Ep 103 The Grandparents Ideal Outdoor Living Space

This episode is a treasure trove of ideas for creating memorable outdoor spaces that can keep families engaged and happy across generations. Mike and Trey Farley, experts in pool design with over 40 years of experience, share their extensive knowledge on transforming backyards into luxurious personal retreats that cater to both grandparents and grandchildren. Dive into discussions about integrating pools, outdoor games, lush gardens, and even hot tubs. Learn about the essentials of outdoor living, from safety measures to maintenance tips. Whether it's a lazy river, swing, or simple turf, this episode helps you design a backyard that fits your family’s needs and generations to come.

 

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00:00 Welcome to Luxury Outdoor Living 01:36 Grandparenting Fun and Challenges 02:32 Creating a Grandchild-Friendly Backyard 05:08 Designing for Different Types of Grandparents 06:14 Simple and Fun Backyard Ideas 09:51 Building Traditions and Memories 14:28 Outdoor Activities and Safety Tips 28:56 The Magic of Lighting and Temporary Fun 31:09 Outdoor BBQ Segment: Warming Drawers 32:50 The Versatility of Grass and Turf 33:19 Maintaining a Year-Round Backyard 33:44 Ensuring Safety in Your Backyard 34:49 Creating Sensory Experiences 36:37 Designing a Multi-Generational Resort 40:31 Incorporating Pools and Safety Measures 47:55 Health Benefits of Pools for Grandparents 57:23 Enhancing Water Quality and Maintenance 01:00:47 Community and Memories in Backyard Spaces 01:03:28 Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts  

Episode Transcript

Intro (00:02):
Welcome to Luxury Outdoor Living Podcast with Mike and Trey
Farley of Farley Pool Designs.
For over 40 years, we've helpedhomeowners turn their backyards
into personal retreats, spaces ofjoy, relaxation and unforgettable
memories, and whether it's a cozy as.
Scape or a resort style oasis.
We design it all.

(00:24):
We know how overwhelming a projectcan feel, and nothing feels worse than
a homeowner having a bad experience.
And that's why after decades of designingand teaching in this industry, we're
here to share our knowledge, helping you.
The process with confidence.
Every week we break down designtrends and insider tips that
turn your vision into reality.

(00:45):
And since this is about creating somethingamazing together, drop a comment.
If you have any questions, ideas, orjust want to be part of the conversation,
if you find this helpful, a like helpsget this out to more people like you.
And if you want to keep upwith what's next, go ahead
and hit that subscribe button.
We'd love to have you along for the ride.
Let's build your paradise together.

Mike (01:12):
Good afternoon.
This is Mike Farley Luxury Outdoor LivingPodcast sponsored by Farley Pool Designs.
And I am here with mygreat co-host, Trey Farley.
we're gonna talk aboutsome fun stuff today.
Oh yeah.
Some that I have experiencein and Trey has none, but Yep.
The vice versa.
We both have anyway, so we'll getinto that riddle here in a second.

(01:34):
But actually I should start with.
I am a grandparent.
Yes, you are.
Okay.
I have four grandchildren thatare walking the earth right now,
and one is in the oven and we'llhave five grandchildren soon.
Trey is not responsiblefor any of the five.
No.
Okay.
So my children

Trey (01:52):
are white, furry puppies.

Mike (01:54):
Yes, you do have those.
So as a grandparent it's really funto have fun with your grandkids.
So the coolest thing is when youhave challenges with your grandkids,
you hand them back to their parents.
And their parents get todeal with the challenges, but
you get to have all the fun.
Like, when we were backpacking inColorado this summer we took all four

(02:18):
of the grandchildren, backpacking,and we're not like camping.
We're backpacking with back.
Packs on and tents and sleeping out bythe stream and the whole nine yards.
And

Trey (02:27):
yep,

Mike (02:27):
we had a lot of fun.
And when there was a challenge, wegave them back to their parents.
So one of the things as a grandparent,you start thinking about is you want
your grandkids to hang out with you.
It's a fun situation.
So if you can create an environmentthat it's fun for them to come
hang out in, then they havemore fun coming to your home.

(02:49):
we've done things in our home over theyears to make that a little bit more
fun for them to come over but it'sbecoming more and more of a situation
that I have clients that come to me andsay, we want to create this experience.
And some of them aredoing some simple things.
To create that experience.

(03:10):
And some of them are doing reallycrazy things for that experience.
So for you that have listened onthe podcast you've heard the story
before, but the first lazy riverthat I did, I was like, Tom, why in
the world do you want a lazy river?
You're a single guy.
You're in your mid fifties.
And I just, it doesn't make senseto me why you want a lazy river.

(03:34):
And he said you did thisfamily over here's pool.
I said, yeah, I did.
And he said, my sonmarried their daughter.
And I was like, oh, okay.
Actually I think it's the otherway around, his daughter married
their son and he said, my grandkidshang out at their house every
weekend because they love the pool.
And I figured if I built a pool.

(03:56):
Put a lazy river on it, they'dcome hang out at my house more
than they would at theirs.
And I said yeah, probably.
So.
So his whole requirement ishe wanted it to be big enough
that he could play basketball.
It was a lazy river so hisgrandkids could float around and
he wanted it to look like Maui.
Yeah.
So that was the firstlazy river that I built.
And there are countless projects sincethen that we've done for people that

(04:21):
want to attract their grandchildren.

Trey (04:23):
Is that the Colleyville one?
That is The Colleyville onemade a reel on that one.
That's interesting.

Mike (04:27):
Yeah.
So that's cool.
We're gonna talk today.
About things that you can do in yourbackyard, in your luxury outdoor living
space to attract your grandchildren.

Dead air (04:38):
Yeah.

Mike (04:38):
And some of these things are simple and some of them are crazy.
Because everybody's gonna find differentinspiration as they talk through this.
Yeah.

Trey (04:47):
And I've been a grandkid and I've been friends with
friends that didn't have pools.
And I can say one thing for sure thatwhen you build a pool in a backyard and
it's very well done people notice andpeople will create memories there, and
they wanna have more memories there.
they wanna be there again.
So this is a psychological thing thatI think that's very prevalent in people.
So Yes.

Mike (05:07):
Yeah.
So the first thing is I thinkyou have to establish there's.
Different types of grandparents.
There's grandparents that are goingto have their grandchildren come
once or twice a year because theirgrandkids live clear across the country.
Yeah.
They're not local.
They're not a local situation.
And then there's grandparents thatare like, I want to have my grandkids
come over once or twice a week.

Dead air (05:29):
Yeah.

Mike (05:29):
Because they are close to me.
And so you're probably gonnahandle that, what you're going
to do a little bit differently.
And so one of the things that we talkedabout in doing some research on this
is if you're a grandparent and they'reonly gonna come in town once or twice
a year, you don't wanna design yourwhole environment around your grandkids.

Trey (05:51):
No, because they're gonna grow up as well.
Their ages are gonna change.
And if, 18 years of being a kidthey come over once or twice a year.
36 times they get to enjoy the pool.
If you do the math on itit's less than that too.

Mike (06:05):
but you may want a pool you may wanna consider some things
that have appeal to your grandkids.
and so like I said, we're gonna startwith some things that are simple and
some things that are more complex.
One of the things that suggested wasjust you have a tub in your garage,
or storage shed or whatever, that'sgot all the grandkids stuff in it.
And so you're gonna pull the tub out andso when they show up, you've got supplies,

(06:27):
you've got your chalk, and you got your,water blasters and you have garden tools
for kids and you've got, balls and youknow all the things that you wanna play.
And so maybe as simple as.
We once or twice a year have puppies.
Yeah.
Okay.
And you mentioned yourfurry small children.
Yeah.
So we have infants at one point intime and our backyard becomes a little

(06:51):
bit different during that time periodbecause all the puppy toys come out.
Yeah.

Trey (06:56):
You're accommodating for the dogs.
Yeah.

Mike (06:58):
But it's the same, different, same general concept.

