Anyone regret their in-ground pool?

[muffyn]

we have trees surrounding where we would put ours ( I am NOT spending hours a day to clean it out)
plus it is in a cold winter state, where we would not get that much use out of it,
sooooooooooooo I WANT the pool enclosed! (use it year round)
we can figure out something to build that ,
but has anyone on here done it or own one?

I figure we would also have to go with solar panels to help heat it. anyone have experiance with that?

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Thanks everybody! I have a lot to consider. I'm so surprised that the houses I'm looking at with pools don't seem to have fences around the pool. they have fenced yards, but not another fence around the pool. I would definitely add that, and possibly the tight cover over the top. I couldn't sleep if I didn't think it were safe.

I just can't decide if its worth it. We will hopefully be there for 10 years, until the kids all graduate from High school. I do think it would be great on the hot summer days.

Many of the houses do have saltwater pools. I will research that!

Thanks all!
Time for bed here. I will read the rest of the responses in the morning.

Katy

Time for bed???

Wow, you're in Qatar! Cool! Do they have subdivisions there like in America?

 

[Mkgaapril]

I cant imagine life without our pool....while it costs us a few hundred a year, think of what you will save not driving all over for entertainment this summer. I have had a pool since my youngest was in 3rd grade....One time in the beginning they tried to push the rules...end result...2 weeks no pool...they really hated looking out the window and watching me swim....hummmmmmmmmmmmmm...

 

[MayMom]

We just love our inground pool. We did go larger (18 x 36 I think) and I am glad. The funny thing is - we found out we were pregnant the day that we started digging our pool.
We had planned on waiting a few weeks to tell everyone, but when I got home that day my husband blurted out, "I told Roger we were pregnant. " I said, "Roger who???"
And DH said, "the guy digging the pool!! He said, 'I was standing there listening to him tell me about the digging and I just said, "We are having another baby!"
I started laughing and said, "well... we may need to call our parents if Roger knows".....

We have had many scares with our pool. I was having a rummage sale and we found a little boy walking on the trampoline liner....how he got through the 8 foot fence I will never know.....

 

[tfiga]

I am in an area where we can only swim for 3 months a year, but my total costs run about $400 each for opening and closing and $500 for chemicals... I wish we did not have it, every small problem is $1000 or more to fix and I constantly worry about my kids and their safety... On the plus side I never have to make my kids go outside and play during the summer and they get tons of exercise... Of course if you ask them they would tell you they love it. I may feel differently if we could swim more and I felt I was getting the value out of it.

 

[RayJay]

We may be moving back to the States, probably Texas. I have always planned to have a pool when the kids were old enough. Our youngest is 8 and all are strong swimmers. So it seems like the smart thing to do is to purchase a house that already has a pool.

Will I regret it? I'm an overprotective Mom and will tolerate ZERO horse play in the pool. All of children are boys.

How expensive is it to maintain a pool? I'm worried that we will be paying to keep it up and no one will use it!

Beagles and pool? Our dog has never been swimming, I would have to ensure she didn't drown!

Any advice?
TIA
Katy

Katy,

Had an above ground pool for 15 years, loved it. Moved to VA went one summer without it, nightmare. Just put in an inground pool a month ago, in fact the concrete decking gets poured next week.

Our costs is about $500 for the season, that's everything, but I use the Bioguard system which is more expensive.

I can't wait, the family loves it, parties are at my house. Who hoooooo

RayJay

 

[Taja]

I grew up having pools and always have had one as an adult.

Mine is 30 years old and 20' x 40'. Great for laps and family parties.

That said, my next home will not have a pool. I'm tired of taking care of it. In the desert, the chemicals are very expensive six months out of the year--the sun just burns them up. And we have a lot of wind, so there's a lot of skimming, brushing, vacuuming and cleaning the filter.

Pool services are a joke around here--most are owned by or hire flakes. Every time I find a good one, it merges with another one that is not quite so good or sells the route to someone who just wants to make easy money, and on down the line until no one shows up! ****AAAARRRGGGGHHH**** I had five different pool services in two years and finally gave up three years ago! *sigh*

I work 70 hours a week most of the time. I really don't want to babysit a pool on top of everything else!

Oh! And regarding other people's children in your pool? My mother's rule was a parent had to accompany the children in the family. She wasn't going to become the neighborhood babysitter. And absolutely ironclad: no guests when no adults were home (both of my parents worked full time).

