Pool Type? I, II, III, etc.

bradleykw · Postby **bradleykw** » Tue 15 Jul, 2008 20:50

I just had a general question. Alot of these diving board installation manuals have specs on your safety envelope and refer to pool types. For residential there's "type 1" - "type 5". However, for the life of me, I cannot find what the criteria are for figuring out what my "pool type" is. It seems that the higher the type, the larger the pool, but I can't find any specifics.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks,
Brad

bradleykw · Postby **bradleykw** » Mon 28 Jul, 2008 23:06

No one knows the answer to this?

Ugh....

Brad

powerfin · Postby **powerfin** » Thu 27 Aug, 2009 03:22

For me type III is the best choice, i bought myself a diving board from the net. Just go to cheappoolproducts. All you need to know are there including the specs of the diving board

MJM · Postby **MJM** » Wed 20 Jun, 2012 16:08

Did you ever get an answer on this? I am running into the same problem. All standards refer to the 5 pool types, but nothing tells you what the pool types are. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

TSH Tech · Postby **TSH Tech** » Thu 21 Jun, 2012 01:52

This is a complicated subject.

I'm a Certified Professional Installer, which rather than confuse the heck out of you with technical talk, let me just break this down in layman's terms.

Types 1 through 5 are terminology for a diving envelope that is safe. So how do we determine what is safe? A swimming pool needs to be measured to determine which "type" it falls into and whether or not these measurements allow for a diving board.
(attached picture) http://i50.tinypic.com/smsm15.jpg

I wish there was a way I could easily say if your pool measures this way and that way, you can install a diving board. But it is not that easy. The way I measure a pool is with a diving board template. I have a chart that has several dozen measurement points of a pool that need to be filled in. With the help of an assistant, I drape a nylon diving board template over the pool and begin recording the measurements. Once I have all the measurements, I then compare them to another chart that basically says, if my measurements are such-and-such, I have this "Type" of pool, which means I can install that "Type" of diving board. If the measurements do not meed the minimums, out of liability and extreme gross negligence, I cannot and will not install any diving board into a pool that fails the measurements.

So if you are a pool owner wanting to know which type of pool you have, I suggest you contact a CPI and have your pool measured. Once you know this information, then you can begin determining which diving boards will work for your pool.

As for installing a slide, there are no minimum measurements, nor are there any stipulations on if you install it near the deep end or shallow end, just as long as the pool shallow end is greater than 3 feet.

I hope this helps

MJM · Postby **MJM** » Thu 21 Jun, 2012 08:23

Thank you, that does help quite a bit. It seems the code is written more for those with an existing pool wanting to add a diving board rather than for someone looking to design a pool. I had assumed that the "types" referred to maybe gunite vs. liner, or rectangular vs. freeform or something like that. Now I understand that Type I is just a small pool and Type V is large. The size determines the type and vice versa. I can design a new pool accordingly. Thanks very much for the response!

gschadow · Postby **gschadow** » Mon 03 Sep, 2012 20:01

Why making such hocus pocus about this? The Pool Types are described in building codes. For example, here the Indiana building code for residential properties http://www.in.gov/legislative/iac/T06750/A00140.PDF. It includes a pool section on page 152. The types are simply by minimum depths and distances. If you have a pool, measure your distances, and pick the nearest type with those distances smaller or equal than yours. If you design a pool, well design it accordingly.

What had me surprised is that in all cases they were saying the board may not be higher than 3 ft above water line, no way to do anything higher.

TSH Tech · Postby **TSH Tech** » Mon 03 Sep, 2012 20:36

gschadow wrote:What had me surprised is that in all cases they were saying the board may not be higher than 3 ft above water line, no way to do anything higher.

Not surprising at all when you take a moment to read about cases of broken necks, permanently damaged spinal columns, broken hips, pelvic bones, broken arms, broken jaw bones from Darwin Award candidates jumping off things higher than 6 feet into a residential pool. One day these people are walking on two feet just fine, then for the rest of their lives are wheel chair bound. Medical bills could rack up easily past the million dollar mark. Is it worth it?
A homeowner may find an insurance company highly disinterested in insuring a home with a high-dive board. I don't blame them.

AllPoolSlides · Postby **AllPoolSlides** » Tue 21 Sep, 2021 01:09

Yes, there are required specifications for both Diving Boards and Slides.
https://www.srsmith.com/media/47241/06-052ansi-standard.pdf