Expertise: Pools

Nowadays, building a pool at the Shore is more than an investment in your property value: it's an extension of your home. We spoke with Bryan Hull, co-owner of Del Val Pools & Spas, to learn more about the unique approach that needs to be taken when adding a pool to your Shore home's outdoor living space and how the company can help make your dreams a reality.

DEL VAL POOLS & SPAS IS REGARDED AS ONE OF THE PREMIER POOL BUILDERS AT THE JERSEY SHORE. HOW DID YOU GET INTO THAT UNIQUE SPACE?
The third generation of the Hull family is building pools, and many of our clients in this part of the state have homes at the Jersey Shore and many asked us to help with those properties as well.
From Long Branch to Cape May, older homes and commercial buildings are coming down and larger, modern homes are taking their place. New homes require a swimming pool for marketability, and the current hottest upgrade for an existing home is to build a pool.

HOW IS BUILDING A POOL AT THE SHORE DIFFERENT FROM BUILDING A POOL IN OTHER PARTS OF THE STATE?
Pools at the Shore tend to be more intricate, must be integrated into tighter lots and for the most part are custom designs. Pools built for homes facing the bay are built on soil that was filled from other construction thrown into the marshes by contractors of the 1950s and 1960s as a way to expand buildable land. It was a time before the Department of Environmental Protection and the Coastal Area Facility Review Act. In many cases, it's simply several feet of sand thrown over top of thick organic decay must of us know as "muck."

Pools built for oceanfront homes face a whole other series of challenges. Houses right on the ocean are built upon loose sand deposited by changing tides, winds and storms. There's no bedrock, no clay and no geological formations to hold a pool structure in place. With each catastrophic storm, efforts are made to rebuild the same coastline, and berms, or seawalls, are built to stave off an invading ocean. Many berms after the storms were hastily constructed with storm debris, parts of houses, chunks of road and washed-out cars covered with sand.

HOW DOES THE TECHNICAL POOL CONSTRUCTION PROCESS DIFFER WHEN BUILDING A POOL ON ONE OF JERSEY'S FAMOUS BARRIER ISLANDS?
Hydrostatic pressure is always a concern. Did you ever dig a hole in the sand at the beach and hit water? Same principle for digging a big hole to construct a pool: We must keep the water out. Pumps must be run continuously while we drive 12-inch diameter, three-story, pressure-treated pilings into the sand—one piling for every 16 square feet of pool cut down to just below the surface. Anchored to these pilings are steel rebar runners that formed the base of a cage frame with rebar forming perpendicular cross points every 12 inches. The rebar runners are drilled through the top of the wood pilings and then filled with concrete to create structural grade beams to withstand varying water table or hydrostatic pressures. Hydrostatic relief valves are installed when the pool cage is shot with gunite to form the shell. These valves allow for equalization of water pressure inside and outside the shell as the form cures.

WHAT RECOMMENDATIONS DO YOU HAVE FOR SOMEONE CONTEMPLATING A POOL FOR THEIR HOME AT THE SHORE?
Don't start with telephone conversations or emails. Start with an in-person meeting at the site. Walking around is essential for evaluation of the topography. An existing home or new lot should be visited in person, and history of that land is very important. Email me at Bryan@DelValPools.net or call our office at (856) 629-2999 to schedule an on-site visit.

Del Val Pools & Spas
Turnersville, N.J.
(856) 629-2999
DelValPoolsAndSpas.com

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 25, Issue 6 (Fall 2025)
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