is a major mistake that pool builders make. They will have water flowing from the spa over into the basin. And water from the pool will be flowing over into the basin.
The problem with that is you can never, never, never equalize the levels between these two completely different sized vessels. And what ends up happening is, more water gets lost from the pool while the spa continues to be refilled. So the way to avoid this problem is to not permit, again, not permit the spa to overflow with the pool overflow. So again, it’s not to permit the spa overflow and pull overflow into the basin at all. So there is a mistake made in the design of the fluids of the hydraulics. So what needed to happen, and let me go through a few more photos.
This was another big mistake. So this is the way the wall is angled, was angled incorrectly and only added to more water flowing out of the basin. And this angle is called a cutout. A cutout angle will have more water flowing over the infinity edge and over the basin.
So this, if you take a look at the photo, which you are beside this text or copy, you’ll see this fence that the homeowner put up at the bottom to prevent water from splashing over the edge of the basin wall. It didn’t work very well, but that’s what he did. And this photo also shows water flowing out of the spa, but we don’t see a lot of water flowing over the pool because again, the pool water level continues to drop down. So as the pool water level continues to drop down, water will not flow over its edge.
Let’s take a look at another photo. This is another telltale sign of a problem. In the basin during the basin construction, the photograph that you would be seeing now is rebar and plumbing stage before concrete is done. And you can see with the red circle with A.F – that this is the autofill. This is a huge error. This is a swimming pool autofill, and it is not for an infinity basin, number one. Number two is it’s way, way, way too high. In other words, we never set water level in basin at that height. And then the third biggest mistake made here is this basin is way too shallow. It’s way too shallow. And another mistake is that the elevation drop, if you look at the elevation drop from the top to the bottom, it’s around eight to 10 feet. Well, because the drop is so high. The basin needed to be the same ratio. So if it’s eight feet down, the basin width ratio should be eight feet. So whatever the height is, the basin width is the same, and it’s nowhere near eight feet. It is more around two and a half feet. And this basin was actually designed by an engineer, a structural engineer, which leads us into another set of comments, but I’m not going to discuss that.
But the biggest mistake the pool builder made was to change the cut in wall, which was sloping toward the house, and to cut it out without realizing that he was creating a potential conflict. At least if the wall had been cut in, less water would’ve jumped over the infinity wall and less water would’ve gone outside of the basin. But more importantly is the basin depth, the basin size could have been and should have been bigger basin to solve the problem. I gave the homeowner and told the homeowner the way to solve the problem is to raise the tile on the spa.
So water just went over into the trough and then just sat there. And of course, when it rained, more water went out, and that was the overflow system. So, it really was not functional. And then of course, it’s design function fail. So what I ended up doing is advising the homeowner or consulting with the homeowner to put a surge tank, give it a surge tank so that water could go into a surge tank. And he may have even connected it to the pump, I don’t know how he would’ve done that, but using a surge tank, that water would gravity feed into the tank, and then it would be pumped back to the pool. So what the pool builder did is, he went back in there, he dug a hole, he put a surge tank in, he connected to the surge tank, and then he connected the surge tank to the pump. And then of course, now when water overflowed from the spa to the pool and then overflowed to the trough, it would then gravity feed into a surge tank.
was a very expensive situation. Both the builder and the homeowner could definitely have avoided that had the builder just stopped and thought about a little bit of research into building a zero edge overflow. Again, it ended up with a lot of costs for the builder and a very unhappy client even when the work was completed. And also, the builder would have really had a harsh lesson in learning that there is an easier way to build these. And all that’s really necessary is reaching out for some education and knowledge from people who really know what they’re talking about in building these types of pools. It was a great idea. I mean, if you look at it aesthetically, it’s beautiful, but when the design fails because the function doesn’t perform as it should, then everybody becomes very unhappy. And fortunately, it didn’t end up in a lawsuit, and that is because the builder, the pool builder, was willing to go in and fix it. And I think he had very good intentions.
This next pool, which is a beautiful looking pool, it suffers from one major flaw. The basin for this infinity edge is 30 feet long. The infinity edge is very pleasant, with a beautiful pool, but the water overflows the basin. There are a lot of really beautiful aspects about the pool and its design, and I think I see a lot of intended high quality detailing and finishing. However, the biggest problem is basin size with questions about its adequacy. I’ll talk about this in general, they are built and they are too small. Builders are calculating by basically saying, well, I think it should be 3′ x 3′. That should be enough. Is it? Check with industry standards for the right wat to do your calculations.
So if you’re calculating base and sizes and you think that looks big enough to you, as you can see in this photo, then you’re making a fatal mistake. Now, let me explain again. When it comes into a situation where the homeowner hires an attorney, and then again, the attorney can prove a contracted negligence, which is what it is, then it’s going to be very easy to get a jury to actually give the plaintiff the verdict that they’re looking for. The replacement costs, as I said, replacements costs are very, very high. And also, when these court cases open up and experts are brought in, then the costs become exorbitant. And also then other things that would not be an issue start to become an issue. So other things will cascade, and that can actually be added to the costs when damages are awarded.
So again, I’ll repeat just the three main problems that I’ve seen. The basin sizes are way too small – guesswork by the builder. And let me name the major problem. It’s going to be beyond core competency. So in each one of these cases, we see the same error being made over and over again with different examples. The Arizona pool, the builder was beyond his core competency in building an infinity pool. The Florida builder beyond his core competency in calculating the size of the basin for an infinity pool. And then the Texas pool beyond the builder’s core competency because he had no training whatsoever in building a zero edge overflow pool. So, my comments here in this platform is reach out to the experts.
It is a hell of a lot cheaper to reach out and ask for consultation or ask someone who’s an expert to do the calculations for you and to give you the right base and size and to give you the right pipe sizes as well so that your fluid dynamics work as they should work. I can do all of these and more, or I can help if you are wanting training for your crews, for your trades, for your superintendents, for example, I can do all of that and more. But more importantly, for homeowners, which this page is geared toward homeowners who have problems with infinity pool construction, you can contact me and I can set up a consultation and I can do everything via email, photographs, text messages, any videos that you can send me and construction plans, and I can evaluate all of that and give you an assessment very rapidly. Normally once I receive the information, I can give you at least a brief assessment within 24 hours.
