Considering putting in a swimming pool....any advice?
 

My wife and I are looking to put in a pool behind our home with landscaping and other outdoor ammenities. Our girls are 10 and 3 years old, and we are looking to get about 10 years of enjoyment out of it before we sell this house to move on to a house with a smaller yard, less maintenance etc.

I have had several sales pitches from some pool companies and am about to hire a landscape architect to master plan the yard and design the pool and layout, etc. I know all about the new saltwater technology, gunnite process, polaris, etc and have a construction background. What I am looking for is real advice from pool owners. I've already had enough 'don't do it' and 'biggest mistake you'll ever make' advice, but would like to hear recommendations on making the pool better and reduce maintenance time.

Can anyone help?

Our kids were about 10 and 8 when we built a pool many years ago. For us, the experience went like this. Year 1, we were all in in it every day. Year 2 we used it probably 5 time per week. Year 3, we were in 2-3 times per week and by year 5 it was a nice place to go sit and drink a beer. They loose thier appeal pretty fast. And buddies have told me the same story about their experiences being pretty much the same.

pebble tech instead of plaster, in floor pop up system, BIG SAND FILTER, unichlor chlorine type system(ie. salt/water +electroylysis= chlorine. face pool east to west for max useage.

i live in mine during the summer! high wall offers privacy and a WINDBREAK from storm debris. no none nada zip nicht NO trees or bushes anywhere close and your maint. will be minimal.


without landscaping thought YOU WILL BECOME A PRISONER TO A POOL! if you have 2 large dogs like me...............they WILL TAKEOVER POOL DURING SUMMER!

buy all plastic drink cups.................no glass bottles glasses around pool. dogs steal beer cans, dogs knock over cups to steal drinks...............bad dogs!!!!!!

(1) yellow rubber pool ducky for chlorine shock treatment.

be scuba certified for any repairs underwater or recovery of items like diamond rings and earrings.

One of our requirements when shopping for our house 10 years ago was it had to have a pool.

10 years later I will admit it does not get used like the first year but, it still does get used a lot.

We do our own maintenance on it, my wife does the chemicals during the week and is a pro at it now. We are looking into switching to the salt water setup as well.

We also have 8 solar panels on the roof and a good "bubble wrap" cover for it. We swim in it year around and can keep the temps in the 90's in it during Florida winters. Our 3 year old wants to be in it every day and usually manages to convince one of us to go in with him.

Get your little one swimming lessons now. She will be swimming in 10 lessons. Best money we spent, our 3 year old can swim across the pool or, if he fell in, back to the side without any panic.

My pool is almost 20 years old now and its beginning to give me little problems, I replaced the entire pump filter system 5 years ago with a DE setup. My light was never installed correctly and springs a leak every 5 years or so. Right now my pool is drained as it started to leak again. I should be able to fill it after 5-7 days, once the 3-M marine adhesive cures. It was loosing about 2 inches avery 36 hours.

Since you getting a brand new pool with lots of the new goodies you will not have a lot of upkeep. I say go for it, your kids will love it.

My parents used the saltwater system in their pool. I don't live with them, but I've used the pool plenty. It's great. The salinity is much less than sea water, but enough to noticably change your bouyancy (sp). You don't smell bad after getting out of the pool, it doesn't bother your eyes as much as chlorine, and it is cheaper in the long run compared to buying the chemicals.

I'd very much recommend it.

They also use a solar heater. They live in the pan handle of FL and, if I remember correctly, the thing would get their pool to the 80's as early as March or April and keep it there until Oct or Nov.

rule of thumb on solar heating systems................adds one more month useage end of year, and one month earlier beginning of year. I KNOW MR SOLAR! hes my neighbor tom bonner of sun systems phx. his cohort/partner in crime is leslie neilsen( that funny canadian actor ). remember solar only works when ambient temps are to your liking. they work very well when its 115 degrees ambient.................they work very poor when its 28degrees ambient. ie. they FREEZE! soooooooooooooo to avoid headaches you get a grundfos pump and thermastat to turn on pump when temps plummet. when its xmas day and temps are 40 degrees...............your pool will be 40 degrees!

49 years living in the dez w/a pool! without a pool and beers.........................YOU WILL DIE HERE!

I was careful to point out my solar panels are used for a Florida pool. Even with daytime highs in the 55-60 range I can still maintain 90°+ in my pool. The key is to keep the bubble wrap on and only take it off when using the pool. This applies to any heating in colder months. It keeps the heat in.

