Janine Wilson
Infinity Pools for Smart Shoppers, The Woodlands, Texas
Let me start with a story about a surprising experience with a buyer. I was invited for a consultation for a new infinity pool. An infinity pool makes make the water look as if they goes on for infinity, hence the name: infinity pool or negative edge or zero edge.
When I arrived, for the consultation, it had been raining. The house was under construction and at the framing stage. A woman was pulling up on the road, arriving at the same time. I believed she was the owner, until we spoke.
She introduced herself as “Petra from Marquis Pools.” That was a surprise, because rarely do I meet competitors at the same address for a consultation.
And then, I saw the owner, an attractive looking woman in her late 60’s, wearing boots, calling us onto the muddy lot.
I was prepared and wore buckskin suede riding boots. Petra wore diamond studded flip flops, so you can imagine the difficulty traversing the ground to the roofless house.
Well, I found it very pleasurable, especially upon meeting one of my peers. I was actually feeling very lonely in my industry and so was overjoyed at meeting Petra. But she was not quite reciprocating.
But I am digressing about the consultation. However, I learned that designers do not always ask the same questions or mention the same information. So, I thought I would do so here. So, I present to you some vitally important and helpful information. This is extremely relevant for achecklist menu. Use it for infinity pools or negative edge pools.
READ THE SEVEN ESSENTIALS BELOW
16 reviewsThe View behind the Infinity Edge
1. The view from your home: where will you view the pool? Look from many angles, especially if you have an upper floor or balcony.
The View to conceal the trough or the basin
2. You never ever want to see the basin that is attached to the negative edge wall. That is where the water falls and is captured. Then, a pump will return it to the pool.
Sometimes, from certain angles, a wrongly placed basin can be seen. So, this is a must check detail from many angles. I worked for a pool builder that designed a pool with an infinity edge for clients. He forgot to check the upper story view. Looking down, later on, the basin was visible. They had to demolish the basin and start again!
Sound and water feature
3. Do you want to hear the negative edge feature? If you do, then you need to consider how much sound you would want. A babbling brook or a crashing fall.
Water Escapes and Meanders
4. Another must have are columns, one at each end of the negative edge. They will hold the water in place and stop the water from trying to flow sideways. This is a very important detail. Some clients will want fire features on the columns to frame the negative edge swimming pool. There are pros and cons for this.
Water Proofing
5. This is critical but is often overlooked.
Water on each side of the negative edge will be different temperatures. This requires special waterproof materials for each side. And another huge factor is that a raised wall out of the ground will try to leak. We work diligently to prevent it.
Tiles or stone Negative & Infinity Edge Swimming Pool
6. The materials need to be durable and long lasting and rated for thermal shock and expansion and contraction.
Basin Size
7. This is a doozy. Many builders underestimate the size of the basin in The Woodlands, Texas. Buyer beware. Also, there are some builders that do not allow for the huge fluctuations in the depth of the basin. This occurs with bathers jumping into the pool.
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If the basin size is not wide enough, water can flow down and some can go right past the trough onto the ground. This is a serious problem and happens to uneducated builders in The Woodlands, Texas.
These are some main points to consider when considering an infinity edge pool or negative edge pool. I worked with some expert witness consultants and learned a lot from them about negative edge pools. I also took special training to learn many of the critical points of building an infinity swimming pool.
Another story that I heard was of a pool owner whose water bills were up in the $600 ranges per month. She thought that the pool leaked. And was having huge conflicts with the builder. She hired one of the expert witness consultants to take a look. He immediately recognized the problem on his arrival. It was the simplest thing in the world.
It was the automatic water leveling device. The autofill device should have been plumbed half-way down the basin. This would have turned it on less often.
As it was, it was up the top. So, every time the negative edge pump turned on, it sucked lots of water from the basin. The autofill kicked on and kept trying to refill the basin.
Then, once the basin was filled, the pump would shut off, and all the excess water from the autofill flowed over the basin. There were loses of hundreds and hundreds of gallons.
Imagine that happening every day, 30 times a month, for 6-8 months, with excessive water bills.
Call Janine today for a free consultation. She is a top expert in the field of negative edge swimming pools, or infinity edge swimming pools. She also specializes in zero edge pools, which vanish on all sides.
- Fact: Over 30 inspections for each pool project. From Laurence Godin, Houston Texas. “She [Janine] has been very helpful with finding and offering solutions when unexpected events came up. She came on site for all major milestones and paid careful attention to all details and inspecting everything after the crews to make sure the work was up to her high quality standards.”
- Fact: With old-fashion skills and imagination, Janine uses pencil sketching in perspective to create designs.
- Fact: With attention to Detail: Janine produces up to construction plans for my projects, 33 more than a typical pool builder or pool contractor.
- Fact: With an education in advanced building methods, she uses standards from 13 reputable institutes.
- Fact: with knowledge of The Woodlands, she works with geotechnical engineers and structural engineers. Together, we create the vault-strength pool construction (optional upgrade for soil and engineering an extra cost).
- Fact: With higher building standards, for swimming pools, our warranties extend for longer periods.
- Fact: With up to 250’ of copper bonding wire, we build safe swimming pools.
