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Aeolius · Dec 29, 2007, 08:47 PM

I am considering the installation of an in-ground pool. I have picked three reputable local companies from whom I will solicit proposals. While I know what I would include, I'm open to suggestions.

I will inquire about saltwater chlorinators, UV sterilizers, a retracting pool cover (I have 6 kids, including one with a wheelchair), dark-tinted gunite and other ideas to save on heating costs.

Sealobo · Dec 29, 2007, 08:50 PM

wow... sounds like a serious project.

what are the ages of your kids? statistically, having a pool at home is more dangerous to the kids than having a firearm stored in your bedroom drawer.

Paco500 · Dec 29, 2007, 08:52 PM

My first suggestion would be to visit the PoolNN forums.

wallinbl · Dec 29, 2007, 08:59 PM

Screw the cover, get a pool fence. Depending on locality, a pool fence might be the law. My house has a 6 foot privacy fence, a screen enclosure and a pool fence. The pool fence is for the kids. The screen enclosure is mostly for the leaves. The 6 foot privacy fence is to prevent some neighborhood kid from "accidentally" falling in and having his parents sue me.

No real need for UV. Best heater is the sun. If you don't get enough sunlight, run some solar heating on your roof and pump the water through it. Not photo voltaic, it's mostly just black PVC, so it's not too expensive. Since I'm cheap, I just bought a wetsuit for when the pool isn't as warm as I'd like. My kids have a larger temperature range than I do, and so I use it to swim with them. (I won't get in without the wetsuit if the water is less than 80)

Salt based chlorine generators can be expensive up front, but chlorine is expensive and salt is cheap, so do some math and figure out when you break even (I think it's about 3 years).

ghporter · Dec 30, 2007, 08:43 PM

You need a fence AND a cover. The fence makes it impossible for a neighbor kid to "accidentally" get into the pool, and the cover keeps those you allow into the yard from falling in. Otherwise, it sounds like you have a good grasp of what you need.

iMOTOR · Dec 30, 2007, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by Paco500

My first suggestion would be to visit the PoolNN forums.

Just be careful what you post in their lounge.

Buckaroo · Dec 31, 2007, 02:23 AM

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

Just be careful what you post in their lounge.

Yeah, I'd stay away from anyone that has yellow around them.

moonmonkey · Dec 31, 2007, 04:59 AM

Originally Posted by wallinbl

The 6 foot privacy fence is to prevent some neighborhood kid from "accidentally" falling in and having his parents sue me.

I would be more worried about the dead kid floating in your pool.

BadKosh · Dec 31, 2007, 06:24 AM

They can also make your house worth less. Houses with pools are harder to sell.

wallinbl · Dec 31, 2007, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by BadKosh

They can also make your house worth less. Houses with pools are harder to sell.

What? Around here, it adds $25K to the value of the house.

wallinbl · Dec 31, 2007, 08:29 AM

You need a fence AND a cover. The fence makes it impossible for a neighbor kid to "accidentally" get into the pool, and the cover keeps those you allow into the yard from falling in.

There's a fence around the yard. There's a screen cage around the pool deck. There's a pool fence around the pool. Even if I let someone in the yard, there are two more things to unlock to get to the pool. Even if they're on my lanai, there's another thing to unlock to get to the pool. The cover isn't necessary after all that.

MacosNerd · Dec 31, 2007, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by BadKosh

They can also make your house worth less. Houses with pools are harder to sell.

It depends on what part of the country you're talking about. Florida, California and other states that are generally hot most of the year. A pool adds value.

Aeolius · Dec 31, 2007, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by BadKosh

They can also make your house worth less. Houses with pools are harder to sell.

I...am...NEVER....moving....again!

ghporter · Dec 31, 2007, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Aeolius

I...am...NEVER....moving....again!

...famous last words entry #27.

driven · Dec 31, 2007, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by wallinbl

What? Around here, it adds $25K to the value of the house.

