Answering Your Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Discover answers to your questions in our FAQs, your go-to resource for turning your backyard into the retreat you’ve always dreamed of. Here, you’ll find unique renovation ideas, pool upkeep information, and the latest trends in luxury pool design.
Dive into expert advice, gather insights on stylish outdoor living concepts, and unleash your creativity to transform your outdoor space into an oasis of comfort and luxury.
Planning & choosing your pool
Concrete, vinyl-liner, fibreglass and stainless steel. Concrete is the most customisable and the longest-lived, vinyl is the most cost-effective and the fastest to install, fibreglass arrives pre-formed, and stainless steel is our architectural option for luxury and commercial projects.
Concrete gives you any shape you want and lasts decades, but it needs resurfacing roughly every 10 to 15 years. Vinyl costs less up front and installs faster, with a liner replacement every 7 to 10 years. Which one suits you depends on your site, your budget, and how long you plan to stay in the house.
Seven to ten years in normal use. Liners can also be punctured by sharp objects and pets, so it is worth thinking about how the pool will actually be used before you choose one.
No. A saltwater pool generates its own chlorine from salt rather than having chlorine added to it. Most people find the water gentler on skin and eyes, and there is far less chlorine to buy, handle and store.
Read the full guide: Saltwater Pool Installation: Everything You Need to Know
Yes. Stainless steel is our premium option for luxury homes and for commercial and hospitality projects, with integrated spas, cold plunges, tanning shelves and built-in seating.
Cost, permits and timing
There is no single number, and anyone who gives you one before seeing your yard is guessing. Size, shape, depth, soil conditions and machine access set the base price, then steps, benches, tanning ledges, lighting, heating and landscaping build on it. We give you a real figure at consultation.
Read the full guide: Pool Construction Costs from Installation to Maintenance
Yes. A pool building permit confirms your pool meets local zoning and safety rules, and the fee varies by municipality. Enclosures need a separate permit. We go through all of it with you at consultation and can handle the process for you.
Read the full guide: In-Ground Pool Installation in Toronto: Costs, Permits & Timing
Toronto sets a required fence height and requires self-closing, self-latching gates. We will help you choose materials that meet the regulations and still suit the yard.
Read the full guide: In-Ground Pool Installation in Toronto: Costs, Permits & Timing
Spring is ideal, because the build finishes in time for the season. Fall works well too and often means better availability, with the pool ready to open the following spring.
Read the full guide: Your Guide to Determining a Pool Installation Timeline in Toronto
Planning and design, permits, excavation, construction, finishing, then final inspection and handover. We set out the timing for your specific project before any work starts.
Read the full guide: Your Guide to Determining a Pool Installation Timeline in Toronto
It depends on the pool type, the season and your permit timeline, which is why we map the schedule to your project rather than quoting a standard number. The timeline guide walks through what drives each phase.
Read the full guide: Your Guide to Determining a Pool Installation Timeline in Toronto
Owning and maintaining your pool
Skimming and brushing, vacuuming, checking and cleaning the filter, and testing the water. Day to day it is worth a quick look at the water level, the skimmers and the water clarity.
Read the full guide: The Ultimate Guide to Pools: Maintenance
Total alkalinity first, then calcium hardness, then pH. That order is what makes the numbers hold. Unbalanced water irritates swimmers and damages the pool surface.
Read the full guide: The Ultimate Guide to Pool Water Chemistry
Bring a water sample into the store and we will test it free and tell you exactly what to add. The full ideal ranges for chlorine, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, cyanuric acid and bromine are set out in the chemistry guide.
Read the full guide: The Ultimate Guide to Pool Water Chemistry
Yes. A freshly marbelited pool is filled straight away so the finish can cure, and that takes about six to eight weeks. Chemical treatment during that window is not the same as normal operation, so follow the new-pool steps rather than your usual routine.
Read the full guide: The Ultimate Guide to Pool Water Chemistry
A pump and filter to circulate and clean the water, plus a heater, a chlorinator or brominator, a skimmer, a main drain and usually an automatic cleaner. Everything beyond that is comfort and convenience.
Constant supervision is the one that matters most, and nothing substitutes for it. Beyond that: know everyone’s swimming ability, no headfirst entry into shallow water, and keep pool chemicals locked away and stored apart from one another.
Green water almost always means the pool has run out of chlorine. Brush the walls and floor first — brushing algae off the surfaces is often the only way to let chlorine actually reach it and kill it — then shock the pool according to the product specifications and the size of your pool. Shocking is the fastest way to get chlorine into the water: when your test reads 0 you cannot wait for chlorine to dissolve in the chlorinator.
Once the water clears, vacuum up the dead algae and check that your circulation system and chlorinator are working properly, because a pool that isn’t circulating will simply go green again. Applying algicide weekly helps prevent this in the first place, by stopping algae multiplying if your chlorine level drops.
Read the full guide: The Ultimate Guide to Pools: Maintenance
There are three usual causes. Organics — body oils, lotion, perspiration, hair spray — make pool water dull, listless and cloudy; shocking oxidizes them and leaves the water sparkling, which is why you shock regularly rather than only when there is a problem. Water balance is the second: high pH, high total alkalinity and high calcium hardness each produce cloudy water and scaling. Circulation is the third — as the skimmer baskets, pump basket or filter get dirty, circulation slows and the pool clouds.
If your chemistry tests fine and the water still isn’t clean, clear and sparkling, total dissolved solids may be high. TDS accumulates as water ages and acts like a sponge on your chemicals, and the only fix is partially draining and refilling.
Read the full guide: The Ultimate Guide to Pool Water Chemistry
At minimum once a week if you have an automatic chlorine feeder, and more often during periods of direct sunlight and after any rainfall or heavy bather load. Chlorine fluctuates constantly with climate and bather load, and rain and wind keep introducing contaminants that consume it.
A minimum free chlorine reading of 1.0 ppm is what combats algae and bacteria; below that, bacteria grow. Preventing problems before they start is far less costly than fixing them afterwards — and the first year or two are the easiest, because minerals haven’t yet had a chance to accumulate.
Read the full guide: The Ultimate Guide to Pool Water Chemistry
It depends where the noise is really coming from, and it often isn’t the heater. A sucking or gulping sound is usually the skimmer: when the water drops below the bottom edge of the skimmer mouth the pump starts drawing air instead of water and loses its prime, which stops circulation and stops the heater. Top the water up.
A grinding or rumbling at the pump points to a plugged pump or skimmer basket, a plugged suction line, a worn motor bearing, or the impeller rubbing on the pump case.
A noise coming from the heater itself is different — it is a gas appliance, so please don’t open it up. Book an inspection instead: our Heater Preventative Maintenance covers the heater and all its safety controls, cleaning of the interior, burners and pilot assembly, and an operational test run.
