Sunday, January 05, 2025, 5:23PM |  23°
MENU
Advertisement

Pools, with cabanas and outdoor kitchens, create backyard resorts

Pools, with cabanas and outdoor kitchens, create backyard resorts


Tony Tye, Post-Gazette
In the back yard of Brenda and Kevin Nigh in Pine, the pool house became as big a project as the pool.
By Kevin Kirkland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Ron Kaiser and Sue Murphy aren't "big water people." So why then did they spend about $225,000 for a 36-by-20-foot in-ground pool with two waterfalls and fiber-optic lighting, surrounded by several seating areas and an outdoor kitchen, bar and fireplace?

"We move outside for almost six months," said Mr. Kaiser, who lives in Franklin Park. "It creates a whole different lifestyle, with the pool as the centerpiece."

Think of it as a big outdoor room -- with a splash. When Weber, the grill company, surveyed Americans three years ago about outdoor rooms, it found that 46 percent of the people who had them had a pool or hot tub as part of it.

Advertisement
Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette
Ron Kaiser and Sue Murphy relax with contractor Tony Policastro in the outdoor kitchen by their back yard pool in Franklin Park.
Click photo for larger image.

Sources

Aqua Pool:
412-824-6900 or www.aquapoolinc.com

Policastro Construction:
412-264-9124 or www.policastroconstruction.com

Summer Fun Pools:
www.summerfunpools.com

Summerwood Products:
www.summerwood.com

When retirees Mal and Carol Sander moved back to the South Hills in 2002, they were looking for a house with a pool like the ones they had owned in Upper St. Clair, Florida and, most recently, Hawaii. They never imagined they'd end up with a free-form pool surrounded by sandstone boulders and fed by a 20-foot-high waterfall. They look down on it from a two-level deck/patio with a gazebo and footbridge.

Advertisement

"We came to look in March, when the pool was still covered. Snowflakes were falling, but it was this wonderful grotto like we remembered in Hawaii. We had to laugh to find it here," Mrs. Sander said.

Every summer since, their house in Peters has been a weekend getaway for their families, including two of their four children and eight grandchildren. When it's just the two of them, the pool area is like their own personal resort, Mr. Sander said.

"We're in our own little world back here. You can come down here and read a book or just relax," he said.

Of course, the space also works well for entertaining, which was the main interest of the house's last owner. He reportedly paid Family Fun Pools of Ohio $100,000 to build this Shangri-la 15 years ago on what had been an overgrown hillside.

Party guests naturally gravitate to a pool, said Brenda Nigh, who, with her husband, Kevin, put a 40-by-20-foot concrete pool and elaborate pool house behind the 7,000-square-foot house they built in Pine in 1999.

They initially wanted only a pool to share with their four children. But a small cabana to house the filter and other equipment snowballed into a 25-by-12-foot brick and cedar poolhouse with a fancy tiled shower and dressing area, kitchenette and washer and dryer.

"We originally planned to have something to house the pool equipment in a cute way. ... It spiraled out of control," Mrs. Nigh said, laughing.

Tony Tye, Post-Gazette
Mal and Carol Sander have a 13-foot-deep pool in their back yard, surrounded by boulders, a waterfall, a gazebo and a footbridge.
Click photo for larger image.

At about $75,000, the poolhouse ended up costing as much as the pool, which was built by Aqua Pool.

The Nighs designed their poolhouse with their contractor to match their house. Prefabricated versions are also available, both locally and online. Summerwood Products of Toronto, Canada, for example, sells pre-cut kits and assembled units ranging in size from 5 by 8 feet to 18 feet square and in price from $3,600 to $29,700, not including shipping.

For a more unified look, some people choose to have one company do the entire space. Over the past 10 or 12 years, Policastro Construction of Coraopolis has specialized in pool-centered outdoor rooms, which now account for about 40 percent of its work.

The cost typically ranges between $100,000 and $300,000 for an in-ground vinyl-liner pool, waterfalls, fireplace or firepit, outdoor kitchen or bar and several seating areas, said Tony Policastro, who built Mr. Kaiser and Ms. Murphy's outdoor room.

"People like to be around water. With something like this, you can enjoy the pool without getting wet," he said.

"I tell them, 'If you just want to swim, join the Y or a country club.' This is a lifestyle."

Ms. Murphy, who tends to the flowers and landscaping around the pool, calls it "our oasis." Mr. Kaiser, a marketing consultant who works from home, sometimes calls it "my office."

When he married Ms. Murphy and moved into what had been her house, he began advocating for a pool like one he had at his last house. There, he started holding an annual family reunion/party around the Fourth of July that had grown to about 200 people. His current setup, with a covered kitchen and bar and full bath, was created with that gathering in mind.

"No way I'm going to have all those kids rip my house apart," he said, laughing. "They stay in the pool for hours."

Mr. Kaiser and others said their spaces are fairly low-maintenance because they're built with materials made for the outdoors. All of those interviewed have robotic pool cleaners, eliminating most of the routine pool cleaning.

Tony Tye, Post-Gazette
The interior of the Nighs' pool house.
Click photo for larger image.Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette
The back yard pool, kitchen bar and fireplace help create a whole different lifestyle for Sue Murphy and Ron Kaiser.
Click photo for larger image.

Mr. Sander and his Aquabot take care of the pool while his wife waters the 30 containers and other flowers around their outdoor sanctuary. Looking to downsize, the couple recently put their house on the market for $439,000 through Coldwell Banker Real Estate (MLS No. 633749). They're hoping to find a condominium with a pool, but they know it will never compare with this one.

"Our grandkids love to swim, but it's also a little bit of solitude. We go on the swing [in the gazebo] and read stories to them as they fall asleep," Mrs. Sander said.

The four Nigh children, who range in age from 7 to 15, use their pool area for more than swimming.

"When they entertain their friends, they can have their own little party," said their mother.

"We use our pool so much," she said. "We've never once had a regret."

First Published: August 19, 2006, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
Comments Disabled For This Story
Partners
Advertisement
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin watches his team play the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in the North Shore. The Cincinnati Bengals won 19-17.
1
sports
Ray Fittipaldo’s Steelers report card: Mike Tomlin’s curious decisions, conservative game plan spell doom
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) and Pittsburgh Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz (46) walk off the field after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in the North Shore. The Cincinnati Bengals won 19-17.
2
sports
Jason Mackey: Steelers don’t have much right now — outside of their delusions if they think this is OK
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens (14) misses a pass while playing the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in the North Shore. The Cincinnati Bengals won 19-17.
3
sports
Joe Starkey: The Steelers offense stinks. Let’s talk about George Pickens and Matt Canada — I mean, Arthur Smith
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Williams (18) sits on the bench after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in the North Shore. The Cincinnati Bengals won 19-17.
4
sports
Gerry Dulac: All signs point in wrong direction as Steelers limp into postseason
The Steel Tower in Downtown. If U.S. Steel were to move out of Pittsburgh, it would not only would be a devastating symbolic blow to the region but could have big consequences for an office market still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
5
business
'A significant blow:' Struggling Downtown could face more financial issues if U.S. Steel moves HQ
Advertisement
LATEST life
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story