Trey (07:01):
I think the, when you're not local and you're a grandparent, you're
trying to design around your family and,making it a hub and you're not local.
Your priorities in the designprocess, you're not gonna
tailor made it for your kids.
You're gonna have a lot more of yourown wants and necessities applied to it.
And you're saying you can bringthings in that are very temporary.
Like for instance, before the podcastyou were saying you could have a

(07:23):
teepe for it or for me, from specificmemories, I remember uh, cause my
grandparents were in Californiaand we lived in Texas at the time.
I went over there and wehad like pool floaties.
We had this big old it was like a bigwater snake that was in the pool and we
had to enjoy and we had to climb throughlike a tunnel and stuff like that.
Like adding these different, if youwanna call 'em toys or, just tools

(07:45):
But, When you have these differenttype of things that can create
activities for kids to enjoy andit's easy to bring in and play with.

Mike (07:54):
Yeah.
So one of the things you mentioned wasa tunnel, and, you can get these tunnels
that are, basically roll up things.
They fold up flat, but you canroll 'em out and you can play
in 'em and stuff like that.
So that's something fun when youhave a a blanket or sheet for it
that you can have cool entrance into.
Mm-hmm.
And you can have these funexperiences, with just, Hey, we, and

Trey (08:18):
you're not gonna call up like for instance, we did a
podcast episode with Nelson Trees.
You're not gonna just build a tree for it.
Just for that specific timeperiod type deal, right?
Yeah.

Mike (08:28):
Yeah.
So, some of the, unless

Trey (08:29):
you really want one.

Mike (08:30):
Well, The tree House master, Pete had some really cool tree houses
that adults kind of hang out into.
Exactly.

Trey (08:36):
No, that's, that's not like a, oh, I this niche.
Let me actually just sync500 or 300 K into it.
It's a, I want this type deal.

Mike (08:43):
Yeah.
So that's on episode 82 ifanybody wants to check that out.

Trey (08:47):
Shameless

Mike (08:47):
plug.
Yeah, there we go.
there we go.
So, well, I've got several shamelessplugs in here as we go along.
That's good.

Trey (08:52):
They need direction.
If you're listening to this,

Mike (08:54):
i'm just gonna run through some things that might be
simple that you may want to do.
And just some ideas, and thenwe'll get into some things that
are a little bit more complex.
One thing that they said would be cool isin your tub, you may have a welcome sign
that says, grandchildren are welcome here.
So you can put that out when your kids,grandkids show up, you know, they're
like, okay we've got the space going.

(09:15):
Chalk is something that's, you can.
Be creative and do artwork, andthe driveway becomes this huge
palette, or the back patio, or,wherever you're gonna go out there.
And, basically it works great untilthe next rainstorm or, you run the
hose over it and so then it disappears.
But you could even go out and do artworkand take pictures of it, and then you

(09:36):
could, make birthday cards outta that.
So it's something that they'llremember for a long time.
It's not necessarily something that'sfleeting, but it is easy and it's simple.
Another thing is, in youryard you may want to go plant
something when they're there.
And so every time that they comeback, they can see what they planted
and how it's grown and gotten bigger.

(09:58):
So I know one of the bigthings in our family.
Especially my daughter loves fruit trees.
Yeah.
Because of the memories that she had withher grandparents and picking the apricots.
Yep.
And so she jumping

Trey (10:12):
in the pool after the apricots were thrown into the pool.
Yeah, it's, yeah.

Mike (10:15):
So it's just, you could plant an apricot tree and, they
moved and in the new place theyplanted another apricot tree.
So there's still those memories thatgo on that even have now gone from
grandchildren to great-grandchildren.
Just the fun of something that's planted.

Trey (10:32):
That's a huge thing that I didn't really talk about, but tradition.
And that's a perfect example of howtraditions can be created through, and
we talked about this before the podcast,I think tradition goes hand in hand with
memories and the ability to create thosearound just a investment in your backyard
is a, it, some people wouldn't thinkabout it, but I will always remember that.
And I don't know how young I was.

(10:53):
I was pretty young when that happened.
But yeah, apricots is, was a reallycool time to be able to see grandpa just
climb up into a tree like a freakingmonkey and, throw the apricots into
the water and us chase after 'em.
That will always live forever in my mind.
Yeah.
That's crazy that you bring that up.

Mike (11:09):
you know, And some people, they're gonna not plant a tree, but
they may plant something that yourgrandkids can watch for a season.
Mm-hmm.
Maybe it's a strawberry plants.
Yeah.
That they can come over andsee the strawberries grow and
harvest them and things like that.
Sometimes it's a garden,sometimes it's wild flowers.
But just the memory.

(11:29):
To me, one of the things that I rememberwas my grandfather, he planted corn and,
when we got to finally harvest it andshuck the corn and, cook it for dinner,
that was a really big deal to me as agrandkid that I planted those seeds and
now we were getting to eat dinner from it.
So, But plants sometimescan be something that.

(11:50):
Can create a memory and it's developsand keeps, as the child grows,
some of the plants grow bigger andbigger, or trees or things like that.
So that can be really cool.

Trey (12:01):
I mean, There's a saying you didn't fall far from apple tree.
Where does that originate from?

Mike (12:05):
Yeah well, an apple.
Mm-hmm.
So, One thing too that can be verysimple is to just have a secret.
Fort or a nook or a corneror something like that, that
you go into at their space.
That could be, a hammock or that'stucked in a corner somewhere
that you can go sit and read.

(12:25):
Or it can be a bench that you go to.
When I was growing up my aunt and uncle.
We had a place that we could goin the back of their yard and we
built this little fort thing thatwe got from some construction
material it stayed there for years.
And it was funny 'cause it was my grandadand uncle and, then later on they took

(12:46):
their grandkids out into this area, whichwas back in the trees on their property
and they played in the fork that we built.
Yeah.
So it can be something that's very simplea tree house, but it could be, yeah.
A tree house a hundred percent.
That you do.
Or it could be something evenjust like a playhouse.
My dad, that's one of the big memoriesthat my nephews and nieces have as

(13:11):
well as my daughters is my dad cameand built a playhouse for both of them.
Okay.
You don't remember 'cause you werereally young, but it was in our
house in California when he came outand built it before you were born.
Oh, okay.
that was in the backyardand they played in it.
And then the same thing in Lubbock.
He built one there.
That they played in as well.

(13:32):
Yeah.
So that's something that hedidn't build in his house
because we weren't going to Ohio.
So he came to Ohio andbuilt them where we lived.

Trey (13:42):
Did he build the fort in their backyard as well?

Mike (13:44):
No.

Trey (13:44):
Okay.
Okay.
I was just wondering for me, for mylittle nook, ' 'cause my grandparents,
they eventually did have a housenext to us where we were growing up,
or at least where I was growing up.
And I was able to go to theirhouse every single day after
school because it was on my way.
'Cause I used to ride my bikeand I used to always hang out
in their little bar top area.
That was my little space.

(14:05):
That was my little nook.
I had a little TV and I was playingvideo games back in the day.
But depends on who it isand what they like to do.
it could just be a countertop

Mike (14:14):
That wasn't outside, that was inside.
No, it

Trey (14:17):
was inside.
But I mean, if you had thatsame setup outside, I'm sure
I would've been out there too.

Mike (14:21):
But, creating a space.
Yeah.
that's something that you can get.
Some really core memories fromis if you have a space like that.
Sometimes you're gonna do plants, oneof the things I forgot to mention is
if you got really small grandchildren,they love to stuff stuff in their mouth.
Yeah.
And they like to eat stuff.
Yeah.
And, which is fine, but you wanna makesure that you don't have poisonous

(14:43):
plants in your backyard like an olender.
Yeah.
Or some other types of plantsor something that's chunkable.
Yeah.
So it's just something to think about whenyou're looking at, plants in the backyard.
we've got.
Something that's really simple, which Iknow a lot of people think is really cool,
is they'll actually set up a butterflygarden which will attract butterflies.

