New backyard pool - good or bad idea?

[athena53]

DH and I always took the attitude that whatever upgrades we made to the house (bamboo flooring, granite countertops) were for our enjoyment and we shouldn't expect to get back what we paid when we sold the house- which pretty much turned out to be true. I think you need to take the same attitude with a pool- it's money out the door and for every potential buyer down the road who considers it a "nice to have", there will be one who won't even look at a house with a pool.

I've owned two houses with pools, one in NJ and one in the KC area, over a period of 20 years. Two things made the second one far easier to maintain- a robotic pool cleaner and a winter covering made of slats that (in theory) could hold the weight of someone walking on it. The plain tarp winter cover is a real PITA- the weight of rain, ice or snow would cause corners of it to sink into the pool, debris would get in and if the corners froze in the water there wasn't much you could do till it thawed.

They ARE very pretty to look at and I enjoyed using mine, especially after getting all hot and sweaty pulling weeds. DH gradually stopped using it because health issues messed up his body thermostat and it was uncomfortable. Regular maintenance costs weren't bad- it was just the larger chunks when the pump died or a leak in the piping meant the cement around the pool edge had to be broken up and then redone after the piping was replaced.

The expenses were manageable but it was getting so little use by the time we sold the house that I was glad to buy a house without one. YMMV.

 

[brucethebroker]

Thought of two additional items: my former neighbor cleaned pools as a college student. He taught us how to do the chemicals (bought at Sams club) and clean ourselves, reducing our maintenance costs to a couple of hundred dollars a season (not including close/open).

Our pool was a "party pool" only about 4 foot deep throughout. Less water equals fewer chemicals. Also, was easy to heat with a solar cover since it was shallow. I would do that pool type again.

 

[MichaelB]

Those are mostly bath temperature puddles.

Never heard that term before, but I can’t disagree with it.

One thing I will add is whenever our grandchildren are around pools I cannot relax and even sleep restlessly.

 

[iloveyoga]

We are installing an in ground pool in July. It is a life long dream of mine. It does not make a lot of financial sense, but it is one of our last big hurrahs! We have done a lot of the prep work and deck rebuilding ourselves (well my DH has). I am truly excited!! Ours will have an automatic roll top cover, that was one of our requirements.

 

[Andre1969]

I have some friends who once rented a house with a pool, and they were responsible for covering its maintenance...either do it themselves (and face consequences if they screwed it up) or pay the pool service. Here in Maryland, I think "official" pool season is usually only Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, although some people open earlier, and close later. I remember my friends saying there was a fee to open the pool in the spring, a monthly, fee, and a fee to close it up/winterize it. I forget the breakdown, but I want to say when I added it all up, it came to around $600-800 for the season?

 

[Texas Proud]

Just to be clear on my post... the $500 per month I put down awhile back included the major costs, not the normal monthly costs...

Did talk to my sister and she said it was for 'the season'.... her season is 6 months so it is really $250 per month...

 

[45th Birthday]

We have had a pool at two different houses. We enjoyed them both. The first was actually at a house we didn't use for the summer, so we only used it a few weeks in May and from mid-September to mid-October. It was a fancy, complicated thing with a spa, Polaris (separate pump), and a control panel in the kitchen so we could control it all. If we wanted to use the spa when it was chilly, we could just push a button, then run out and get in when it was ready. 20X40 with a deep end for a diving board, so it took a lot of water (and water is expensive in that town). We had a guy who took care of it since we weren't there much. We finally sold that house. I don't know if the pool added to the value or not; three houses on our street of seven houses had pools.

We also have one in our summer house now, and it is more simple. No spa, no cleaner, no deep-deep end, still 20X40. We wish it had a spa. Water is from a well, but the propane to run the heater is pricey. We also have a guy who takes care of it; he is a chemical genius and keeps things in balance with our difficult well water. This location for the past few years has gone pool-crazy and people are snapping up properties with pools and adding them if they don't have them. Funny thing is, it is surrounded by ocean, so there are plenty of opportunities to swim without a pool.

