The White House is one of the most striking indoor pools we've worked on. Dark metallic porcelain, a raised spa and three coloured stag heads glowing along the wall. The photos get the attention, but it's the decisions behind them that make the room work, and they're the same ones anyone planning an indoor pool will face.
1. Draw it properly before you dig
Every dimension on this pool was set out on a drawing before work started on site: roughly 10.3m by 5.1m, 1.1m deep at the shallow end and 1.8m at the deep end, with five evenly spaced steps. Settling the depths and the steps early decides how the pool actually gets used, whether that's swimming lengths, playing with the kids or sitting on the steps with a drink.
2. Give the spa its own system
A pool and a spa might share a room, but they behave very differently. Here the pool holds around 60m³ and the spa just 2.8m³. A spa is hot, small and often shared by several people at once, so it needs its whole volume filtered roughly every 15 minutes. The pool is perfectly happy with a full turnover every six hours.
That's why each one has its own variable speed pump, filter and water treatment. Run both off one system and either the spa struggles to stay clear, or the pool's plant ends up oversized and expensive to run for most of its life.
3. Raise the spa if the room allows
Lifting the spa above the floor gives it real presence and makes it easier to step in and out of. Wrapping its outside walls in the same tile as the pool ties the two together, so it looks designed in from the start rather than added on later.
4. Choose the finish with the lighting in mind
Dark tiles are a bold call indoors. The porcelain planks used here look almost black in daylight, but under the pool lights they turn a deep steel blue, which is where the water gets its colour. A pale stone surround balances them so the room never feels heavy.
5. Plan the plant room as carefully as the pool
Nobody sees the plant room, but it's the reason the water looks the way it does in the photos, and the reason it stays that way without someone testing it every day. At The White House that means:
- AFM glass filter media in both filters, sized to run at a gentle rate that gets the best out of it
- Hydrolysis disinfection on the pool, so there's far less chemical to buy and handle
- A Kuntze controller measuring and dosing chlorine in the spa
- Automatic pH correction on both the pool and the spa
- An automated backwash valve on the pool, and flow meters on both systems
6. Cover it when it isn't in use
A black slatted cover closes over the pool at the end of the day. Indoors, a cover does more than keep the heat in. It stops the water evaporating into the room, which takes a big load off the air handling and helps keep condensation under control. In black, it disappears into the tiles when it's closed.
The White House: a walk round the pool room0:54
Case studyThe White House.The full project, with the complete plant specification and more photos from above and below the water.Read the case studyPlanning your own indoor pool?
Every indoor pool is different, but the questions are the same: how you'll use it, how it should look, and what it will cost to run. We're happy to talk them through with you, with no pressure, and help you get the decisions right before anything is built.
Read more about our tiled pools, or call us on 01483 904704.
