Deck Or Patio Drainage For Your Inground Swimming Pool

A water hose is spraying water onto the ground.

Deck Or Patio Drainage For Your Inground Swimming Pool


Deck Or Patio Drainage For Your Inground Swimming Pool

The swimming pool in your backyard is always that dream you have that one day will happen. Sitting by the pool sipping on cocktails, getting up to do laps at 6AM like the most organized and pulled together person ever and taking Instagram photos of you in the pool, by the pool and floating on the pool. Hey, this was going to be your claim to fame, provided you got automatic instagram followers from socialfollow to start you off. However, now when you think about it, there’s issues that can get in the way. There is that after thought of the patio to go along with it. Sometimes the budget can only pay for one of those dreams. And there is a lot of you DIY types out there that will now have to build that perfect patio around your inground swimming pool yourself. We get questions all the time about on building decks, more specifically deck drainage for inground pools, so we figured we would throw some information out there. We’ll tackle the top three questions here and hopefully give you a better understanding of how deck drains really work.

Q1. How Much Slope Should an Inground Pool Patio Have?

Pool patios or pool decks, should have a gentle slope of a rate of approximately one-quarter of an inch per foot of slab. So for example, a patio that is 16 feet in length, should be sloping downward a total of 4 inches. This one is pretty simple.

Q2. Which Direction Should the Patio Slope?

The pool patio always needs to slope away from your inground swimming pool. Otherwise, anytime water is splashed out or any rainfall will drag outside debris and elements into your pool on a non-stop basis. Which would leave you with extra work constantly. If the patio is already encompassed by finished landscaping, then it’s totally fine to let the water to run directly off into the landscape. As long as the water has somewhere to go. You do not want puddles of standing water around your yard. If the water becomes trapped in an area outside the patio, a gravel filled trench will usually solve the problem.

Q3. What Deck Drainage Systems and Types Should I Use?

Deck or patio drains are designed to channel water from the patio and divert it to another location, other than back into your pool. There are essentially two types of drains used in most drainage projects, especially when it comes to commercial pool deck drains. These are Strip drains and Spot drains.

Strip Drains, also known as trench drains, are long narrow grates which water trickles into then channels through the trough away from the patio. It can certainly be a pain when dealing with pipelines, so it may require help from San Diego Pipelining who might be able to sort out your drainage problems. Strip drains are perfect to place against a house or other structure.

Spot drains are typically smaller single drains that are tied together underground by pvc pipe that carries the water away from the patio. These can get blocked, and when they do you’ll need to call a company like FSDrainage Group to handle the situation, but they have their advantages too. Spot drains are perfect in areas where long straight trench drains won’t work. This makes them ideal for free form patio applications.

If you have any additional questions with your Deck/Patio build or inground swimming pool, give us a call at 623-939-1346. Or stop by your local Pool Supply Warehouse Retail Store and one of our pool care professionals will be happy to help! If you have any additional thoughts or tips, please comment below and let us know! Share some pictures too.

Enjoy your pool, and let us help you always keep it clear and swim ready!

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