Water features
Pool water features and spas in Houston
Fountains, waterfalls and integrated spas added to an existing pool.
Chapter 01
How a bolted-on waterfall goes wrong
A water feature added as an afterthought tends to fail in familiar ways. The waterfall splashes past the pool edge, so the level drops a little every day and the deck around it stays wet. The pump that serves it is too small, so the water dribbles instead of sheeting. Or the feature shares a line with the main circulation and starves the filter.
Leaks are the second problem. Every stone wall, scupper and spa spillway has plumbing behind it, and each joint is a place for water to escape into the soil. In Houston clay that moisture softens the ground under the structure, and a feature that was level on day one starts to lean.
Noise is the third. A fountain that sounds pleasant from the patio can sound like a running tap through the bedroom window at night. Where the water lands, and how far it falls, decides which one you get.
Rectangular pool with a stacked-stone waterfall wall
Fountains, waterfalls, and spas done properly
We design the feature around how water behaves. Fall height and landing zone are worked out so splash stays inside the shell. A rock grotto, a stacked-stone wall with a sheet of water, a row of scuppers and a spa spillway into the pool all move water differently, and each needs its own flow rate.
Plumbing comes next. A feature gets its own supply line, its own valve for fine adjustment, and a pump sized for it, so you can turn the flow up for a party and down for the evening. The tie-ins are pressure tested before any stone or tile is set over them, because after that point a leak is a demolition job.
Integrated spas follow the same logic. A raised spa wrapped in mosaic tile, joined to the pool by a spillway, needs a sound shell, correct bonding, heater capacity and a clean tile and coping transition. We tie the new work into the existing deck and waterline tile so it reads as part of the original pool.
Chapter 03
Keeping a feature running well for years
Moving water means more evaporation, so the pool loses level faster once a feature is running. Check the waterline weekly in summer, and call if you are adding water more often than you used to. A sudden jump is a leak, not evaporation.
Stone features collect calcium scale in hard water. A white crust on the rock face or at the spillway lip is a sign the water chemistry is drifting or that the feature needs a clean and a seal. Left alone, scale builds into something that has to be chipped off.
We add fountains, waterfalls and spas to pools across Houston, The Woodlands and Katy. Call (281) 789-4584 with a photo of your pool and where you picture the water going, and we will tell you plainly what the existing pump and plumbing can carry before you spend anything.
Sutton Pools, since 2007 · Free, no-obligation quotes · (281) 789-4584