Cost of pool ownership

[rhonda]

Up for discussion, a rather large 'family' pool in TN: http://fox5sandiego.com/2017/07/21/tennessee-man-builds-500000-gallon-pool-he-dreamed-of-as-a-child/

I can't imagine the insurance on this one ... not to mention the chemicals and upkeep. Wowza. (It sure looks like fun!)

 

[tompalm]

I had a pool the entire time I was growing up and it was my job to take care of it. I knew that I never wanted one when I got my own house. But, we found a great deal on a house with a pool 13 years ago and bought the house. I wish that we had filled the pool with dirt and put grass over it or make a deck on top of it. But we didn't and still keeping it up today. Several years ago, we got a new 220 volt variable speed pump that uses 1/4 the electricity of the old pump. Also, the new sand filter is excellent at keeping the pool water clean. I haven't done anything to the pool for six months except putting a chlorine tab in once a week and emptying the strainer on occasion and the water still looks great. But, we haven't used it in years and wish that it wasn't here. If you get a house with a pool, just build a deck over it so that it will still be there in case you want to sell the house later.
The expense these days is $35 per month for electricity, $4 per month for chlorine tablets. But when you need a new pump about every 5-7 years, plan $1500 and if you need to tile the pool that will be $10,000-$20,000 depending on how big your pool is. So the expense will be there sooner or later.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

We are in very early stages of house hunting. Many of the house in the area we are interested in have a pool. I have no idea what the cost is to maintain a pool. So I'm asking those of you that have or have had in past, what is the monthly maintenance cost? What maintenance do you do yourself?

Thanks for any insight.

Nancy

We live in FL so it may be cheaper here than in areas where you have to open and close them. Ours is $99/month for weekly service (includes all chemicals). I'd say we pay a few hundred every year or 2 to replace a salt cell.

 

[bbodb1]

For those struggling with keeping your pool water clear and in balance, check out this website - TroubleFreePool. TFP uses bleach as the main chemical in keeping your pool water clear and clean and it has saved me a bunch of money and headaches. Give it a try!

I stopped using Baquacil and started purchasing household bleach and my water has never looked better.

 

[Nancy]

We did not purchase a new home with a pool.

 

[silentg]

We have a pool, it was here before we were. We had it completely resurfaced 5 years ago. It is very nice to have in our hot summers. We used it a lot more when the kids were small. We have lived in this house for almost 30 years. Very comfortable and we enjoy the pool Year round.
Silentg

 

[jme]

Sort of like a TIMESHARE..... .......huge initial cost, regular ongoing maintenance fees, won't be able to sell it for what you paid, or receive adequate compensation if you tire of it. You can sell the house with pool, but chances are it won't add any value.

But IF.....
IF you use it right, as you planned, and your family enjoys it, and it provides many years of pleasure and great memories,
then it will most likely be said that it was worth every penny. Sound familiar? Well, it is. And I can easily see how it can be
a wonderful thing.

Like timeshares have definitely and happily brought our family together like nothing else, while at the same time seeming to be an ongoing liability and burden to another family to the point of disgust, I say "go for it". Use it, enjoy it, take acre of it, treasure it, and you'll someday look back (both in your memories and in your pictures) and smile, along with your children and your children's children.

 

[bbodb1]

Sort of like a TIMESHARE..... .......huge initial cost, regular ongoing maintenance fees, won't be able to sell it for what you paid, or receive adequate compensation if you tire of it. You can sell the house with pool, but chances are it won't add any value.

But IF.....
IF you use it right, as you planned, and your family enjoys it, and it provides many years of pleasure and great memories,
then it will most likely be said that it was worth every penny. Sound familiar? Well, it is. And I can easily see how it can be
a wonderful thing.

Like timeshares have definitely and happily brought our family together like nothing else, while at the same time seeming to be an ongoing liability and burden to another family to the point of disgust, I say "go for it". Use it, enjoy it, take acre of it, treasure it, and you'll someday look back (both in your memories and in your pictures) and smile, along with your children and your children's children.

Plus, you never know who might enjoy it the most - we bought our pool about 20 years ago (long before these two were around) and they get constant enjoyment from the pool. Owners do too (on a less frequent basis...)

 

[dagger1]

We bought our house with a pool and have never, and I mean never regretted it. But we live in Texas, and it gets hot here in the summer. Our kids grew up in the pool and now our grandkids are in the pool daily. In fact, they demand to come to visit because of the pool. Summers in Houston make backyard living pretty uncomfortable without a pool. With a pool we are in the backyard for hours. But we probably spend $250/month for full pool service maintenance...

 

[isisdave]

If you buy a house with pool, make sure it has a modern variable-speed pump. We bought an Intelliflow and it is very inexpensive to run. I let it run about 12 hours a day at a speed sufficient to turn over the 12000 gallon pool once, plus one hour at higher speed to make the automatic pool cleaner work faster.

As for building your own pool, I have done this once, and figured out that for the amount we spent on the pool (most of which you will NOT get back when you sell) and the number of times we used it, we could have joined a country club and hired a limo to take us there each time we wanted to swim.

 

[theo]

Apropos of nothing:

In the neighborhood where I grew op, there was a nearby ranch house with a good sized in-ground backyard pool. When the house was put up for sale, one buyer was very interested in the house --- but apparently not in the pool or its' upkeep (it's a short season for outdoor pool use here in New England).

