SunLedge SunShelf Height? – Ask the Pool Guy

Question:

I really need some good advice. We are constructing a pool with a sun shelf. We wanted the sun shelf to be 10 inches (not including Limestone coping). We went out of town and came back to find the shelf to be 8 inches instead. We will only have 4 inches of water or 5 if we fill pool up to one inch from top of skimmers. The builder says he did this so there is not a huge stepdown into pool. The ledge is the first step down and then at end of ledge there are three foot wide stairs. We really want to use ledge loungers and not sure if we are really going to be satisfied with four inches of water. If you have any thoughts…..it would be much appreciated!

Answer:

We tend to guide our clients into a sun ledge depth that makes sense for them. Our ledges tend to be 12-16 inches down, so 10-14″ of water, and are typically too deep for the ledge loungers which are ideal in 9″ or less of water. Of course with use and when people get used to the pool they’ll be jumping in and out everywhere, so they do accommodate the differences in height.

We do add a step in the pools where our ledges are deeper because the first step down would be way too deep to use to enter/exit the pool in most cases where people would be expecting a typical step tred In pool steps they vary a bit, We’ve seen 8″ to 9″ maximum on the first step.

We can understand their reasons for doing it the way they did are probably because the limestone would add an additional 2″ to your request of 10″ and at 12″ that’s too much for a first step. That being said, this is the time to change it if you must. Then we’d absolutely recommend a top step, which may take up some of your ledge area, not sure the dimensions you have to work with. Also, not knowing if it is a prefab fiberglass ledge or poured out of concrete, we are not sure that this would be an easy change, as it would most likely be major tear out to change to the depth.

The other question is where is the skimmer installed and is there any way to raise that a bit to the beam level to allow you to get the extra inch of water in that way? If you have the slightest opening above the water into the skimmer that will be enough to get surface debris, and throughout the summer your pool water level will regularly fluctuate by a couple of inches based on use/evaporation etc.

Some people really enjoy the smaller ledges, as they become a thermal ledge and will typically be warmed up by the sun to be a much warmer area of the pool.

Either way, good luck!