What do you wish you knew before you had a pool?

[quandrea]

I wasn’t offended.

Okay. I’m glad.

 

[billlaurie]

We bought a house with an inground chlorine system pool and knew it was going to be work but it was a ton more than we thought trying to keep the chemicals balanced. We switched over to salt and it is easier and the water is nicer. The thing that we really didn't think about is needing someone to watch the pool while we travel. If you like to travel and like us dont want to use a pool service, you need good neighbors!

 

[tcufrog]

That my kids friends' parents would be happy to bring their kids over to swim but wouldn't make sure they behaved safely in the pool. I can't tell you how many times I've had a pool party and have had to make a kid sit out for misbehaving around or in the pool. Every time, the parents aren't watching their child. Before I allow kids to get into the pool I made them listen to a talk from me about pool safety and warn them that they will have to get out if they don't follow the rules. My kids will warn their friends that I mean it and will even warn them if they break the rules but invariably I'll see a kid doing something unsafe like jumping into the pool in the shallow end or chasing each other on the pool deck. I love to entertain and it got to the point where parties weren't fun anymore.

We moved late last year. My dh wanted to get a house with a pool and I put my foot down and said no.

 

[a1tinkfans]

We designed and had our pool built along with a lanai. We are in it all the time. In fact, was at the beach earlier today, returned to relax in the pool.

We did salt water, put in the sun deck ... and other bells and whistles. The sun deck is my favorite place (sit on the chairs, in the water and read.)
We have a specific depth
As I did Not want to feel nervous at All in the deeper end. Perfect!
We use it Year round (have a heater). The overall cost was worth every penny. The overall yearly costs are nominal imho.
The builder has been here several times with other clients to see what/how we did it.
No regrets. Could not imagine our lifestyle without it.
( our pool up north was chlorine and solar.. limited usage due to weather and tree/shade issues .. )
Life is good, better with the pool, lol.

 

[RedAngie]

This fascinates me. May I ask if before you had a house with a pool, did you ALWAYS wish for a house with a pool? We live in the city, and having a pool is not and never has been in the cards for us, between lack of space and a huge 100 year old plus Oak tree in our back yard, but DH and I fantasize about having a pool I couldn't imagine every leaving our yard. I'm not being sarcastic, I truly would LOVE to know your thoughts before the pool and why your feelings changed.

I suppose it was a childhood fantasy of mine to have a house with a pool. But by the later years of high school I was no longer interested,

We bought a house with a pool when we moved to Los Angeles. Isn't everybody supposed to have a pool there? DDs and exH were excited to have it and used it frequently. For a while. But by the second year they used it less and less. And then it became a rare thing, maybe once a month. The novelty wore off.

We used a company to service and maintain the pool, and it grew ridiculous to pay when the pool was rarely used.

When I moved back to Delaware I bought a house without a pool. There is a pool at the community center. The standard HOA fees don't include its use, however. You can pay one fee for the entire season or for each individual use. We pay individually for the one or two times we use it every summer.

When I was a kid, we had a small above ground pool. It was about one foot deep by 10 feet in diameter.

 

[cobright]

So, if you have had a pool installed or moved into a house that has a pool, what do you wish you would have known beforehand? Would you do it all over again?

Appreciate all advice and considerations!

It's as much work as a toddler.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I grew up with a pool and spent every minute I could in the thing. What a PP said about things getting in is true. There were plenty of times that I’d go out to swim only to have to call my dad because a bunny, skunk, squirrel or some other critter fell in the pool

I always intended to purchase a home with a pool. However, I ended up really wanting to stay in my current neighborhood. It seems like every other development has standard screened in pools with 95% of the houses, but I think those typical Florida screened backyards are banned in my neighborhood (it’s the only thing I can think of as there are zero of them). There are houses with pools, but I ultimately decided that being a first time homeowner and having a pool plus an older dog was just too much lol. My house (if everything goes to plan in a week or so) is only about a half block from one of the community pools so that works for me!

 

[ReneeA]

We live in Michigan, so the weather is only good for pools about 3.5 months of the year. The house we live in had a pool installed in 1967 when the house was built - it's huge - 20 x 40 ft and 10 feet deep at the end with a diving board. It's a gunite pool and needs tons of work, but between my DH (who works in construction and is extremely handy) and our pool guy, they manage to keep it functional. For a big price, of course.

