Are you considering installing a pool in your garden?
One feature that is growing more popular every day with new pool installations is a pool house. This handy addition to any pool adds a considerable amount of flexibility to how you, your family and friends all enjoy the pool.
In this article, we'd like to share a range of different options you have for your new pool house, drawn from our over 30 years experience designing beautiful gardens featuring fabulous pools (and pool houses!)
Read it and you might discover a few new pool house options you hadn't considered before.
Your first choice - inside or outside the pool zone?
When considering a pool house, the very first choice you need to make is - will you put your pool house inside or outside the pool zone?
When we say this, what we mean is essentially will you put it inside or outside the pool fence! Because these days, with all the pool safety requirements, it is your pool barrier fence that determines whether or not you are inside or outside the pool zone.
Ultimately the decision on where exactly to locate your pool house comes down this:
1. Inside your pool zone allows the pool house to feel connected to the pool
2. Outside your pool zone allows for greater versatility because you can use the pool house all year round and not have to enter the pool zone in order to access it.
So this is the first choice you need to make. But you might want to hold that choice because there are few other questions you might need to ask yourself, before you eventually decide whether to be an insider or an outsider in regards to your pool house.
Ultimately these come down to what sort of features you will be installing in your pool house which will greatly influence how you end up using it.
“A garden created with low aspirational drive is one barely noticed.”
want to throw some shade your way?
Despite what you might think, not everyone who loves swimming in a pool, also enjoys baking in the sun. In fact many pool lovers can't wait to get out of the sun, once they get out of the pool.
This is because on a really hot day, diving into the pool to cool off is really enjoyable, relaxing and refreshing. But after sitting or laying by the pool for even 15 minutes on a 35° day, you will be boiling hot again.
And the risk of sun damage to your skin increase dramatically the longer stay out there in it.
So that's why the primary use of a pool house is to provide some shady relief from the sun.
Laying back in more comfortable shade while you sip on a cool drink and watch the kids splashing about is probably the No. 1 use for a pool house.
If this is going to be the primary use for your pool house, then you probably want to build it within the pool zone to make access quick and easy. Not only for you, but if you want to reach the kids in the pool quickly in an emergenchy, this is another reason to locate it close to the pool.
WHAT'S COOKING?
The next most common inclusion in a pool house is cooking facilities.
Often this combination of an outdoor kitchen and a pool house makes for a perfect partnership.
But if you are going to include a BBQ, pizza oven or any other cooking facility inside your pool house, then you will probably want to make the pool house external to the pool zone. In fact you will probably have to.
Most councils will simply not allow you to put an outdoor kitchen or any other cooking device inside your pool zone because they can often be used by kids to climb into or out of the pool area, thereby defeating the whole purpose of your pool safety fence.
There are also a lot of practical reasons not to mix cooking food with swimming pools. Split oil on the ground from cooking makes for a slippery surface when mixed with water from a pool. Plus, you don't want chlorinated water on your sausages!
So if an outdoor kitchen or other cooking devices are part of your purpose for a pool house, then we recommend placing it outside your pool zone.
WHAT'S ON THE TV?
Another growing favourite feature in a pool house these days is a TV.
And why not? Many sports fanatics want to make sure they don't miss their favourite game just because they're enjoying themselves outside.
It's a good life, enjoying a cooling drink while you watch the game, then slipping into the pool for a cool-off during the half-time break.
But it's not just sports that make a good reason to have a TV in your pool house. On warm summer evenings, you and your family and friends can all gather round to watch a movie together or have a binge-watching session of your favourite show.
Whether you include a TV in your pool house, inside or outside your pool zone, can often be left up to you.
CREATING ALTERNATE Adult & kids zones
Depending on whether you have kids or not, and how old they are, another use for a pool house is to create an adults-only zone, where you and the other grown-ups can congregate and have some time away from the kids. (But still keep an eye on them!)
A pool house with a BBQ, pizza oven and a TV, can make the perfect place for the adults to gather together on a warm summer evening. Especially if the kids have all gone inside to play on the PlayStation or Xbox.
And in the cooler months, if you have a fire pit or even a fireplace, it can also serve as another outdoor entertainment spot.
WHO NEEDS TO GO to THE LOO?
No one likes kids coming in and out of the house, dripping wet from the pool, just to use the toilet.
This is why the landscape architect is often asked to include a toilet next to the pool.
Anything that a kid could enter and be hidden away, like a toilet, is not allowed under current regulations. Now that doesn't mean they can't be just outside it and therefore still convenient. (And not within the house!)
As you can see below, if your pool house with a loo was originally built when regulations allowing it, you can probably still keep it there. But you won't be able to build a new one like this.
IN THE ZONE OR OUT OF THE ZONE, THAT IS THE QUESTION
Now you know a little more about some of the features you can include in your pool house, you should be able to make a clearer decision about whether you want yours to be inside your pool zone or outside.
The features you include in your pool house, plus the way you plan on using it, will combine to give you a pretty clear picture of exactly where you might want your pool house to go.
If you're someone who likes to jump in and out of the pool regularly, rather than sunbake all day, then you are probably more likely to want your pool house inside the pool zone. But if you see your pool house as more of an entertainment, relaxation, and cooking hub, then you are probably better placed having it outside your pool zone.
If you are uncertain about which you should choose, if you still have any unanswered questions about what would be the best pool house for you, please feel free to call us or drop us a line.
Or for a much deeper conversation about your plans for your pool house, pool and garden, please feel free to book a no-obligation, free consultation with one of our landscape designers. They will answer all your questions.
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You might also find one of these other articles useful and informative:
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Integrating your pool into your landscape - a comprehensive guide
Is Whyte Gardens the right choice to landscape your garden?
