For those of us who love to swim, but don’t have a lot of space on their property for a full-sized swimming pool, lap pools provide a good compromise. You’ll still be able to swim to your heart’s content without filling up every square inch of your backyard with swimming pool. But how small can you go? What size are lap pools and how easy are they to install in small spaces? In this article, we’ll go over the basics of lap pools and their sizes.
Length
Lap pools can come in many different lengths. As long as there’s enough space to get in a fair number of strokes before you have to turn around, a lap pool can be almost any length. If you compare lap pools to competition-sized pools which are 25 or 50 metres long, you’ll soon realize you probably don’t have enough room or don’t want to make enough room for a full-sized lap pool. A lap pool half the size of a small competition-sized pool, around 12 metres, will give you enough space to get in a good number of strokes before you have to turn around.
Width
Competition size pool lanes are 2.5 metres wide. However, they’re typically part of a much larger pool, so swimmers aren’t affected as much by the turbulence caused by swimming. In a narrow lap pool, turbulence can play a much larger role. In an effort to reduce the effects of turbulence caused by swimming, many lap pools have a width of at least three metres.
Depth
How deep your lap pool should depend on how you plan on using it. If you plan on diving into the water to begin swimming (and for competitive swimmers, practicing their entry is an important part of training) you’ll want a pool that’s at least two metres deep. You can compromise on this by having a deep end and a shallow end. For the shallow end of the pool just over a metre in depth will be comfortable enough for most swimmers. Depth will also play a role in water turbulence with deeper water being calmer.
What If You Don’t Have Enough Space for A Lap Pool?
If a lap pool that measures 12 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep isn’t feasible for the space you have, you might want to look into a swimming spa. Swimming spas use current-generating technologies to allow a swimmer to swim in place as if they were on a water-based treadmill. Because the swimmer never reaches the end of the pool, the tank can be much shorter than your average lap pool. Swim spas have the added advantage of converting into hot tubs by simply turning up the water temperature.