(15:06):
And so it's really cool.
One of the things when we were backpackingthe summer is we saw a lot of butterflies.
And the kids got a real kick outta thatand seeing them and getting pictures
with them and everything like that.
But sometimes another thing that'sreally cool to attract although you
gotta be careful with this one is bees.
Because you can attract them withflowers and things like that, but

(15:27):
just so they, as a child, you learnthat, how important they are to
our environment and to pollinationand all kinds of things like that.
Plus they make honey.
You gotta be careful notto get stung as well.
sometimes, you, along with plants isyou may have an area where you've got a
wilderness area, so you feel like you'reout in nature and you can go out there

(15:52):
and you can set a tent up and have acampfire and, you don't necessarily have
to go backpacking in Colorado like we did.
You can go into the wildarea of your backyard.
Maybe It's funny.
Maybe that's just in a cluster of trees.
Yeah.
Or some people, will have a bunchof, just an area that you feel
like you're out in the wild.
And one of the most popularthings is, a campfire.

Trey (16:15):
Mm-hmm.

Mike (16:16):
you may have a fire pit.
there's a lot of really coolthings that are out today.
We have a solo stove.
And one of the things that I've gotwith it because of my grandchildren is
there's a layer on the outside of it.
'cause the solo stoveitself will get really hot.
Yeah.
Okay.
But so we put a barrier that'son the outer edge of it.
You build it and it's kinda likea table that wraps around it.

(16:38):
And so that keeps the kids fromtouching the sides of it, or
dogs from wagging their tailsand getting their tails singed.
Yep.
Up against it.
And so, you could create a spacewhere, you just go outside and you
can, have s'mores and cook, outsideand have a campfire type situation.
And there's a lot of people thatmake a lot of great memories.
And this is a greattime of year to do this.

(17:01):
Yes.
Because the temperatures aredropping and the leaves are turning.
And, for actually the next threemonths here in Texas it's great outside
because it cools off a little bit.
It's not so hot.

Trey (17:14):
to that point you reminded me of Grandma and Grandpa's backyard
they had this neat and tailored areawith the pool, and they had the little
rock waterfall, but behind that, theyhad this forested area which worked
great as a privacy wall if they didhave anyone behind them later on.
But also that's a great spot to put a firepit or a hammock or put a tent out there

(17:36):
because it goes from I, I don't know howto explain it, but it transitions very
well into a whole different environment.
Which when I think about pooldesign, I've never really
thought about that specifically.
Having a designated area that's forestedjust to be forested, not for like a
privacy screen or anything like that.
But yeah, that's a great idea.

Mike (17:53):
Oh, you've got, I. since I'm touching on fire, sometimes people
will want to do something simple.
It may be a chim.
Yeah, that's nice.
That you can burn wood in.
Some people will do built infire pits that are gas, units.
Some people will actually builda fireplace, so they can, sit
in front of the fireplace and,cook and they can use real wood.

(18:16):
Some things will work well with realwood, such as a chiia or a fireplace.
Fire pits, like the solo stove isdesigned for real wood, but you
can get, the, you can get gas ones,you can get gas ones, propane.
lu cast makes a reallycool unit that we've used.
It's a self-contained unit, andthen you can build custom fire

(18:38):
pits, which we've done lots of.
but a fire is a great place to hang out.
Now, one of the things that's reallycritical with, if you're gonna create
an environment that you're going to haveyour grandkids outside and you're probably
gonna want to have a good sitting area.

Trey (18:56):
Yes.

Mike (18:57):
And you're probably gonna want some shade.
Mm-hmm.
A hundred percent.
Because a lot of timesthis is a summer activity.
Yes.
And it's hot outside.
And so you want to have some shade.
And the grandkids can usually stayoutside a little bit longer than
the grandparents feel comfortable.
So you wanna create a comfortableplace that you can hang out nice
chairs to hang out in table area.

(19:19):
Cool.
Decking some, nice deckingmaterial, anti-slip.
yeah.
So when we're touching base withdeck material yeah, we want something
that nobody's gonna slip on.
We want something that can be very smooth.
One thing you may want tothink about is mobility.
Yes.
Because the very young and the veryold have challenges with mobility.

Trey (19:39):
One goes too fast, one goes, one's not as balanced.
Yeah.

Mike (19:42):
well, I mean Actually both

Trey (19:43):
are probably not as balanced.
Yeah.

Mike (19:45):
I would say my granddaughter right now, although she's moving around
pretty good now, you know, when we wentbackpacking, she had been walking a week.

Dead air (19:52):
Yeah.

Mike (19:52):
And so she wasn't quite as balanced in that situation.
And so having reallysmooth transitions helps.
So one of the things that you may want tothink about regardless of grandchildren
or not, but a lot of times people comein and they change levels with steps.
one thing that can be done in a lot ofyards is you can just actually build

(20:12):
a ramp from one level to the other.
So there's not a step situationthat you're dealing with.
And so that you

Trey (20:18):
took a little bit more space than steps.
So you have to have the space for it.

Mike (20:21):
Or not a real great.
Big elevation change, but thenyou can actually you're not gonna
have a tripping hazard Exactly.
For the very young and for the very old.
So that's something to think aboutwhen you do walkways, that they're
smooth and that, a lot of timesthat they're a soft material.
Yes.
I did a, project a whileback and it was sloped.

(20:45):
And what we did on the slope isinstead of using a traditional
paver, we actually did turf.
Synthetic turf.
And so for those deck areas andthat slope, it was just, all grass.
Now the nice thing about itis it was easy to walk on.
It was comfortable to walk onand that's one thing too that
you may want to think about.

(21:05):
Although I'll go to that in a minute.
I probably need to finish the patio area,otherwise I'll never get back to it.
So you've got some shadedarea in the patio area.
what you want is a place that, you cansit and watch and supervise and be maybe
in the shade, but not necessarily be inthe play area itself that's being used.

(21:26):
So you want it centrally hub.
So you can see a lot of different spaces.
we've got a project that we're fixingto start we've got a. big turf area
with a play set that's going in it.
And then there's a basketball courtand sports court next to that.
So pickleball and basketball.
And then the other side isthe outdoor kitchen, and then

(21:49):
the fourth side is the pool.
And so this seating area is keyed inwhere you can sit there and you've
got good shade and you can enjoy allthose activities that are having and
taking place all the way around you.
The one thing that's also really cool whenyou have a sitting area is a lot of times

(22:09):
people today want to incorporate swings.
Okay.
Or, like a daybed.
Yeah.
Because they like to hang out thereand just, kick back and a swing's
really comfortable to do that in.
Oh yeah.
And sometimes the swing is just a simple.
Garden swing, and then sometimespeople really like these egg chairs.

(22:31):
Mm-hmm.
They'll do several of those,which is a lot of fun.

Trey (22:34):
It's really fun when you get above the water or next to the water.
We have a couple jobswhere you can do that.

Mike (22:38):
Yeah.
And then some people,like a swinging day bed.
we did some, YouTube videos andInstagram posts on a project
that we did on one of those.
It's, or you could just simplyhave a swing and a playground.
there's all types that you coulduse, but the playground swing is
usually not big enough for me to use.
So the others are verycomfortable, likewise, for me use.

(23:01):
So, as we've said, your grandchildrenwill change in size over a period of time.
Yep.
And so if you set it up whereit can be accommodated for
all ages, that's really nice.
And so one of the places a lot of timespeople wanna swing is in that center hub
area where everybody's gathering around.
So you could, it's really cool, alot of times people are like, we've

(23:22):
got this fireplace, we don't knowwhat to do on either side of it.
You could have swings there.
So can be a, nice setup.

Trey (23:28):
I think the same mentality because what you're trying to do, like
what we're discussing, these differentseating areas that are shaded is get
you as close to the action as possible.
Like Enjoy the conversationsmonitor, be there as a grandparent
or a parent or whatever it might besupervising children or whatever.
But that can transitioninto the ting bench as well.
'cause I think that's aone of the Oh, in the pool?

