For this type of pool, Seasonal World, Plant NJ and East Coast Concepts have the waterfall experience you need.

http://www.plantnj.com/

http://www.eastcoastpoolsnj.com/gfront.htm

http://seasonalworld.com/

I've seen their work. I worked on their pools. I have no affiliations with any of the 3 mentioned except for a friend who works for one of them.

Scott

Monica,

I have done design work in the past for Prestige Pools and Patios out of New York. Some of the designs had New Jersey addresses. Feel free to email me at 4fiddy@gmail.com if you would like any other info.

www.prestigepoolandpatio.com

Mike Leone
(845) 267-4125

Monica,
I am a senior designer for Seasonal World , I would love to discuss your project with you. You are welcome to email me direct at scott@seasonalworld.com and -please check out our site. www.seasonalworld.com Thanks

We used Caribbean Blue out of Kinnelon.

Beautiful pool. I am just about to start a pool build in central MD. Did you use a pebble sheen/tech on the bottom? i love the color of your water. Or did you go with white plaster? And what size is your pool? We are doing 850 sq ft and I am hoping we don't wish we went bigger. Our yard is very big so we have no restrictions on size, shape etc which may sound nice but trying to make a final decision has been hard. Thanks!

Thanks for all of the responses. I have been reading through many of the threads on this site and find the information very useful although at times confusing. What are the thoughts of the members regarding the following:

1. heat pump vs. gas heating system (I've read that the heat pump is a little more expensive, much more efficient, but only works if the temp outside is above a certain temperature. my concern is whether my spa will get hot enough with a heat pump and how long will it take?)

2. saltwater vs. clearvision/nature 2 system (i'm leaning towards saltwater but still not sure)

3. marblite plaster finish vs. diamondbrite (will diamondbrite really last twice as long as the marblite?)

Thanks to all.

Heat pumps cost about twice what gas fired unit costs, takes about 3X longer to heat things but cost a lot less to operate. Using them for a spa when it's 60 out is a test of patients.

Nature 2 uses silver and copper ions to augment chlorine, although this augmentation is actually useless in that the kill times against pathogens is far longer than that of chlorine, sometimes longer than the reproduction rate. They do nothing for the oxidation needs of a pool. Cartridges are expensive.

Diamond Brite will out last marblite but not by more than 25%. If you got 8 years with M, you might get 10 with DB.

Scott

poolguynj,
Hopefully, plaster pools on the east coast have a longer average life than 8-10 years for any finish. Or is winter closings the trade off for a 20-25 year plaster life?
Maybe we're spoiled here in the west.

8 to 10 for plaster
10 to 12 for Diamond Brite
High aggregates like Pebble Tec, Wet Edge, etc... 20+

Winter does have an effect in that most pools are chemically unmonitored for several months at a clip every year.

Scott

Plaster was a 3M Quartz product they no longer make. It was a Blue/Green blend. We know someone who used Bella Blue PebbleFina. It's close in color to ours. Thanks for the thumbs up on our pool.

to thejimbar - what size is your pool?

About 725 sq ft + the 8' round hot tub. Pool is plenty big enough, sometimes I wish I'd built the hot tub larger and the pool smaller. Kids spend a lot of time in the hot tub too!

thejimbar - your pool is gorgeous! Thanks for the pics.

So I've also heard that people are putting in pools that do not have a deep end e.g. 5-6 feet being the deepest end. Is this a new trend? I never would have even thought that this would be a consideration. I assume the thought behind this is that you have more of a usable pool area. I would like to eventually add a custom slide to our pool and have had conflicting info given to me about what the minimum depth needs to be with a slide. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Just speaking for myself:

We're in the process of designing a pool. I have only one kid: an (almost) 11yo son and what he does at public pools is dive in, get out, dive in, get out, etc.

I did some checking around on this forum and others and it seems to be the consensus that 'older' kids (ie middle school and up) are more likely to use your pool if there's a deep end with a diving board.

Well, we're getting a deep end, but no diving board, just a diving platform. Even he agrees that a board would be too dangerous. This is making the pool a LOT bigger than if there were no deep end since I'm paying for the pool and will use it way beyond when he leaves the nest, so there has to have a completely usable shallow end (meaning at least half the pool if not more).

If I were putting in a pool for just me, or if I had a daughter instead of a son, we'd probably be putting in a sport pool without a deep end. That would certainly be easier on my pocketbook.