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Old 07-06-2018, 02:55 PM
 
Location: Knoxville, TN
2,530 posts, read 1,885,762 times
Reputation: 6415

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robino1 View Post
Living in Florida we are able to use the pool many months. I get in it daily when no storms are near.

It is so much better to just be able to walk out my back door and jump in. No getting in the car, no carrying all the towels, sun screen and whatever you need for the day. I can get out, eat lunch, go back in. Sheer bliss!

I walk out my front door, cross the entrance to the subdivision and swim laps every morning. No car, no changing into dry clothes before the 2 minute walk home and at 8:30 AM I swim laps for 45 minutes with the pool entirely to myself. This is bliss for me. Most backyard pools are really too small for decent laps. It's like I have a private pool with 100 other families sharing the cost. But, if a person is more interested in reclining on a float in the middle of the day reading a book without kids splashing them, the neighborhood pool often isn't the best solution (until school starts back in August!). It all depends on what a person is looking for.
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Old 07-06-2018, 05:12 PM
 
Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
3,488 posts, read 3,320,055 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JOinGA View Post
I walk out my front door, cross the entrance to the subdivision and swim laps every morning. No car, no changing into dry clothes before the 2 minute walk home and at 8:30 AM I swim laps for 45 minutes with the pool entirely to myself. This is bliss for me. Most backyard pools are really too small for decent laps. It's like I have a private pool with 100 other families sharing the cost. But, if a person is more interested in reclining on a float in the middle of the day reading a book without kids splashing them, the neighborhood pool often isn't the best solution (until school starts back in August!). It all depends on what a person is looking for.
I don't live in an HOA. No community pool. My pool is large enough to do decent laps. We designed it for max length in the yard. Also it is a perfect rectangl, no wasted space by having curves. We also chose to not have a spa attached thereby giving us more space for length and width. We put in the largest pool we could legally put in for our standard lot size.

I dislike the beach and really don't like swimming in the ocean. Having a pool is my personal heaven. I don't just lay around floating in the pool. I swim and play with the grandkids.
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Old 07-06-2018, 05:22 PM
 
2,911 posts, read 2,029,338 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JOinGA View Post
I walk out my front door, cross the entrance to the subdivision and swim laps every morning. No car, no changing into dry clothes before the 2 minute walk home and at 8:30 AM I swim laps for 45 minutes with the pool entirely to myself. This is bliss for me. Most backyard pools are really too small for decent laps. It's like I have a private pool with 100 other families sharing the cost. But, if a person is more interested in reclining on a float in the middle of the day reading a book without kids splashing them, the neighborhood pool often isn't the best solution (until school starts back in August!). It all depends on what a person is looking for.
That is far from private...but to each his own.
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Old 07-07-2018, 06:05 AM
 
Location: Knoxville, TN
2,530 posts, read 1,885,762 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Remington Steel View Post
That is far from private...but to each his own.
Well, granted I am not skinny dipping in it, if that's what you mean by private.
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Old 07-07-2018, 06:12 AM
 
Location: Knoxville, TN
2,530 posts, read 1,885,762 times
Reputation: 6415
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robino1 View Post
I don't live in an HOA. No community pool. My pool is large enough to do decent laps. We designed it for max length in the yard. Also it is a perfect rectangl, no wasted space by having curves. We also chose to not have a spa attached thereby giving us more space for length and width. We put in the largest pool we could legally put in for our standard lot size.

I dislike the beach and really don't like swimming in the ocean. Having a pool is my personal heaven. I don't just lay around floating in the pool. I swim and play with the grandkids.
Sounds like you have a perfect situation. When I was house hunting, I looked at some neighborhoods that had community pools full of curves and no way to get in a decent lap. Useless to me. My neighborhood pool has curves on one side, but the other side is straight and has 2 lap lanes marked with tiles on the bottom. Swimming is such great exercise, particularly as we get older.
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Old 07-07-2018, 06:40 AM
 
Location: SW Florida
15,207 posts, read 10,232,280 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
Where is it that cold? Northern Alaska? Why wouldn't you use the pool when it is raining? Rainy days are some of the most pleasant times to swim.

We live in Michigan, we use our pool from April or may through October. Some years we woudl heat it up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When all of our kids were home, it got used every day, usually multiple times a day. Now our last kid is moving out in August. He will still be home in the summer, but our pool no longer makes any sense for us, but then our entire house no longer makes sense for us. It certainly was worthwhile when we had them home. No, no one has ever drowned, no close calls. A deer fell in it once and had to have help getting out, also some worms and some frogs had to be rescued. Otherwise, the application of common sense will eliminate most of the risk of anyone drowning in a pool.


We have a public pool a few miles away. Before we had our pool, we used to use it maybe once or twice a year. There is a huge difference between having to collect your stuff, go out to the public pool and being on display to your neighbors, being subject to rules you may or may not agree with, bumping into people every few feet (and forget playing any sort of game), swimming in people's pee and diseases/infections, then driving home damp and covered in chlorine (and pee); versus coming home, changing in a matter of seconds and jumping into your private pool where you control the condition, use, people who swim in it, temperature, etc. or doing some chores, rinsing off then jump in the pool with the kids for twenty minutes, go back to chores, repeat. Our pool is always open to us. There are no hours of operation. Midnight swim? Fine. Wake up at 5:30 a.m. and want to swim some laps before work? Fine.