(23:49):
Yeah, in the pool.
Because with all these different benchesand seating areas, you're trying to
get close to the action or around,or create this kind of flow through
the backyard that feels natural.
But being in the pool you could do thesame thing with maybe not a ledge lounger,
but a seat or something like that, orsit on the edge of the tanning ledge.
So

Mike (24:09):
we go to the tanning ledge in a pool.
that is designed for, or Bajashelf or whatever you wanna
call it, for multiple age uses.
Yes.
This is the area I used to tellpeople all the time, this is the area
where, small children would play.
And then once the small childrenquit playing there, then the
teenagers were tanning there.

(24:31):
Yep.
And then when the teenagers weren'ttanning there, then some people were
sitting there reading their Kindle,and then some people just wanted
to sit in a chair under an umbrellaand put their feet in the water.
You've got all ages that aredoing those type of activities.
And one of the things that's happened.
More and more today is, I'vegot people wanting two ledges.

Trey (24:53):
Yeah, I was gonna say that two ledges the ledgers are getting much bigger
as well with square footage because that'sone of the most used spaces in the pool.

Mike (25:00):
Yeah.
And having two, there's usuallyan adult one and a child one.
Hey, the kids can hang out over here anddo their stuff, but the adults want to
hang out over here and do their stuff

Trey (25:11):
for the kid.
One for sure.
my perspective, I wouldn't put likea bench, around it, just have it
like a little island pretty much.
So they wanna play King of the Hillor whatever they can safely, because
the amount of times we did thatand there was a bench there and we.
Fell on that thing.
very dangerous.
If you take away thatbench, it's a lot safer.

Mike (25:29):
now me as the grandparent, I wanna sit on the bench and keep
my grandkids from going into thepool when they're toddlers and
they're hanging out and playing on

Trey (25:38):
the bench.
So you go to the other ledge.
Okay.
So

Mike (25:40):
that's what you're saying is there's the pro, if you wanna do two Yeah.
Of two, you design them differently sothey accommodate some different aspects.
More versatile.
Yeah, that's a valid point.
With water on the ledge, what we docommonly is we do gushers of bubblers.
Yeah.
Okay.
The reasons for those is theyhelp light the space to help

(26:02):
provide circulation mm-hmm.
to make a great water feature.
But kids love to play with them too.
Yes, they do.
And that you can valve them so youcan make them different heights.
Yep.
So they don't have tobe just six inches tall.
You could, Hey, thegrandkids are here this week.
Let's have the bubble up at four feet.
You could do that.
Okay.
What,

Trey (26:20):
What's the one that one thing Old faithful or something like that.
Yeah.
get a touch on the moon.
Yeah.

Mike (26:24):
So that's one thing that's really popular.
And so it's nice to havemultiple bubblers, for different
kids and stuff like that.
But to do that on steroids is wherepeople like to build a splash pad.
Oh yeah.
And so a splash pad is designatedjust for that activity is splashing

(26:45):
around in one inches of water.
But you've got all thesedifferent bubble wars coming up.

Trey (26:50):
So we're getting closer to the local grandparent.
Now, this is, I think, wouldbe more appropriate to, Hey, I
want my kids to come over everysingle weekend, enjoy my pool.
But this is like a, tom strategy,

Mike (27:01):
right?
Yes.
you're becoming a, a situationwhere you're going to try
to bring them more often.
Or, the other thing is I havegrandparents that tell me this too,
is I'm competing with Disneyland.

Trey (27:16):
Yep.

Mike (27:16):
Okay.
So if I can make the place wherethey want to go on vacation, my house
Instead of Disneyland, thenI get them for a week that I
wouldn't have got them otherwise.

Trey (27:26):
Also, I. It's a controllable environment.
'cause it's your home versus Disneyland.
It's a public space.
Like for instance, I was thinkingabout this before we started.
The amount of times I went to Waterworks,which was well, a waterpark during
the summer, and I would pretty muchbe on my own with my friends and we
would do whatever, we would want to do.
We would get into troubleand whatever it might be.

(27:47):
No.
Versus us being at the house andy'all are around, y'all are being
able to cook us meals and interactwith the friends we bring over
and get to know everyone better.
I think it's a better situation, but yeah.

Mike (28:01):
On occasion when we had big events, we hired our oldest
daughter who was a lifeguard tobe the lifeguard at the event.
Yeah.
So it was some dumb

Trey (28:10):
boys jumping in the pool, making sure they weren't going head first.
It's a good thing to have around

Mike (28:15):
A couple of things that are simpler too, just to touch base
on before we get into, oh, and

Trey (28:20):
also Disneyland's really expensive now,

Mike (28:23):
so Yeah.
Disneyland is really expensive.
And so what, the other thing that youhave is there is an certain age that
it's tough to take kids to Disneyland.
Mm-hmm.
So I've never been Yeah.
That,

Trey (28:34):
that I never really, I don't think I want to go either,

Mike (28:36):
there's some people that said your parents were very deficient and
you actually went to Disney World.
I did When you were two.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
So I have a picture of it.
So some people never been, so that's cool.
So there, I don't remember

Trey (28:48):
it, but hey.

Mike (28:50):
Yes.
But you had the parent that drug youto the mountains every summer instead.
That's much better.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Well, Some people say you're warped
anyway, been manipulated, sometimesit's just as simple as lighting.
And lighting is something that youcan really do some fun stuff today.
So it could be just, I've got some stringlights set up, or, we had these Christmas

(29:16):
balls that we hang in trees in our frontyard during the Christmas holidays.
We have 'em in the backyardtoo, all year long.
you can create somewhatof a festive environment.
There's all kinds of LED lights todaythat have, skyrocketed on all the
capabilities that you have to createsomething that's a little festive.

(29:37):
So, You might have just this littlearea where there's, a hammock, but
you may string some lights around itand it becomes a fun place and, even
at night or even more fun at night.
Sometimes, one of the things that Iheard is a grandparent activity that
they said that they did was they tookphotographs and printed them of animals

(30:00):
and they laminated them and they wentand hid 'em out in their yard and they
gave their grandkids a set of binoculars.

Trey (30:06):
Oh my

Mike (30:06):
goodness.
And so they had to find, see who couldfind all the animals in the backyard.

Trey (30:11):
Yeah.

Mike (30:11):
And then they did an educational thing about each one of the animals and
something about them and what countrythey were from and stuff like that.
That's awesome.
That's not a hard thing to do.
No.
But it's a fun thing to do that, youcan create some fun things another, that

Trey (30:26):
you can do another, another idea like that.
I saw a video recently andthis is like one of those.
Things that you can just likepull something out temporarily
and have a little, little event.
But I saw a video of a dad and he got abunch of glow sticks and at night he came
in while his kids were night swimmingand he threw like it felt like thousands.
It was so many glow sticks into thepool and it's a temporary thing, you

(30:47):
know, they're only gonna last so long.
But it was such a cool thing to see allthese glow sticks go into the water and,
lighting up the water and that memorywill always stay in his kids' yeah.
Minds.
So that's very easy to do as well.
I don't know how safe.
Glow sticks are in the water.
I'm not suggesting you do that.
I do your own research.
There's probably some chemicals in thereor something, but it looked really cool.

BBQ Intro (31:10):
We are gonna take a break here for a second and get into outdoor living.
So with outdoor living, we liketo go to barbecue bits here.
We're gonna share some information oneverything that you may want to consider
in your outdoor living space as far asfeatures, especially for the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy this.

Mike (31:29):
So after we we're cooking, a lot of times when we're cooking for a
big event, we need a warming drawer.
Sure.
So explain pros and consand how that might work

Bobby (31:38):
there.
We haven't seen really any cons.
It just is gonna support the volume offood that's been cooked, and we're seeing
these gain more popularity because I'mgonna touch on some things that'll help
you guys sell more warming drawers.
The first is a volume.
It's holding volume right for the party.
That's where it's value added.

