Who has a pool? Would you do it again?

[okeydokey]

I will add that we only got a 5 ft deep pool thinking it would just be a play pool (no slide or diving board) and we do regret that. Dh can stand in the deep end and not even be close to being all the way underwater. I wish we would have gone for 6 ft deep.

Ours is your basic kidney shaped plaster. We did go for the salt water system which is great! And we added extra decking so that we have at least a 2 ft wide walkway all the way around the pool and 2 nice sized seating areas. Adding that cost $700.

No heater for us. We live in an all electric neighborhood ( no gas lines) so adding the heater would require installation of propane tanks next to the house. Huge cost and we weren't too sure about having 2 huge propane tanks right next to the house. Our solar cover works very well though. Sometimes the water is so warm its not even refreshing ( +90 degrees)!

I say go for it. I grew up with a pool and it was fabulous- the pool parties, sleep overs, family get togethers. Lots of great memories. I'm so glad my kids get to grow up with a pool as well.

As for the heater, we are looking into a solar heater that consists of several 2 ft x 20 ft sheets of black plastic stuff that goes on your roof. The pool pump pumps water up to the sheets and when it runs across the roof the water heats up and then flows back into the pool. Should be about 1000 for this system and if you have a good location for it it can really work well.

 

[Disney-Kim]

Shasta remodeled our pool last year! We got their pebble finish and new tile. I wish we had redone the deck at the same time.

I wanted to comment on the pool cleaner. We have a Hayward that we bought 9 years ago. You can get it repaired instead of replacing it. It still costs us money to get serviced each year, but it's cheaper than replacement. B&B pools does ours, but there are other places. I think a complete overhaul cost us $100 last year and the year before that we did minor maintenance for $40.

Overall, the pool doesn't cost us that much to run and with a 7-year-old it is really great to have.

We do repair them...but eventually the repairs are more than 1/2 the cost of the Navigator. Last month the repair was $260 and a new one was $430...we went new....get a bit of warranty. Shasta and Leslie's will repair for free...we just buy the parts...but the last one just was too much.