We can have as many or as few people in it as we desire. Chlorine levels, temperature, whether or not five kids can cannonball in at once, splash water at each other, whether or not our dogs can swim with us, what toys or other items can be in the pool, who can use the slide, all are determined by us, not by someone else. No pimply kid is sitting in a chair telling me I cannot pick up one of my kids and throw them into the air and let them splash back into the water; or that we cannot play chicken fight, or Frisbee, or volleyball, etc. No one shuts down our pool for ten minutes every two hours so someone can take a break. Our pool is never closed for a swim meet or private party. Yes, it is worth it and not stupid at all. When we have summer parties, the kids love having the chance to swim and the adult love either swimming or just sitting under the portico and watching the kids swim. At my son's grad party this past weekend, the guests his age rotated from swimming to throwing axes to throwing atlatl, to chatting and eating, back to swimming - he had the best grad party - no one sitting around bored for hours on end.

It is a luxury and one that apparently makes some people very jealous, but it is a wonderful luxury if you can afford it.

For selling a house, an in-ground pool is a push. Some people see it as a huge plus, some will not consider a house that does not have a pool. Others see it as a liability. Depending on the location and type of house the balance of each view may vary. For larger upscale homes, people expect a pool. It will not add value or not much compared to the cost. An above ground pool is different - most realtors seem to recommend that you remove it before putting the house on the market.

The insurance increase was minimal. The trampoline increased our insurance rates more, but even that was pretty minimal.

I agree with everything you said about the enjoyment of having your own pool. But I have a question: does it really get warm enough in Michigan to use a pool in April or October? I thought you guys still had snow many times in April? Maybe because I was raised in Florida since I was 4 years old, I like my water warm, at least 80 degrees.


About 10 years ago we rented a house with a pool. I was in it every day, at least for a few months. Then I got tired of it and how dry it made my hair and skin. I started using it less and less until it became just one more thing to maintain. The condo I was in before I bought my own house last year had an Olympic sized pool but I only used it about 2 months out of the whole year despite it being heated. Once July hit, the water was too hot to cool off in and all the kids are home from school so it wasn't as relaxing in the summer (I live in South Florida).


But now that I have my own house I wouldn't mind having a small in ground pool but I just can't afford to build one right now.

Last edited by chiluvr1228; 07-07-2018 at 06:49 AM..
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Old 07-07-2018, 07:20 AM
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,161 posts, read 63,598,266 times
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My son and his wife put up an above ground from Walmart. DIL asked for it for her birthday. They took it down in the fall, stored it and put it back up this year. They use it to cool off and they take their baby swimming in it. It is in no way a substitute for an inground pool or the beach, but if you have ever spent a summer in North Carolina, a dip in the backyard is a welcome thing.
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Old 07-07-2018, 08:39 AM
 
4,527 posts, read 3,731,371 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanLB View Post
Pools aren’t for “cooling off” mainly they’re to swim in and enjoy lol. The greatest beach in the world isn’t a substitute for a nice pool feet away from your doorstep.

Remington - enjoy the pool!
The beach and a pool are two different experiences and I love both. We have a small pool, and love the chaos and noise of playing with the grandkids and the peace and quiet of our pool when they aren’t here.

We live in FL and having a pool with a pool cage has made a made huge difference in our living space and how we use it. It has been even better than we expected. We do our own pool maintenance and water testing. I now know what sanitary, sparkling pool water should look like and keep it that way. It’s hard not to judge other pool’s water quality and even harder to step into some of them.

Attachment 199682

Last edited by jean_ji; 05-13-2020 at 07:06 AM..
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Old 07-07-2018, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,707 posts, read 79,562,447 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanLB View Post
Are you... joking?! What do kids have anything to do with a pool?! I'm 35, I love swimming, I can't imagine buying a nice house without a pool. That is a complete waste and ruins your enjoyment of the outdoors during the summer. We are never having kids, and a pool is a must-have in any house we see. I swear, some people act like only kids can enjoy life and have fun. It makes no sense to me.

PS: It's a stupid idea to have a pool?! It's a stupid idea NOT to have a pool in a nice climate. Furthermore, I would never use a neighborhood pool and swim with everyone else. Swimming is about relaxing and some peace and quiet. No thanks to a neighborhood pool that everyone pees in. That is so lame. Every pool should be heated, no matter the climate, and if you want to turn the heat off in the summer in Vegas or Phoenix, go for it, that makes sense. But I wouldn't swim in a pool that's colder than 84 and I'd prefer 86 or 87. Unheated pools are just not comfortable except if you're doing laps, which isn't fun, that's just cardio.
You are still a kid. You will learn grasshopper
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Old 07-07-2018, 11:58 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,842 posts, read 36,138,608 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanLB View Post
Are you... joking?! What do kids have anything to do with a pool?! I'm 35, I love swimming, I can't imagine buying a nice house without a pool. That is a complete waste and ruins your enjoyment of the outdoors during the summer. We are never having kids, and a pool is a must-have in any house we see. I swear, some people act like only kids can enjoy life and have fun. It makes no sense to me.

PS: It's a stupid idea to have a pool?! It's a stupid idea NOT to have a pool in a nice climate. Furthermore, I would never use a neighborhood pool and swim with everyone else. Swimming is about relaxing and some peace and quiet. No thanks to a neighborhood pool that everyone pees in. That is so lame. Every pool should be heated, no matter the climate, and if you want to turn the heat off in the summer in Vegas or Phoenix, go for it, that makes sense. But I wouldn't swim in a pool that's colder than 84 and I'd prefer 86 or 87. Unheated pools are just not comfortable except if you're doing laps, which isn't fun, that's just cardio.
Sure, but he's in Michigan. A pool isn't always considered desirable that far north.
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