I have recently been toying with the idea of digging a huge hole in the backyard and creating a pool. I contacted my local BBB and have a list of contractor names and web sites to browse through.
I am more confused now than ever. Gunite vs Shotcrete, solar vs gas vs electric, salt systems vs chemical. inground vs above ground. I think my head is about to explode.
So I ask the teeming, do you own a pool? If so, what do you like/dislike most about it? What would you do differently if you had the chance to start over?
I bought a house with a 18’ above ground pool, and the water was about 4.5’ deep I think.
I hated it. With a passion. I hated the maintenance and the fact that you couldn’t do anything in it besides float around and get wet. If you had kids (which the previous home owners did) then I’m sure it would be fun for them, but it’s pretty useless otherwise.
I maintained it for 3 years thinking that it would get used eventually, and in the fall of the 3rd year instead of closing the pool I just tore it down and sold the whole assembly for 500 bucks.
So in short, next time I think about getting a pool it will be BIG or I won’t even bother.
Pool…yeeees! What region are you in? Most states require a fence if you have an inground pool. But in my opinion inground is the way to go. I have an inground custom shape pool at my home in AZ. It is made of Pebbletech (so it looks like stone) and it is self cleaning. With the amount of money spent on cleaners and other add-ons I found self cleaning to be the best…and over time it paid for itself. I’ll type more to this thread in a minute…gotta run…
We live in Dallas, Texas. So it gets pretty warm in the summer. I have owned the house for 17 years now, and I have never had a pool. So I want to research this and make sure I don’t get something I will hate two years down the road. This is a huge investment (?). I think having a pool actually devalues your property around here. Our backyard is enclosed by a 10 foot cedar fence, and we have no kiddos, just the golden retriever who will probably use the pool more than we do.
I was looking at perhaps a 28’ x 15’ x 5’ inground pool with a 6’ x 6’ spa in the corner. Our backyard would handle something bigger, but I really don’t want the entire backyard paved over. (For one the heat coming off would be incredible, second I don’t think the dog would appreciate it)
One contractor said that I wanted a salt system. (yeah, he knows already without meeting me or seeing what the backyard looks like, what I want) :rolleyes: Another contractor is steering me away from a salt system. Is gas better than solar or electric?
We want to use the pool year round so a heater will be installed.
My comments, based on the pool in my brother’s yard, which was installed by previous owners.
1.Be prepared for a whole lot of ongoing maintainance work on your part. (This is aggravated if there are trees around the pool). Be prepared for the continual purchase of chemicals, etc. and for that to cost more money and more time than the pool salesmen will probably suggest that it will.
2.Be prepared for it to take longer to heat up in the sunlight than you think it ought to(admittedly, his pool is in NY, not AZ, that may make a difference).
3.Make sure that your pool has enough “shallow” water. His pool starts at three, then goes up to five and ends at eight(ten? twelve? I don’t remember). Anything more than the three feet is too deep to stand and chat in or play with pool toys. Admittedly, if you plan on using it more for exercise swimming than for pool party this may be less of a problem.
I’m starting to think that Phlosphr and I may have been seperated at birth.
The evidence:
I have a custom shaped inground pool. He has a custom shaped inground pool.
I live in Arizona. He lives in Arizona.
I was a philosophy major in College. His user name is, well, Phlosphr.
I once burped in a nun’s face. He once shot a man just to watch him die.
Okay, maybe not that last one, but I keep seeing similarities.
As for the OP, the pool was here when we bought the house. There is a lot of maintenance, but so far, we don’t mind. I think my wife thinks the pool’s another pet. She dotes on that thing.
We clean it once a week. Takes a couple of hours, but we are generally farting around in the pool at the time. I would certainly recommend a self-cleaning system if you’ve got the cash.
If you are prepared to install a heated pool then you are prepared to install a very nice set-up. Heating several 10,20,30 thousand gallon pools is not easy and will cost a pretty penny. In Dallas I would not think a solar heated pool would be that difficult to maintain. In fact our pool in Phoenix is swimmable in January with a solar blanket cover and half heat.
