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Surprisingly, when I did a search for 'swimming pool' in this forum, there wasn't a whole lot of threads that popped up.
I'd love to have a lap pool in the back yard, or perhaps even an above ground pool. Mostly just somewhere to exercise since our town pool seems closed for one reason or another more often than it's open. When it is open, the schedule isn't overly convenient, so I keep thinking maybe one in the back yard would be good.
How much of a bother is a swimming pool? Is an above ground pool much easier than an in ground pool? I'd guess that an above ground pool is a lot less expensive? At least for construction, probably all pools have the same maintenance costs.
What maintenance does a pool need and how often? Chemical adjustments every day? Week? Month? Are they expensive chemicals?
What questions should I be asking about having a pool?
We are in Hawaii (so no freezing) and on a hillside (so building an in ground pool would be one wall most likely) and we have photovoltaic power so costs of electricity to run pumps would be offset somewhat.
We have an above ground 15,000 gallon pool that came with the house. When it's open, I half-way jokingly refer to it as my third child.
If you are doing it by the books, it needs daily maintenance. At least checking water chemistry levels and adding chemicals if needed. There is also the ongoing sweeping and scrubbing. That's less frequent at least.
Our pool doesn't have any automated sweepers, chemical injectors, etc. But that adds to the price tag quickly. I usually budget $500 for the summer in chemicals and maintenance - which is three months where I live.
I keep it because the kids enjoy it. But it's days are numbered. It will be a great day in my life when that thing is gone. Both from a time and maintenance perspective, but you also have to remember its also a potential large liability lawsuit sitting out in my back yard.
Well, they are work. Maybe not excessive work if you get into a regular routine.
But the issue to me would be that in Hawaii, you've got that deadly disease carried by snails and something awful carried by rats that kills people, both of which can get into the water.. I'd be very worried that some pest would get into the pool and infect the water.
I know that the water cisterns must be very tightly covered.
We're on County water and will be using County water to fill the pool, not catchment, so I'm not too worried about either rat lungworm or leptospirosis. Neither one of which would survive long in chlorinated water, I believe.
The leptospirosis is from fresh water coming down through pasture lands mostly. Rat lungworm is from slugs and snails and mostly shows up from unwashed garden produce, although I suspect folks have been eating the slugs themselves, more so than slug trails. In any case, those aren't concerns for me with a pool that has chlorinated water.
Sunlight can cause moss growth in a pool, can't it? We do get a lot of sun, but if there was an automatic filter and one of those roving pool vacuums, would that be enough to keep on top of most of the maintenance?
Sunlight will cause algae growth, yes. Keeping your chlorine levels right, on a daily basis, and the roving pool vacuums will go a long way to stopping it. And using algeacide. But you are still going to need to brush the pool walls on a periodic (weekly?) basis..
Unless you are an avid swimmer who finds a pool somewhere at least several times a year, you are completely deluding yourself about how much you will use/appreciate it, especially after a few years of maintenance costs.
Get a pool table instead. At least you can get rid of that when you discover it's only fun for about a week.
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