Do you need to get the foundation of the deck inspected by a builder or some expert to make sure the whole thing doesn't collapse in the middle of a barbecue or a backyard party if too many people are standing on it? Just wanting to ensure your family's safety in future...

I know one of your children is special but I have to agree with Tim on this. A child fence is impenetrable, but only if you are diligent in keeping it closed when not in use. We had one up for the first 2.5 years of our little guys life, just in case, and we NEVER had a close call.

He has spent 2 summers in swimming lessons and now can swim anywhere in the pool, at 4.5 years old, he is not allowed in the pool unsupervised, he knows this and abides by it. He has been swimming since he was 2 years old.

How are you planning on securing the spa? A 1-3 year old can just as easily drown in a spa as well.

Regardless, You do nice work, I would not want to tackle a project like that, I would rather be swimming in it with the kids.

One thought - Are the footings secure, especially the ones that are leaned over so that a line drawn down the centerline of the post passes close to the edge of the concrete block? I see a couple that look uncertain. Especially if people walking, running, jumping on the deck, and/or moving weight from one side of the deck to the other, cause the posts to eventually shift from vertical. Perhaps you could tie the posts together at their bottom ends, right above the footings.

Considering that a deck like that could potentially have 30 people (6,000 lbs) slam-dancing on it (so dynamic load many Xs the static load). Not that it will, but it should be built as if it could.

One more thought - are pool bottoms very strong? I don't know what thickness the concrete is. Suppose 20 people cluster around one post and jump up and down?

Just asking - I'm sure that MIT education hasn't gone un-tapped in designing this thing.

needs more feet and triangulation.

pretty cool is there a city code for this type of deck?

Funny, I just spent a small fortune putting a pool in and you're covering one up.
I waited until my kids were a little older before doing it but they have both been great swimmers since they were little. At 5 my son could swim half-way across the colorado river without a life vest. No I didn't let him do it by himself, and yes I made sure it was safe.
He's 9 now and a fish and will swim for hours and hours, we have to drag him out of the pool when it's getting late. I'd be willing to bet that when your kids get older that pool will be back in service.

In the mean time keep an eye on your water table and make darned sure you have very good drainage in the back yard.
An empty pool does weird things when the ground around it is completely saturated. Weird things like trying to float. They can pop up out of the ground or crack big time.
Prolly not a deal here in Ca, but in places like FLA empty pools do float sometimes.

+1 for teaching them to swim vs. covering up but it looks like it will turn out nice. You're kids are young but not too young to learn to be safe around water.

My girlfriends 9 year old would have preferred it was left empty for skateboarding!

I agree with the comments about leaving a way to access it for cleaning and inspection. I'd have a structural engineer look at the supports unless you've done the calculations necessary to ensure it will support a large group. That thing will be carrying a load at the next Pelican BBQ.

I'd also be concerned about eccentric loading and seismic loading. Since you can't pound joist hangers into the pool perimeter (well, maybe you can but you'll destroy the pool) you're going to have to cantelever the ends of the floor joists off the supporting beams for some distance. This is fine in most cases, but one does need to consider the loadings.

If you're using 2x8s or 2x10s, it'll probably be plenty strong for the deck loading itself, but you also need to consider how the loads are transmitted to the soil below (it looks like you've just got a couple of columns bearing on the pool bottom, which may very well eventually fail/crack due to point loading in that location). If you're not going to use the pool as a pool ever again, it might be worth coring out the bottom under the columns and sinking in piles or pouring standard footings. Much stronger than bearing on what effectively is a slab-on-grade.

If an earthquake hits, make sure to lift up the deck and check the walls of the pool underneath for cracks. Essentially you just have a continuous retaining wall there that's resisting who-knows-how-much lateral force/hydrostatic pressure. When the ground starts moving, since the volume inside is empty (rather than full of water) it might be more susceptible to cracking/failing.

Just some thoughts to consider, which you may have already. . . I like the idea actually, but if the end goal is family safety, it needs to stay true to that goal in its execution - every detail.

Wayne,
I am going to speak up with Charles here. This is a bad idea for a number of reasons. You live in earthquake country. Remember those?? Even small, almost unnoticeable tremors will play around with your "footing" design. The possibility of that whole pile of wood ending up in the bottom of your pool one day are probably higher than I would want to chance. All of the negatives above are real, and I don't see the upside to doing this.
My neighbor has a pool and I have seen their two small boys raised from birth to ages 3 and 7 there now. They have a blue nylon webbing system that attaches over their large free form pool and spa completey, and then is pulled tight from the middle by a pulley and lock system. It has many small attachment points around the pool and when in place properly an adult can fall on it and barely get wet. I think it is very safe, and adaptable to any type of pool.
Please, think this over very carefully before going ahead.
Sorry as well,

Did it not occur to you to ask some Pelican's for help?

Furnish and rent it out. Nice mortgage helper.

Yea, in a seismic situation I think the lip of the pool would help to restrain lateral movement of the joists, but I don't particularly like the bases of those columns. Those pre-cast bell footings seem pretty cheesy to me. They're not really spreading out the loads much and effectively you're point-loading the slab/pool bottom where the columns bear on it. If it were me I'd core through the bottom and sink an honest-to-goodness footing or pile in there. If the earth starts moving up and down (as opposed to side-to-side) those things can literally "hop" off their foundations and collapse. Other than that I like the concept overall. It certainly can work and it will create an interesting space when done, but I agree - the thing that's most concerning me is the vertical support columns. They just look kind of skinny and not very strong at their bases - certainly not a lot of lateral stability there.

Wayne, are you losing it? Living up here in the frozen north, I'd die for a pool like that in California!;)

Cheers,
Steve in Calgary, CANADA

" 6 months of winter, 6 months of bad sledding. Take your pick"

I understand where you were headed from a kids safety/drowning issue - but I think you may have potentially created a bigger problem.

#1 how are your concrete post feet anchored? I think you need a lot more triangulation with secure base posts

#2 you are going to need more access to the underneath to drain.

#3 if you have the hot tub you still have the drowning danger issue.

I brought my three kids up in a water intensive environment. From a safety standpoint - we were EXTREMELY diligent about pool safety and the kids safety around the canal (canal in the back yard)

I sleep easier at night knowing my kids can swim - and swim well.

I think Jeff's point above about hydrostatic pressure and the pool walls is very important, among the other very good points he makes.

AFAIK, the pool walls are not designed to operate as retaining walls and rely, to some degree, on the water pressure to hold them up . . . adding tremblors to the mix does not help.

FWIW.

+1 on the above comments. The pads look too small for the potential weight of a large party and aren't anchored together well enough.
Mabye some beefy ventilation grates on either end would help with residual water that the sump misses.

Quite ambitious project Wayne, hope you got help hauling that timber or sympathy points from the wifey. Lookin good!

I won't debate the swim/avoid issue - that's Wayne's family prerogative.

I always thought that a pool bottom can't support a point load like those footings. I'm guessing Wayne thought about that.

Good idea on the trap door to gain access to drain water.

It looks good, but I would have used Trex or similar material for the deck. Zero splinters, zero maintenance. And you can sell it when you are ready to go back to the pool.

Wayne,
That is a very attractive property. I can appreciate your concern with the small children and I think your project is a great idea. Looking forward to see the final result.

Impressive project. I am surprised you couldn't "sell" the water to your neighbors for landscaping etc...

See my comments above

http://www.allsafepool.com/pool-safety-net/