Different Strokes: Get Fit and Have Fun With a Lap Pool
Inspired by the athleticism of Australia's Olympic swimmers? Here's your chance to grab some gold for yourself with a pool designed for laps
Alise Bailey
30 August 2016
Houzz Contributor. Midwesterner living in San Francisco, following everything design and food-related. You'll find me outdoors.
Houzz Contributor. Midwesterner living in San Francisco, following everything design... More
This month, we’ve watched Olympic swimmers from around the world bring home the gold in Rio de Janeiro. You can perfect your backstroke in the comfort of your own backyard with the help of a lap pool, designed just like a racing lane.
Is a lap pool for you? It’s a good project for you if you love swimming, are looking for an in-home setup for laps or are interested in a low-impact workout.
Who to hire: A pool and spa contractor to install (some installers also offer design services). You also may want to hire a landscape architect to integrate the space with your home or its surroundings.
Best time to do this project: If you’re in a cold climate, it’s easier to build an in-ground pool when the ground isn’t frozen.
Who to hire: A pool and spa contractor to install (some installers also offer design services). You also may want to hire a landscape architect to integrate the space with your home or its surroundings.
Best time to do this project: If you’re in a cold climate, it’s easier to build an in-ground pool when the ground isn’t frozen.
Type: A traditional lap pool can be installed in or above the ground, and stretches across a long and narrow space.
Size: A traditional lap pool is a minimum of 2.4 metres wide, 9 to 12 metres long and 1.2 to 1.8 metres deep.
Permit: Check your local building codes for pool permit specifics in your area.
Typical project length: This depends on the type of pool you’re installing. It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or months.
Cost: A traditional in-ground lap pool can run from AU$30,000 to AU$80,000 for a fibreglass pool including installation, and from AU$35,000 to $100,000 and up for concrete, depending on additional customisations. Check with local pool installers and designers for cost estimates in your area.
Size: A traditional lap pool is a minimum of 2.4 metres wide, 9 to 12 metres long and 1.2 to 1.8 metres deep.
Permit: Check your local building codes for pool permit specifics in your area.
Typical project length: This depends on the type of pool you’re installing. It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or months.
Cost: A traditional in-ground lap pool can run from AU$30,000 to AU$80,000 for a fibreglass pool including installation, and from AU$35,000 to $100,000 and up for concrete, depending on additional customisations. Check with local pool installers and designers for cost estimates in your area.
Situated on the banks of Lake Austin, this luxurious Texas, USA home was built for outdoor fun and entertaining. An exterior boardwalk connects structures throughout the home and extends over an integrated 22-metre lap pool near the entrance.
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A white interior and dark blue tiles brighten the space that houses this indoor lap pool on a renovated farmhouse property in Melbourne, Victoria.
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This outdoor space in Kew, Victoria includes a lap pool, spa, water feature and children’s pool. Each swimming space is individually heated via remote iPad and iPhone technology.
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Influenced by traditional Japanese design, this pool house in Montana, USA includes an infinity-edge pool, soaking tub, shoji screens and a rain shower.
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Gardens surround this 25-metre lap pool perched mid-slope on a multi-terrace estate in Austin, Texas.
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This lap pool anchored into a hillside in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, USA features a biofilter. Plants in the filter consume algae and nitrates to keep the water clean naturally, says Mike Ciarrochi, a pool designer at Armond Aquatech Pools.
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Black granite surrounds an infinity-edge pool in Vancouver, Canada. It includes multiple levels and swim-in-place jets for exercise.
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This home in Manly, NSW is modelled after a 1950s contemporary beach house, complete with an alfresco dining area on the pool deck.
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A lush backyard surrounds a lap pool next to a shingled cottage in East Hampton, New York, USA.
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Located by a small airport also in New York, this flight-focused home includes a lap pool with exterior lighting and a custom fire pit to enjoy the views day and night.
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A beach home in France’s Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, near Nice, includes a lap pool built above the ground with plenty of integrated seating for entertaining.
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With its crooked cobblestones and draped ivy, this lap pool in western Connecticut, USA, seems to belong to an ancient time.
A frameless fence keeps children and pets safe without affecting the aesthetic of this modern lap pool and deck in Melbourne, Victoria.
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This modern home on the edge of Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, UK, features a glass wall that opens to connect its indoor lap pool to the outdoors.
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Two lanes encourage friendly competition in this lap pool. The gym space also features full automation, a living wall and a workout area.
This pool in California, USA’s Napa Valley was placed for optimal vineyard views. The space includes an outdoor dining area, fireplace and terraced spaces to relax in the shade.
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An indoor pool in WA offers swimmers a starry ceiling simulating the outdoors.
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Clad with glass tile, this lap pool in New York’s West Village has floor-to-ceiling acrylic panels on one side, offering underwater views to (and from) an in-home gym.
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With a spa at one end, this lap pool in Connecticut is surrounded by a bluestone deck and stone retaining wall.
Flexible courtyards, a lap pool and roof terraces encourage homeowners in this Sydney, NSW house to enjoy the outdoors year-round.
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A tennis court in Los Angeles, USA, was upgraded with a lap pool, gym and spa below its base for a full home workout experience.
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Bluestone tiles cover an infinity-edge pool on Sunrise Beach in Queensland, creating a reflection pool that seems to reach to the Pacific Ocean.
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Love a water workout but want to use less space? A swim-in-place pool like this one in Colorado, USA, averages 2 metres wide and 3.6 metres long; a machine produces a current to swim against, like a water treadmill. Though it’s not a true lap pool, this option offers a similar workout in less than have the space taken up by a traditional lap pool.
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Does the idea of a lap pool at home interest you? Or do you have one already? Share your thoughts and experiences in the Comments.
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TELL US
Does the idea of a lap pool at home interest you? Or do you have one already? Share your thoughts and experiences in the Comments.
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Browse more pools for inspiration
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Most all of the examples shown are beautiful and complement the architecture like a great piece of art. We can all dream about what it must be like to have enough wealth to own property with majestic views and expensive architecture. For myself, I live in a more modest accommodation with a lot that allows me a taste of the good life. I acted as my own contractor when we built our pool saving enough money to build our own 50' long lap pool. We have swum countless laps and hosted numerous "Hawaiian" parties over the years.
As a artist from Amsterdam I like to add "my" swimming pool to this wonderful story. With a diving board which is the other subject of the painting. Because swimming pools and diving boards are not only for swimming and diving. They do more, they communicate that special feeling and excitement. Presenting "THE DIVING BOARD".
I agree that a number of these are not lap pools. But they are still quite nice.
The lack of rails on most of them is a problem waiting to happen. When I had a pool built the designer worried that a handrail would detract. He created a very lovely design and this is the only thing we butted heads about. A rail is needed for older people, pregnant people, people getting in or out while carrying small children, overweight people, anyone who has had any recent orthopedic surgeries etc. The Connecticut one was exquisite. The designer of my pool also included some steps up in elevation around the edges. These shelves and levels are both attractive and divert a lot of the heavy storm run off we get here. The pool is 13 by 23 feet. This is not long enough for vigorous lap swimming but you can still exercise efficiently.