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I hate our pool robot, it sucks. It's the older model of this Hayward Vac It gets stuck all the time. I'm sure those $800+ vacs do a great job..... maybe I'll have to surprise myself for Christmas with one.
An in-ground pool is the ultimate in backyard upgrades. If you've always wanted one, now may be the time. Prices have fallen during the recession by up to 30 percent. Nevertheless, it remains a big investment, so it's important to make smart choices with regard to size, shape, site selection, and type.
It's NOT the ultimate in backyard upgrades. In fact, the value of many homes are diminished because of the presence of a swimming pool in the backyard.
They're expensive to build, extremely expensive to maintain, and an insurance/liability nightmare.
From a strictly financial perspective, you're FAR better off buying a season membership to a local municiple pool.
Okay - We are getting close to the point where we are going to have to decide what we are going to do to replace the pool we removed to make way for a new addition to our home. Right now it appears we have several options including above-ground, in-ground vinyl, in-ground fiberglass and in-ground gunite or concrete.
The above ground will be the least expensive costing around $8,000 for a 27 or 30 foot round pool. What I don't like about this is how it takes up so much room in the yard and how ou have to go up and over just to get in it. We also look at a Kyake Pool that had an integrated deck but the price of that was around $23,000. I feel we might as well go in-ground for that price.
An inground vinyl pool I think will be around $20,000 to $25,000. I would like to have a 20 by 30 foot pool with a deep end of around 6 feet or so. I have heard a number of different prices from people including my sister who says we should be able to get a price under $20,000. Does anyone think that is even possible in northern Connecticut? We have a guy coming out on Saturday to give us a quote on one so I will see what he has to say.
As I understand it, inground fiberglass is slightly more expensive than vinyl at $25,000 to $30,000. Does that seem reasonable? I think the guy we have coming out does both vinyl and fiberglass so I will try t get a price from him on this too.
Finally there is gunite which is the most expensive. I have seen these advertised by a reputable local firm at just under $30,000 but I wonder how reasonable that cost really is? We have another company coming out next week to quote us on one. Any thoughts on which is better. We have two active teens and two very active dogs (one can't really swim and the other gets ear infections so we probably will limit their time in the pool).
Have never seen a pool that anyone used. They build with good intentions, and that's the end of it. My neighbor put one in for his teen age kids. They wouldn't be caught dead in it. They would rather go to the beach with their friends...
Our pools have generally gotten a lot of use. Last summer we only used it maybe four times total and I was thinking the use was dying out. However this summer it gets used nearly every day and some days multiple times.
When we lived in Claifornia we had a little above ground pool. It was used every day in the summer. Before we got central air installed the kids pretty much stayed in the pool all day to escape the heat.
Okay - We are getting close to the point where we are going to have to decide what we are going to do to replace the pool we removed to make way for a new addition to our home. Right now it appears we have several options including above-ground, in-ground vinyl, in-ground fiberglass and in-ground gunite or concrete.
The above ground will be the least expensive costing around $8,000 for a 27 or 30 foot round pool. What I don't like about this is how it takes up so much room in the yard and how ou have to go up and over just to get in it. We also look at a Kyake Pool that had an integrated deck but the price of that was around $23,000. I feel we might as well go in-ground for that price.
An inground vinyl pool I think will be around $20,000 to $25,000. I would like to have a 20 by 30 foot pool with a deep end of around 6 feet or so. I have heard a number of different prices from people including my sister who says we should be able to get a price under $20,000. Does anyone think that is even possible in northern Connecticut? We have a guy coming out on Saturday to give us a quote on one so I will see what he has to say.
As I understand it, inground fiberglass is slightly more expensive than vinyl at $25,000 to $30,000. Does that seem reasonable? I think the guy we have coming out does both vinyl and fiberglass so I will try t get a price from him on this too.
Finally there is gunite which is the most expensive. I have seen these advertised by a reputable local firm at just under $30,000 but I wonder how reasonable that cost really is? We have another company coming out next week to quote us on one. Any thoughts on which is better. We have two active teens and two very active dogs (one can't really swim and the other gets ear infections so we probably will limit their time in the pool).
Any thoughts? Jay
Although it is ugly and above ground pool does have some advantages. They are a lot cheaper. They are safer, no one can fall up into one. They are easier to repair and very easy to remove. If a filter line breaks, you just replace it. No digging, jackhammering etc. They take up the same amount of space as an inground pool does. Either type usually has a deck. However the above gorund pool blocks your view and makes your yard look smaller. You also have the messy pipes etc running thrugh your yard with an above ground pool. Our inground pool has all of the equipment in a room in the carriage house (garage) and pipes run underground to and from the pool. It is all much neater and leave more play room in the yard.
We paid about $35,000 for an 18x40 vinyl inground pool. However that included:
Oversized and better quality sand filter.
Salt/Chlorine generation system.
Robot Vacuum (Red Devil)
Concrete deck 6' on the sides, 20' on one end and 15' on the other.
