Swim Spa, Composite Deck and Outdoor Living Space in North York

What we built

This one started as a backyard nobody used. An old concrete pad sat against the back of the house behind a block retaining wall, with bare ground around it and no proper way to get from the walkout down to the lawn. The client wanted a swim spa and somewhere to sit, and the yard had to be rebuilt around both.

The design and the permit came first. A swim spa full of water is a serious point load, so the footings and framing under it were sized for it rather than guessed at, and the drawings went in for permit before anything came out of the ground.

The old pad came out, the base went in, and the spa was set before the deck was framed around it so the decking could finish tight to the shell. The structure is clad in composite down the skirt, so there is no exposed framing anywhere you can see it, and the stairs are run wide enough to sit on.

Black aluminum railings went on the open sides. Below the deck we laid a stone paver patio off the walkout, then graded and sodded the rest of the yard with planting along the house, so the deck, the patio and the lawn read as one space instead of three.