Both pools were there when we bought the houses. Would we pay to put one in? I wouldn't but my wife might be inclined since she loves pools more than I do.

If you are going to maintain it yourself, get educated and also find a good pool store that can give you advice. If you use a service, make sure you get a good one and one that will send the same people out every week.

The bottom line is this, pools are expensive to install and expensive to maintain. Economically, they don't make a lot of sense. However, if you have the money and want to spend it on that, go for it!

 

[Montecfo]

Had a pool when we lived in Scottsdale. Loved it. Did the cleaning and chemicals myself. Was not hard. Pool is pretty standard in that part of country, negative not to have one. Pebbletech which we loved-looked more natural.

Now have community pool (in Northern Va). Love that too. Can walk or bike to it.

If we retired further south, we would look to have a pool, but a community pool would be a good alternative.

 

[Cobra9777]

... when we were looking at a new house my DW wanted a pool... since my sister had one I asked how much it cost her.... she said it was over $500 per month for chemicals and maintenance...

Just to be clear on my post... the $500 per month I put down awhile back included the major costs, not the normal monthly costs...

Did talk to my sister and she said it was for 'the season'.... her season is 6 months so it is really $250 per month...

Even $250 strikes me as unusually high. I just set up a spreadsheet and carefully calculated my total chemical and maintenance cost over the last 13 years of pool ownership. I have a file with receipts for all major and minor repairs and parts over the last 13 years and I'm very familiar with the average monthly cost for chemicals and consumables. Works out to $72/mo, average for the entire 13-yr period. This includes all chemicals, replacement filter cartridges, consumable parts for Polaris, repair parts and labor for the Polaris, 4 replacement pumps, 3 leak repairs, 1 heater repair, new expansion joint caulking, deck resealed twice, a new 500W light, brushes, nets, hoses, new skimmer baskets, test kits/strips, and some new plastic fittings. I left out the floaties, noodles, and beach balls.

...If you do not use it much it is not worth it...

I disagree with that also. We keep our pool open all year. Even when not being used for swimming, it's a central part of the landscape that we enjoy everyday.

 

[Big_Hitter]

We keep our pool open all year. Even when not being used for swimming, it's a central part of the landscape that we enjoy everyday.

in houston we ran ours all year - gotta dig that pool light at night!

 

[Big_Hitter]

Even $250 strikes me as unusually high.

maint should be $100 a month, max. I ordered my chemicals online.

i also had a kreepy krauley that ran off of a skimmer and kept the pool really clean. I scrubbed the sides manually with a mask, snorkel and brush. Had lots of leaves though so I used a leaf rake.

 

[tps7742]

We have had three pools over the last 35 plus years and loved all of them. The technology and high efficiency equipment has made pools easier to maintain over the years. As stated they aren't maintenance free and require some up keep just like anything mechanical. They are purely a luxury item and not an investment. If you have trees or the neighbors near by they are a pain when the leaves start to fall. When you are landscaping around the pools pick your plants carefully.

 

[Midpack]

I think it’s very area specific, and somewhat neighborhood (price range) specific. Where we lived near Orlando, you couldn’t resell a home without a pool unless you were in a very low price point neighborhood. That may not be true in every city/state.

As for maintenance I am probably out of date, but I found pool maintenance/chemical balance to be pretty unforgiving. I made the mistake of letting Cl get a little low and had a yellow algae bloom that took quite a while to correct at a cost greater than had I just been more disciplined in maintaining chemical balance.

And though DW and I thought we’d use the pool a lot, we really didn’t. We just jumped in to cool off, and back out again. If you’re entertaining kids/grandkids or neighbors it might be worthwhile, but it wasn’t worth it to just us.

We’d never have another pool, even in the Deep South.

My Dad has a pool at his home, and no one uses it but he has to maintain it...