Underwater light.
180,000 or 210000 BTU heater (forget which)
A super slide (about $2500)
Somewhat unusual shape
A 5' wide entry sairway. This is great for little kids to sit on.
6 filter outlets (4 isnormal, we wanted 6 due to the shape of the pool).
Solar cover and reel
Winter cover
skimmers, chemicals test kit
Complete set up and balance and first year winter closure.
Some toys.
Wiring and piping. There is a lot of underground piping. The backflush discharge line is about 100' long.
It is 3'8" at the sides/ends and gradully down to 5'5" or 5'8" in the middle. They call it a "sport bottom" This allow volleyball and similar things where everyone needs to stand on the bottom.
Inground fiberglass is way more expensive. It cost about $35,000 just to purchase and deliver a similar sized pool (plus filters, heater, installation, ect). You cannot get them very deep. You need a crane to put them in and must have clearance for a crane. You are limited to their pre-determined shapes and sizes. It is hard to find any more than about 35 feet long. There are some, just harder to find and expensive. The plus sides are you do nto have to replace them like you do vinyl ($3000), they use less chemicals and are easier to clean; no repairing little cuts from dogs claws or bicycles (one son rode his little brother's bike off the deck and into the pool repeatedly dragging it accross the liner to get it back ont he deck.) the fiberglass pools are much nicer looking. They do not handle high water table issues well though (not a problem for a vinyl pool). They can be very slippery. there are cheap finberglass pools and if you research online you will learn why not to buy one.
Gunite pools are expensive (not more than fiberglass all said and done). They look great with tile. The last a long long time. reuquire the most maintenance and chemicals. Requrie very expensive repairs periodically. Crack in high groundwater conditions. Impervious to dog claws and bicycles.
Persoanlly I think gunnite is old school and on its way out. People still cling to it becuase it is tried and true and people always cling to the old methods. I see nothing better about it. Several friends and relatives have gunnite and they like our vinyl pool much better once they understand it. We chose vinyl over fiberglass due to size and shape limitations and initial cost differences of pre-fabricated fiberglass. They way they put it in is really neat. It is much more sturdy than you think. the put in hard plastic side panels with tiebacks. This provides your pool wall structure and it is very strong and arguably lasts forever. We chose the heaviest thickenss vinyl offered. Glad we did. After about 4 or 5 years it got some wrinkles in the bottom. We ignored them. It got a few more. Still not really a problem, just unsighly and they collect dirt. We can get it restretched for about $1000, but it does not seem worth it. It has 4-6 patches some from the bicycle incident, some from dogs claws. They are small and virtually invisible. They cost about $12 for a patch kit and took maybe 15 minutes to complete. We had two or three high water table issues. There is a sump pit beside the pool but the pump is not automatic. You have to rememebr to turn it on when it has been raining (ooops). With vinyl, the bottom floated up a bit (pool was partly drained for the winter) and when we pumped the water away, it settled back into place with a wrinkle or two. Gunnite woudl have been destroyed. Fiberlass would have floated and had to be re-set.
The top of th eliner is pulling out of the reatiner clip in places. That will probably have to be addressed. Think we will have to pay to have it fixed because it appears to require special tools. We may either get the whole thing restretched at that time, or replace the liner.
Our pool is going on six years old. We had to repelace the salt cell ($400) and change the filter sand once. Some chemicals and a patch kit and a couple of new skimmer nets are the other expenses. Skimming is a weekly chore. We throw the robot vacuum in maybe once or twice a week. You have to clean the vacuum once during and once after running it. Occaisionally we have to do a heavier vacuum job. We need to replace the solar cover this year. And we already replaced the winter cover and need another new one.
Our pool is inside a retractable greenhouse like structure, so it stays cleaner than most if we keep it closed (which we usually do since we do not have a fence). We open the gerrnehouse thingy when we use the pool in nice weather and then close it again when we are done (takes abotu 10 minutes). The greenhouse cover thingy was expensive. It cost more than the pool. I woudl say it was not worth the cost, but I do nto know what it is like having an inground pool in a cold state without one, so maybe it is worth it.
Overall I think we made the right choice for us. W will have to replace the liner in another few years ($3000 - at least when we put the pool in that was the cost for a new liner). Vinyl liners supposedly last about 11 - 12 years. We may replace it sooner than that because of the wrinkles.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 08-15-2012 at 03:53 PM..
We paid about $35,000 for an 18x40 vinyl inground pool. However that included:
Oversized and better quality sand filter.
Salt/Chlorine generation system.
Robot Vacuum (Red Devil)
Concrete deck 6' on the sides, 20' on one end and 15' on the other.
Underwater light.
180,000 or 210000 BTU heater (forget which)
A super slide (about $2500)
Somewhat unusual shape
A 5' wide entry sairway. This is great for little kids to sit on.
6 filter outlets (4 isnormal, we wanted 6 due to the shape of the pool).
