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Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 12:04:12 PM
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stampinlady
Posts: 1773
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Northern IL
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I thought there was a thread about this, but maybe it got old. Anyway, we're thinking about buying a Doughboy above ground pool soon and I'm just not 100% sure I want one. We have enough room and I love to swim, Our kids are old enough and swim. I love the idea of having their friends over and making our home a fun place to hang. Any thoughts?
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Deb
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 12:12:12 PM
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Miss Giggles
Posts: 4130
Joined: 4/18/2005
From: MI
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My parents had an in the ground pool. I loved it but they hated doing all the work on it. LOL
Anyway they are fun but you have to keep worrying about whether other people will go in your pool w/o asking.. so they are a liability. You may want to put up a privacy fence and check with your city as to what other regulations you have to follow.
some homeowner's associations also have rules about pools. My parent's new neighborhood does not allow them at all.
< Message edited by Miss Giggles -- 6/19/2008 1:21:26 PM >
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 1:03:45 PM
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rayofson
Posts: 8983
Joined: 4/11/2005
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Most communities require some sort of fence.
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 1:41:02 PM
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APZR
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From: GA
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We have a community pool, tennis court, and club house. But only use it for the kids to splash and play. If I wanna cool off, we're lakefront... so I go jump in and float in the lake.
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 1:49:22 PM
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rayofson
Posts: 8983
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Pools are a lot of work to keep them up. We had one for about 15 years. The kids grew up and the liner needed replaced. The deck was falling apart and it was time for many reasons to get rid of it. I've put a garden there.
Since you have kids that are the right age and love to swim, as long as you're willing to put forth the effort of keeping it up, and the expenses involved, then it may be a good idea for you. Our kids loved it, but then I did all the work.
When we had a pool, it was 10,000 gallons. Many of the costs are relative to the size of the pool. The costs involved in upkeep were about $100-200 in water, $50 for electricity to run the pool filter pump and $200-300 in chemicals (all per year). The labor requirements would be about 30 minutes each day, including tasks such as skimming debris, sampling pool water and treating with chemicals. Some days will be more depending on what problems come up. Perhaps once a week I'd vacuum the pool. That would take about an hour. Also some education would be very helpful and there are plenty of websites out there to help.
One cost-saving thing that I learned is instead of buying the relatively expensive 'PH Increaser' chemical at the pool supply store, I used 20-Mule Team Borax from the super market at a fraction of the price. Also we used chlorine instead of more expensive methods.
So if all of that falls within your willingness and abilities, then a pool could be a great idea. Or if all of that sounds like a nightmare, then it will be.
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Please don't feed the Ogre.
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 4:13:59 PM
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DenimDiva
Posts: 6313
Joined: 9/28/2007
From: CA
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We have a pool. It's just one of those 13x3 pools, but y'all are welcome to come on over!
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 4:29:46 PM
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kohls356
Posts: 365
Joined: 8/22/2007
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Every summer I wish we had a pool, but we can only have in-ground pools in our subdivsion and I can't justify the cost, around $30,000 from what I hear from other people who have them. I keep hoping they change the rules and allow above ground pools. But then I think of all th work and expense of having one and only using it 4 maybe 5 months out of the year. I still think I would put an above ground in if we could.
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 6:24:44 PM
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Kat_D
Posts: 3201
Joined: 9/2/2005
From: Where We Shake, Rattle & Roll!
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Depending on where you live, pools can thin out the number of perspective buyers for your home should you decide to sell. Not everyone thinks a pool is an asset!
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~Kat
"...And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes...no more death, sorrow, nor crying."
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 7:47:57 PM
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DreadPirateRandy
Posts: 8694
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I don't have a pool, but I do have puddles.
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 8:04:57 PM
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bzirk
Posts: 3074
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Where the deer and antelope play
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quote:
ORIGINAL: stampinlady
I thought there was a thread about this, but maybe it got old. Anyway, we're thinking about buying a Doughboy above ground pool soon and I'm just not 100% sure I want one. We have enough room and I love to swim, Our kids are old enough and swim. I love the idea of having their friends over and making our home a fun place to hang. Any thoughts?
Can you get a pool service or will you take care of this yourself? If you're doing, it's a lot of work. Pain in the backside unless you are rabid about swimming and don't mind.
As far as the prospective buyers, with an above ground pool, it's a lot easier to disassemble them when you get ready to sell. But it's true that it can cut down on your buyers, and pools usually add little or no value to a house.