 

[Texas Proud]

Even $250 strikes me as unusually high. I just set up a spreadsheet and carefully calculated my total chemical and maintenance cost over the last 13 years of pool ownership. I have a file with receipts for all major and minor repairs and parts over the last 13 years and I'm very familiar with the average monthly cost for chemicals and consumables. Works out to $72/mo, average for the entire 13-yr period. This includes all chemicals, replacement filter cartridges, consumable parts for Polaris, repair parts and labor for the Polaris, 4 replacement pumps, 3 leak repairs, 1 heater repair, new expansion joint caulking, deck resealed twice, a new 500W light, brushes, nets, hoses, new skimmer baskets, test kits/strips, and some new plastic fittings. I left out the floaties, noodles, and beach balls.



I disagree with that also. We keep our pool open all year. Even when not being used for swimming, it's a central part of the landscape that we enjoy everyday.

Since it is not mine I have to go with what she said... also, are you including electricity and water? I know both of those are expensive where my sister lives...


BTW, our neighborhood pool costs are a total of $40,000... do not know what that includes, but it is not open all year... mostly only during school summer break... then a few months of weekends....

 

[Zathras]

DW and I (empty nesters) are thinking about installing a pool in our small backyard. We live in the deep south so we'd get several months usage from it and we don't plan on moving anytime soon, if ever. I do wonder what I'd have to do with the pool if we were to go away for 1-3 months.

Just curious what others' experiences have been. If you installed a pool, any regrets? Any 'gotchas' to be aware of?

In my opinion, awful idea.
Cost to install, cost to clean, cost to heat, cost to insure.
In my area, you would also be lowering your property value, however in the Deep South it appears lots of people find them desirable so it would probably raise the property value.

 

[iloveyoga]

We have had three pools over the last 35 plus years and loved all of them. The technology and high efficiency equipment has made pools easier to maintain over the years. As stated they aren't maintenance free and require some up keep just like anything mechanical. They are purely a luxury item and not an investment. If you have trees or the neighbors near by they are a pain when the leaves start to fall. When you are landscaping around the pools pick your plants carefully.

I would love to hear any landscaping tips you have for around the pool, thanks.

 

[foxfirev5]

Now I don't feel so bad about having a lakehouse 17 miles away. Boating and swimming with little maintenance and appreciation to boot.

 

[txtig]

I’ve been a pool owner for almost 20 years. Do all of my own maintenance, except when we are RV’ing. Feel like maintenance is an easy 20 or 30 minutes per week chore (about 1 beer). We love having the pool, use it a lot to cool off from the hot humid Houston-area summers. Even when we don’t use it, we like the atmosphere of a back yard pool. Very tropical and resort-looking. I’ve got a maintenance tip for all of you Polaris owners. I insert a woman’s knee high stocking into the Polaris leaf bag (fold the open end of the stocking around the leaf bag collar). It catches all of the fine particles (sand) and makes cleaning the bag a snap. Just pull the used stocking out, discard it, and insert a fresh one. I order a box of 10 pair of stockings from Amazon and it lasts 20 weeks (one stocking per week).

 

[Cobra9777]

...also, are you including electricity and water? I know both of those are expensive where my sister lives...

No. I'm using your definition:

...she said it was over $500 per month for chemicals and maintenance...

 

[Texas Proud]

No. I'm using your definition:

Then I had a bad definition... of course you might be able to put those items in maintenance since you cannot let the pool stagnate or evaporate away...

 

[Katsmeow]

We've had pools twice and are about to have our third. We learned some things with each one:

1. Pool 1 - we put in. It had a spa with it and a waterfall and was very pretty. The kids loved in and I loved it and used it a lot. That pool would cost a lot to build now. It was no more than 5' deep which I felt was fine. We did the pool maintenance ourselves except for occasional check ups or if there was a major problem.

