Building a new, state-of-the-art adult pool at East Lake Shores

by jason_cramp | June 21, 2021 12:24 pm

By Greg Keller

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Owning and renting cottages has never been more popular than in recent times because of the COVID-19 pandemic as people are limited to where they can go and what they can do. This article spotlights the new adult pool Acapulco Pools Ltd. built for a resort called East Lake Shores (formerly Sandbanks Summer Village), a hidden gem in Prince Edward County, Ont.

This family orientated resort is one of a kind; it is home to a unique community of cottages owned by individual families as well as several rental units that are available to the public. Set on 32.4 ha (80 acres) of some of Ontario’s most beautiful landscapes, this gated condo community is a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, to relax and unwind in the peace and serenity of mother nature. Located only 10 km (6.2 miles) from Sandbanks Provincial Park, this destination is one of the most sought-after in Ontario.

Another draw are the amenities the resort offers, including a family pool, adult pool, adult fitness facility, lakeside patio, open-air pavilion, basketball courts, clay tennis courts, shuffleboard, bocce ball, putting green, children’s playground, fenced-in dog park, walking trails, boathouse, and pocket parks with fire pits to name a few.

A crucial timeline

Being primarily a summer resort, the completion of the new pool was, of course, crucial to the owners. The old pool had never served the community properly and needed to be replaced. The timeline was tight to get the old pool and hot tub removed, get the site prepped, and build the new pool.

Acapulco Pools was awarded this job in the winter of 2019-20 and, as a result, had to quickly spring into action to prepare the drawings and plan for the project. Work on site started spring 2020, just before the pandemic hit and lockdowns were put into place. Fortunately, the project was able to continue as it was a construction project that had already started—of course, with extra precautions put into place.

The design for the new pool was well thought out and ‘massaged’ throughout the early phases.  The owners wanted a pool that allowed for lap swimming, an area with benches and jets to encourage relaxing and socializing, as well as a grand staircase entrance facing the beautiful backdrop of East Lake.

Ensuring the pool was accessible to all was another important consideration in the design. To do this, a pool lift was installed on the deck, right beside the stairs. The owners also wanted the pool to be able to support games such as basketball, volleyball, polo etc., which were also factored into the overall design.

The design details

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At 11- x 9.5-m (36- x 31.3 ft), this pool has a surface area of 92.7 m² (998 sf) keeping it under the regulations that would require the resort to have a full-time lifeguard on staff. This was important to the owners as they did not want to have to limit the number of bathers to 10, which is what they would have had to do if the pool was more than 93 m² (1000 sf) and there was not a lifeguard present.

By designing and building the pool under 93 m² the resort is not only exempt from requiring lifeguards, but also more than 10 bathers are allowed in the pool at one time. Since the pool is adult-only, bathers are encouraged to swim and behave safely and responsibly. The resort’s family pool, which is much larger, does employ lifeguards.

The new adult pool holds 109,872 L (29,025 gal) of water and has a required turnover rate of six hours. That said, the pool was designed to exceed the regulations. In fact, the flow rate is 321.7 litres per minute (lpm) (85 gallons per minute [gpm]), giving it a turnover rate of 5.69 hours. The filtration rate required for a class B pool in Ontario is 56.7 lpm (15 gpm) per 0.09 m² (1 sf) of filter area. This pool has a filtration rate of 32.7 lpm (8.66 gpm) per 0.09 m² of filter area, giving it more filtration than required and producing pristine water for patrons.

Like the previous pool before it, a sand filtration system was selected to handle the required 0.5 m² (5.38 sf) filter area. More specifically, two sand filters were installed offering a total filtration area of 0.91 m² (9.82 sf), which is almost double what is required.

To allow operators to pull information easily and quickly off each item in the pool mechanical room, Acapulco Pools is now labelling every component with QR codes.

An energy-efficient, two-horsepower pump, producing a flow rate of 321.7 lpm (85 gpm) at approximately 21.3 m (70 ft) of total dynamic head (TDH), pumps the water through the filtration system.

The hydrotherapy jets in the conversation area of the pool are also powered by the same pump as it can produce a powerful and relaxing massage.

A closer look at the interior

The pool interior is finished with a 25-mm (1-in.) wide waterline tile band around the perimeter at the top of the wall, using American Olean 25 mm² stormy grey speckled tile completed with Laticrete Permacolor sanded grout. The rest of the interior is finished with Diamond Brite blue quartz plaster, which complements the tile well and heightens the overall look of the pool. The natural white precast coping stone, manufactured by Federal Stone, co-ordinates well with the other pool finishing materials and provides a nice delineation from deck to pool.

Inside the pool, three light-emitting diode (LED) lights illuminate the water, creating a stunning look in the evening.

Keeping the water in check

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Behind the scenes, back in the mechanical room, the chemistry system is powered by a Neptune Benson Blu Sentinel SE chemical controller. This controller measures free chlorine in parts per million (PPM), oxidation reduction potential (ORP), and pH, as well as temperature.

If connected to a category five cable (CAT 5) connection, this controller can be remotely monitored. However, owners are always cautioned nothing compares to going into the mechanical room to physically check everything, listen for any different sounds, and smell anything that may hint to a bigger problem. Most operators get to know the sound of their pumps—when ‘healthy’—and will know when something does not sound right. So, while remote monitoring is great as a secondary method to check on the water chemistry, it is still recommended one goes into the mechanical room once a day, at minimum. Another nice feature of the chemical controller is all the operator must do when walking into the mechanical room is look at the flow cell to check the pool’s status. If all the levels are within the set parameters, it will be illuminated blue. If it is illuminated red, something may be wrong, indicating the attention of the operator is required.

Structurally sound

Structurally, this pool is built to last. Using cast-in-place concrete, 30 MPa concrete mix reinforced with 10M (11.3 mm) and 15M (16 mm) rebar, this pool is heavy-duty. This is a high-strength concrete suitable for suspended structural beams, pre-cast beams and flagstones, heavy-duty workshop floors, and suspended reinforced floors.

The pool floor was poured first using a ribbed rubber water stop implanted into the concrete around the perimeter where the walls were poured later. Once the walls were formed and poured, all the concrete was properly vibrated to ensure there were no voids to affect the structural integrity of the pool shell. Further, the concrete was fibre reinforced for extra protection from cracking. Lastly, the use of a crystalline waterproofing was used to ensure the shell would remain watertight for many years.

Despite the pandemic, this pool was completed on time, and the owners were able to open the pool to their guests for the summer of 2020, albeit with restrictions. Acapulco prides itself on completing projects on time and on budget, and this one proved challenging as the installation team not only had to deal with prolonged winter weather, but also many setbacks brought on by COVID-19 such as increases in material costs, material lead times, and labour.

[4]Greg Keller is a service and sales representative at Acapulco Pools Ltd., a commercial pool builder and service provider based in Kitchener, Ont. He graduated from Conestoga College’s architecture-project and facility management program in 2011 and was hired by Acapulco upon graduation. He can be reached via e-mail at greg@acapulcopools.com[5].

Source URL: https://www.poolspamarketing.com/trade/features/case-studies/building-new-resort-pool-at-east-lake-shores/

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