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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Great quote: I just ain't God and don't know it all. -- SonInMe1
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 8:25:15 PM
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stampinlady
Posts: 1773
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Northern IL
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I grew up with an above ground pool so I'm very familier with the work, but I just don't know if I want to do it or not. We would have someone install it and dh would have to run an outlet for the filter. Our town has 3 pools and we always get a family pass, but I like the idea of just being able to hop in our own pool. I've got to run over to the village hall and get the paperwork. There are a few regulations we have to follow, but from looking at the web site it's pretty standard. We're still thinking it through. Thanks for the comments.
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Deb
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 8:28:04 PM
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bzirk
Posts: 3074
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From: Where the deer and antelope play
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Deb,
If you and your kids really like to swim, it wil probably be worth the work.
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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Great quote: I just ain't God and don't know it all. -- SonInMe1
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/19/2008 9:10:11 PM
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csl7037
Posts: 1360
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Kat_D
Depending on where you live, pools can thin out the number of perspective buyers for your home should you decide to sell. Not everyone thinks a pool is an asset!
That certainly works the other way too. We're in Florida. On our cul de sac, for example, only one out of the ten houses does not have a pool. It can add $20K-$50K to the value of the house. If you're in a neighborhood that doesn't have a community pool (mine doesn't), it's almost a must.
[added: I have no idea how an above-ground pool might effect equity, though...but increased homeowner's insurance might be something to check into because of the liability)
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/20/2008 11:30:35 AM
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Rayoh
Posts: 47
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quote:
ORIGINAL: stampinlady
I thought there was a thread about this, but maybe it got old. Anyway, we're thinking about buying a Doughboy above ground pool soon and I'm just not 100% sure I want one. We have enough room and I love to swim, Our kids are old enough and swim. I love the idea of having their friends over and making our home a fun place to hang. Any thoughts?
This is our third summer of having a Doughboy above ground pool. It's 28 ft.
My thoughts on it. The start of the season each year I go through a period of regret getting it. Each year it has cost us about $200-$300 getting it cleared up for the summer season and in swimming condition. Even winterizing it you will spend money getting it ready. That is just the beginning not counting regular stuff to maintain it during the summer.
Once it's clear though my regrets go away because we do enjoy it a lot. Our electricity does go up about $40 more a month but we run our pump non stop. After the initial part of getting it clear I don't think it's that bad. All I usually am buying for it is shock and these blue stretchy things to put over the skimmer basket that help to collect smaller particle stuff, and some chlorine sticks. The chemicals are very expensive though especially at the pool place. I think one bag of shock is like $6.99. We use about one of those a week depending on how many new swimmers we have in the pool during the week. Once we get it cleared up I sometimes buy that type of thing elsewhere cheaper. It's just little stuff I'm buying but it does add up over the summer.
I was really scared what it was going to cost to clear it up this summer. Our cover ripped last winter and was floating on the water all winter. So leaves and all kinds of stuff got in there. It looks like new now and crystal clear and cost us $200. That was less then last year. Although I did have some of the stuff the print out said we needed, from the water sample, on hand. Or that probably would've been an extra $50.
We aren't as dedicated as some of the other posters that have commented. We vacuum once a week. If it looks like it needs it sometime during the week then we do it. We clean the skimmer basket daily. That takes all of a few minutes and no big deal. We brush it daily which again is no big deal because we are in there anyway so just do it while we are in there. We don't sample the water daily. About once a week to check the balance etc.. of everything. If there has been a lot of rain or kids had a lot of people over we check it more often. Again it's not a big deal. Stick the strip in the water and compare the colors on a chart. Doesn't take long at all. Once we get it where it's suppose to be we do the weekly maintance of shock etc.. the pool place suggested. I don't take a water sample in weekly either. More like once a month once we've got it where it needs to be. We must be doing something right though because there has never been any problem come up when I've taken in the sample.
There were different chemicals you could go with as well. We went with the Nature 2 and it uses less chlorine so you don't have that smell etc...
Another thing is your water source and if you have hard water. We live in the country so when we first got ours and filled it up it took a while to get things balanced out because of our water.
There are pros and cons and I also think it depends on where you live. For me there are more pros than cons. As I mentioned we live in the country. It's 30 miles to either town that has a pool. That is a long way to go to just swim a few hours especially with the cost of gas now. Plus the price of getting into these places. I don't know if some places do, but I'm sure you aren't allowed to bring your own snacks/beverages at these places, so there is the added cost of stuff at the concession stand. I also just don't like swimming in public pools. I don't like worrying about if any of the kids are peeing in the water. When it's really hot they usually are so crowded you can't just take off and swim. Or it's hard to just be able to float and relax on a raft because of all the commotion going on. Those are my personal hang up's though. LOL
Since we are in the country I don't have to worry about neighbor kids sneaking over trying to get in when we are gone. I don't have kids coming over bugging all the time if they can go swim. I don't have to worry about anything but my own kids , who aren't all that little anymore. The oldest is 16 and the youngest 10. That's a lot different than if I had for example a 3 year old etc... I don't have to deal with the regulations like if I were in town needing a fence or get permission to even have one with my neighborhood.