It's $800 to open it, it's $800 to close it for the seasons. I run the filters 12 hours a day in the summer since the size of the pool requires that long to keep it clean. It's pricy on the electric bill. Water is not free, my water bill in the summer goes from $280 for a quarter to$1100 a quarter when it comes time to fill it in the spring, keep it clean in the summer with back washing, and refill for evaporation. Chemicals cost around $150-200 a month. We had a leak in the lines that feed the pipe last year. He only charged us $800 to fix it, which was less than we anticipated, but we still have one possibly left to be fixed and then we'll have to put new concrete again. Because of our weather fluctuations and the pool decking being so old, there was lots of cracks in the pool decking and DH spent hours every weekend all last summer filling them with a specialized caulk. That was about $500 for the caulk alone, and nothing for labor since DH labored alone. DH also cleans it every weekend a vacuums, adjusts chemicals, skims, etc, which takes an hour on average. Someone then skims a couple times during the week, and DH tests chemicals and adjusts mid week as well.

We really thought our kids -teens- would love it and use it a ton in the summer, but they may go in it 3 times a month. DH and I go in almost nightly, but sometimes with me it's guilt that forces me in since we spend so much time and money on the thing. It's pretty. It's an unusual feature in Michigan to have an inground pool this size (probably for good reason). I would never get a pool again. DH loves it and would get a pool again.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Our last house had a salt pool; if you want low maintenance, go with salt. The pool cleaner stayed in the pool and we ran it for about 8 hours a day. The pool had an auto-filler that kept the level where it needed to be.

The only real maintenance was brushing the sides of the pool every week and making sure the cleaner was working. Maybe 10 minutes of work every week. No dealing with expensive chemicals, either.

Our pool was in full sun and we're in Arizona, so by mid-April the water would get warm enough for me to get in (I'm picky) - above about 82º or so. June-September it would stay around 93-98º, and by mid-October I was done for the year. Unlike others in the thread, once the pool was usable each year we would be in it nearly every day. Since we had a block fence, we would go skinny dipping 20-30 minutes before bed to relax.

 

[LSUmiss]

We pay $95 a month for weekly pool service that includes the chemicals, cleaning, testing. The guy who does it is so nice and does an excellent job. We had to buy a new pool heater when we moved into the house since the old one had stopped working years ago. We really enjoy our pool and find it really doesn't cost us that much extra. Our pump runs from about 8:30AM until about 5:30PM every day. We've lived in this house almost two years now and are very pleased with our inground pool. We have a screened lanai around the pool, so we can sit out there without worrying about bugs. After Hurricane Irma, we had to replace the screening since it was severely damaged, but it was also 17 years old and needed replacing. Our cats also love the lanai since they think they are outside, but they are still save and cannot get out. We live in SW FL, so we can use the pool year round and we turn the heater on in Dec and just turned it off around April 1. We have a pool cover and reel that we cover the pool each night during colder weather to keep the heat in the water.

We live about 1.7 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, but we still use the pool pretty much daily and head to the beach a few times a month. We are both retired.

Wow! We pay $150/week & that is the cheapest we can find in this area. That’s what I wish we had known...how expensive it is. Tried doing it ourselves, but in this climate, it’s a nightmare. Wish I also would have known about the bigger maintenance things also like equipment, plumbing, tile & grout that needs to be done every so often.

 

[amcnj]

To me the main question to ask yourselves is if you are “pool people”. Will you really make use of it? If working, will you really feel like going in after work? If retired, will you spend hours a week by it or in it? Some will, some won’t.

Several relatives and friends had them over the years. Some were put in mainly for the kids, and some did use them fairly regularly for maybe a 7-10 year stretch of their lives. One family is at the transition point where the kids are older and not into it or around to use it much, so it will be interesting to see if the parents continue to use it by themselves.

Most were above ground, so when the kids no longer used them, they were just taken down. The in-ground owners moved, or I moved, before they hit that time, so I didn’t get to see how their usage changed with time.

 

[luvsJack]

People always say this, but I find we only spend about fifteen minutes a week on balancing the water. The robot cleans the pool—maybe two to three minutes a day putting it in and pulling it out.

A lot depends on where you live, where the pool is and what can affect it.

The pool I took care of was actually my mom’s. And it had a Live Oak tree on each end of it. Under one was a deck. Beautiful place for family gatherings under the shade of the tree. Made it nice when one of is sat out there with the kids but didn’t want to get in the water. But terrible for the pool.

In the spring before opening the pool we had to wait until all of the acorns fell so they would fall on the cover. Then we had to carefully uncover to get as few as possible in the pool. Then of course leaves fell. So it was daily getting the leaves out. And of course leaves made it harder to get the water right. And thunderstorms and we had to immediately clean out the pool.

The robot ran daily to vacuum but couldn’t get all the leaves. Any leaves left in it would make a problem with the water.

