Outdoor living design in Columbia

What does Columbia require around a pool?

The City of Columbia’s Development Services office, at 700 N. Garden St., (931) 560-1560, applies Section 305 of the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code to pool enclosures, per the city’s posted enclosure sheet. The barrier must be at least 48 inches high with a gap under 2 inches at grade, and gates must close and latch on their own.

That fence decides a lot. A kitchen or fire pit inside the enclosure becomes part of the pool area; outside it, guests can use it without passing a gate.

How does an outdoor living project come together?

It follows our four steps: a consultation, a design that places the kitchen, shade and fire features against the sun and the house, construction, and a final walkthrough. Gas, power and lighting are routed before the patio is laid, so nothing gets cut in afterward. Fire features run on gas or wood, and the choice is made at design, because a gas line has to be trenched before the patio goes down.

Hunter Leeds wrote that Angela “communicates clearly throughout the process,” which counts most on a project with this many trades.

What is the land like in Columbia?

Columbia is on the Duck River at the southern edge of the Nashville Basin, with Highland Rim ridges to the south and west. Before footings are sized, Angela looks at the soil, the grade and where water runs. Where a lot climbs toward those ridges, a covered kitchen may need a terrace held by a retaining wall. With the James K. Polk Home, the Athenaeum and Clifton Place in town, Columbia has a long building history, and a covered kitchen should look like it belongs to the house beside it.