Viking Hydrozone Swim/spa

[swatts1]

Thanks to all of you on this forum. I have learned a lot by reading the threads. I think that I've mentioned this in another post, but we are rebuilding a house in Gulfport, MS. We live on a bayou and were badly flooded during Hurricane Katrina. We got a decent insurance settlement and tore our damaged house down and are rebuilding with poured-in-place concrete. The house will be 12.5ft above grade and walls, floors, and ceilings will be concrete. Our architect and engineer have designed the main level deck to include a small pool set into the deck. We stayed in a house in Key West last summer that had a 10x15ft pool and this was plenty big enough for us to cool off in. (My husband and I are empty nesters) We want to use fiberglass because it won't add as much weight to the deck as shotcrete on concrete. The contractor will build a secondary concrete deck, below the main deck at the appropriate level and the fiberglass pool would sit on that concrete pad.

We have looked at many, many pool designs but most of the small fiberglass pools are not very deep. We would like to have 4.5 ft of water so have been looking at a 5 ft pool. The only pools that fit our size requirement and our depth requirements are turning out to be swim spas. And actually, the ability to exercise in the swim spa is of interest to us. We had just about settled on a RioSwim Spa that is 7.5' x 19' x 5'. It comes with framework and does not have to be installed in the ground. Yesterday I got a brochure from Viking Pools and their HydroZone line looks like it would be a very good size for us and we can select the depth that we want. We do not have a Viking dealership near us but I have been given the name of a company about 2 hours away that I will be talking to. My questions, if anyone has knowledge of these pools, are: can these units be installed above grade and how would they be reinforced? Has anyone seen one of these units and do they look like a small pool?

If anyone has any info on either of the swim spas that we are considering, I would be very interested to hear your comments. I can post links, but am unsure if that is allowed........

[wanttoswim]

Thanks to all of you on this forum. I have learned a lot by reading the threads. I think that I've mentioned this in another post, but we are rebuilding a house in Gulfport, MS. We live on a bayou and were badly flooded during Hurricane Katrina. We got a decent insurance settlement and tore our damaged house down and are rebuilding with poured-in-place concrete. The house will be 12.5ft above grade and walls, floors, and ceilings will be concrete. Our architect and engineer have designed the main level deck to include a small pool set into the deck. We stayed in a house in Key West last summer that had a 10x15ft pool and this was plenty big enough for us to cool off in. (My husband and I are empty nesters) We want to use fiberglass because it won't add as much weight to the deck as shotcrete on concrete. The contractor will build a secondary concrete deck, below the main deck at the appropriate level and the fiberglass pool would sit on that concrete pad.

We have looked at many, many pool designs but most of the small fiberglass pools are not very deep. We would like to have 4.5 ft of water so have been looking at a 5 ft pool. The only pools that fit our size requirement and our depth requirements are turning out to be swim spas. And actually, the ability to exercise in the swim spa is of interest to us. We had just about settled on a RioSwim Spa that is 7.5' x 19' x 5'. It comes with framework and does not have to be installed in the ground. Yesterday I got a brochure from Viking Pools and their HydroZone line looks like it would be a very good size for us and we can select the depth that we want. We do not have a Viking dealership near us but I have been given the name of a company about 2 hours away that I will be talking to. My questions, if anyone has knowledge of these pools, are: can these units be installed above grade and how would they be reinforced? Has anyone seen one of these units and do they look like a small pool?

If anyone has any info on either of the swim spas that we are considering, I would be very interested to hear your comments. I can post links, but am unsure if that is allowed........

We bought a swim spa from Alaglass as the manufacturer was close to us. They offer it as both a pool or the spa. It is 9 x 17 and 4 1/5 feet deep. Looks like a mini pool or a very large bathtub! We also looked at San Juan and Florida North. Both offered the same pool. Our installation is not yet complete. It was going to be a stand alone and what they did was build extra reinforcement right into the fiberglass. It looks like covered up 2x4's or something for the extra bracing. Our site is on a hillside and it turned out that they were able to put it almost completely inground, which has the advantage of holding in the heat better, I hope. I wonder if your structure can hold the weight of all those gallons of water? It might be about 30,000 pounds of weight total. At each of the companies I looked at mentioned above, you could get just the pool or the swim spa package. It is about twice as much to get the swim spa package. Hope this info helps and good luck with your project.

[swatts1]

"I wonder if your structure can hold the weight of all those gallons of water? It might be about 30,000 pounds of weight total."

The engineer has taken the weight of a pool and water into consideration when siting the 40 ft pilings that were sunk into the ground. Right now they are pouring grade beans and have located on right under the site for the pool. Thanks for your info.....Anyone else???