10/20/2025
Out here with of Maloney‘s decorative getting the grotto going on this giant pool in Springhill. What we have here is 2 pound EPS high density Styrofoam as our base. This foam is so strong we have literally built swimming pools on top of giant blocks of it on elevated second story swimming pools. The foam will never deteriorate or compress from the weight of whatever is being built on top of it. After Tim gets a general shape of the grotto with the cut foam he will add rebar and multiple layers of concrete before his final layer which he will carve. This is the most practical and reasonable way to build a grotto without adding tens of thousands of pounds right on the edge of the swimming pool. A lot of people see famous Pool builders like Lucas Lagoon’s using actual real rocks which is definitely cool but, It’s not really practical on your standard budget oriented swimming pool project. One reason is the weight of those rocks sitting on the edge of the swimming pool can cause it to crack. You would have to beef up the pool shell and the earth behind it to support the weight, not to mention the cost of buying those rocks and installing them is quite a bit which could easily triple the price of the install. What Tim does is doing here is pretty common but it takes a very skilled individual like Tim to be able to pull it off. Tim can make this carving look pretty much lifelike. Not everybody can do what Tim does so I’m proud to have him a part of the team. Tim has worked on many projects for us in the past and after this one is complete, we have another big grotto that we’re going to be doing here in Brooksville that is completely different from this one, so stay tuned.
