The Swimming Pool Thread

[PhillyV]

So each day that goes by i keep getting texts from the Mrs about buying a pool. But, i know very little about pools and pumps and all that. I had a pool growing up and i miss having one so i think it may be something we invest in soon. What do you guys suggest for a set up?

 

[mikedean441]

I suggest buying a membership to someplace that has one.

had one growing up, and to be mantained properly takes a lot of work

 

[biggs]

we just put one in this year and we absolutely love it. My kids are in it all the time.

 

[tucsoncacti]

In ground or above ground?

Ours is heated with a hot tub, the hot tub nor pool is heated continuously as that would be an absurd amount of money, and I have never heated in in the winter. I have swam in it in the winter after sitting in the hot tub for a while.

 

[TheCrest4]

I am former Pool professional. So let me know if you have questions and I can try and help you out. It has been a few years but I am sure not a whole lot has changed.

It can be quite a bit of work if you are doing everything yourself but also costly if you get a company to do the work for you. All about how much you are going to use it and how long it can be opened for etc.

 

[The_Dude]

I suggest buying a membership to someplace that has one.

had one growing up, and to be mantained properly takes a lot of work

I second this^^^^ we've had a pool for the last 13 years and it's a pita. Kicker is I've probably gone in it 10 times in 13 years.

 

[PhillyV]

There is a pool at the dock we keep out boat in but theres always someones annoying kids in there being little asshats while the mother is tanning with ear buds in

 

[NoLine]

Pools are a necessity here in Dallas. I miss my old pool, went from 6500/sf house and a 60000 gallon pool into the burbs to downsizing into the city in 3500/sf and a 40000 gallon pool. Currently renovating this pool with a new rock wall feature with embedded water feature and refinishing the pool and adding new hardscape. Will post the after when this is done. Here is the before.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dsw1519]

I would say really think about how much you will use it. I spend a lot more time maintaining the pool and the pool area than time spent actually using it. I get a lot more use out of our hot tub. We will be moving in the next 2 years, and I don't think I will have a pool at the next house.

 

[Tadashi70]

I have a salt water pool that is easy peasy to maintain. I'm not sure a pool is needed in Ohio with the short season. A membership might be better

 

[DaBuckBoys]

We do the community pool/membership thing. Its less than a mile away. My father inlaw gave us his "stock" or whatever they call it that gets us a discount every year. Our boys grew up taking the swim lessons there. Now we just drop them off for a few hours. Occassionally going a few times each summer.

One of my golf buds and his wife put a nice 30' round pool in two summers ago. Its partially in-ground with a nice patio a step up on one side, the far side is about 20" out of the ground. He's 15 minutes away and its really nice with the salt/soft water filtration treatment system.

Another good friend almost an hour away put in a 24' above ground a few weeks ago. Heading his way tomorrow to help build a deck around the thing. Nothing like a little carpentry in 90 degree heat.

 

[bogeyme]

So each day that goes by i keep getting texts from the Mrs about buying a pool. But, i know very little about pools and pumps and all that. I had a pool growing up and i miss having one so i think it may be something we invest in soon. What do you guys suggest for a set up?

I think she just wants to be able to brag to her friends that she has a pool boy. For 2 seasons I helped my uncle open and close my grandmothers pool. It was a lot of work making sure all connections were tight in the spring so water wasn't leaking and needing to be refilled. Closing it up was easier but still no piece of cake. I agree with someone else that mentioned how often you will use it. It's similar to a course membership. Break it down to how many trips to a pool close to you it would take to equal the price of the pool. Then you've got the added water and electric expenses. It is nice to know who's body has been in the pool and if it's just you and the Mrs and the boys then it's not so bad. Are you looking at an inground pool or above ground? I've been kicking around the idea of a pool also, but Ohio isn't the greatest place to live to own a pool.

 

[shanewu]

We didn't seek out a pool, but the house we wanted a few years back turned us into pool owners.

My key takeaways after a few years (note that we have about a 4 month pool season):

1) assume it will cost you at least $2,000-3,000 per year for opening, closing, chemicals, etc.
2) robotic cleaners are friggin expensive
3) assume it will take a few hours per week to clean and check chemical levels if you do it yourself
4) really glad we converted from regular chlorine pool to salt water ... but note that "salt water pool" still has chlorine ... rather than adding chlorine directly, you add salt and a machine using magic and wizardry (or science) generates the chlorine (there are other options for killing the bad stuff in the water but chlorine is the one we are all familiar with)
5) make damn sure you're going to use it enough to justify all the cost and burden
6) there is definitely value in the joy others get from using your pool

 

[Reframmellator]

We just replaced a 21' 52" above ground pool with an identical model after 19 years. My wife uses it every day, weather permitting. We have a heater, which allows us to extend our season in upstate NY from Mother's Day to Columbus Day, depending upon how hardy we are and how much the weather cooperates. She likes it much warmer than I do, so she uses it more. I golf, and she has the pool.

