Pool Envy

[littleteapot]

I had pool envy my whole life growing up in hot climates with no pool, same for my DH.

so...we got to put a pool in about 3 yrs ago and it was the BEST thing we ever did. WE LOVE IT.

We don't have a pool guy, DH keeps up the pool. its pretty self contained. Pools are hi-tech these days.

We have a navigator that drives around the pool sucking up dirt/leaves and a filter system. It has an automatic water leveler.

We have a SALT pool, which means we don't add chlorine to our pool. The system uses the salt to chlorinate the pool and is controlled by a digital readout. very easy. No chlorine means no green hair, stinging eyes or dry skin. LOVE IT.

it also has some other little things...but all said...the pool really runs itself.
My Dh has to skim leaves out and brush the steps about 1-2 times a week. We have monsoons in summer that come and he has to do it more.

The upkeep of todays pools is nothing compared to the older pools...they are easy to keep up.

We get about 6 months of swimming a year. our pool is not heated. in August its actually too warm to be enjoyable sometimes and we run the water fall all night to help cool it. its 7 ft deep but still gets up to 92...and that is not refreshing when its 115 here.

Did it cost 60K???

 

[luv2crash]

We are finally putting in a pool next fall. We have had to wait for dd to get a little older and we are adding on a game room to our house this year.

As far as cost, our friends put in a pool 2 years ago and they had it done for aroud $18000. They bought the largest in the shape they chose and also had extra concrete added to extend the pool deck by about 6 feet on all sides.

They did their own landscaping and built their fence themselves so that really saved a great chunk of money.

They maintain their pool year round. No closing and opening back. We swam in it until late October last year and they had us over in April this year. So for us 7 months of use would justify the cost.

 

[cryssi]

DOUBLE!!!

Why did it take so much longer and why did it cost more then you were told???

Note to self........ indulging expenses could be excessive!

hmm, well it was going to be expensive anyway b/c DH wanted a grotto, but our sales guy was a idiot. Everything he told us was included, ended up being an extra cost. The pool company "agreed" to do it for a slightly lesser amount than it was (extra 2k here and there) but still. They still screwed it up, the waterfall doesn't fall right, etc. I've mentioned before that it took almost 11 months to get that darned pool in. It's wonderful and I love it, but sheesh...11 months??

oh, we have a salt pool, too. I highly recommend it.

 

[karebear1]

We were definetly thinking of going with the salt pool as well. I've heard pretty good things about them.... and I like that I won't end up with green hair! LOL!

What kind of cover do you have on your pool? I'm thinking we should go with an automatic pool cover, but I wonder if there's a lot of maintanence with these?

 

[cryssi]

we don't cover the pool. it's really windy out here, though, so the pool gets really filled with crud. we have a pool guy that (supposedly, but that's another story) comes every week. we were advised not to put a cover on our pool because people/animals could fall in and drown, since the cover just sucks you down... Our pool is not fenced, but we have no kids and our dog is afraid of the water...

 

[luv2crash]

hmm, well it was going to be expensive anyway b/c DH wanted a grotto

Do you have pictures of your grotto you could post? We are in the planning stages and would love some ideas.

 

[mattsdragon]

You can have mine.

The damned thing is more trouble than it's worth. I hate it. It doesn't help that we have four large oaks hanging over it, so they constantly drop leaves into it all summer.

 

[cryssi]

I'll check when I get home. Can't go to photo sites here at work...

 

[juligrl]

I'd be happy with a neighborhood pool.

 

[littleteapot]

A friend at swim team practice was telling me about an above ground pool they are looking at. It is dug into the ground on one end so it goes from 6foot to 4 foot deep. It has regular wedding cake steps and salt filter. The one she is looking at is $6100 (21'X40').

Does anyone have experience with something like that? We'd have to take a couple trees out and have some dirt work done. I still think I could get one for less than 10K.


(green guy with envy and hope)

 

[Banshee]

We have a salt water smart pool, it generates it's own chlorine! The only chemicals you need are at start up and closing it. It has a control panel with a dial and you can dial it up or down depending on your chlorine needs. It also has a button to press to shock it if you have had heavy bather load or a lot of rain. Ocassionally you might need to throw some shock in if the weather gets super hot, but even then you usually dont need to. The kids love it we love it nothing like having a BBQ when it's sweltering hot and you can just hop in and cool off. They really are not a lot of work either we vacumn once a week no matter what and we have polaris so we will toss that in too and let it go. I stressed over the money spent to put it in but in the long run it was soooo worth every single penny. my little guy wakes up in the morning and comes out with his bathing suit on ready to go. We use the deck and patio more too we will eat breakfast out there and after the kids go to bed I turn the pool light on and just sit there and relax (sometimes with a margarita) best investment ever made! I cant believe I forgot this but we have a waterfall too I can sit and stare at that thing for hours in the evening. We are in NJ but you can check out this site www.pooltown1.com look at the gallery we have the sapphire pool it is like a normal square pool but the corners are rounded.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have pool envy too! Our neighborhood doesn't allow above ground and we can't afford an inground right now. Seems like every 3rd house here has one, or is getting one put in! I keep hearing you can't touch an inground for less than 30K. Ouch. For those that have inground, do you have a fiberglass pool?

Nope, can't have fiberglass here in Texas. Has something to do with the ground.

For an inground pool you are looking at 50,000, when all is said and done. That is realistic amount.

We also have the salt water system.

 

[allicat]

Banshee-were you satsified with pooltown? I ask because we are in Toms River and are planning on having a pool put in. If it were up to me, right now, but Dh says we have to put up a fence, build a retaining wall first, so we will get it in the fall so it will be ready for next year.

 

[marlasmom]

Our neighbor was getting pool bids a couple of years ago for $26,000 and $30,000. That's an inground cement pool.

 

[Banshee]

Banshee-were you satsified with pooltown? I ask because we are in Toms River and are planning on having a pool put in. If it were up to me, right now, but Dh says we have to put up a fence, build a retaining wall first, so we will get it in the fall so it will be ready for next year.

Yes we were satisfied with them they moved really quick from the day of excavation to when the liner was in and we were filling it.That was about two weeks. We did hit a snag when they came to backfill it so we got delayed a little there. Pooltown has people that do retaining walls and fence they are kinda one stop shopping. They did a pool for people down the road from us and they didnt put a fence up till after the pool was done, they put that orange construction fence up during the contstruction of the pool.

 

[castleview]

I had pool envy until we got one last year. We did an above ground here because we had a lot of other work to do with the house. I live in the the Northeast in a house built on ledge, so we probably would have had blasting costs. We were looking at $60,000 minimum. We also have a brook with frogs and the thought of scooping them out of an inground every morning didn't turn me on.

Anyway, we went with a 21' above ground. We love it! We can never complain about having nothing to do. I say go for it.

 

[karebear1]

Banshee- thanks for the website- even though I don't live in NJ I still love looking at the pics!

 

[Banshee]

Banshee- thanks for the website- even though I don't live in NJ I still love looking at the pics!

Your welcome at least it might give you some ideas!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Our neighbor was getting pool bids a couple of years ago for $26,000 and $30,000. That's an inground cement pool.

Right...then throw on proper fencing, EXTRA concrete decking, city/county fees, landscaping, lighting, irrigation, repairing your yard (sod), etc....
50,000 is a good solid number to start with.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My first double post.....ever.