A Unique Remodel

This remodel was one of our more difficult remodels for a few different reasons including space, location, structural limitations and of course keeping the home owner’s view of the ocean. We were working at a beach location and the whole pool was located on the second story. We had to find a space on the second floor to fit the spa that would also have room on the first floor. This was accomplished by using the ceiling space in an entrance to another room on the first floor. Having only one place the spa could be located, it then needed its own support structure. We suspended the spa by two pilasters and then attached them to the pool wall.
This was a challenging remodel because there was no backyard that we could bring equipment into, so everything had to be hoisted up onto the second story. We also wanted to create a miniature cave atmosphere but there wasn’t anything we could do to touch the structure of the pool, because the second story pool was already part of the house structure. So everything had to be constructed from the floor up, and giving our customer the appearance of a cave was a little bit of a challenge. We built an 8 foot grotto cave with multiple planters and waterfalls. On the back side of the grotto we built a small waterfall so it could be seen from the barbecue area, which gave them a Rock Star look from every view.
Building a slide for the children was a demanding task. It was the smallest slide we’d ever built so making it functional was a priority. They only wanted it to be 3 feet high in order to not block the view of the area, and there also wasn’t room to go any higher. The pool’s vanishing edge was shortened to add a 15 square foot planter for a queen palm. To give the pool a tropical feel we added planters in various areas. The swimming pool structure was never compromised. We fixed any problems that had previously existed and updated the pool interior with a new glass tile. We overcame another challenge in building this whole project by keeping the existing decks in great condition. Any construction going on had to save and protect the existing decks.
A support column to the 3rd story of the house was turned it into a small water feature with 5 planters to give a small waterfall on the left side of the swimming pool. Around the pool all the tile and pool steps were replaced with rock coping to harmonize with the look of the rock water features and the new spa. This helped soften the environment giving it more of a lagoon style view. And that is one of the benefits of using faux rock; when adding a spa to an existing pool or adding a waterfall, it helps tie in everything and integrates it into one piece so that the whole end product looks like a brand new construction.
All the equipment was upgraded to a remote system that was run by an aqua palm. The remote can be used anywhere on the property to turn on and off any of the pumps or lights making no need to run downstairs to turn anything on or off. We put 6 jets in the bench of the spa and there was a stand up area (a hydro-tube) that had 8 therapeutic jets on its own pump. All the pumps that were added were variable speed. This gives the owner the ability to tune the pumps to his liking of water power. In the spa he can control the amount of water coming out of the jets through his remote system. The waterfalls also have variable speed pumps, allowing them to be adjusted through the remote system from just a trickle to a roaring waterfall with just a touch of a button.
Reliability and function was our main goal in building the spa, so that at the end of the day we didn’t just add a spa, we added a functional, full size spa for 8 people even with limited space and a location challenge. We were still able to put a full size spa, grotto cave and small waterfall within a tight pool area. 80% of this remodel was built over the phone with the homeowner out of town. He trusted us to give him what he wanted.