2. Pool 2 - House had existing pool with a deep end, diving board and slide. Insurance company wouldn't cover unless we got rid of the diving board and slide so we did. Pool was very plain and had no spa. Kids used it some but I didn't use it much. I really, really liked having the spa with the pool and would go back and forth between them. For me, the pool was much less enticing without the spa. We started out doing the maintenance. But, that property had a ton of trees and we had constant leaves in the pool and we could never keep the chemicals balanced. So finally we hired a service. Even they had a trouble keeping them balanced.

3. House with no pool - After that DH refused to have a pool. He wouldn't even look at a house with a pool. We did buy a standalone spa which was nice.

4. Pool 3 - We are closing on a house next week that has a pool. We didn't set out to get a pool (see above). But, in our new location the majority of houses we looked at had pools. In some subdivisions aerial photos showed that 80% or more of the houses had pools. To reject houses on that basis meant rejecting most house prospects in a market that already has crazy low inventory. So, DH agreed to consider a pool.

We are buying a house with a pool/spa. I like the ones with the spa much better and was not enthralled with houses with a pool and no spa. The pool is a little long in the tooth and will need replastering soon. We will probably convert it to salt (if I was building one I would build it that way).

Having a pool again has grown on me. By the time we bought whenever we looked at a house without a pool I started thinking about putting one in. Actually, I seriously thought about putting in a swimspa since I thought that would be enough for me. Although the actual house we are buying ended up having a fairly good sized pool.

 

[Texas Proud]

Then I had a bad definition... of course you might be able to put those items in maintenance since you cannot let the pool stagnate or evaporate away...

Looking at Kats response.... I wonder if my sister put in the extra cost for insurance in her number... but not curious enough to ask....

 

[pjigar]

As you can see from the responses, only YOU can answer this question correctly! I say if you know you are going to use it then self-maintaining today's salt water pool is really easy. I spend literally 15 minutes a month (during "on" months) to keep pool in good condition and cost me about $200 a year in supplies, thanks to debris vacuum with a dedicated booster pump. The real point is the usage. Our usage has gone down after the first year but still worth it since I have kids in the house. I am sure now that I am NOT a pool person. We pulled a trigger to build one since kids were young when we built the pool.

PS: Account for water cost based on where you live. Down here in Dallas, Texas with 35x20 surface area, I have to fill up pool with 6 hours of faucet time a year. Rain fills up rest of it.

 

[Carpediem]

Thank you all for all the responses and great feedback. Based on some of the replies, we're starting to reconsider the plan to install a pool. The main reasons are (1) lots of trees in our backyard so we'd have to have a pool enclosure ($), and (2) our lot is maybe 1/4 of an acre and the houses are like 15-20 ft apart so our neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate the noise from the pump.

Having said that, we have some neighbors down the street from us with a similar lot and they installed a pool. We're going to ask them about their experiences so far and hopefully take a look at their pool and setup before making a final decision.

Our neighborhood has a *small* community pool (dues $190/yr) that we joined our first 2 years here but it has mostly been taken over by the kiddies. We decided not to join the 3rd year after hearing stories of a "baby ruth" floating in the pool.

 

[aja8888]

Thank you all for all the responses and great feedback. Based on some of the replies, we're starting to reconsider the plan to install a pool. The main reasons are (1) lots of trees in our backyard so we'd have to have a pool enclosure ($), and (2) our lot is maybe 1/4 of an acre and the houses are like 15-20 ft apart so our neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate the noise from the pump.

Having said that, we have some neighbors down the street from us with a similar lot and they installed a pool. We're going to ask them about their experiences so far and hopefully take a look at their pool and setup before making a final decision.

Our neighborhood has a *small* community pool (dues $190/yr) that we joined our first 2 years here but it has mostly been taken over by the kiddies. We decided not to join the 3rd year after hearing stories of a "baby ruth" floating in the pool.

Lots of trees? You may find a dead squirrel floating around in the pool from time to time. Better floating than in the skimmer where you don't notice it (ask me how we know). The frogs are OK, but they really don't like chlorine.