Anyone Have a Pool?

In that area you will get maybe a little over two months a year use out of it unless heated. I gave up on wanting a pool here in the Northeast for that reason. Go with a big hot tub instead. Almost zero maintenance, can use year round and in the summer I just turn off heater and is just big enough for me to put my float in. Then just shut my eyes and pretend I am in a pool, While my wife laughs at me for looking so retarded

 

I owned a house for 12 years in CT with a pool that I didn't want when I was buying the house. I can still remember my negotiations through the broker "I don't want a pool, it's expensive to maintain, I'm not paying anything because this house has a pool, blah, blah,"

We ended up loving having the pool, especially after the kids arrived. We had some great parties in and around the pool and swimming in the pool was a lot better than the thought of swimming in Long Island Sound. As the kids get older, the pool is a natual attraction for them and their friends and keeps them somewhere where you know exactly what they are up to. The maintenance cost was a lot lower than the cost of joining one of the pool and tennis clubs in the area.

Mine was not heated and in CT we opened it just before Memorial Day and pretty much shut it down after Labor Day, so 3 months of use. We thought about heating it but realized that we really weren't that interested in swimming if the air temperature wasn't warm. You might feel differently if you want to use the pool for swimming exercise and then the heated pool can extend your season by several weeks.

I paid a pool service to open and close the pool and did the weekly maintenance myself. Once a week to backwash the filter, adjust chemicals and vacuum manually took no more than an hour.

When we moved, our new house did not have a pool and someday we would like to put one in. The problem is that we got our other pool for "free" with the house and now we will have to pay $35-50K to have one put in.

Don't let the cost of maintenance sway your decision. You'll be getting the pool at a big discount to its replacement cost and the maintenance is not that tough.

John

 

If you want to have a pool, buy a house where someone already put one in. Dont waste your money on building one. Having said that I bought a house with a big pool with a vollyball court and everything. I thougnt it would be awesome.. but it is kinda like owning an exotic car. We have used it maybe 20 times in 3 years so I would say its cost me 300+ per swim. In that time the motor went out, the heater caught fire. It turned green 30 times and I had to shock the hell out of it. Many hours spent getting leaves out of it and trying to find the right chemical balance.

But i still say it is well worth it cause you get to tell people you have a pool and an exotic! (that was a joke)

 

Having a pool made this summer more bearable for me. Just being outside in the Florida heat and humidity, a pool is a welcome addition to our new house. Typically we trim our own shrubs/bushes, and a mere 15 minutes outside doing this results in sweat-drenched clothing. Jumping into the pool is a nice thing.

As far as upkeep, usually it's a weekly deal. We take a water sample down to the local mom n' pop pool store around the corner and they just tell us what chemicals are low, etc. We'll brush, add some liquid chlorine and some acid if necessary. Brush the sides and vacuum and you're done.

Newer homes around here are going with that "lagoon" look - dark marcite and such. Definitely hides an unbrushed/unvacuumed pool better than the traditional baby blue that I have.

We're going to build a new house starting in April of 06 and I'll probably request a pool with that place, too.

RMX

 

When I first got my house, it took some time to get the pool "right". I had it drained and cleaned, then filled it with water. It took some time to get the water hardness, Ph, etc... correct. However, all you do is bring a sample of water to the pool store and they will test it, then tell you what you need to dump in there.

Since the initial getting the water "right", I now just dump in one jug of Chlorine, add a Chlorine tablet to the floater, and brush the steps and walls every week. Once a month, I clean out the filter. I have a screened enclosure so not much junk gets in there. I also have a Polaris pool cleaner so I don't need to vaccum it. Really, the biggest pain is fixing the Polaris pool cleaner all the time. Other than that, maintining the pool is fairly easy. I live in Florida so we don't have to cover it for winter though.

 

We bought our house, with a pool, some 23 years ago. In that time, we have paid to have in opened and closed, acid washed, had the cement re-done, replaced the sweep twice, replaced the diving board, the privacy fence blew down during a Kansas windstorm, re-did the pool deck, replaced the yard drains, replaced the filter, replaced the chlorinator, etc...

The pool cover, an Anchor safety cover, was $2,500 and is worth it.

And, this year, except for two parties with about 50 people that were very well received, people swim in it about 5 times during the 90 days that it is open. When our two children still lived at home, they and their friends swam in it all the time.

In our subdivision, almost every home has either a tennis court or a pool. I vote for the tennis court, the people with the tennis court say that they would vote for the pool.

Where we live the pool doesn't either add to the value of the house or subtract from it, so, if you think that you want a pool, purchase a house with it, don't add one. If you put your own in, you'll never get your money out of it.