For an inground pool of those dimentions for what you are looking for, I’d guestimate 18-20K. Good investment, but find out about the appreciation value your house will go through…will it appreciate or depreciate over time with a medeocre pool, a very nice pool or a knock-out-eye-catching pool!
In Dallas, you most likely will not need a heated pool, unless you really want 9-10+ months of use. I live in Austin and have an unheated pool and I can probably use it 8-9 months.
Cleaning is a pain in the butt, but not that difficult. Of course in Dallas there are bound to be hundreds of pool service companies that will skim, vacuum, backwash and maintain chemical levels for about $40 -50 a trip.
If we don’t heat the entire pool, I would at least like the spa heated so we can use it in the winter months. Dallas does hit the single digit’s in the winter, so being able to use the spa would be nice. (Of course getting out to the pool will be a fast run)
The solar blanket sounds like a good idea. We get a lot of sunshine here, although here lately we haven’t seen much of the sun. (grumbles about the rain)
Another Arizonan with a custom shaped pool here. We remodeled last summer and switched to salt. I love it and would not go back to adding chlorine for any amount of money.
If I could do it over, I’d get the self cleaning style. We have a vacuum outlet in the pool with a cleaning critter and it’s a royal pain.
Heaters are great but running them a lot gets pricey around here.
Ours is 3-5-4 foot depth and I would love to have another foot or two of depth.
I’m not a pool owner, not in the area, and know nothing about the property value effects in the area you are. But here’s an anecdote that might be helpful.
When my family was looking to make an in-town move, we wound up looking at places in neighborhoods where, apparently, my parents had looked 10 years earlier when we had just moved to Albuquerque. We wound up moving into one of the houses in one of those neighborhoods. Mom told me once, pretty much in passing as we passed by, that this one house had a pool. When I asked her how she knew, she said that it was one of the houses they had looked at all those years ago and rejected because of the pool, mostly because of the dangers of having small children with a pool. That’s a good reason for all the fencing, the pool cover, and the like, but it was apparently at least part of the decision making. So, yes, I could easily see why having a pool, because of the maintenance, water needs, potential danger to children and animals, and the like, could either lower your property value or turn away potential buyers.
Of course, the amusing part is that the house we wound up moving into and live now has a fish pond added by one of the previous owners. Of course, it’s nowhere near as hard to maintain overall as a pool would be, but I find it amusing that my parents rejected a house because of a pool and eventually wound up buying a house with a fish pond. (The small children in question were about 10 and 8 at the time, so not really a risk anymore for accidental drowning and the like, plus that pond is often nasty. I fell in once when cleaning around it, and I never want to get in it again if I can help it.)
More than half of pool owners have them filled in within the first 5 years. One of my neighbors sold his pool to the guy next door. The diggers filled in the ex-pool with the dirt from the new one.
You need to swim in the pool frequently, just to keep the chemicals stirred up, to keep it from becoming a funky, stagnant pond.
Your kids will suddenly gain a crowd of false friends, who don’t care about your kids (and may even steal from them,) but just want to swim.
You’ll soon learn more than you ever wanted to know about mold.
With all that in mind, you might still want a pool. Good luck, then! Have fun!
I don’t see a problem swimming it in frequently. When I lived in an apt many years ago I would swim every single day, unless it was raining.
We don’t have kids so that is a mute point, and we plan on keeping the gates locked so no one sneaks in to use the pool. (We have a 10 foot cedar fence so I don’t see many people climbing over it)
We live in Dallas. Mold and mildew are second nature around here, that is why we always have bleach on hand.
And the reason I am doing so much upfront research is to make sure that after 5 years I won’t want to fill the pool in. I want to make sure we get a really nice pool that isn’t too much of a maintenance nightmare.
Which is why I came to the teeming millions for their opinions. All of you always offer honest opinions, and give both sides of the story. Thanks for the feed back so far. We have our first contractor meeting tomorrow, so I will have lots to cover with them.
We have a 25,000 gal in-ground pool. It is lined, heated, with a slide and diving board. We live in portland oregon and hardly ever fire up the gas heater. Most of the summer it stays around 78-80f on it’s own (it sits in direct sunlight for most of the day)
This is our third (and last) summer in this house and so far the pool hasn’t gotten old yet. I’m going to miss it when we move.
