One of the best ways to beat the heat in Utah during the summer is with your very own in-ground swimming pool. A new pool can also increase the value of your home, which means you can recoup most (if not all) of the cost a building a swimming pool when the time comes to sell. To make sure you end up with the best final product, here are some tips for designing a new swimming pool with your Salt Lake City pool builder .

Set a Budget For starters, sit down with your pool company and set a realistic yet flexible budget for your new swimming pool. We say flexible because the project may include additional features and elements later on that you didn’t anticipate or expect at the onset. While you’re crunching numbers, take a few minutes to set a monthly pool maintenance budget. How much you can afford to spend on maintenance and upkeep will help you select the most appropriately sized pool, since larger pools tend to require more maintenance and have higher operating costs.

Measure Your Space
Before you decide on the size and dimensions of your new swimming pool, you must first determine the size and dimensions of your backyard. It’s important that you design a pool that is appropriately sized for the space you have available. You also need to factor in space for a deck, patio, fencing, outdoor fireplace, and other desired features.

Consider the Entire Living Area
Speaking of additional features, take the opportunity to remodel your entire outdoor living space while designing your new swimming pool. Some pool companies in Salt Lake City provide additional landscape and hardscape design and installation services. Whether you want a simple outdoor fireplace or an entire outdoor kitchen, there’s no better time to design the backyard of your dreams while designing the swimming pool of your dreams.

Near Salt Lake City, many of the fiberglass pools installed with different homes are functional but look very plain. If you are considering hiring a pool contractor to do a pool or hot tub installation , consider adding a decorative or utilitarian feature to your pool.

Features like pool covers do not need to be cumbersome or unsightly; they can be hidden in the design so that they are easily retracted and extended when you need them. Even relatively small pools can incorporate water features such as fountains or waterfalls, or a pool slide for the kids. Watch this video to get a closer look at one pool design idea that incorporates a retractable cover, a water feature, and an infinity edge.

Swimming pool maintenance near Salt Lake City can be a hassle if you try to do it yourself. As a homeowner, you opt for pool installation so that you can enjoy swimming with your family and friends, not so that you can spend extra hours each week cleaning and maintaining the pool. Hiring a pool service company to keep your pool clean will remove these tedious chores from your to-do list. Swimming pool services should include:

Physical Cleaning
Debris such as leaves, twigs, and pebbles can and will get into your pool. No one wants to swim in a pool when the surface is covered with dirt and twigs, and also if too much piles up it can clog the

skimmer baskets and filter, possibly damaging the pump. A swimming pool contractor will skim the surface of the water, vacuum the bottom of the pool, clean out the skimmer baskets, and check the filter to remove all debris and make sure that your pool is clean.

Chemical Balancing
A balanced pool needs to be within a certain range of pH level, total alkalinity, and calcium hardness. If the water is too acidic, it will be corrosive, and if it is too alkaline, it will be scaling. Depending on usage, rainfall, and many other factors, your pool can easily fall out of chemical balance. A pool contractor will test your water as part of routine swimming pool maintenance during each visit, and add chemicals and treatments as necessary to ensure that the water is balanced and safe.

Equipment Inspection
A pool is much more than simply a hole in your yard filled with water. Standing water would quickly become a stagnant breeding ground for algae, bacteria, insects, and other tiny organisms. The chemical treatments in your pool help avoid this, but there is also a pump that circulates the water to help keep it clean. During routine maintenance, a professional like Deep Blue Pools and Spa will do the swimming pool inspection and inspect the pumps to make sure that everything is functioning correctly.

Many homes feature in ground pools near Salt Lake City , and many homeowners decide to install them because summers in Utah offer perfect weather to enjoy a pool. When you meet with your pool contractor, you should be aware of the special design features you can incorporate to make your pool much more attractive than a simple rectangle in the ground.

A simple, elegant water feature such as a tiny waterfall at one edge will add visual interest to your pool and won’t require any extra swimming pool maintenance. Other features such as laminar jets are flashier and more eye-catching, and they add a lot of excitement to the design. Make sure you talk to your contractor about adding these before swimming pool installation begins. Many homeowners install colored lights in the pools, which turn them into sources of soft illumination at night and also increase safety. If you have kids, active features such as pool slides can add a lot of fun to your summer afternoons.