(31:58):
The second thing is you don'thave to mount it downward.
Here at the bottom, you can mountit high so it's right underneath the
counter so you don't have to bend down.
We see a lot of people use warming drawersfor baked potatoes, so if you have a
baked potato bar, it's really easy to do.
After the meal is over with,though a lot of people don't know
is that you can take towels, roll'em up, set these down to low.

(32:19):
Put 'em in the warming drawerin the winter and when everybody
gets out of the hot tub, theyhave a nice, fresh warm towel.

Mike (32:24):
Sweet.
And that's

Bobby (32:25):
where you're gonna get your most cells outta warming drawers
with warm towels, but rememberto put it on low, not on high.
So

Mike (32:32):
that's awesome.
Okay.
Uh, well appreciate thattidbit of information.
Yeah, you bet.

BBQ End (32:38):
So I hope you enjoyed the barbecue bits that we just featured today,
and we'll have more coming up next week.
If there's something in particular thatyou're interested for, let us know and
we will get back into the episode now.

Mike (32:50):
one thing that you may just wanna have is some nice grass in your backyard.
Because if you've got some nice grassin your backyard, you can play Frisbee.
Yep.
You can play ball, you can havecornhole, you could do bocce ball.
You can do putting, there's a lotof different things that you can
just, games that you can play ifyou just have some nice grass.

(33:12):
Now some people that they goto that and they say they want
turf because then it looks good.
Yeah.
And it's in good shape all year round.
Whether the grandkids come inNovember or they're there in June.
That's something that a lot ofpeople enjoy because it gives 'em
place to move around and play.

(33:32):
Regardless of what time of the year, it's

Trey (33:35):
when you have good grass, make sure you have good drainage as well.
' cause having water having muddy,like having a muddy area is
gonna run that really quick.

Mike (33:44):
Yeah.
So then thing you want to think about isAnd there's safety in regards to swimming
pools, which we'll touch base on a minute,but there's general safety in a backyard.
That you want to think about.
And sometimes it's as simpleas, gee, when my grandkids are
here, I need some fencing up.
And so it doesn't necessarily need tobe an extreme fencing type situation.

(34:07):
And it could be a temporary thing.
The same thing happens in our backyardswhen puppies show up, is there's
temporary fencing that's put up thatwe then collapse down and store for
the rest of the year, but it keeps themfrom wandering all over the whole yard.
Yeah.
And you may want to do that if you havesmall grandchildren and you want to
protect the space that they're in andjust keep them in a safe environment.

(34:32):
There's people that havecameras in their backyard space.
Mm-hmm.
So again, they can keep an eyeon things as kids maybe get a
little bit older and you're not.
Sitting on the patio constantlysupervising, but you can keep an
eye on them and what they're doing

Trey (34:47):
and tying alarms as well.
Yeah.

Mike (34:49):
But having things that play with the senses is really fun.
And there's a lot of memories andthere's a lot of core memories
that could be created with that.
One of the things with me is everytime I see honeysuckle, I think
of my grandfather because that wassomething they had in their backyard.
And so the smell of that, and heused to show me how you could get a

(35:10):
little, a little, you pull on the flourand you get a little drop of honey.
So from that, you know, it was justsomething that, that I always remember.
But sometimes the smell couldbe food, if you cook outside, so
there are families that do a lot ofcooking outside and eating outside.
Oh yeah.
And so the smell of.

(35:31):
Ribs or steak or pork chop saw cooking,you know, something you can have, but
sound becomes another real big deal.
And so simple sound is just wind chimes.
I grew up in Lubbock, Texas.
We had a breeze all the time.
And wind chimes are somethingthat, create good memories for me.
We couldn't afford to have apool or a fountain or a pond.

(35:53):
And so that, worked well.
Although the pool and the pafountain in the pond, all the sound
of water is something that froma sensory standpoint is great.

Trey (36:02):
Grandma and grandpa had a they had wind chimes in their backyard as well.
that's really the only time, like when Ithink of wind chimes, I think of y'all's
backyard and my grandparents' backyard.
And I don't know what it isabout wind chimes specifically,
but a weird I don't know.
It's a very beautiful thing.
But where did that even originate from?
Do you know?

Mike (36:20):
No, I have no earthly idea.
That's so weird.
Probably bones that arehanging up in trees.
That's creepy.
That, that, the Aboriginesdid after they Okay.
They kind of rattled

Trey (36:31):
around.
Well, They had a glow up for sure.
'cause they, it's a very nice addition.
acoustics is a huge deal in a backyard.

Mike (36:37):
Yeah.
one of the big things that people thinkof when they think of, I want to create
an environment for my grandkids is a pool.
so we've touched base.
On some things to start with, butI want you to think about a pool.
And a lot of times when they do thepool, they think about age the grandkids
are when they're doing the pool.

Trey (36:58):
Some, not just grandparents, but a lot of parents do this as well.
Yeah,

Mike (37:02):
that's true.

Trey (37:02):
They fall into this trap,

Mike (37:04):
It's not necessarily a trap, it just depends on how long
you're planning on being there.
And so there's a lot of people todaythat what they're trying to do is create
an environment for their family thatthis is going to be the family gathering

(37:24):
spot for the next several generations.
So when I was growing up, the bigdeal was we're going to have a cabin
in the mountains and we're gonna goup to the cabin in the mountains.
And that was where a lot of people'score memories were, type situation.
Yeah.
may have been that I was close, nottoo far from the mountains but we

(37:44):
were in the flatlands of, west Texas.
And so some people

Trey (37:47):
at the beach house some people at the lake house.

Mike (37:49):
So they're gonna go somewhere, but it's usually somewhere close.
There are people that are now buildingresorts and backyards, and the whole
intent is this is the family compound.
That this is where the family's going tocome and do summer vacation, even after,
people scatter all over the United States.

(38:09):
This is where they're gonna come back to.
So we're gonna create a resortin this space, and so we're
going to try to accommodate.
As much as possible.
And I've seen some of these projects thatinitially when the client said what they
were trying to do, I was like, there's noway in the world they're gonna spend this
kind of money on this piece of property.

(38:29):
Yeah.
'cause it just doesn't make sense.
But then after they explained whatit was for, it was like, okay,
you're not designing it for now.
You're not designing itfor the next 20 years.
You're thinking next 30, 40 yearsdown the road of the space and
how this family's going to use it.
And so

Trey (38:47):
Generational resort.

Mike (38:48):
Yeah.
And so what you may put in that spaceis gonna be a lot different than others.
But one of the things I tell peopleis, you wanna design, if it's gonna
be for a while has the most drawfor the most amount of people.
Yeah.
And so because of that, a diving poolis not something that's typically done.

Trey (39:09):
Yeah.
You want versatility.
Diving pools, obviously younger ages.
Younger age boys are gonna love it.
But I grew up and I don't wannadive into a pool that much anymore,

Mike (39:19):
yeah.
And we didn't have a diving pooland it seemed like a few of your
friends came over and hung out.

Trey (39:25):
Yeah, no, they did.
Yeah.
And we actually enjoyed the pool.
Like we were talking about this, mygrandparents, they had a diving pool and I
don't remember seeing my grandparents everin the deep end, like once or twice maybe.
But like half the pool they didn't use

Mike (39:38):
now there are people that are also designing these spaces.
They're making the body ofwater so big that they can have
a large recreational space.
We

Trey (39:46):
have different zones for different things and

Mike (39:48):
diving.
Yes.
But we're talking about that has to be amuch bigger body of water to accommodate

Trey (39:53):
that.

Mike (39:53):
So it just depends on the amount of space.
But if you're trying to designsomething for generational, then
that may be what you incorporate issomething that has multiple zones
to accommodate every age group.
Yeah.
You could have a slide

Trey (40:08):
going to the diving area too.

Mike (40:10):
so some people also will say a lazy river's ridiculous, because that
doesn't have the draw for as many people.
Although I've seen grandparentsand parents and grandkids all going
on a lazy river and having fun.
It just, everyone is differentin what they're trying to
do and trying to accomplish.

