Relocated Back From SF - Buying House with New Pool...?s (to rent, mortgage)

[AZSunDevil83]

So graduated from ASU...relocated to SF for a job opportunity straight from college...was there for a year and glad to be back in PHX. Loved the food, people, culture in SF but got tired of working 65hrs+/week, all my hard-earned $$$ going to rent, and traffic and riding the damn BART.

So back in AZ, making same money for less work, back with family/friends, in process of buying a new house and paying less in my mortgage than my rent over there....priceless!!

Anyways, looking to build a pool along with the construction of the house to save $$$. Any builders you guys recommend? Also, salt vs chlorine-based pools? I know salt pools still technically have chlorine but what are the dis/advantages to owning a salt pool? I keep reading that they are less to maintain but it's not always the case. Input?

[omle]

I have had chorine pools and they were lots of work. Hope you get some answers here.

Glad you are back! Love me some SF, but PHX is nice.

[Ponderosa]

Salt's great if you are going to be gone often or just don't want to be concerned about chlorine levels. They do take maintenance though. Mine needs to be manually cleaned (soaked in a weak hydrochloric acid bath) about once a month. The element goes out too and is expensive to replace. Also the pH gradually rises with the salt pool and you have to be adding acid, though with a new pool you'll be going through acid like crazy anyway. Using the big tabs which are acidic seemed to keep my pH in line, but since I went salt, I have had to dump acid in from time to time.

Overall, quite nice to have. I converted mine a little over a year ago and never had a "green" day since - a first for me. I would definitely go that way on a new build. You can always use tabs if you don't like it.

[azriverfan.]

I prefer chlorine. Salt water pools are more prestigious and nicer. However, Ponderosa nicely detailed why you shouldn't get a salt water pool: high maintenance! Furthermore, you can get deals on pool maintenance now so the cost of maintaining a chlorine pool isn't much. I pay a guy $80 a month and that includes all chemicals, maintenance and cleaning. I don't pay extra for anything. And you can get better deals than that right now. And if you have time, maintaining and cleaning your pool is not expensive any longer because chemicals are cheaper for two reasons. First, there are so many places that sell chemicals whereas that wasn't always the case years ago. And you can buy chemicals in bulk from Costco and Sams.