Solar cover and reel
Winter cover
skimmers, chemicals test kit
Complete set up and balance and first year winter closure.
Some toys.
Wiring and piping. There is a lot of underground piping. The backflush discharge line is about 100' long.
.
Couldnt rep you but I wanted to say this is the first honest answer I have seen about the cost of having a pool put in. My husband and I have always wanted an in-ground pool. I dont know what the problem is but people are so darn vague about it. Its almost like the attitude is, if you have to ask, you cant afford it. Now I do realize there are many variables to the whole process but there is always a ball park figure for everything. We went into two pool places years ago and both times the salesmen were rude and wouldnt give us prices. That whole attitude thing. So we gave up on the idea because truthfully it probably is something we couldnt afford unless there are loans for it. In our last house hunt we told our realtor we wanted a house with a pool and she tried her best. We did look at several but we found we liked the pools but not the houses.
So we again ended up with a house without a pool. We have the yard for it but we got an irrigation system and trees so right away that would be costly to work around. So I guess we will have to give up the pool dream. One thing that was kind of amusing but not for the sellers. We saw a house we really liked and it had a wonderful in-ground pool. We got a showing and when we walked out to the yard to see the amazing pool, all we saw was dirt. Our realtor called the listing agent. Turns out the sellers were upset that after a year all they got feedback on was how no one wanted the house because of the pool. So they decided to fill it in a few days before our showing. I can only imagine how sick they felt when they got our feedback, that we were hoping for a pool.
My Pool is basically an additional 1500SF section of our home. It's screened in and has a very nice pool deck around it (used to be river rock, but they covered it with some sort of epoxy material that looks like stone/tile). Most of the pool deck is covered and has ceiling fans w/light under the cover. I installed some misters. We have a projector out there that we hook up to the computer to watch TV, Netflix, Movies, etc. Have a sound system out there to listen to music. My pool is used by the kids, normally, 3 times a week or so. When we have visitors from out of town... it's almost everyday. I use the spill over hot tub once or twice a week.
I have heater for the pool that I'll turn on in the winter during the week of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break. I prefer for the kids not to have access to the pool ALL YEAR LONG... this way when late spring comes... they're excited to get in it.
Maintenance is not bad. It's a Gunite pool... which does need to be resurfaced (hoping to have it done this winter). I have my 8 year old boy brush the pool and vac it. I clean out the cartridge filter, check the water, add the pucks and chlorine. Since I have him doing the stuff that takes time... I only spend about 15 minutes a week on maintenance (less in the summer).
Would I want a pool if I lived anywhere other than Florida, Texas, Arizona or Southern California?..... probably not.
We only shopped homes that had pools... so I don't think they hurt the value of a home. In our instance homes with pools had a higher price than those without.
I think the value figure is highly dependent on where you live in the country. If you live up farther North, like New Jersey, your swimming season is really only 3 months at best. By the time you uncover the pool from the winter, get the ph set right, the sun warms up the pool water to a decent temperature, etc. It's a lot of hassle for a short swimming season. The other 9 months of the year, it's a liability. While you can extend your swimming season with the use of pool heater and such, it's expensive and your really only getting another month or so out of it. In places like South Florida, South Texas, Southern CA, you can get a good 10 or 11 months of use a year out of them, they are a lot more desirable and add value to the house. In New Jersey, houses with pools suffer in sales and value. I would guess in southern states like Georgia or Mississippi, you would be able to get a good 6 months of use out of your pool, so the value/sale hit would be smaller, if not slightly beneficial. I wonder how an outdoor pool in Alaska affects house values, I betting not good.
Last edited by TechGromit; 08-16-2012 at 09:08 AM..
I think the value figure is highly dependent on where you live in the country. If you live up farther North, like New Jersey, your swimming season is really only 3 months at best. By the time you uncover the pool from the winter, get the ph set right, the sun warms up the pool water to a decent temperature, etc. It's a lot of hassle for a short swimming season. The other 9 months of the year, it's a liability. While you can extend your swimming season with the use of pool heater and such, it's expensive and your really only getting another month or so out of it. In places like South Florida, South Texas, Southern CA, you can get a good 10 or 11 months of use a year out of them, they are a lot more desirable and add value to the house. In New Jersey, houses with pools suffer in sales and value. I would guess in southern states like Georgia or Mississippi, you would be able to get a good 6 months of use out of your pool, so the value/sale hit would be smaller, if not slightly beneficial. I wonder how an outdoor pool in Alaska affects house values, I betting not good.
We are in Michigan. We swim from Mid may through October. Sometimes earlier and later. We heat up the pool for thanksgiving and christmas breaks, but as mentioned it is in a greenhouse like thing, so it is enclosed. The critical thing is the floating solar cover. It costs more than twice as much to heat the pool if we do not put the cover on between uses.
If you have the money and space, get an electric reel for your cover. We did nto and wish we had.
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I can only imagine how sick they felt when they got our feedback, that we were hoping for a pool.