(40:31):
But when we get to a pool, the first thingis you've gotta decide what is going to
be the greatest function for everybody.
then the next thing that youwant to think about is safety.
Yeah.
And so there's a few things that you maywant to consider from a safety standpoint.
one of the things that I ran acrossvery early in my career is I had

(40:52):
a client that was concerned aboutsafety for their grandchildren.
But the grandchildren onlycame once or twice a year.
And so what they put in was atemporary fence that was removable.
And so when the grandkids would comeover, they put the fence up for a week,
and then they would take it down andit would be down for 25, 26 weeks.
And then they came in townagain and they put the fence up.

(41:14):
And so it was something thatthey stored in their garage but
it was not up most of the time.
Now this is the same.
Temporary fencing that a lot of peopleuse when their kids are, from birth
to four years old or something, untilthe kids learn to swim comfortably.
So that's one solution thatpeople consider with safety.
And it's from a grandparent specificsituation that they're coming in

(41:37):
town, they're not there all the time.
But another one, which isreally popular is an auto cover.
Yes.
An auto cover is something that youcan, open and close at will depending
on, there's no grandkids over here.
They're coming over Saturday morning.
Okay.
We can shut the pool until we'reready to use the pool, and then we can

(41:57):
open it up during that time period.
Then we can shut it again, oh, they'regonna spend the night, oh, we will open
it back again Sunday, so we can swim.
And then, oh, they wenthome Sunday afternoon.
We can open it back.
It's open.
For the next 10 days untilthey come visit again.

Trey (42:13):
Yeah.
And auto coverage are very safe ifanyone's not familiar with them.
We've talked about 'em multipletimes on the podcast, but you have to
actually press a button manually andsee the pool, so no one's gonna get
trapped under it or anything like that.
very safe and eco.
It's a great system.
So

Mike (42:27):
episode 85 specifically.
Yeah.
Keep

Trey (42:29):
your pool warmer if you want to do that as well.

Mike (42:32):
It will extend your pool season from and keep it insulated.
Yep.
Better.
But then some people are like, okay, ifI want grandkids, I think I need a slide.
And so there are different levelsof slides that you can get.
Yeah, so the simplest was if you go toledge, lounger ledge, lounger has a slide

(42:53):
that you can put on the tanning ledge.
Okay.
So it's something that'sworks great for kids that are
about, under six, I would say.
They can slide on that.
They have a lot of fun withit, and it's a great situation.

Trey (43:06):
Probably even better on the tanning ledge that's designated
for kids with no bench on it,

Mike (43:11):
right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe so.
maybe so.
then, you get to, freestanding slides.
Which, basically are justmounted on the deck itself.
So from a cost standpoint,it's not that greatly.
The biggest problem a lot of grandparentshave with them is they're kind of ugly.

Trey (43:28):
Yeah.
And I imagine they're not as smooth.
Maybe a couple bumps in there

Mike (43:32):
going down.
They're put together withpieces but that is a solution.
Now you get into the dolphinslides and they have a one piece
slide, so there's no joint in it.
Or if you get into thecustom ones, then you can.
Build a 35, 43, 50 foot I mean,There's all, you could build the,
it's countless on different Yeah.

(43:54):
They

Trey (43:54):
got speed slides for backyards now, which is crazy.

Mike (43:56):
Yeah.
So just

Trey (43:57):
Yeah.

Mike (43:58):
Fast shrink down the ones from the water parks.
Yeah.
there's that which is gonnabe, some people say more fun.
They're bigger.
They can, the big thingis how do you hide them?
Which we come up with somecreative design situations on that.
I

Trey (44:12):
think a lot of people consider slides when they decide
they don't want a diving board.
I feel like, I don't know why, butI feel like those kind of like,
it's like a trade off in a way.

Mike (44:20):
You can, and the slides typically you're gonna have a slide
envelope, safety envelope, justlike you have a diving envelope.
Yeah.
But that is a much shallower.
Yeah.
And much smaller safety envelope.
So most slides can go intofour and a half feet of water.
But you need to look at theindividual specifications on
what the depth requirement is.
But you get some people thatare like, eh, I need something

(44:43):
that's more artistic looking.
Ooh, so Dolphin Slides was on episode 63.
Episode 76 is Splinter Works, whichthey basically have taken a piece of
sculpture and built a slide into it.
And so it's more of an art piece.
So a lot of people are like, that'sa lot more visually pleasing.
Plus it can be fun.

(45:04):
So that sounds like a better situationfor us and our family situation.

Trey (45:10):
Yeah, the Halo slide's my favorite.
It's gorgeous.

Mike (45:13):
So that's a pretty cool one.
The Tris, I think, is,

Trey (45:16):
that one's really cool too.
Pretty cool.
There's a lot of, they're all cool,

Mike (45:19):
but the Tris is

Trey (45:20):
massive yeah.

Mike (45:21):
Anyway some people are like, I like the sound of water.
I'd like to float around a little bit.
But I don't need a full-fledged pool.
There's people that build ponds toget their water featuring as well.
Episode 93 We talked with Gregwith Aqua Scapes about their setup
and they have swimmable pool ponds.

(45:43):
They have swimmable ponds that youcan hang out in and float around
in and you get the water sound andthe grandkids can splash around in.
Mm-hmm.
So that's a solution for a lot ofpeople as well, if you're trying to
incorporate water into your situation.

Trey (45:58):
And when people think of PAs, they think of mosquitoes naturally.
That's not the case here becauseif the system's working how it
should be the water's always moving.
Yeah.

Mike (46:07):
So speaking of moving, they're also is the movable floor.
Okay.
So Hydro four, we talkedwith him on episode 35.

Trey (46:15):
Talk about versatility.

Mike (46:17):
So Hydro four, basically you have a body of water that has a,
Deck in the middle of the floor ofthe pool that moves up and down.

Trey (46:27):
It is a deck.

Mike (46:29):
And so what you can have is water that's three inches deep.
You can have water six inches deep.
You can make water 18 inches deep.
Oh, let's make it a little bit deeper now.
It's three feet deep.
Oh, okay.
Let's make it five feet deep so youcan move this floor up and down to
create the environment that you want.

Trey (46:47):
It goes deeper than five, right?

Mike (46:49):
Yes, it does.
and you could have the all the wayup where there's no water whatsoever
and it's a patio, it's just a deck.
Yeah.
So from a safety standpoint, it allowsyou to create the environment that
works best for the grandchildren asthey change in size and age, then you
can change the depth of the, the pool.

Trey (47:07):
Yeah.
I think this is a a perfect thingthat multi-generational big investment
thing, because then it's just, itdoesn't matter what age or what time
period, it's always gonna be ideal.

Mike (47:18):
The only challenge is when you get multi-generational and
they're all together and they allwanted different depths, so that,
could make it a little bit of a

Trey (47:24):
challenge.
I guess they're gonna have to justdig a hole and make another pool then.
Yeah,

Mike (47:28):
well, or they could, they could each have their time slot, right?
Yeah.

Trey (47:31):
Yeah.
There you go.
Well, It's

Mike (47:32):
like at the hotel here locally, they use it as a yoga studio during
a certain part of the day, and thenthey lower it in, and then it's a
swimming pool for some of the day.
That's accommodating differentfamily members or, situations.
It's also

Trey (47:46):
great for when you don't have much space for the pool area because then
you can create it and do a yoga studioor whatever you want to do as well.

Mike (47:54):
Yeah.
So one thing that we may wannathink about is as grandparents, we
create this great environment forour grandkids to come, but it's.
Grandparents.
There may be also some things thatas we get older that we want to
incorporate in our backyard as well.

Trey (48:11):
Yeah.
You're making a huge investment.
You want some of that investment toapply to what you specifically want.
For sure.

Mike (48:18):
And so the first thing that goes to is health.
Yeah.
the number one thing.
From a health standpoint for exercisefor people as they get older because of
their joints and mobility is swimming.
And we ask people this onevery appointment we go to.

(48:39):
There's four things your pool can beused for, and one of 'em is exercise.
And what do most people say?