 

[RayJay]

We have had many scares with our pool. I was having a rummage sale and we found a little boy walking on the trampoline liner....how he got through the 8 foot fence I will never know.....

And that's exactly why you have one of those covers, they are the best, mine cost me $1800.

Great job on getting the better cover.

RayJay

 

[canadianmom2three]

We bought a house with a pool, and if we move, I certainly wouldn't look for another pool, I'm kind of on the fence about it. We can only use it 3-4 months, and even then it never ever gets above 80 aside from maybe a couple of days in August, we have a really shaded yard, and even with the blanket on every night, it just never heats up. I also worry a lot about my youngest, or neighbour kids getting into it, even though we put up a tempered glass fence all around it when we bought the place. It doesn't really take a lot of work, I'm just not in love with it...maybe if it were warmer I would feel differently, but I'm not sure.

 

[Hayloburger]

We have an inground pool...$30,000...built in 4 years ago....at that time we had a 3 year old and a newborn (literally, I signed the pool contracts holding onto a 2 day old!!). Then, our three year old could swim down and pick up toys off the bottom of the deep end, she's a fish.

My kids love to swim...they are both excellent swimmers...ages 4 and 7 now. I do not leave them in the pool by themselves, ever.....they can swim well, especially the 7 year old, but you never know, they could knock their head or something.

We make sure that the back doors are always locked unless an adult is in the back yard. dead bolt. period. no discussion. I've never had kids over to my house to swim without their parent with them. Now, maybe when the kids are older, their friends can come over without parental supervision...but not while they are so small. Too much responsibility.

We've never had a pool party with tons of people. With my small kids, I feel like it's too big of a risk (I think I would be too easily distracted), we will wait until they are older to have the huge parties.

We love our pool. We don't regret it. We live inTN and and swim in it from mid may to mid october (it's not heated). We live out there in the summer. It is so hot here, that it's really the only exercise that my kids get in july and august. We plan on staying in this house for a long time. I know that I will never get my pool investment back out of the house, but, we have enjoyed it and it has been worth every penny, even if we moved today. You may want to live in your house a while and make sure that you want to stay there before building the pool.

We have two female yellow labs. THEY LOVE THE POOL and will not stay out of it. They are very protective of my little one when she's in the pool and will pace along the side of the pool when she's swimming. When she was very little, like 12 months,and she was floating in her innertube thing,they would not take their eyes off of her.

Very important, even if your dog is not a swimmer...make sure you show your dog where the steps to the pool are. So, if she ever falls in, she will know where to get out.

Another, item that i think is important. I think swimming lessons are a very important gift to give a child..early on too. This way, they do not develop a fear of the water, but a respect for it. I've heard too many heartbreaking stories.

 

[turning40withMickey]

We love our pool. We live in PA, and use a heater. I keep the pool warm. This early in the year, I like it close to 90 degrees, DH jokes that we have the world's largest hottub. It is not even May and our pool is open, and will stay in steady use until early September when the kids go back to school. It is not much work, if you USE it all the time, it rarely needs swept, all that swirling water lets the filter do it's job. We have an 18 X 36 with eight foot (i think) deep end, diving board and slide. I teach, and have the summer months off, so I have plenty of time to watch the pool and enjoy it. Dh installed the pool himself, buying a kit from a local pool store. It was very inexpensive, so we added all the extras like the slide, dive, extra concrete decking on all four sides.

We have guests most every day during summer. My rule is: no kids without bringing an adult. I am not an unpaid babysitter for the neighborhood, but I enjoy when friends come to swim and I have another adult to talk to. The second rule is: All kids must go home before DH gets home from work. He does not enjoy coming home to a gaggle of kids. I don't mind it (elementary teacher). DH is a redhead and doesn't like to bask in the sun, but in the evening shade he will enjoy a dip with our own kids.

If you have boys, they will definitely rough house and fool around, a lot. This doesn't bother me, but we go through inflatible pool toys really fast, especially when we invite the ball teams over after a game. THe girls tend to play calmer games, like "judge the dives" or "beauty shop".

I like knowing where my kids are and what they are doing, I am a constant presence and know all their friends and the parents as we chat poolside. This in itself is a huge positive to me.

