These clients had long-enjoyed time spent in their vacation home in New York’s Adirondacks and were fond of swimming in lakes, skiing, nature walks, etc. When they purchased another home in Merrick, Long Island, they decided to renovate the house and property to capture the spirit of their second home in upstate New York.
For their backyard, they asked us for something quite unique: “a swimming pool that looked like a pond — i.e., made entirely of rocks and not the usual concrete or steel — but filtered and treated chemically like a normal pool.
In designing and building it, our engineers verified the technical aspects throughout the process. This was necessary because creating such an all-rock pool was like fitting puzzle pieces together — only, instead of using cardboard pre-made shapes, we were dealing with 4-5 truckloads of randomly-size Pennsylvania moss rock boulders.
The undertaking involved looking over and measuring each rock before it was fitted in place. Once positioned, in order to ensure the soil pressure wouldn’t push the stones over or knock them down, instead of straight up, we leaned each stone into the grade, tapered upward.
On the bottom of the pool, however, no boulders were used. Here we installed a one-piece black rubber liner to contain the pool water, which feels to the feet much like a vinyl pool.
To continue the natural look, we used boulders to create the four steps leading into the pool as well as into the spa.
The pool was perfectly situated to reflect their newly renovated shingled-style home in its water. We added bright colorful plants in between the boulders, in such a way that they cascade into the pool, like they would in nature. This contributes to a beautiful all-rock pool, filtered and treated chemically, but which looks like a natural pond.
We used a blend of pool and pond material for this unique pool and spa. The black liner, which reacts with the water to create a stunning pond-like appearance, is a 45-mil EPDM pond liner; we used Aquascape Inc.’s wide-mouth skimmers and bulkhead fittings to penetrate the liner.
What you see is a beautiful pond-like pool; but there is a good deal of technology involved. For pool equipment, we used vinyl pool returns, main drains, SAVI color-changing LED lights, all Jandy equipment (energy efficient pump and gas heater), DE filter, salt chlorine generator and iAqualink automation.
The exposed stones around the pool complement the stone base of the home’s columns and stone foundation, suggesting one harmonious whole.
Deck and Patio’s design gives the vacation-style Adirondack feeling they wanted; they just step outside to a natural swimming pond where they can hang out with friends and use the hot tub when a chill comes on the evening.
[…] they wanted it renovated into the same Adirondack feeling. For the outdoors, they decided on an all-rock swimming pool that looks like a pond — along with this rustic custom in-ground […]
My husband and I want to have a contractor come and build us a swimming pool in the spring so that we have it ready for summer. However, we don’t want just any pool and are hoping that our contractor will be able to help us achieve our goal of having a unique design somewhat like this pond pool. I really like the idea of having rocks around a pool, but I would probably only want to have the rocks around half of the pool so that it would be easier for our children to get in and out of it.
We would be happy to help. Where are you located?
[…] they wanted it renovated into the same Adirondack feeling. For the outdoors, they decided on an all-rock swimming pool that looks like a pond — along with this rustic custom in-ground […]