[campbellcj]

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.