Do you have an inground pool?

[luvflorida]

We are seriously considering putting in an inground pool for next summer. I'm interested in hearing from those of you who have an inground pool. Are you glad you put one in? What kind do you have or recommend? Does it require a lot of maintenance?

Any help or advise would be much appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[goin2disneyagain]

The house we sold last month had an inground pool. We did not put it in, the original owners did. Lots of work (maintenance) but nice to have. Would like to have another one.

 

[powellrj]

we use to have one in our old house. Way too much work and money, but we also live in Indiana so our season is very short. I would have one again but only if we lived in a warmer state and could use it more.

 

[DVC-Don]

We put one in the summer of 1995 with a heater. Best thing (other than DVC) we ever bought.

 

[Kallison]

Yes ours is a SEEMENT pond -- I would recommend cement and not a liner, they are hard to take care of. Not much maintenace except we get a lot of tree dirt. We put in chlorine pucks, run the filter, put in the creepy crawlie thing, it pretty much takes care of itself. The kids and neighbor kids use it a lot. My grocery bills go up in the summer. I've learned to feed cheap - $1 popsicles on sale, hot dogs, spaghetti.

 

[marlasmom]

We had pools in Chicago, California and now in Florida. Got to the point in California that we bought a gadget at Sears that dispensed soft drinks from syrup rather than buying cans. Much cheaper and the kids loved it. While I agree with Alex who said a pool is a hole in the ground you pour money into, it kept my teenagers home and that was worth everything. Not too much maintenance except for vacuuming (DH refuses to get one of those crawly things) and checking the chemicals. Had a quote from one guy that will maintain the chemicals for $75 month - but he won't vacuum.

If you plan to stay in your house get one but remember you never get your $ out of a pool when you resell.

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

We have one and LOVE it. The previous owner of our home put it in so I don't know much about the actual construction except it was done by Rembrandt Pools.

As a family, we have the best time enjoying the pool every day and having friends over to swim. The maintenance is not too difficult if you have a Polaris or some other automatic pool cleaner that vacuums daily on a timer. We pay $60 a month for weekly "chemical only" pool service which is only slightly more expensive than what it costs to buy the chemicals ourselves.

 

[mouse1]

We had a pool service come once a week. It cost $75 a month. We just cancelled them and decided to take care of it ourselvers. To do the chemicals ourselvers it's about $5 a month. We had to buy a pool vaccum.

 

[skiwee1]

We've always had an inground pool. We luck out and buy a house that already has one in it. Our current one is one with a liner. We just had to replace the liner, it was 10 years old, and it cost $3400. Other then that we have had no problems with it. It is great as far as upkeep. We have an automatic pool vaccum that we put in the pool at night and wake up to a perfectly clean pool. We check the chemicals a couple ot times a week and add any we need to the automtic chlorine dispenser in the filter. Pools have come a long way and are really easy to keep up now. We love ours.

 

[ilovepcot]

We HAD an inground pool and buried it. Best move we ever made! We did install a really nice jacuzzi which we love.

 

[C.Ann]

DD & son-in-law have one and SIL will tell you he HATES it - too much work.. BUT, they're up to my place at the lake every weekend so it's not exactly like they need a place to swim or cool off..

Just keep in mind that in many states your homeowner's insurance will go up significantly if you have an inground pool and you are responsible for any injuries (or shudder the thought, deaths) even if it's fenced, the property is posted and you're not even home when the event occurs..

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by C.Ann
DD & son-in-law have one and SIL will tell you he HATES it - too much work.. BUT, they're up to my place at the lake every weekend so it's not exactly like they need a place to swim or cool off..

Just keep in mind that in many states your homeowner's insurance will go up significantly if you have an inground pool and you are responsible for any injuries (or shudder the thought, deaths) even if it's fenced, the property is posted and you're not even home when the event occurs..

Our home owners doesn't even ask if you have a pool. They did want to know if we had a trampoline though.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by skiwee1
Our home owners doesn't even ask if you have a pool. They did want to know if we had a trampoline though.

------------------------

You're very lucky.. And yes, trampolines are a BIG no-no now..

 

[DVC-Don]

Our pool did not effect our insurance. They just did not want a diving board.

 

[poohlover]

WE put in an inground pool with a liner about 10 yrs ago. It was the best investment we have made!

With 6 kids we sure get a LOT of use out of it...& as someone else said it keeps the teens around your home so ya know what's going on.

Other than vacuming there really isn't too much work.

We went with a liner as DH grew up with a cement one that had to be cleaned with ??acid mixture?? and painted EVERY spring. At least this is what HE remembers.

The only concern we have with the liner is our Newfoundlands...I am afraid to let them in to swim as they may rip the liner. So they do gaurd duty...circling the pool while the kids swim.

 

[Mickeyfaniam]

Originally posted by DVC-Don
Our pool did not effect our insurance. They just did not want a diving board.

yes here too!

I love my pool...yes it costs for the chemicals for the summer and ups the electric bill a bit but we have enjoyed it so much!! We have all family barbeques at my house where everyone chips in!! Lots of terrific memories. And yes it keeps your kids home. Vacuuming once a week....which I don't even consider a chore....I enjoy it and checking water chemicals for proper levels is all the care it takes. Well worth it!!

 

[mrsmom]

I just sold my house In Indiana that had an inground pool , It was a one piece fiberglass pool, easy to maintain and less expensive on chermicals , you don't use half of what you use in a liner or concert pool and we spent no more than an hour a week taken care of it. They had it up in running in a week. I had it for 5 yrs and my kids loved it as did my dh and i, If you want info about a fiberglass pool check out
www.permaglasscorp.com
My kids are on the about us page underwater picture we sent to them after we had ours put in. The only thing i would do different is get a bigger size. If you have any questions let me know.
I will try to answer them.
Kim

 

[Lynn CC]

This is our 16th season with an 18X36 vinyl liner.
DS was not yet 1yr when we had it put in, LOTS of FUN for him and his friends still!
It costs about $500/season for chemicals, electric.
Then heating costs, if you plan to have a heater get the Energy Star brand(we did and it saves on gas costs).
There are opening and closing costs, $250 each for us.

In the pools 12th year we had a new liner put in, a new pool pump, filter, pool light rewired and all the wiring redone, a new auto chlorine dispenser. I think that's it!
Initially, we had a Polaris installed (automatic vac) on a seperate line so it runs while the pool is filtering. It saves a lot of time and I highly recommend having one if you don't want to be out there vacuming the bottom just about every day.

We have had a lot of family gatherings and a lot of fun in that pool, I wouldn't trade it for anything! It looks pretty at night too with the pool light on, sitting around the chimenea and relaxing.
Good Luck with your decision!

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by luvflorida
We are seriously considering putting in an inground pool for next summer. I'm interested in hearing from those of you who have an inground pool. Are you glad you put one in? What kind do you have or recommend? Does it require a lot of maintenance?

Any help or advise would be much appreciated! Thanks so much!

We have an inground pool. We did not have it installed it was here when we bought the house. It is a great place to entertain. My husband takes care of it and he finds it relaxing.

We live just north of Boston so it does not get that much use but when it does it is a good time and I am glad we have it.

 

[luvflorida]

Thanks so much for all the replies! I'm pretty sure we are going to go ahead with the pool. Because we live in Maine, I think a heater will be a necessity in order to get as much use out of the pool as possible.

And, we're thinking the same thing that many of you said-- it'll be a place for our teen to be in the summer with her friends!

Any more info is appreciated! Thanks so much!