Before I put a controler on my solar panels, I forgot to turn them off and we did not go in the pool for a few days. This was in the spring when temps are in the low to mid 80's. The pool was 100°. Oops!!

pool covers are nice.............for keeping heat in. the sun is brutal on vinyl here and they dont last, 2-3 yrs tops. plus where cover rolls up becomes rattlesnake condo during summer months.

Best reason to own a pool? They keep me employed. Install 2 if you've got room. Here's a small sample of the failed pools my company investigates each year ..... :eek: :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160517721.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160517839.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160517876.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160517928.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160518155.jpg

my dogs would be very very very ANGRY, if they saw those pictures!

Make sure someone knows CPR!

While your putting it in, look at energy efficient pumps. Some utilities even give rebates for installing them. The salt water chlorinators make sense when buying new and you should consider them.

A pool is a large hole into which you throw a lot of money. Truer words were never spoken.

that's what I do for a living.. I've installed 2 in Baton Rouge a few years ago but have been on this side of the Mississippi since.. finished one last week and put another in the ground today.. I can probably answer a few questions for you. I've done a few vynyl liner pools and plenty fiberglass pools. 20 years working in the mud and rain.

convince your neighbors and/or friends to get one instead

How in the world did those first two happen?

ok i understand the above ground coming apart but whats the story on the in-grounds?

In ground FG pools pushed up by freezing/thawing?

I'd say get a half-in and half-above ground setup if allowed where you live. That way in a few years you can take it out, fill in the hole with not a lot of dirt, and only be out $3-4k toal (dig hole, pool, fill hole). We've got an above ground with a nice deck around it (PO put it in) and replaced just the pool ($2k kit) when it rusted thru after 15 years. I didn't want a house with a pool 'cause I'm lazy and the springs are a 10 min drive (72 year round!) away, but the wife wanted it... now, 7 years into it, 3 with the new pool, I've made the ultimate threat to the wife - let it stay green for a month during swimming weather, and it becomes my new fish tank. Maybe next year I'll be posting about my new 12k gallon tank :) I like it, kids like it, I don't like the taking care of it (wife's job I end up doing, but she mows the lawn occasionally), and I really don't like swimming in chemicals. The saltwater may be ok though...

When you do get a pool, call your water provider and ask if they can do a flat rate for you on a one-time fill.

gunite pools someone emptied most likely. fiberglass buckles at the sides or bottom. everything can be fine one moment and the next you have an aboveground instead. never empty a pool unless you know what you're doing or have good insurance, preferably both

From a maint. standpoint I would think a fiberglass pool would be the way to go but initial cost is higher than a conventional pool. From what I have been told by pool owners they have to do some type of partial to total refinish every 7-10 years. I would also think a fiberglass pool would require less chemicals?

I went with a DE filter and since I screened in the entire area I really could have gone with just a sand filter. DE is best but the sand works too. I went with a liner and now wish I had gone with the fiberglass for the extra 10K. Remember about the fiberglass that in about 15 to 20 years the clear coat will be gone and I have not heard of anyone that does that on old glass pools. Chemicals eat the clear coat. If you go with the fiberglass try and get some warranty against cracking. The installation is more important than you think. I would highly recommend getting a retired pool guy as a consultant. I have not found the upkeep to be a problem but remember mine is screened in, no leaves, bugs, etc. Good luck

The 2 inground failures shown were both cases where the water level was allowed to become too low. And both were located in an area with a high groundwater table (about 3-4 feet below ground). They 'floated' up out of the ground. :cool:

Thanks so much guys, I appreciate the replys. Hope mine does not end up like those in the pics...high water table here in BR. Guess monitoring the water level is REALLY important!

Most newer pools have a wellpoint attachment where the bottom drain is. You pull a plug and hook up the well point then begin pumping out the ground water.

Draining a pool in a high water table area is tricky.

You may also want to look into a water level monitoring setup. Its sort of s float like in your toilet that turns on and refills the pool if the water level drops too far.

I live up on a sand hill and can drain my pool to the bottom without a worry. As a matter of fact its 2/3 empty right now as I wait for the 3M to cure.

Motion - After owning mine for 10 years I do not think its a big expense. But, I am a big DYIer and refuse to pay someone to take care of my pool or my lawn. I can do them just fine on my own. The last time the light gave us trouble, my wife decided to hire a "pro" to fix it.

1 Week later it was leaking and I told her never to hire anyone to do this stuff again. I fixed it and it lasted 5 years almost to the month. This next treatment should do it for a long time. My mistake the last couple of times was not letting the 3M cure for the prescribed 7 days.