My vote? Purchase a place where the homes association owns and maintains a private pool. That way you have your cake and you can eat it too.

 

OK, got it. Buy it if you're going to use it. If you don't, it could be a big PITA. A pool is great if used and already installed. Plus, it beats the hell out of swimming in the local canal!

Alright, I'll admit. I like the idea of having a pool, even a hot tub. I picture my wife and I, Macanudo lit, while the chitlens run around raising hell. Boise summers are hot (in the 100s) and winters are cool but normally not brutal (lows in the teens), perfect for either a pool or tub. Plus, my wife loves taking the chitlens in the pool when we stay at a hotel; i.e. Myrtle Beach over 4 Jul 05. She spent three hours in the darn thing; benefit being her in a two piece!

I'll have made a house decision by the end of the weekend and will let you know.

Thanks, guys, for the feedback. With the exception of that sick f--- Lamour, you're alright.

D

 

"Pinch-a-Penny" is my friend.

 

Yeah, what a fu**ken' big shot.

 

That's MISTER f--ken' big shot to you, mere mortal.

Now, where's my driver? That stupid bastard's always late.

 

BWAAA,LOL!

 

I have had a swim pool for going on 8 years and I have never drained it. You don't need to waste money on clorine either. You can get away with a lot less clorine than they specify.

My recomendation is do what I did: go with an above ground pool. They are way cheaper than an in ground pool and they are just as fun. A guy in my pro-wrestling club (I am the Vice President) just bought one and loves it. It gives you all of the fun of a pool without the mess and cost. There really is no comparison. I know a good salesman (also in the club) I can put you in touch with (he sells jacuzis and pools in the summer and he sells artificial Christmas trees in the winter).

You can PM me with any question.

 

I put in a small (24') pool about 14 years ago. It has been a major PITA
every summer but the kids love it. It sits under a couple of huge oak
trees so I have more maintenence but baquacil is a LOT easier as it
seems the ph stays steadier so it doesn't have to be checked much.
Also one of those pool robots makes life a lot easier. It is nice to
jump in after mowing the yard on a hot day!

 

Thanks!

I have had a pool at almost every place I have owned. Both houses now have them and I love 'em. I heat mine pretty much year round. I dont like closing them and I do swim a ton. My brother and I though are both athletes though so that may have something to do with it.

What size / type of pool are you thinking about?

 

When I first built my pool I used the salt sanitation. It worked for about 6 months. I use the chlorine tablets in the skimmer and a Navigator automatic cleaner on a dedicated suction line. I am pretty sure John Lamour has a dedicated suction line on his pool also and would recommend it. Basically chemicals cost around $10-15 / month and you spend about 10 minutes per week doing the water check. No big deal. Get a service for the first three months while the plaster (diamond brite etc..) is making the water chemistry unstable. After that it is easy to keep up.
BT

 

Well, go ahead and kick me in the nuts. Here I go and start this thread asking for everyone's opinion. What do I do? I buy a frickin' house w/out a frickin' pool. There goes what credibility I had....
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dane, i thought i would be able to break your balls over your new house but i was wrong !!!!! NICE DIGS !!!!!!!!!!

 

as far as the pool, screw it !!! just by a slip and slide........ and pee in that.... nothing like slippin and sliddin in urine......

 

No offence but nothing much around here says "red neck" or "cant afford a real one" like above ground pools. But I imagin they ae quite a bit cheaper and easer to deal with when you want to get rid of it.

 

Pools are awesome if you intend to use them on a regular basis. IMO your $$$$ is MUCH better spent on a nice jacuzzi setup in the back yard. Add some outdoor sound, maybe a fire pit, and it's an awesome place to hang out. We use our jacuzzi on average 3-4x week year round. Nothing says relaxed like some sinatra, a jacuzzi, a good bottle of scotch a churchill.

 

I love having a pool. Here in Oregon, I figure we get almost 6 months of use out of it-- I open it in late April and close it in early October (just turned the heat off last week).

I find it to be less hassle than the hot tub I had at a house I used to live in. I have a chlorinator, so a couple of tablets in there every week, backwash every couple of weeks and clean the baskets, and that's about it.

I do have a retractable cover and a built in cleaner, so that helps quite a bit, but all in all I doubt I spend more than 20 minutes a week on it.

As for market value, I don't know how much difference it makes. When we bought our house several years ago, it sat on the market for a (rainy!) month or so. The first sunny weekend, they had multiple offers.

 

every Texas summer i keep sayin', man I gotta get a pool...

 

FYI the cost in fuel to keep a 5000 gal (small) pool heated to 95 in January in Raleigh NC was a little over $700 in 2003.

I did it to set a base line.

 

I bet it will cost more than that in January 2006!

 

Yea, really.