Pool Water & Fire Features
WATER FEATURES
The very best Pools by Design are often realized by the clever use of how the water reflects light and uses refraction to introduce colour
A vertical moving water feature can bring the whole pool to life in a way that is a form of art in itself.
I. Care & Expertise Required
Bluepools are able to create customized features that move water in such astonishing ways that it will blow your mind!
There are many, many types of different water features.
They can be used to create so many very attractive and beautiful effects using all the different combinations of jet width and size, flow rate, sound and pool lighting.
II. What needs to be considered?
Water Feature Types:
Rock waterfalls are ideal for tropical, lagoon-style pools and can vary a lot in size complexity - and cost!
They can be monstrous like this:
Or a wonderful classical design like this:
Sheetfalls, laminar jets, and fountains are more formal. They produce a steady, forceful arc of bubble-free water, that looks like a glass tube. It can be hidden behind vegetation and can be lit by LEDs to create a wonderful night-time ambiance.
Laminar jets like this:
Mediterranean style pools use raised walls with water pouring from lion heads, and other similar classical features (known as sconces) - like this:
Fountain bubblers, foam jets or sun jets project water upward like geysers and are often built into a shallow wet deck area - your kids will love them!
Sheer descents provide a sheet of water that flows down from a thin, flattened spillway.
Deck jets create an elegant look as they shoot streams of water from the deck to the pool, but they must be placed properly to perform well. The stream contains air and water sprays slightly apart in droplets.
Laminar jets produce a solid stream of bubble-free water.
Scuppers send water across a small ledge before falling down into the pool.
Rainfall curtains are a series of pencil-like streams of water rain down from an elevated beam to create a curtain of water.
Color can be added to any water feature with fiber-optics.
Big Landscapes:
If you have a backyard with a big landscape and perhaps a natural hill you might think of a large waterfall - Bluepools can do lots of clever things with multi-level sites.
These sorts of features need a lot of fine tuning to get the required sound and appearance right. This is a lovely feature:
Sound and Other Considerations:
Waterfalls can produce a load gushing noise that can hide traffic noise - or the kids in the street - but you need to be able to turn it off when you want to talk!
Sheer Descents are quiet and ideal for poolside conversation.
Considering this, most water features should have several different settings to suit the occasion and be on separate circuits so that they are independent.
Infinity Pools and perimeter overflows can look like this:
Or if you have a spectacular waterside setting - like this:
Can also be used to get a mirror-like surface where the water is undisturbed:
In these circumstances any spa overflows need to discharge below the surface level of the pool to preserve the stillness of the water.
III. Installation & Operating Costs:
Pool water features tend to add about 10% to the total cost of pool construction.
Waterfalls can add a lot more depending on their size.
Smaller features,especially related to water discharge from the spa to the pool, can be relatively small.
Running costs are generally not prohibitive and of course depend on how long they are running for - most major features will involve the installation of at least one extra pump.
IV. Retrofitting a Water Feature
Include in Original Design:
It is best practise to include any water features into the original design of the pool. However, they can be put on the edge of the pool.
Laminar jets, sheer descents, sconces, and scuppers can be added quite easily.
With an existing pool it is better to use glass fiber reinforced concrete false rock which is very light and does not impose high loading onto the original pool shell.
Water features can be spectacular show-stoppers
But you have got to get the design 100% right!!
FIRE FEATURES
I. Firepits & Fireplaces
Add Sizzle to Your Backyard:
Fire features are the latest thing in California - yes gas is very cheap in the US at the moment - but you do not have to the fires burning all the time - just for that first hour after you have got home from work!
Combined Fire & Water features:
We can often find extraordinary ways to combine the two in a way that takes advantage of the captivating power of these two elements.
Used alone, fire and water each have their own attractions. But bring them together and the appeal is transcendental in the way that it relaxes and refreshes your mind and body.
The reflective qualities of water enhance the mystical qualities of fire that induces a mesmerizing effect that is quite primeval.
Just Imagine:
Flames dancing across the reflective stillness of a swimming pool behind a wall of water that glistens as it descends and then disappears behind a fiery line of flames.
Fire features have only recently become more available and for anyone building a pool by design that they are going to be proud of fire features are now an essential part of the backyard pool design.
Fire can transport you away from all those day to day problems of life and relax and sooth you at the same time.
Create Extended Use of Outdoor Spaces:
Fires also provide warmth and light and allows pool owners to get much more use out of the outdoor spaces they love by the use of the yard into the night and in the cooler seasons of the year.
Fire is a stunning decorative element on its own.
The use of large classsical shaped bowls and troughs of fire to add striking highlights throughout the yard. The effect is both elegant and primitive at the same time.
II. The Issue with the Design of Fire Features
Are they for:
"Intimate fireside chats and late night swimming"
Or
"Getting beers down your throat with your buddies and doing the barbie thing"
Thankfully this dilemma can now easily be resolved by designing features that can meet everyones requirements!
III. All Shapes & Sizes Available
They can include:
- Small to huge Romanesque fire-bowls around the pool or spa
- Fire-troughs that can be 2 Ft or 10 Ft long
- Clever use of levels so that the flames seem to be coming out of the water
- Enhancement of any views from your backyard
- Making the pool look good from the house - even if it is too cold to go outside
The real beauty of fire features is that the provision of very large fire rings etc is not that costly - and you only need to turn them on when you are using the pool - or need to impress your buddies!
IV. Safety in the use of Fire Features is Essential
Always locate fire features away from walkways and take the normal wind conditions into account during Design.
And please remember that Fire is both beautiful and dangerous!