Where are these drunk teenagers coming from? People just break into houses and jump into pools?

OP, do you have kids?

 

Not yet, but someday maybe. It's a legitimate concern. If/when I have kids, they'll eventually be teenagers, and probably invite friends over (even when I'm not there). Teenagers do stupid stuff... drunk or not.

Hopefully they wouldn't have access to the patio/balcony... but who knows.

 

I see that you have a section of fence there a little off the house, presumably for a gate. Definitely have the pool immediatelly in vision of anyone entering from the gate. Why? Because more people than you think, especially for parties, and from school/work/sports practices will be entering through that gate and it'll be a lot more relaxing and appealing to see it right when you walk in. Also, as mentioned before, itd probably be best to keep it as far away from the patio as possible so people dont jump from rooftops, and itd leave you room for a gazebo on the east side.

 

Link

 

Factor in your bank account. Pools with odd floors (curved to depth) and odd shapes (like kidneys) are MUCH more expensive than a regular square shaped pool with a sharp angle decline.

 

Do you realize how much work a pool is after you put it in...I used to have to maintain pools for the hotels that I worked at and am glad that I had a large staff to do the work. It also helped that I could budget for it in my annual expense budget for the department, and they were all indoor pools, so I didn't have to deal with crap from nature...

 

LOL, it is a HUGE difference for a hotel compared to a pool at home

 

my kidney shaped pool is right next to my deck to be in optimal sun conditions. Look at where the sun falls in your yard. Where ever it shine the most often is where you want your pool to be.

 

Get a heater. So worth it.

 

Yeah, several of my friends have pools (older ones) and they mentioned that... but I think that's because they don't use their pools enough, so the hours of maintenance vs hours of usage ratio is not very good. Plus... I could always hire a service.

My yard is currently 100% sun all day. My neighbor to the west planted some trees recently, but they don't look like they'll get over 20 feet tall, so that shouldn't have much effect on me. That's part of the reason that my landscape designer wants me to layout the pool before she starts to layout the plants... so she'll know not to plant any tall trees where I want to have sun exposure, and not to plant trees where they'll litter in the pool.