Any swimming pool owners??

[m61376]

We have a nice sized inground gunite pool that needs a renovation. Since we live on LU, NY I was thinking of a dark charcoal finish, since there should be some heat benefit to a darker color. However, many years ago I was told that you lose depth perception.
Does anyone have a dark colored finish pool- either a gunite of a black vinyl liner. Or have you swum in one? Looking to know if depth perception is affected, and can you see the bottom of the pool (can you clearly see any debris, and more importantly just in case a young child has an issue...).
It's such an expensive proposition, I want to make sure I don't make a mistake.

 

[jimf41]

Went from a light color bottom to a darker color this year with my vinyl liner IGP. I don't notice any depth perception issues.

 

[m61376]

Thanks Jum

 

[m61376]

Went from a light color bottom to a darker color this year with my vinyl liner IGP. I don't notice any depth perception issues.

Was it black or charcoal gray?
Can you see items on the bottom of the pool?
Finally- did you find it kept the pool warmer?

 

[klpca]

We just replastered five +/- years ago and went from white plaster to a medium gray. (In our area gray came in three choices - light, medium, dark). I love the way that our pool looks and am very happy with the change. I have seen the dark bottom pools here as well (they call them "black bottom" in our area) and I have never noticed an issue with depth perception. It really comes down to the appearance that you want. In the end, I searched endlessly for images and chose the medium color based upon internet searches. It turned out exactly as I had hoped.

Btw, I haven't noticed any temperature difference but I don't think that I have even dipped a toe in this summer. If anything, it is just a degree or two.

 

[Icc5]

I suggest you talk to a few pool contractors and ask if you can talk to anyone else that have done this. Also talk to a few of the pool servicing companies. I have 2 brother n laws here in California and here lots of different stories about pools they deal with. An example is a neighbor down the street that bought our previous house that had a pool. I always used our automatic pool cover and kept leafs,etc., out of the pool. The people that live there now never close the cover and let the pool get thick with dirt and leaves so there is a constant problem. I know not the same question but my point is ask the servicing people and you can usually get a good honest answer.
Bart

 

[m61376]

Bart- I appreciate your suggestions, just sometimes irs best to get a consensus from owners as to any issues with depth perception and seeing the bottom of the pool.
I know the charcoal gray will look great in my setting+ just want to make sure there’s no safety concerns.

 

[wackymother]

We don't have a pool, but there's a town pool near us that has a dark bottom. My friend who lives in that town says she was constantly distraught because she couldn't see in clearly to see her kids. That was a huge community pool, but I would try to see some pools with the finish you are thinking about before I committed, for safety reasons.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

We used to have a dark charcoal bottom gunite pool. When we redid the plaster after about 15 years, we replaced it with white and prefer it. The reason is that the dark charcoal wasn't uniform but was kind of marbled. I was told that it was normal to be blotchy. I didn't like the effect.

I didn't notice a lick of difference in the temperature.

If you want a warmer pool, consider (1) a pool cover (the one with insulating bubbles) or (2) a surface chemical. The 2nd one might be called Heat saver or something similar. It is based on coconut oil that forms a one or two molecule thick layer of oil that keeps the water from evaporating. Evaporation is one of the primary sources of heat loss and the thin film essentially stops that. I learned of this from the head of Engineering at DSV1/2 (Glenn - a very sharp guy) who said that it made a tremendous difference.

 

[m61376]

We used to have a dark charcoal bottom gunite pool. When we redid the plaster after about 15 years, we replaced it with white and prefer it. The reason is that the dark charcoal wasn't uniform but was kind of marbled. I was told that it was normal to be blotchy. I didn't like the effect.

I didn't notice a lick of difference in the temperature.

If you want a warmer pool, consider (1) a pool cover (the one with insulating bubbles) or (2) a surface chemical. The 2nd one might be called Heat saver or something similar. It is based on coconut oil that forms a one or two molecule thick layer of oil that keeps the water from evaporating. Evaporation is one of the primary sources of heat loss and the thin film essentially stops that. I learned of this from the head of Engineering at DSV1/2 (Glenn - a very sharp guy) who said that it made a tremendous difference.

Were you able to see the bottom of the pool? Any issue with depth perception? Any problem seeing the kids in the pool when underwater?
And, yes, the chemical solar covers are great! We had the roll-up ones for years, but with a free form pool and it being large it was very tedious.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Were you able to see the bottom of the pool? Any issue with depth perception? Any problem seeing the kids in the pool when underwater?
And, yes, the chemical solar covers are great! We had the roll-up ones for years, but with a free form pool and it being large it was very tedious.

We were able to see the bottom of the pool. No issues with depth perception. No problems seeing people in the water.
When we had our pool resurfaced, the pool guy suggested a silicon type of additive. It is the BEST thing !! Our chemical usage dropped way down and the pool has kept clean with much less maintenance.
The "marbling" of the dark gray always bothered me because it was blotchy. I could see food prints from when they were plastering. So it looked more like a screw up than "marble". But more than one person told me that it is normal. Maybe they were all covering for each other. Also, over time I think that the dark gray faded. With white, everything looks uniform.

 

[m61376]

We were able to see the bottom of the pool. No issues with depth perception. No problems seeing people in the water.
When we had our pool resurfaced, the pool guy suggested a silicon type of additive. It is the BEST thing !! Our chemical usage dropped way down and the pool has kept clean with much less maintenance.
The "marbling" of the dark gray always bothered me because it was blotchy. I could see food prints from when they were plastering. So it looked more like a screw up than "marble". But more than one person told me that it is normal. Maybe they were all covering for each other. Also, over time I think that the dark gray faded. With white, everything looks uniform.

Thanks so much! Do you have a deep end, btw?
Now they dpn't recommend marble dusting; they rec. the new surfacing materials Surprisingly, many are so rough that feet get scraped/cut, and I'm surprised that some of htose finishes are nevertheless so popular. I'm definitely going to go with a smoother finish like Durazzo.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Thanks so much! Do you have a deep end, btw?
Now they dpn't recommend marble dusting; they rec. the new surfacing materials Surprisingly, many are so rough that feet get scraped/cut, and I'm surprised that some of htose finishes are nevertheless so popular. I'm definitely going to go with a smoother finish like Durazzo.

It is a 50' x 10' lap pool that goes from around 3' deep to about 7 feet deep.