We have a poolhouse with bathroom, which is great because no wet feet and drippy bodies come inside my house to pee! I have an old refrigerator/freezer out there, too, and keep it stocked with popsicles and drinks. The kids think it is insanely cool to eat popsicles while the float around on the pool toys. Yes, I go through a lot of snacks, but I find most "guests" will bring a snack to share every time they visit (do we have good friends, or what!)

For me, the pool is the best thing we ever added. Ours is 12 years old and the liner is faded, and will need replaced this year. This will be a big expense, but well worth it. Heating costs, but the pool gets used for hours every day. Unheated pools in PA are not practical, we knew this going in. I give two thumbs up to an inground pool!

 

[Isi]

We love our pool we got it done last year in August one week before school started..We don't have a heater but we have gone in it this year like 6 times the water temp was 83F..We have a guy that charges $80 monthly and comes every Wednesday to clean it and check all the levels..We have the salt system its nice because u don't smell like chlorine.. We did put the safety fence all around the pool, the kids are 6 years but they are not good swimmers..

 

[shelly3girls]

Thanks everybody! I have a lot to consider. I'm so surprised that the houses I'm looking at with pools don't seem to have fences around the pool. they have fenced yards, but not another fence around the pool. I would definitely add that, and possibly the tight cover over the top. I couldn't sleep if I didn't think it were safe.

Many of the houses do have saltwater pools. I will research that!

Thanks all!
Time for bed here. I will read the rest of the responses in the morning.

Katy

We plan to install a pool since we use my mother's all of the time. Like you said we have a fence around the back yard. We will then add an additional fence around the pool. This way the kids can play in the back yard and still be blocked off from the pool. We will also install an electric cover.

We have friends with 3 different kinds of pools including chlorine, baquacil, and salt water. We definitely will not pick chlorine b/c of the maintenance required. We will either use baquacil (not as expensive as you think b/c it requires less treatment and less upkeep) or salt water. We are not sure which is better for our climate so we will need to do some research.

 

[dizkids]

We love our inground. Our yard is fenced and our pool is fenced within our fenced yard with a lock on the gate.

We live in neighborhood where there are enough inground pools to go around so really no worry about having kids over all the time.

 

[kritter]

I don't have a pool -but If I did I would consider a cover like a friend of mine has. It is mechanical- you flip a switch and it rolls out over the pool.
It is not very pretty put it dials down the worry a great deal.
She said it cost about 6K.

We have that cover and it is a GREAT safety feature!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pei4ever]

Another vote for "I love our pool". We had it built 3 years ago and it has been great for these hot TN summers. Ours is 20 x 40 sports pool (think shallow on 2 ends and deep in the middle) great for volleyball and basketball in the pool. The salt system and automatic cleaner makes it virtually maintenance free. We have the automatic safety cover and keep it closed unless we are using the pool because we do not have a fence around our yard and I didn't want to have to worry about kids or animals falling in the pool. When the cover is open, you can't even tell we have one because we had it built to go under the brick paver ledge. We have the heater/cooler system on it so we can use it from late March or early April until usually October. We debated about building the pool and my thoughts were why wait till the kids are older; they want to enjoy it now!!

 

[LSchrow]

we've had our ig pool for about 20 years. i agree with everyone: one of the best investments we ever made (btw, the landscaping cost about the same as the pool itself).
i always knew where my kids where, had the best parties (DD wanted to have her sweet 16 in our yard ~ the kids said it was the best party EVER ), no kids without their parents, unless i'm asked (i was being used as a babysitter by some). every child had to prove to me that they could swim before they were allowed in the deep end.

we spent most summer days in & by the pool with friends and/or family ~ it has always been our own "vacation paradise"

and everyone had to bring their own towel!!!

 

[Katy Belle]

Thanks everybody! I feel better after reading all of your posts. I will probably keep looking for a house with a pool. I do think we will enjoy it!

Katy

 

[disneynuts777]

Do not know about the pool but we did have a beagle for 11 years. Every year we would go to the cottage and the dog would run off the dock into the water. Never seemed to learn the difference between land and sea!! It was funny to watch and he could swim. However I would be in fear of my pool liner getting ripped. Good luck!!

 

[EMom]

Lots of TX houses have pools. Buy a house with one already in because it only adds $10,000-$15,000 to the cost of the house, with $10,000 being more common. Putting a new pool in for our neighborhood would run a starting price of low to mid-$30,000s, so that's a substantial savings. Many people are going for saltwater pools, and if we got one, I'd do that. You can easily use the pool from April to October (our summer) and maybe even longer than that.