Don't know where you are, but in many areas it actually depreciates the value of the house. (Best case you break even, but lose the value of the pool.) Put in a pool for you, not for resale value.

In my case it would even be worse ... our community has a pool. I'd love to have one of my own in the back yard, but the fact that there is a community (HOA run) pool makes the value of one of my own even less. :-(

Aeolius · Dec 31, 2007, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

...famous last words entry #27.

True... I suppose I should have prefaced it with "Unless I win the lottery..."

Originally Posted by driven

...the fact that there is a community (HOA run) pool makes the value of one of my own even less.

We have the local YMCA pool (no HOA here, thank the gods), but it's too bloody cold and always crowded.

Sherman Homan · Dec 31, 2007, 12:54 PM

My favorite:
7 brands of Pool Alarms for swimming pools, POOL ALARMS FOR POOLS, pool alarm, pool safety.
Floating alarms go off if anyone jumps (or falls) in off hours, gate alarms, etc.

wallinbl · Dec 31, 2007, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by driven

Don't know where you are, but in many areas it actually depreciates the value of the house. (Best case you break even, but lose the value of the pool.) Put in a pool for you, not for resale value.

In Florida, it adds to the value of the house.

smacintush · Dec 31, 2007, 02:05 PM

There's a saying:

"The two best days of my life are the day I put in the pool, and the day I got rid of it."

Pools are great as long as they are someone else's.

smacintush · Dec 31, 2007, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by Sealobo

what are the ages of your kids? statistically, having a pool at home is more dangerous to the kids than having a firearm stored in your bedroom drawer.

Statistically, the gun accident rate with children is like .000006% and car accidents are more than four time more likely to kill children under fourteen than drowning.

What's your point?

Eug · Dec 31, 2007, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by wallinbl

What? Around here, it adds $25K to the value of the house.

Where do you live? Are you in Florida? Just wondering.

Around here (Toronto), it doesn't usually add much value. If anything it takes away from value, or else is just neutral. In any case, when I looked for a house, I specifically looked for one without a pool. To me, a pool subtracts about $15000 from the value of the house, because I'd have to get the pool removed and the hole filled in, and then get the yard relandscaped.

Mind you, it's always nice to have a neighbour with a pool.

BTW, what are the water costs for a pool? How much volume do you use?

wallinbl · Dec 31, 2007, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

Where do you live? Are you in Florida? Just wondering.

Yes, Florida.

Around here (Toronto), it doesn't usually add much value. If anything it takes away from value, or else is just neutral. In any case, when I looked for a house, I specifically looked for one without a pool. To me, a pool subtracts about $15000 from the value of the house, because I'd have to get the pool removed and the hole filled in, and then get the yard relandscaped.

I thought you called it an ice skating rink up there!

Mind you, it's always nice to have a neighbour with a pool.

Every house on my street has one.

BTW, what are the water costs for a pool? How much volume do you use?

Don't need water - rain takes care of that. Costs around $45/month in electricity to run the pump. Chlorine runs about $3/week in the summer. Don't need as much of the pump or chlorine in the winter. I need to get solar - there are only about 3 months where the water temp is above 80 (I know, you northerners think that 70 is fine, but I don't).

memento · Jan 2, 2008, 12:41 PM

The retracting pool cover would not be for protection, only for winterizing and keeping the leaves out. We don't have a fence but do have a water-permeable stretch safety cover for winter. I've seen animal tracks across it.

Of course we have no neighbors so not much worry about floating bodies.

Think about how you're going to filter. We have a DE (diatomacious earth) filter for our inground and it works great. we also have a propane heater that we don't use. Passive solar heating of the water is pretty easy and cheap to do. Of course I swim if it's even close to 70. It depends on you and where you live. I have a friend who ran flex hoses under his driveway for heating the water. works amazing.

We buy 3" chlorine tablets. 1 bucket (5 gallon sized) lasts the season. I don't know how much salt you'd be using but consider the labor of hauling salt.