The cost can get high but it's not really a con to me either even though I gripe about it the beginning of every season. We never go anywhere on vacation. Some people will easily spend what I do on the pool for the summer on their summer vacation. A vacation that can be lots of fun but a couple weeks long. So I might only get to use the pool 3 months out of the year but I don't mind spending the money on it since we aren't using it going on a vacation somewhere. If there is a definition of homebody in the dictionary I'm sure there would have to be a picture of my husband next to it!
We are making daily memories during the summer and yes I realize you don't need to have a pool to do that! The kids have their friends over and I know where they are and what they are up to. I go out with them but when they are all done I can also enjoy my time alone relaxing in peace on my raft. We've had lots of fun nights going out and being in the pool just looking up watching the stars. One night last summer was awesome. It was unreal the amount of stars that were out. We saw the milky way, big dipper all of that. The cool part though was the number of shooting stars and falling stars we saw. It was such a clear night you could see the tails on the shooting stars. It was so pretty. I'd never seen so many in one night.
I can't comment on what it would be like in town since I don't live in town so I'm sure there are things to deal with that might make it on the con list. Also things that put it on my pro list might not be a reality for in town. Also living in the midwest I'm not dealing with the pool year round. If I lived in a different place where I had to do it year round that might change my mind as well. I don't mind the expense several months out of the year but don't know I'd want to do it year round.
My only real con is the price of chemicals. The cleaning and all of that isn't a big deal to me.
If you aren't 100% sure I'd take some more time thinking it over,though, because it is an expense and responsibility, and not something that has to be rushed into. I've always wanted a pool. Always. We had several of those pools like you can buy at Walmart over the years and am glad we finally went ahead and got what we did.
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/20/2008 12:43:37 PM
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csl7037
Posts: 1360
Joined: 3/24/2008
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Rayoh
My thoughts on it. The start of the season each year I go through a period of regret getting it. Each year it has cost us about $200-$300 getting it cleared up for the summer season and in swimming condition. Even winterizing it you will spend money getting it ready. That is just the beginning not counting regular stuff to maintain it during the summer.
If we lived in a place where we had to "close" it for the winter, I'd probably never want the aggravation either, now that you mention it. I'm sure that's why 90% of people want them in Florida and 13% want them in the rest of the country.
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/20/2008 4:13:48 PM
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bzirk
Posts: 3074
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Where the deer and antelope play
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I think a good pool service is so worth it, and if you shop around, you can probably get a pretty good deal.
When I was a kid, my dad made me and then my brother keep up the pool. I asked why we couldn't have a pool service, and he said, "That's what I have you for," and then he grinned. I noticed that when my brother, who was the last kid at home, moved out of the house, they got a pool service a couple of weeks later. LOL!
So when I said that about work, I'm speaking from personal experience. Our house had 6 huge oak trees in the front yard and a very large elm and a couple of other trees I don't remember what type. Those leaves ALWAYS found their way into the pool no matter the season, and 30+ years ago we didn't have a pool sweep, and the pool is 22ft by 42ft and 14 feet at the deep end.  We also didn't have a pump that you could back flush the filters with. That had to be done by hand on our system. Mom and dad upgraded that the year after I left home.  This is one reason I never bought a house with a pool or put one in. They just spelled work to me.
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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Great quote: I just ain't God and don't know it all. -- SonInMe1
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/21/2008 12:05:25 AM
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sunshine4God
Posts: 6375
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Sterling Ct.
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We have an inground pool which came with our house and love it.Ever since it opened 2 weeks ago,My neighbors and friends have been over in it nearly every day. The pool cement is red and we have a screenhouse also.
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your good deeds and glorify your Lord".
Its me chilling out!
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RE: Do you have a pool? - 6/21/2008 5:53:54 AM
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lindakaye
Posts: 28
Joined: 6/11/2007
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My husband and I bought a pool that you blow the top up and then as it fills with water it raises. We take in down in the winter.
We love it and so do our grandkids. We've gotten bigger pools as our grandkids grew. We live in a small town and can do pretty much what we want. It great for cooling off and cheap entertainment. We fill it with our well water so no water costs. Ut very cold when we first fill it and no one gets in expect our grandaughter until it warms up a little. We cover it each night and when we are gone we put the ladder in the house so no one can get in it.
It perfecrt for us becaue it is easy to put up and take down. Just leaves a bare spot in the yard.
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