any experience with fiberglass pools?

[VINMAN]

Any have experience with fiberglass pools or own one. Lookin for horrors stories before I "jump in head first".

Ha ha, I crack my self up...

[URY914]

I've never owned one but I done some reasearch on them I would buy one before a gunite pool. There is actually a factory about two miles from my work and at any time there are about 30 of them out in the yard.

[VINMAN]

A friend of mine builds and sells them here in NJ. So i can get a great deal on it. But i just want to hear from other owners first.

[Zef]

I don't have one...but my neighbor do...was replaced three times due to cracking...!

[74-911]

When our 15 year old gunnite/plaster pool needed major repairs and replastering, I did a lot of research, talked to a lot of people and ended up having the pool fiberglassed rather than replastered. We have since sold that house but if I ever get another pool it will be fiberglass. In my experience fiberglass is much easier to maintain and can be easily repaired if it does sustain any damage.

I am not familiar with costs anymore but assume a new fiberglass is MUCH less expensive than a gunnite. I realize a fiberglassed gunnite pool is not really comparable to an all fiberglass but when a gunnite pool cracks (which they can) it is really expensive to get them repaired.

[johnco]

I am a fiberglass pool contractor. I can answer most any question you need answered or find the answer for you.

[schamp]

I looked at putting one in but didn't due to the cracking issue along with the gelcoat gets eaten over time by the chlorine. Might take ten years or so but will end up looking like crap. I have yet to find someone to fix the gelcoat on a pool.

[MotoSook]

Originally Posted by schamp

I looked at putting one in but didn't due to the cracking issue along with the gelcoat gets eaten over time by the chlorine. Might take ten years or so but will end up looking like crap. I have yet to find someone to fix the gelcoat on a pool.

Is this still the case (johnco?) with modern (say bought this year) gelcoat resin?


johnco - what's an average installed cost for a medium size poll without all the frills (e.g. mood lights, jets, etc..)? Say a 15X30 6ft or 8ft poll? I've seen cost for the pools to be less than 10K, but what is the installation cost for just a basic pool? I image the bulk of the cost of a fiberglass pool will be the excavation, right?

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Souk

Is this still the case (johnco?) with modern (say bought this year) gelcoat resin?


johnco - what's an average installed cost for a medium size poll without all the frills (e.g. mood lights, jets, etc..)? Say a 15X30 6ft or 8ft poll? I've seen cost for the pools to be less than 10K, but what is the installation cost for just a basic pool? I image the bulk of the cost of a fiberglass pool will be the excavation, right?

I've been looking & talking too, but I neen nothing but a bare small shell for that price. I grew up with a pool and only been without the last 10 or so years but from my research, maybe a swimspa (still thinking about that) I haven't found anything for less than $25K that was worth doing.

[johnco]

my 14 by 32 is about 23,500 complete installed with tile, cantilever deck 4 ft wide, p/f.. maintenence equip. just about everything you really need. I've got low overhead so I'm usually 3-4k less then the next guy. the shell and delivery is a little more than half the cost. it takes me 1 1/2-2 weeks to complete the job. the excavation is the easy part. $450 for excavator, 4-5 hours digging, bring level to contour with sand and drop in pool. I dig and install in 1 day usually. I do everything myself except work the wheelbarrow and shovel. I have one guy to help me. they changed the esters in the gel coat back in the early 90's. before that you would have blisters and cracking in the gel, but haven't seen any gel cracks in any of the pools I've done since the mid 90's. of course, now that I do cantilever decks and tile, no fiberglass shows above the waterline.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by johnco

my 14 by 32 is about 23,500 complete installed with tile, cantilever deck 4 ft wide, p/f.. maintenence equip. just about everything you really need. I've got low overhead so I'm usually 3-4k less then the next guy. the shell and delivery is a little more than half the cost. it takes me 1 1/2-2 weeks to complete the job. the excavation is the easy part. $450 for excavator, 4-5 hours digging, bring level to contour with sand and drop in pool. I dig and install in 1 day usually. I do everything myself except work the wheelbarrow and shovel. I have one guy to help me. they changed the esters in the gel coat back in the early 90's. before that you would have blisters and cracking in the gel, but haven't seen any gel cracks in any of the pools I've done since the mid 90's. of course, now that I do cantilever decks and tile, no fiberglass shows above the waterline.