The only water we needed was when we replaced the liner at 17 years. 30,000 gallons cost us $1200. ripoff. I even have a friend at a local fire department who I offered a $500 donation of they could fill, but the lawyers already feasted on that deal. Otherwise we only have to top off a little if we have a long dry spell. That's usually twice a summer.

If you have to winterize, think about where you lay your pipes and what material they are. I have PVC but I know that you can get better materials now that are less prone to cracking. I'm going to borrow a borescope this spring to check out my pipes. Hopefully they are still good.

MacosNerd · Jan 2, 2008, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by smacintush

There's a saying:

"The two best days of my life are the day I put in the pool, and the day I got rid of it."

actually that saying is about puts, i.e., "The two best days of my life are the day I bought a boat and the day I sold it"

I know - I helped sell my then girlfriend's boat. It cost me 1200 bucks to get it ready to be sold. In the end thought that was a good day

I didn't make a huge profit but the money pit was out of driveway

smacintush · Jan 2, 2008, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

actually that saying is about puts, i.e., "The two best days of my life are the day I bought a boat and the day I sold it"

I know - I helped sell my then girlfriend's boat. It cost me 1200 bucks to get it ready to be sold. In the end thought that was a good day

I didn't make a huge profit but the money pit was out of driveway

Yeah, it applies very well to boats too. There's another saying:

"A boat is a hole in the water you throw your money into."

MacosNerd · Jan 2, 2008, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by smacintush

"A boat is a hole in the water you throw your money into."

hey I like that

IceEnclosure · Jan 2, 2008, 07:14 PM

Count me in for the 'a-pool-in-every-backyard-on-the-block' set.

Don't have one out back right now, I'm in a townhome, but I did for 25 years. It was huge, 8 feet deep, and not even a pain in the ass.

Aeolius · Jan 2, 2008, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by wallinbl

Around here, it adds $25K to the value of the house.

Which is sad, when the pool quotes I have received would cost twice that.

Aeolius · Jan 2, 2008, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

Count me in for the 'a-pool-in-every-backyard-on-the-block' set. Don't have one out back right now, I'm in a townhome, but I did for 25 years. It was huge, 8 feet deep, and not even a pain in the ass.

My folks had one as well. It was my job to maintain the chemicals, sweep the pool, and keep the cleaning jets working (i.e. hop in the pool with a screwdriver and fix them).

wallinbl · Jan 2, 2008, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by Aeolius

Which is sad, when the pool quotes I have received would cost twice that.

Nearly all of the pools around here were put in by the home builder and are standard rectangular pools with marcite and nothing special. $50K would get you a nicer pool than what the builder would do.

residentEvil · Jan 2, 2008, 09:51 PM

i prefer a sprinkler and a lawn chair

. easy to maintain and you can put it all away and still have a yard to play in.

Aeolius · Jan 5, 2008, 03:06 PM

I've interviewed three companies thus far; two local and one national. Prices are all over the board, for similar sized pools with similar equipment. The national company gave the best presentation and had great prices, but their rep online is shoddy (people love to complain online... go figure). One local company was three times higher than the other two.

Sheesh... this is almost like work.

analogue SPRINKLES · Jan 5, 2008, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by Sealobo

statistically, having a pool at home is more dangerous to the kids than having a firearm stored in your bedroom drawer.

Swimming pools don't kill people, water does.

iranfromthezoo · Jan 5, 2008, 03:31 PM

just dont call the fire dept to come fill your pool up!

Sherman Homan · Jan 5, 2008, 03:32 PM

Swimming pools don't kill people, water does.

Technically, it is di-hydrogen monoxide that kills:
Facts About Dihydrogen Monoxide
It should be banned!

Chuckit · Jan 5, 2008, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES

Swimming pools don't kill people, water does.

Actually, falling in an empty swimming pool isn't such a great idea either.