Pool? Inground or above ground

[DVC Jen]

Our inground pool/above ground spa was completed in October and we got about 3 weeks out of it before it just got too cold... but we also live in Texas. The total cost for the pool only was about 37K it is just at 15,000 gallons. We added quite a bit of landscaping as well so the total for our new backyard was right around 47K.

Here is a link to the thread I made with pics of our pool building process.
Our Pool

If I were you and kind of on the edge about a pool..and considering where you live.. I would go with an above ground and just have it buried about half way so it isn't "sticking up" quite so much. Maybe get a nice deck around it and do some good landscaping. Then in a few years if you find yourself really loving it you can make the investment in an inground.

When and or if you do go with an inground I would HIGHLY recommend getting a salt water system. That is what we do and it is nearly maintenance free. All we do is once a week we check the PH and chlorine in the pool, and clean out the skimmers, and the polaris bag. That is it. With the salt system you have an automated system that tells you when to add more salt to the pool. We have had to do it once since we had the pool completed and it wasn't anything more than dumping a bag of water softener pellets into the shallow end. That is IT! The ONLY chemicals we worry about is myratic (sp?) acid to keep the PH adjusted (new plaster brings the PH up so we have to watch it the first few months very closely.. almost stable now). We also got a hot tub (not attached) and it is a bromine system.. that takes 3-4x the work that our salt water pool does. You will NOT hate a salt water pool.. sooo incredibly easy and affordable to maintain.

We don't have a heater in our pool because it would just be too expensive (would have to go with an electric heater ... no gas line to our home). We really don't need it here either with how warm it is most of the year. I am thinking we will end up with a swim season anywhere from April or May until November in some cases.

Remember an inground is permanent and if you don't like it you are stuck.. an above ground can come down and you can sell or get rid of it if you don't like it.

We had a small above ground for 3 years and the maintenance on that was enough to pursuade my DH to go with an inground.

 

[mickman1962]

neighbors pool they go away most of the summer

 

[Sandy22]

My co-worker just had her in-ground pool backfilled with dirt and cement. Her kids are adults now and the pool was no longer used.

In my area, a pool does not increase your property value and the real estate agents say that it's a negative to selling houses. I'm not sure why....I would love a pool.

 

[DVC Jen]

We did a lil research on how a pool affects ones homes resale value when we put ours in... and found out it really only increases the value in states in the south or warm weather states.

Makes sense to me.

 

[DVC-Don]

We've had an inground heated pool for 10+ years now and love it. We use it from just before Memorial Day to mid September. It did not affect our homeowners insurance at all and they only asked if it had a diving board or slide. Nope to each and the company was fine with that. Our kids are teens now and it's nice to know they are at our house most of the swim season where I can watch them.

 

[barkley]

need to consider ALL the expenses associated with an in ground (property tax increase, homeowner's insurance increase, upkeep, maintainance, if heated-utility bill increase).

we live in an area that gets 103 degrees most summer days, and as a result the bulk of the neighboring houses have in-ground pools. we are looking at selling our place and have learned that our house will meet or exceed the prices the houses that have in-grounds will fetch. our house has no major bells and whistles that set it apart-the realtors tells us that unless a pool is a "must have" for a buyer it does'nt add to the overall value of the home (people see it as an extra expense that they may not want to take on). so in our area a home without an inground pool is considered a "find".

i think it depends on how long you will live there, how long the family will actualy use it (i've seen some families in the neighborhood lose interest real quick when sahm realized the kids were bugging her 24/7 to go into it and she did'nt have the time or energy to be out there supervising all day-it was a whole lot easier when it was just once or twice a week to the community pool on mom's schedual ).

i've also seen neighbors go insane over trying to keep other kids out of it-if they were'nt pounding on the door every hour they were sneaking in the back gate, sneaking in when the neighbor was away for the weekend...and despite the fence gate, the pool gate, the alarm-there were always kids who managed to get in (and don't you know they always had the parents who turned a blind eye to it until their kid got hurt doing it then "let the litigation begin").