Pool Installation in The Woodlands, Spring and Conroe
Pool installation in The Woodlands, Spring and Conroe is half a pool and half everything around it: a steel-reinforced gunite shell under pines, a deck that is not too hot to walk on in August, planting that hides the fence and takes the splash, and drainage that keeps the shell dry underneath. Pool and essential decking, or a full poolscape.
Since 2010 · Own crews · Pool, deck, planting and lighting as one drawing · Montgomery County and North Houston
The whole room
A pool is the wet part of an outdoor room
The pools that get used every evening in Carlton Woods and Gleannloch Farms were drawn as a room: the spa where it can be seen from the kitchen, the deck in travertine or shellstone so bare feet survive July, a planted surround of grasses and evergreen structure that screens the fence and takes the splash, the kitchen and fire pit on the same terrace, and the whole thing lit from beneath the water and from the planting. The shell is gunite over steel, sprayed because on Beaumont clay that moves an inch a year nothing else holds its shape.
It is the swimmable end of water features; a pond is the quieter cousin. The deck sits on the same base as any terrace, the kitchen is built with it, lighting goes in the trench with the gas, and a drain around the shell keeps groundwater from lifting it.
What fails
What goes wrong around a pool
The four faults we rebuild most, and what a designed poolscape does instead.
A deck too hot to cross
CauseDark pavers or plain concrete around the water. By two in the afternoon nobody uses it barefoot.
FixTravertine or shellstone coping and deck, which stay walkable in full sun, as on the decks photographed here.
Pool first, garden later
CauseThe shell dropped into a lawn with a strip of concrete round it. The fence is the view and the planting never fits.
FixPool, deck, planting, kitchen and lighting on one drawing, so the surround is built with the pool rather than squeezed in after.
Groundwater under the shell
CauseClay holds water against the gunite; in a wet spring an empty or drained pool can lift.
FixA perimeter drain and hydrostatic relief designed with the shell, the deck graded away from the water.
Pine litter in the water
CauseA pool under a loblolly canopy with no thought to the needles. The skimmer is full every morning.
FixSiting and pruning to the canopy, a screened cover where it matters, and planting chosen not to drop into the water.
The parts
What a poolscape is made of
Five parts, drawn together.
Shell
Steel-reinforced gunite, sprayed and shaped on site, with a raised spa spilling into it where wanted. by size and finish.
Deck and coping
Travertine or shellstone on a compacted base, tight joints, a clean coping line, drainage away from the water.
Planting
Ornamental grasses, evergreen structure and screening chosen not to shed into the pool, on drip.
Kitchen, fire and light
Outdoor kitchen and fire pit on the same terrace, underwater and landscape lighting on one control.
Method
How a poolscape is built
Eight to twelve weeks, most of it before the water goes in.
- 01
Design the room
Pool, spa, deck, planting, kitchen and lighting on one scaled plan, drawn for the DSC packet where the village needs one.
- 02
Excavate and steel
The shell dug and formed, steel tied, plumbing and electrical roughed in, drainage set around the shell.
- 03
Gunite and tile
Shell sprayed and shaped, then tile, coping and the interior finish.
- 04
Deck, planting, kitchen
Deck laid on its base, beds planted on drip, kitchen and fire feature built into the terrace.
- 05
Light, fill, hand over
Underwater and landscape lighting aimed at night, the pool filled and started, care schedule left with you.
Cost
What decides the number
Size, finish and how much of the room is built with the pool move the price.
Gunite pool construction
Steel-reinforced shell, plumbing, equipment and finish, by size and spa.
Pool and essential decking
The shell with a travertine or shellstone deck around it.
Full poolscape
Pool, spa, deck, planting, kitchen, fire feature and lighting as one build.
Surround only priced on the plan
Deck, planting and lighting around an existing pool.
A surround designed with the pool costs less than one squeezed in around a finished shell, and it is the part you look at every day.
On site
Recent pools and poolscapes
Raised stone-faced spa spilling into a pool at dusk
Travertine deck with tight joints and a clean coping line
Planted surround with ornamental grasses and evergreen structure
Pool and planting lit at night with warm low-voltage fixtures
Kitchen and fire pit alongside the pool deck
Pool and its landscape from the air at dusk
Gunite pool with raised spa under mature pines
Shellstone deck and planted surround on a lakeside lot
Pool, kitchen and fire pit built as one connected room
Poolscape at dusk with lit planting and spa spillover
Questions
Questions
What does a pool cost in The Woodlands?
A gunite shell with equipment and finish by size and spa; pool with essential decking; a full poolscape with planting, kitchen, fire feature and lighting. Written after the visit and the drawing.
Gunite or fiberglass on this clay?
Gunite. A steel-reinforced shell shaped on site takes the ground movement and the shape you want; it is also why we design hydrostatic relief and a perimeter drain with it.
How long does it take?
Eight to twelve weeks from excavation to water for a pool and deck; a full poolscape with kitchen and planting toward the longer end. DSC review adds two to four weeks before the dig.
What deck stays cool?
Travertine and shellstone. Both stay walkable barefoot in full August sun where dark pavers and plain concrete do not, which is why every deck photographed above is one or the other.
What can be planted around a pool?
Ornamental grasses, dwarf palmetto, evergreen structure and screening that do not shed into the water, on drip so the deck stays dry. Pines and live oaks are pruned back from over the surface.
Have the whole room drawn, not just the pool
Pictures of the property help us prepare. The written price is given after we walk the property. Call (936) 206-7627 to schedule a visit.