Trey (48:44):
That's the least important?

Mike (48:46):
That's the least important.
Now, once you get to a certainage, you're going to realize that
you have this awesome thing inyour backyard as happened to me.

Trey (48:56):
Yeah.

Mike (48:56):
So for those that haven't heard this story, do you mind
if I tell this story again?
Go ahead.
I going in and I'm having my hip replaced.
Mm-hmm.
And the doctor that I'm seeing Ibuilt his personal pool and he, when
I built his pool, I got to know him.
He was the physical therapistfor all the gymnasts on the US

(49:20):
gymnastic team here in Texas.
I was like, I think he has an ideaof what might need to be done.
So I went and saw him Ithought my knee needed work.
And he's like, yourknee doesn't need work.
Your hip is garbage.
It's torn to pieces.
and he said, what you need to do beforethe surgery is you need to lose weight.
And I'm like, it hurts to walk right now.

(49:42):
Exercising is not really that good.
And he's like, are you stupid?
I was like sometimeswhat are you asking for?
And he's like, you designed my pool.
You have a pool, right?
And I'm like, yeah, I do.
He's like, go work out in your pool.

Trey (49:58):
Yeah.

Mike (49:59):
And I'm like, but I don't like to swim.
And he's like, you really are stupid.
He's like.
what do you like to do in exercise?
I'm like I like to runand do aerobic workouts.
He's like, go do 'em in the pool.

Trey (50:10):
Yeah.

Mike (50:11):
And you go do 'em in the pool and there's no impact on your joints.
You're buoyant.
So the one thing that you haveis you develop this space in your
backyard that's fabulous for actually.
Exercising and not putting thewear and tear on your body.

Trey (50:27):
I think the reason why when we have these these meetings with all
these different clients and they saythat exercise is the least important
thing to them is because of the, justunderstanding that you have a pool
and a lot of people think they canjust swim in anything, That is true.
You can swim in any pool.
Even if it's very small, I'm sure youcan get a little circle or a little, back

(50:48):
and forth going, but there are ways touse the pool in a, a more productive I
think a better way to utilize the pool.

Mike (50:55):
Me and my wife, neither one swim in our pool.
Yeah.
But my wife uses the poolall the time and well,

Trey (51:01):
back in the day y'all, she swims in the pool

Mike (51:03):
quite

Trey (51:03):
a bit

Mike (51:03):
now.
She does a lot more water aerobics Yes.
Than in the pool than she does swimming.
Okay.
And I will walk in thepool more than I swim.
Mm-hmm.
So, We both swim some, butthat's not the heavy thing.
So one of the things we talkedabout earlier was a lazy river.
A lazy river also isphenomenal for exercise.
Yeah.

(51:24):
Because you have a current that'sgoing, that's on a variable speed
pump, so you can control thespeed that exactly what you want.
You can swim against it.
It's a fabulous thing to swim against.
'cause the current comes out wide.
It's not real narrow like someof these machines that generate
current and so it's a wide situationso you can swim against it.
It's great for exercise.

(51:45):
But the other thing is, again.
I don't wanna swim.
What do I do in the pool?
I walk or run.
Go walk and run against current.

Trey (51:52):
Yeah.

Mike (51:52):
That's even more rigorous type situation, so it's

Trey (51:56):
definitely more rigorous than just walking.

Mike (51:58):
Yeah.
So the.
Current is something that can be used froma health and wellness standpoint for sure.
But there's all kinds of things that,we may have incorporated in a swimming
pool that are good for your health.
So

Trey (52:11):
I, back to the point where I was saying that.
y'all don't swim in the pool often.
There are pools that are designedthat I think it's hard to swim and
it'd be satisfying because it may bethe length or whatever it might be.
A lazy river, you can con, even ifyou don't swim against the current
'cause, you're not a great swimmer.
You can swim constantly becauseit's a river, it's a loop.
And you don't have to worryabout doing a turns or anything.

(52:32):
It's just more satisfying, I think.
And at the end of the day, ifyou get tired or if you have a
cramp or whatever it might be.
You just stand up just like anormal what do they call 'em?
Lapt pools or lane pools or whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah you get that same effectwithout having such a long pool
because it's just a circle.

Mike (52:49):
It's just like a track.
We've got the track and we'regoing around, around a circle.
We got the pool, we're going around ina circle, so it can be a lot of fun.
You can have some cool waterfalls andwater features and lighting, all to
enjoy while you're doing that as wella little more fun than the track.

Trey (53:02):
Yeah.
Way more fun.
You can actually do your rehab onceyou're trying to recover, you just put
a floaty in there and lay on top of it.
Enjoy the sounds and theall the senses going crazy.
Yeah.

Mike (53:12):
one of the things.
We didn't touch on as we're talking aboutthis health and wellness situation, I just
plug this in at this point in time is.
You may have created a greatspace outside and people are gonna
want to be out there a whole lot.
And the challenge is yourhouse isn't set up for that.
And so a lot of times people willincorporate when they're doing

(53:35):
outdoor living structures and thingslike that, is they'll actually
come in and put a bathroom in.
Yeah, that's big.
then it keeps all the wetgrandchildren outside.
And so they're not tracking waterall over grandma's floors, whether
they're, wood or tile or, stoneor whatever the situation is.
It's just a little biteasier to keep things in an

(53:56):
organized and clean situation.
We did a whole episode on that on episode95, so that's something you may want
to check out along with the bathroom.
We talked about outdoor showersand we talked about a outdoor
baths, which are more relaxing typesituation, something to check out.

Trey (54:13):
That's a great point.
Especially with like water just beingon, like we were talking about steps
earlier and preventing, like havingslippery steps and stuff like that going
up into the house or whatever it might be.
And just be able to containthe water in that spaces.
Very safe.

Mike (54:26):
talking about, creating a space of relaxation.
So one of the things that's beenincorporated probably heavily
in the last 20 years in the poolindustry is, is the hot tub.
we've got a space wherewe've got warm water.
Just the health benefits of warmwater therapy is really good for
the circulation and the heart.

(54:47):
Good for the joints.
So good for the joints.
You're a big fan of hot water usage.

Trey (54:52):
Yeah.
I love the benefit from going hot to cold.
Cold plunges or maybe just your pool ingeneral depending on the time of the year.
But being able to be heat up yourbody get a little sweat going, whether
that be the hot tub or a sauna they'revery beneficial to your health.
And we talked about thesauna with that one episode.
Do you remember what that was?

Mike (55:09):
Yeah.
So the sauna was episode 79.
We talked about hot tubs onepisode 14 as well as cold plunges.
We talked about them on 75 and 71.
Yep.
Those are all items that we're seeingmore and more people incorporate
into their backyard environment increating basically a wellness center.
Yeah.

Trey (55:29):
these are things that, you're a grandparent or parent when you're.
trying to think about what you want tohave incorporated in the project you're
trying to develop, these aren't items thatkids are gonna be like, oh, I can't wait.
Now, as a kid, I couldspeak from my experience.
Me and my sisters did enjoy the hottub and hanging out with my grandma and
my mom, cause they loved it as well.

(55:49):
But.
Not every kid's gonna love the hot tub.
Especially not the sauna or the coldplunge, but these are items that will
benefit your life and your lifestylethat you can incorporate in these jobs
or these projects that you're building.

Mike (56:00):
Most definitely.
It's something that as you age,that those things are gonna become
more and more important to you.
Mm-hmm.
And the wellness.
Aspects of Asana, especiallyit's extraordinary, the mental
health capabilities withdementia and Alzheimer's amazing.