Our pool is about 12,000 gallons, and maintenance and chemicals are pretty simple for me. I figure chemicals for our pool cost less than $20/week for our 22 week season.

My chemical ritual consists of

1) One bag/bottle of pool shock per week. I get a six pack from Lowe's for under $20.
2) 2 oz algaecide per week
3) two Biogard Smart Sticks in the skimmer at all times. They are more expensive than liquid chlorine or chlorine tabs, but are huge time savers. https://www.poolgeek.com/products/bioguard-smart-silkguard-sticks-30-lb
4) Use pool test strips weekly, and take a sample to the pool place for analysis if the strip results look weird or every 2-4 weeks.

We have an inexpensive automatic pool vacuum that works well enough and would cost no more than $300 to replace. Occasionally I will have to put it on an extension pole and get some parts by hand.

I replace the 4 lbs of DE in our filter once, maybe twice, per year. That takes an hour at most, and the DE produces really nice, clear water.

The scope creep with an above ground pool occurs when you add a deck, inevitably, it seems. That is where the real time and money suck of maintenance can occur. After replacing a lot of cedar boards and staining the entire thing this spring, my wife starting asking some questions and we concluded we couldn't afford NOT to start replacing everything with Trex over the next few years.

Here's the original pool with most of the deck:

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[JB]

The Swimming Pool Thread

We use a robot to vaccuum each day, but added a little pool skimmer to the top today. Its a little bucket that attaches to the vacuum that skims the top of the pool constantly and sends the water through the filter. What a difference. Forget it keeping the top clean, the water flow on the top seems outstanding so far which is nice knowing the water is constantly flowing through the filter. Liking what I am seeing.

 

[tomcat]

I'm in TX, so the pool is open year 'round. Not sure I'd mess with it otherwise.

I have a chlorine puck feeder, but keep it fairly low, as I primarily use bleach (liquid chlorine), since the pucks leave cyanuric acid in the pool and the bleach doesn't.
We just switched to a robotic cleaner this year after our Polaris 280 blew a wheel. I like the robot, but I haven't seen a big increase in effectiveness.

 

[Wake]

We use a robot to vaccuum each day, but added a little pool skimmer to the top today. Its a little bucket that attaches to the vacuum that skims the top of the pool constantly and sends the water through the filter. What a difference. Forget it keeping the top clean, the water flow on the top seems outstanding so far which is nice knowing the water is constantly flowing through the filter. Liking what I am seeing.

I haven't seen those before, can they handle bigger debris?

I LOVE an uncaged pool, but the idea of keeping up with a pool without it cage is a no go. That could certainly help I think.

 

[Breaking 79]

Prepare yourself for a spike in your electric bill. We ran our filter 6 hours a day and the bill went up $50 a month. Outside of the that the pool wasn't much of a money sink. Get yourself a good pool guy and let him handle all the chemicals and the kine, while you enjoy the pool.

 

[JB]

I haven't seen those before, can they handle bigger debris?

I LOVE an uncaged pool, but the idea of keeping up with a pool without it cage is a no go. That could certainly help I think.

I think in reality they are designed to. I will let you know in a few days how well it works overall. Early thoughts are solid.

Although I'm the opposite and would never want an in ages pool. Partly because I have had cages most of my life. Just love every aspect of them.

 

[Wake]

I think in reality they are designed to. I will let you know in a few days how well it works overall. Early thoughts are solid.

Although I'm the opposite and would never want an in ages pool. Partly because I have had cages most of my life. Just love every aspect of them.

It's an aesthetics thing with me, walking into a house with a view and no cage can be stellar. Some of the retractable screen solutions can give you alot of the benefits, but maintain the look.

For practicality the cage definitely wins, but something like this just calls to me.

 

[JB]

It's an aesthetics thing with me, walking into a house with a view and no cage can be stellar. Some of the retractable screen solutions can give you alot of the benefits, but maintain the look.

For practicality the cage definitely wins, but something like this just calls to me.

Better move to Clearwater then...Arent going to find too many of those views in Brandon : )

 

[Wake]

Better move to Clearwater then...Arent going to find too many of those views in Brandon : )

That's Apollo Beach, but a lake or river works for me too!

These don't suck either, all though the first pool isn't big enough for the view and the second doesn't do justice for how cool of a setting it was.

 

[JB]

Apollo beach means power plant : )
I'll stick to the gulf. Lol.

 

[Wake]

Apollo beach means power plant : )
I'll stick to the gulf. Lol.

Yep, that really taints the area for sure.

I mean, I guess I could always drop a few million to be Jeter's neighbor, his view doesn't suck.

 

[JB]

Yep, that really taints the area for sure.

I mean, I guess I could always drop a few million to be Jeter's neighbor, his view doesn't suck.

The view of Jeter does though...haha
On all of this by the water talk, its time for me to head to go get a grouper sandwich.