Mark - You will really enjoy it. Good luck. If you are brave you might consider owner contractor you would be amazed at the markup from the pool companies. Especially if you have construction experiance.

We put a net on our pool when our daughter was born. A lot of kids drown in AZ due to gates being left open or kids climbing over fences. As long as you put the net on when you're done swimming there's no chance a kid is getting in the water.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160530504.jpg

Lee - that net is a good idea, I hadn't seen that before. A kid in our son's preschool last year drowned in their family pool, which really freaked everyone out. We are paranoid about keeping our gate secured but ***** can happen no matter how careful you are.

Anyways, we have a really nice dark-bottom concrete in-ground pool + spa added by the PO in 1995 (we bought in 2002). Conventional DE filtration, pumps, in-line chlorinator and natural gas heater setup. The lights and spa are on X-10 remotes, main pump on a timer. We had to do some maint and repairs including a pump motor, some plumbing leak fixes and a few minor heater parts. Farmed that out to the pros but I do the routine upkeep myself; it's not hard at all except in the Fall when the wind blows all the damn leaves around like crazy. Cleaning a big DE filter is a nasty job...but 2-3X a year is plenty often for ours.

It is due to be resurfaced pretty soon and we need to decide between replastering or pebbletech or other options.

My $.02 advice would be to (a) get an auto pool vac of some sort to cut down on the manual leaf skimming and vacuuming, and (b) DO NOT plant any baby trees that will become big trees too close to the pool or pool deck where the roots may cause major headaches down the line.

My neighbors put in a pool the week after the moved in, before the neighbors on the other side moved in and could say anything. The neighborhood has a pool already. Now they claim the "don't like the neighborhood". The pool cost them double what it was supposed to and the maintenance is very high. They are selling their house in a year to move to a new neighborhood. If that pool doesn't get used by the new poeple, I'm going to dynamite it and bury it under when they go on vacation.

Here's the photos of this stupid pool.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/183083-contractor-stupidity.html?highlight=pool

We've had an above-ground Doughboy 16x24 pool for 4 years now. We have a Hayward cartridge filter/pump and a Hayward 150,000 BTU natural gas water heater and the total water capacity is 10,500 gallons. The heater gives us an extra month of use in the spring and an extra month of use in the fall. We use tablet chlorine and it's alot more stable than liquid chlorine. We use the pool almost every day in the summer and we have a pool entry system that locks. We are very happy with our pool, but the key is the company that installs it. If the installer does a good job - you're happy, if they do a substandard job - you're in trouble (as Curt's pictures show). Good luck!

I like the cover Wayne mentioned rather than the net. I don't have a pool but I saw someone demonstrating the cover on one of those home improvement shows. The man walked across the cover and didn't even get wet. It's motorized so all you do is hit a button. I'm sure its more money than the net but I would think thats its safer and will keep bugs and leaves out.

Mine has a hot tub within the pool, that is fun, I can heat the pool if needed.
Never done on purpose..by stupid..oh yes. Middle of July, jump in the
BIG hot tub, it took 4 days to cool down.
Rika

I have an in-ground concrete pool that was here when I purchased my home.

If I were to do it from scratch I'd do a prefab FG pool. In fact I'd do an L or Rectangular config with ONE depth throughout. IMO, this makes for more usabilty in the long run. Playing pool volley ball on the deep end isn't fun. :)

From the reseach I've done chemicals are not absorbed and they tend to last longer in a FG setup. FWIU, the marble dust used in the concrete pools plaster is considered a sacrificial component and is one of the many reasons a redo is needed every 10-15 years.

I considered a mesh cover years ago but found that it can act like a tea bag and debri that settles onto the cover will require quite a bit of cleanup when time comes to open.

I opted to work with a company that custom fabricates solid covers. I took a series of measurements per their instructions and they manufactured the top and suplied all the hardware. My cost was approx $1200. This is about a third the cost of others I have seen. I've opened the pool and have had crystal clear water. The one pain is that you must drain the cover after rain or snow...and this does get quite challenging. Let me know if you'd like their contact info. They were not easy to find and the only manufacturer willing to sell in this manner.

One very useful site I've used over the years is www.PoolSolutions.com. It was built by a commercial pool maintenance guy and it is well worth the subscription. He dispells all the myths of proper pool maint and has many time saving tricks. For instance I use Baking Soda (or is it powder?) and Twenty Mule Team Borax to adjust PH in my pool. It has worked very well.

Here's how a solid or mesh cover is held in place.....

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