Do you take Porsches in trade and can you build in FL??

[johnco]

have truck, will travel.

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by johnco

my 14 by 32 is about 23,500 complete installed with tile, cantilever deck 4 ft wide, p/f.. maintenence equip. just about everything you really need. I've got low overhead so I'm usually 3-4k less then the next guy. the shell and delivery is a little more than half the cost. it takes me 1 1/2-2 weeks to complete the job. the excavation is the easy part. $450 for excavator, 4-5 hours digging, bring level to contour with sand and drop in pool. I dig and install in 1 day usually. I do everything myself except work the wheelbarrow and shovel. I have one guy to help me. they changed the esters in the gel coat back in the early 90's. before that you would have blisters and cracking in the gel, but haven't seen any gel cracks in any of the pools I've done since the mid 90's. of course, now that I do cantilever decks and tile, no fiberglass shows above the waterline.

John who is the manufacturer of the pool shells you install?

[johnco]

Blue Hawaiian out of Tampa

[billyboy]

I have a FG pool. it's over 25 years old. I have also owned a gunnite pool. The upkeep on the FG is nowhere near what was required on the cement pool. I do have a couple of small cracks near the top edge which I will repair this fall. Also one small blister that I will grind out and fix at the same time. I need to do it in the fall since the water table is at it's lowest then. If the ground around the pool is holding water and you drain the pool, it could pop out of the ground. Considering all the fun we have had over the years with it, I'd say the pool has had minimal problems, way less than a Porsche! At this time. I'm planning to switch to a saline treatment system to get away from the chlorine hassle/costs.

[johnco]

don't know about the other installers, but I put a drain under the pool into a gravel bed in the deep end running up to right outside and under the concrete. ANYTIME you decide to empty the pool, even halfway, a diaphram or even a pool pump should be connected and run for a few days to pump out ground water from under and around the pool. if not, sides or bottom can bow in. I've never seen one pop up yet like gunite pools do, but since the fiberglass is so flexible, it will bow in from ground and water pressure outside without inside water pressure holding it in place

[nota]

we have an old teck concrete block pool built in about 1955 [cbs pored full of concrete]
other then paint every few years the pool has required little work in the 7 years we owned the house

like any other building method, the quality of the job and cost , are the factors effecting
both life and yearly costs
if you plan on being in the home long term spend the extra cost to get the best
if you want to move soon go cheap
I had a buddy building vinyl linner pools in north fla
ground type and if sand or rock is a big factor in costs to dig

[URY914]

Originally Posted by johnco

Blue Hawaiian out of Tampa

There are several in the Tampa area for some reason. Like I said earlier, one is right down the road from me.

[VINMAN]

Basically I'm looking at a small, mabye 12x20 oval just to float around in. Its gonna be sitting in the middle of a wood deck. My last pool in my old house was a 40x24 Grecian steel wall liner pool. when i put that in 10 yrs ago it cost me $18,000
I'm planning on doing the excavation and installation myself. The ground is sand. Im going to install a drywell under it, for ground water. I had seen a home near me where a f/g pool floated. so thats one of the reasons ive been asking around. But from what i understand he drained it all the way,and that floated it. Ripped up his patio. did alot of damage.

[JeremyD]

I have a fiberglass pool at my other house - it was installed in 1975 and still looks great. It has a few cracks along the edge - but really nothing of significance. It's easier to maintain than the gunnite pool.

I just spent close to 25k remodeling my gunnite pool at my other house - we went with pebble tec pebble sheen - when they were sandblasting my pool contractor mentioned that it had been remarcited at least four times in the past - it was built in 1973.