A visit to the local waterpark usually consumes a whole day. But these homeowners — and more importantly their kids — can just throw on a suit and pop outside for a ride down their own 175 foot gunite slide.
John Tortorella, owner of J. Tortorella Swimming Pools in Southampton, N.Y., says when these homeowners across the island in Oyster Bay Cove requested a slide, he insisted they go with gunite since it blends better with the look and feel of the rest of the project.
"One thing about doing a gunite slide," says Tortorella, "is you have to be careful and pay close attention to the slopes and how you pitch it because you don't want users falling out as they make their way down the slide."
Because gunite slides are also a bit pricey and require hilly terrain, which there's not much of on Long Island, Tortorella says he doesn't do too many of them. In fact, he's only done two gunite slides in the last two years.
Beyond engineering the slide to work just right, the other challenge on this project was meeting a tight deadline. Tortorella says his crew broke ground on April 1 for this project, which included not only the slide and pool, but also the deck, a pond and a pool house. The homeowner wanted everything completed before the 4th of July since he had a party planned for the holiday weekend. And he was ready to award a bonus if the deadline could be met. Tortorella is proud to say his crew met the deadline and earned the bonus.