And of course all the repairs which we did ourselves.

I miss having a pool, I don’t miss working on the pool. And we looked into a pool service but it is a lot more expensive because we live so far out.

We would have never cut those beautiful trees and had the pool not been put there, it’s doubtful it would have been used as much as it was.

My niece has a salt water pool and it seems like heaven. If we put on in here, which we have talked about, it will be salt water.

 

[fhtpdw20]

We had a pool until DH passed. It was his baby. I have not read through all the comments, but in addition to the maintenance, please check with your insurance company. You will probably need a rider to cover replacement and extra liability coverage as well. If this is to be your forever home, you might want to consider the prospect of aging in place. Will you be able to afford cost of pool service on fixed budget?

 

[okeydokey]

I learned that our kids didn't use it much at all, but that my husband and I use it constantly! We love it.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Hi OP: here’s some info u asked for.
Since ours was a custom build, we did a custom shape.. somewhat like an 8 with one much larger side which is where my sun shelf is.
The shelf is about 8 x 8., free form design. I typically have 2 chairs, small table, palapa type umbrella. I call it my reading nook. Up north had a room, my library .. .down here, it’s a library of sorts lol. I LOVE to read
My deep end is 4’10”. I opted for a bench/seat on that end despite it not being required ( as it’s under 5’ deep).

What I forgot to mention in my original response ..maybe the Best part....
I had customized design work/decorative tile on the pool bottom.
Well I am rather Disney Addicted... sooooo
My underwater “aquarium” in one end of the pool includes a HIDDEN MICKEY... yup.. in the bubbles of the fish, among the coral.
The installer laughed like crazy as I was rather particular.

I tease family that visits as well... I go behind the waterfall and ask what it reminds them of...
Well, the Backside of water ( POC) of course, lol!
The entire project was a dream one and several years later...enjoy it each and every day.. no regrets.
just finished coffee out there minutes ago.

Go with a reputable, experienced company ( visit their work), at a price point that ur comfortable with. There Are differences in tile, grout, pavers etc etc.
if ur up north especially, Usage .... certainly be a Big part of the decision. Best of luck!

 

[Klayfish]

What do I wish I knew before I had a pool? How much fun and how easy it actually is. I'll disagree with the vast majority of the posts here. We had a rather large above ground pool at our prior house. I had always read the stuff online about how hard it is, how much work, etc...and it scared me. But I finally decided to "take the plunge" LOL. Right from the start, we went with a salt water system. What a breeze it was. I don't think we spent 20 minutes a week doing "maintenance". Check the balance, 10 minutes to skim the water and we're done. We used it all the time. The only thing that was a pain was winterizing and then getting it open again in May. Not horrible, but took a little bit. Wish we could have one here, but the (insert ugly word here) HOA forbids. If you want a pool, go for it. They're great!!!

We now have a nice size hot tub and love it.

 

[DVC-Don]

I wished I had had a chemistry course in high school. That aside, after two years I had the pool balance down pat and crystal clear water for 19 years until we sold the house. Our kids and their friends were taught how to swim by the YMCA in our pool and we enjoyed the heck out the pool. I now live in a community with a pool just around the corner.

 

[Klayfish]

I wished I had had a chemistry course in high school. That aside, after two years I had the pool balance down pat and crystal clear water for 19 years until we sold the house. Our kids and their friends were taught how to swim by the YMCA in our pool and we enjoyed the heck out the pool. I now live in a community with a pool just around the corner.

Yep, that's the hardest part. Learning the art of chemistry. I struggled with that with our pool and our hot tub. The hot tub was a disaster at first...I was used to dumping in a lot of chemicals for a pool. The hot tub only needs tiny fractions of that.

 

[jump00]

Hi - we live just north of Toronto and love our pool ( as you can see from my avatar). My dh does an amazing job of keeping the pool in tip top form but it really is just the two of us using the pool. It’s a short season (end of May to September) so we really appreciate the pool in the summer months. We have such fond memories of hosting pool parties for our kids and their friends.

 

[FastPasser.]

The weekly maintenance is the least of my issues. In Florida, the difference in cost between having a nice in ground pool with a cement deck and screen enclosure installed versus an above ground pool is night and day. And if you stay in the house long enough, and as we just had to do, everything has to be redone and or replaced at a certain point, and I stress everything. Add up the initial cost, maintaining it year round for 20 years, then the cost to totally refurbish the pool area and equipment, and it's a hefty price tag just for a cement pond. But I can't complain because we made the decision get it and keep it. Oh btw, it's beautiful and it's for sale, house included.