(56:23):
The stats that go with those that havecome out and the benefits that you
would get from that type of therapy.
That's extraordinary.
A couple other things that you maywanna look at besides some pieces of
equipment that you may wanna incorporateis when we were talking about steps and.
We talked about 'em on the patio, butalso some people, it's nice to limit steps

(56:48):
going in the pool because of people thathave some knee challenges specifically.
And so I've designed severalpools where we've done actually
a ramp all the way to the floor.
For people that have a hard timewalking or also I've done several
because of wheelchair access.
Mm-hmm.
So people can actually take theirwheelchair down into the pool and

(57:10):
then actually do water therapy in thepool itself from a health standpoint.
you may want to think about too,is just, how you transition,
enter and exiting bodies of water.
One thing as we look at these projectsthat we also wanna do is create a good

(57:31):
water quality situation that you're in.
Yeah.
As well as ease of maintenance with those.
So some of the things that we do.
From a chemical standpoint to keep yourwater sanitized is something that you
may want to consider with grandchildren.
And dogs.

(57:52):
There's, yeah.
One thing that I tell people, ifyou've got those, you're going to
have some fecal matter that ends up inyour swimming pool at a higher level.
Yeah.
It's typically on dogs', feet andtypically on grandchildren's bottoms
you're going to add that aspect.
And the only thing that.
Works on crypto, whichcomes from feces, is uv.

(58:15):
Okay.
So if you're gonna have a lot ofdogs or grandchildren in the pool,
UV is something that I would highlyrecommend from a sanitation standpoint.

Trey (58:26):
Yeah, because it's gonna be in line, it's always gonna be working.
'Cause the only other solutionis say you hire a service.
They're gonna have to shockthe crap outta the pool.
And then that level of the chlorinescan be very high for a while.
So the pool is not even be usable anymore.
So yes.

Mike (58:40):
So ozone is a sanitizer.
Mm-hmm.
That works works really well.
lot of people got familiar with itduring COVID with the airlines and
stuff like that, but it's been around.
Over a hundred years inwater treatment plants.
And so that's something that weuse predominantly as a sanitizer
in tandem with minerals.

(59:00):
So we can keep your chlorine loads muchlower, but those are automated systems, so
it makes your maintenance actually easier.
And your water quality higher.
So that's something you wannareally explore is what you can
do to make the water a bettersituation that you're dealing with.

Trey (59:21):
Hydraulics are a big one.
What is it called?
Mineral cartridges are huge.
Tying that in with the ozone as well.
Getting the chlorine levellower if depending if you
want to use salt or chlorine.
We've talked about thatbefore on the podcast.
But thinking about long-termmaintenance because as you get older
you don't want pools to be a chore.
You can obviously hire someone to takecare of the pool, but there's still

(59:42):
things that you're gonna have to takecare of in between their trips every week.
So understanding that and how to makethat easier for you and accommodate
your lifestyle as you get older.
it's a big thing to think about.

Mike (59:54):
In for cleaning is something Yes.
That a lot of our clients choose todo instead of having, a robotic or a
unit, running around like a Polarisin the pool because it'll clean
your ledges, it'll clean your spot.
Yep.
Clean your benches dailyversus the pool cleaner.

(01:00:15):
Can't do that.
And so that's just another layerof maintenance that you may want to
consider just to have an easier situationto take care of in a higher level.
To be

Trey (01:00:25):
fair, I don't know much about robotic cleaners.
We had someone on the podcasttalk about 'em for a little bit.
They seem that they're gettingbetter and they're advancing in
a good direction, time will tell.
But yeah, floor system at this pointis a, I think a very good feature to
have on your pool for less maintenance.

Mike (01:00:41):
And so on episode 97 is when we talked about robotics.

Trey (01:00:44):
Yes.
I think that was with to Andy for reader.
Yes.

Mike (01:00:47):
Folks.
you know, Those are all things thatyou may want to consider as you age to
create a great space for you to livein as well as a great space for your.
Grandchildren to livethere some of the time.
So you can have a great life.

Trey (01:01:03):
Yeah.
It doesn't even have to be grandchildren.
It'd just be community, because likefor instance with Yeah I don't know
how many times I went to a pool partyand I was like, oh, this is so great.
And at the time we didn't have a pool.
And then later on we got a pooland then my friends came over
and they thought the same thing.
And it was just creatingthis web of memories between
different people and, Pools.
It's interesting howcommunity grows through pools.

(01:01:24):
Yeah.

Mike (01:01:25):
The outdoor living space as a whole just that goes back to
your goes back to the biophilicdesign that we talked about mm-hmm.
with Eric Kerman a while back andjust creating this great environment
that people enjoy, being part of.
So hopefully that gives yousome thoughts to think about and
plan to create more memories.

(01:01:46):
So the Backyard environment offers a lotof opportunity to create what you said
in the very beginning, which is memories.
Yeah.
That's what it's all about.
And that's what you know you wantto do with your children and your
grandchildren is create spacesthat, you have great memories with.

Trey (01:02:06):
Yeah.
Pools are pretty much memories that theycreate memories that last a lifetime.
And grandparents if they wannahave a pool, that's often
they're the memory builders,

Mike (01:02:17):
the other thing that I've experienced is there's
times that certain families.
They don't get along real well.
When they sit around and they talkand things like that they get into
things like politics or they might getinto, religion or different things.
And so people get into arguments,but if you put 'em all in a pool,

(01:02:37):
then they're generally having fun.
And those things don't happen.

Trey (01:02:41):
No, it's when you own a pool, it's more, I think it's less about the water
itself and just more about the experience.
And I think that's what you'repretty much trying to say.

Mike (01:02:50):
I'll go with that.
Yeah.
We just wanted to throw out somethings to think about so you can have
a good experience with family andfriends and it doesn't have to be
just grandparents that are doing this.
You could have a box fullof chalk when you're.
Friends come over andvisit with their kids.
So it just doesn't have tobe a grandparent situation.

(01:03:11):
But it can be fun

Trey (01:03:12):
If you want to do the chalk situation, you can't turf
your whole backyard, you need alittle bit of a pave or something.

Mike (01:03:19):
Well, You could go on the driveway.

Trey (01:03:20):
Yeah.
Okay.
And just don't turf the driveway as well.
Yeah.
And people are gettingcrazy with the turf.
I love turf,

Mike (01:03:25):
but they're getting a lot of turf in some backyards.
One of the things too is for peoplethat are in the industry that are
listening to this podcast whenthis drops, we will be pretty close
to the international pool show.
Mm-hmm.
Pool Spa Patio show.
Me and Trey are co. Teaching a class.
And we're gonna be talking about fun inthe backyard which we'll touch base on

(01:03:48):
a lot of these issues here that we'vetalked about, but going into a lot of
details on those particular items as well.
So we will be in Vegas for that event.
You just have to look up poolSpa Patio show, and it'll
give you all the information.

Trey (01:04:05):
You also have a competition there as well.
Do you wanna plug that?

Mike (01:04:08):
this week we'll be starting the judging The entries have
to be in it's called a milliondollar pool Design Challenge.
everybody has the same.
Piece of property.
Everybody has the same client andthey all get to design what they
think is gonna be the best situation.
Yeah.
And so the five finalists will bepresenting their projects at the
show and the class will vote onit and the winner gets $10,000.

Trey (01:04:32):
And we had a podcast episode where you had a couple of the winners on here.

Mike (01:04:35):
So yeah, three of the winners we did that earlier this last year.
So it was a lot of fun.
anyway we will be talking to y'all soonif I see you at the show give us some
insight and things that we ought to coverand look forward to seeing everybody.

Trey (01:04:51):
Y'all have a good one.

Mike (01:04:51):
Take care.

Outro (01:04:53):
This show is all about helping you become a better buyer, a better pool
owner, and hopefully you're gonna findsome insights into how to enjoy your pool
even more so how to help your friends,your family, anybody looking to buy a
pool in the future or that want to remodeltheir backyard, add an outdoor fireplace,
fire pit, add an outdoor kitchen area, addsome shade cells, or whatever else it is.

(01:05:17):
We wanna be that resource for you, andthat's the end goal here, and we promise.
That there's gonna bea ton of information.
We'll try to go through it, youknow, as relatively quickly, but
also slow so people can understand.
But the intent of the show, thereason Mike and I are doing this
is because we just got a lot inour heads and we wanna share it.
So we hope to see youhere every single week.
Thanks for listening.