Anyway, a group of young boys (among whom I numbered), straddled our bicycles as we watched dump trucks arrive to fill the (pre-emptied) pool with clean solid fill, followed shortly thereafter by a bulldozer which graded off the aftermath and the pool "lip". I still remember us scratching our young heads in collective confusion. A day later, one would never have known that there was ever a pool there in the first place. To each their own, I guess...

 

[Carta]

We bought our house in 1979 and bought in-ground in 1980 (16x32)...The cost was $8,000 for pool, diving board, sliding board, ladders, concrete around pool, filter, pump, etc,,(Try That Now)...Didn't have much money back then; we had to get 2 loans to buy it. lol....I'm close to 67 yo now and enjoy it as much as when I was 29...Went through 3 liners and pool still looks fantastic...Well worth the cost!!
FYI....Expect more friends and visitors...

 

[John Cummings]

We bought our house in 1979 and bought in-ground in 1980 (16x32)...The cost was $8,000 for pool, diving board, sliding board, ladders, concrete around pool, filter, pump, etc,,(Try That Now)...Didn't have much money back then; we had to get 2 loans to buy it. lol....I'm close to 67 yo now and enjoy it as much as when I was 29...Went through 3 liners and pool still looks fantastic...Well worth the cost!!
FYI....Expect more friends and visitors...

We had our pool ( 42 x 22 ) built in 2003 at a cost of $36,000. It has all the bells and whistles. Our pool has pebbletek so it never needs to be relined. We use it all the time. Visitors is not really a problem as just about everybody in our neighborhood has their own pool. We love our pool and would never dream of not having it.

 

[rhonda]

We had our pool ( 42 x 22 ) built in 2003 at a cost of $36,000. It has all the bells and whistles. Our pool has pebbletek so it never needs to be relined. We use it all the time. Visitors is not really a problem as just about everybody in our neighborhood has their own pool. We love our pool and would never dream of not having it.

Heh, heh ... I'm a near neighbor and my community pools were shuttered in January 2012 with the closing of the Warner Springs Ranch. May I drop by? ;-)

 

[ssreward]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the difference between above & below ground pools. I made the rookie mistake of buying a house with an above ground pool just to discover that pool companies where I lived wouldn't service them, only in-ground...it lasted about 6 months before we tore it down & had a weird half circle edge to our deck, lol!! I'd love to have one again but now I know it's in-ground or bust

 

[bbodb1]

We bought our house with a pool and have never, and I mean never regretted it. But we live in Texas, and it gets hot here in the summer. Our kids grew up in the pool and now our grandkids are in the pool daily. In fact, they demand to come to visit because of the pool. Summers in Houston make backyard living pretty uncomfortable without a pool. With a pool we are in the backyard for hours. But we probably spend $250/month for full pool service maintenance...

Holy cow! What all do you have your service do?

 

[bbodb1]

We had our pool ( 42 x 22 ) built in 2003 at a cost of $36,000. It has all the bells and whistles. Our pool has pebbletek so it never needs to be relined. We use it all the time. Visitors is not really a problem as just about everybody in our neighborhood has their own pool. We love our pool and would never dream of not having it.

John,

Did you have the pebbletek installed when you built the pool or was this something you added later? I'm asking because our second liner (over a 20 year period) is getting toward the end of its useful life and I am starting to consider other options.....

Thanks!

 

[Sea Six]

If we decide to build one we are going to go with a salt water pool. Suppose to be a lot cheaper. Probably no heater as well.

Better do some more homework on that theory. There is no such thing as a "salt water pool" . What they mean by that is your chlorine comes from breaking down salt (Sodium Chloride NaCl)into chlorine and the by-product sodium. While salt is cheaper than chlorine, the hardware you need to break down the salt into chlorine is quite expensive, and has high maintenance in terms of replacement parts every few years. It is rarely cheaper to go "salt water" than straight chlorine. I heard the same thing as you did, but after doing the math, I'm sticking with chlorine.

 

[Sea Six]

Pools are all about family fun and cooling off, doing things you can't do in public pools.

 

[Luanne]

Pools are all about family fun and cooling off, doing things you can't do in public pools.

We had a pool in our backyard. My daughters went through a period where they preferred the public pool because it was bigger, had more diving boards, and had a slide.

BTW the OP stated in Post #30 they ended up buying a home without a pool.

 

[Sea Six]

We had a pool in our backyard. My daughters went through a period where they preferred the public pool because it was bigger, had more diving boards, and had a slide.

BTW the OP stated in Post #30 they ended up buying a home without a pool.

Did you notice I didn't reply to the OP??? Pay attention.

 

[Luanne]

Did you notice I didn't reply to the OP??? Pay attention.

Geesh sorry. I only replied directly to you about the public pool issue. I guess I should have been much more clear that my comment about the OP was to "everyone". I found your remark a bit offensive.

 

[Patri]

We had a pool in our backyard. My daughters went through a period where they preferred the public pool because it was bigger, had more diving boards, and had a slide.

And boys.....and lifeguards.

 

[Luanne]

And boys.....and lifeguards.

Actually at the time they weren't quite into the boys and lifeguards. I think it was the slide.

 

[Sea Six]

Geesh sorry. I only replied directly to you about the public pool issue. I guess I should have been much more clear that my comment about the OP was to "everyone". I found your remark a bit offensive.

You quoted this post "BTW the OP stated in Post #30 they ended up buying a home without a pool." That had NOTHING to do with my response. How does that have anything to do with what I said? Did you notice my previous post was of my dog on a raft? Do you understand you can't do that in a public pool? Do you get my point??