Pulling the trigger on getting a pool - how did you decide?

[Pea-n-Me]

First, I'm talking above ground, not inground.

We've had an Intex for years (3 of them, actually) and those have been fine. But kids are 13 now and they and their friends are bigger, stronger. Not to mention pool turned green last year and they never got to use it.

On the one hand I think it would be a great thing to have.

On the other, even an above ground seems like a big "investment" (or should I say, even an above ground seems expensive) and it seems like it will be around for a long time, even after the kids are gone.

My DH (and I, to a degree), has always wanted a pool.

Just having trouble pulling the trigger!

How did you decide? Will the kids actually use it? What about when they become older? Any other thoughts you'd like to share, can't seem to decide, and need to make a decision soon!

 

[tmarquez]

It was a great addition for us. It gets TONS of use. Not only by our own kids, but half the kids in the neighborhood. I know some people wouldn't like that...but I'd rather have them at my house.

Our own kids were 5, 16, 20 when we got it and even though the 2 oldest are grown up, they still use it whent hey come over. The youngest is in it everyday. And the neighborhood kids range in age from 7 - 16.

You've got to take care of it though. We've had to patch 2 holes due to fallen branches. Plus there's the chemicals (you don't want it to turn green!). We've also replaced the filter once.

 

[tlbwriter]

Look into a saltwater system - much easier to deal with than traditional chemicals.

 

[castleview]

We just went for it. While we can groan about it during the off season, we don't know what we'd do without it during the summer. It's a big investment, but we looked into an in ground first so the above didn't seem so bad. Just be ready to put a deck on. It makes a huge difference.

 

[FredinFL]

Go salt water and you won 't regret it. ALso, intex has large, rectangular pools as well as the blow ups.

 

[TriMom]

I love our pool. We went with the above ground because I didn't want to wait the extra 3 years to save up for the inground pool. A deck is a necessity with the pool - just go ahead and consider it part of the expense.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Thank you for your thoughts!

 

[RockAndRollBallerina]

Had an above ground swimming pool at both of the houses I lived in when I was older. The one that was left at the house I moved out of when I was in 4th grade got used quite a bit and was only used for 1 summer as after that the house was sold because my parents divorced. That one was pretty easy maintenance as there was no trees around to drop massive amounts of leaves into, so the most that needed to be done was be vacuumed once a week, and keep the chemical levels in the normal range. Barely needed to be skimmed, and it was kept covered at night.

The other pool on the other hand...A complete nightmare. It was in a highly wooded area so leaves were constantly dropping leaves into it, and it was always very dirty and had to be heavily cleaned every single time before even being able to use it. It was also a maintenance heavy pool. So it was also more expensive for the upkeep. We used it a lot, but it was a lot more work than the previous one. My mom moved out of that house 2 years ago.

So basically it depends on the area and how much work you are willing to do in keeping in clean, and time maintaining it.

 

[LBAK]

We just went for it also. Ordered it last week. My kids are 15 & 24 but they and my DH have always wanted a pool. We had a badly diseased tree in our yard that had to come down and when we saw how much sunshine we had we decided to go for it.

Everyone says we'll love it. Time will tell.

 

[jaminmd]

We bought ours in 2003 & DD used it faithfully every day for the first few years. Then she was gung ho when we opened it for the season but that only lasted about a week. Her excitement began to wane. I'd use it, spend a fortune on chemicals. Last year we didn't even open it because I had to travel so much. I'm debating opening it this year.

I have no regrets getting it. When we decide we no longer want it, we'll drain it & take it down. It was an initial 5K investment, mostly due to the electrical work because the line was so long. It has definitely paid for itself.
ETA: My DD is 14 now. She just doesn't have the same interest in it now. She still loves to swim but she always likes company & sometimes I'm just not in the mood to go out there.

 

[debf]

Best money we ever spent. We actually put our up ourselves.We saved a lot of money doing it this way. My parents came over and helped us. That was about 10 years ago. My kids ages 15 and almost 8 love it. Have never been sorry we did it.

 

[crz4mm2]

We had a 24 foot for several years. I loved it until we just didn't use it anymore. I used Baquacil instead of Chlorine.... I "never" had green water, even at the end of winter when we opened the pool.

It was fun and the kids really loved it.

Probably cost about 300 a year for chemicals and at the time I put it in it was 1800 plus 500 for installation. We used it a LOT for about 5 years. I sold it after a couple of years of non use. We had a 1/4 deck too. I would have loved to have had a deck all the way around, but wasn't in the budget.
I would like to have it again......

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

I have to say that we bought an above ground 4 years ago. and honestly, I hated having it. It was a huge monstrosity that took up too much of the back yard. It was expensive to buy and maintain. Except for last year, the water never really was "warm", but last year it was way too warm. Most of the time it was 86 - 87 degrees in the pool. Yuck.

Our new home has a built in, and I kind of wish we had no pool at all. I hear that built in is easier to take care of. I sure hope so. And now, based on this thread, I need to check out saltwater.... I had never really heard of that.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yeah, can anyone give us a rundown on saltwater in a pool?

 

[okeydokey]

Yeah, can anyone give us a rundown on saltwater in a pool?

The salt system connects to your filter and the water passes through. The system breaks down the salt you add (which is pool salt, not table salt) into its two parts Na and CL. The CL is chlorine. The two parts will eventually join back together and have to be broken down again as it passes through. Because of that it doesn't evaporate into the air as regular chlorine does. That's why you have to add chlorine to a regular pool all the time.

it's a bit of an investment up front but pays for itself very quickly.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Thank you, okeydokey. We'll look into it.

Others?

 

[IdesOmarch]

Above ground is going to be a minor investment compared to inground. Just do it. Up keep is basically the same, but construction costs are probably about 15% of an in ground. You may want to build a deck around it, or at least partially, that makes it feel almost like an inground pool. Of course decking will add to the costs, but the ones I've seen, its well worth it.

 

[castleview]

The salt system connects to your filter and the water passes through. The system breaks down the salt you add (which is pool salt, not table salt) into its two parts Na and CL. The CL is chlorine. The two parts will eventually join back together and have to be broken down again as it passes through. Because of that it doesn't evaporate into the air as regular chlorine does. That's why you have to add chlorine to a regular pool all the time.

it's a bit of an investment up front but pays for itself very quickly.

Can you switch an above ground to a salt water system?

 

[npmommie]

Best money we ever spent. We actually put our up ourselves.We saved a lot of money doing it this way. My parents came over and helped us. That was about 10 years ago. My kids ages 15 and almost 8 love it. Have never been sorry we did it.

was that difficult?
did you have the machinery to level the area? how about the electrical for the filter?
I would love to try to do it ourselves, but we would need to hire an electrician at least.

Pea we are having the same conversation.........we have the Intex, the big one, and the kids love it they are in it constantly, but I think we should move up now.
my dh keeps saying "one more year", and I know its a big chunk of money to do it,
I would love to do an inground, but that he won't even come close to agreeing on, so its above ground.

I may just have to jump right in and do it, but like you we need to decide soon.

 

[okeydokey]

Can you switch an above ground to a salt water system?

I believe you can as it it an add on unit that would connect to the filter you already have. A local pool store would be a good place to go to check them out, but you can then order them online if they are cheaper.

You will to have some idea of how many gallons of water you have in your pool.