My only complaint is the chemicals. I still haven’t mastered the balance of chemicals, when to add what, how, why when, ect. It’s not so bad, but the first year was a pain.
Keeping it clean and clear hasn’t been much of a problem. I don’t mind getting out there with the brush-on-a-stick or the net-on-a-stick and cleaning it. I think I spend about 1-2 hours a week on it. I test the water in the summer about once a week. Add chemicals every few days.
I’ve found the cost isn’t too bad. A few pounds of shock here and there along with some baking soda or ph down and chlorine pucks.
I am getting used to this now, even though its just a small 12 foot wide round one. What’s the baking soda do?
[Oh, and I’ll second the false friends for the kids, had to start making capacity limits and all within 24 hrs of filling it up.]
The baking soda is to lower the PH, to make it more neutral. Personally we don’t use it, but it’s all personal preference.
Tigger - get the pool. You will certainly not regret it. Go the whole nine yards if you can. Self cleaning, custom, etc…etc…You’ll love it. And an early congratulations to you as well! Cuz, I know you’ll love having the pool in the summer, and the spa in the winter!
I think its easier to sell your house and buy one with a pool. You only get 50 cents on the dollar when you resale. Your homeowners insurance will also go up. It’ll cost at least 20K for a basic inground without the frills.
When deciding on a heating system, you have to consider what is “swimmable.” To me, F 78 is the bare minimum anytime of the year. That makes my Orlando solar heated pool unusable from mid-December to late February, when the water can dip into the high 60s (I refuse to get a solar blanket, they’re ugly and time consuming). There are liquid solar blankets sold at the pool store that significantly decrease evaporation in cold weather, but are only about 70% as effective as a solar blanket, and only work if the water is > F 70. Panels must be placed on the south side of your house and you’ll need to check with your homeowner’s association to make sure you’re not violating any covenants, as they can be considered an eyesore. Plan on spending 4 to 5K on a solar system. You will need to replace them every 7 to 10 years. You should also consider that they have to come down if and when you reroof. I may be wrong but I would think that the brutal Texas winter weather would be a lot of wear and tear on them. In the end, solar works the best for us.
A heat pump will heat a pool here into mid 80s in winter for about $150 per month in electricity. They cost anywhere from $1500 to 2500 installed. That’s probably your best option but be mindful that they don’t work if the outside temperature dips into the 40s.
If you have natural gas or propane, the cost is similar to electric heat pumps to install but the cost of running one can be forbidding. They will work all year. You’d want to heat a spa with gas anyway if you wanted to use it year 'round. Tough call.
Salt chlorinators save time adding chemicals but are not cost effective. I spend about $7 per week on chemicals and the best estimate I could get on a system was 2K. Its definitely a luxury item and you’ll still need to test the water.
The fad here is to surface pools in either black or dark green instead of the traditional white. It makes the pool look more like a natural body of water, absorbs heat better, and requires fewer chemicals. My pool is due for resurfacing and I’m looking at dropping $5K to do it, and I’m going with the black surface.
Pools, either you love 'em or you hate 'em. Good luck!
Aww thanks Phlosphr! I am rather excited about the prospect of having a pool in the backyard. I really appreciate all the advice so far. We should nailed down the details by next week and I will report back on what the final decision is.
This is the pool I am leaning towards having built. Something you could swim laps in or just put a float in and lay around.
Well now…are you sure? thats not a very nice pool…you can do better than that!
Just kidding…very nice! It looks like a self cleaner as well. Our’s has a waterfall, and it is used not only for aesthetics…but to keep the water churning, so the self cleaner can work properly.
Baking Soda will bring the Ph up. I add about a pound to each 5000 gallons when needed. We have several stores around here that sell 4-5 pound boxes of Arm & Hammer Soda. Those boxes normally have a chart on the back of the amounts to add (IE; if the Ph is this add X amount)
I’ve also noticed the pool seems more sparkly when I use soda inteads of pool store Ph-up products. I’m not sure why. In any case, soda is far cheaper then the pool store version. (I also use soda in my fish tanks to maintain the Ph. It’s good all around stuff.)
