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For those of you who are familiar with in-ground pools in the Indy area, what would you say is the most common type of in-ground back yard swimming pool? I know concrete (a.k.a. gunite) are the most expensive, and I see them in real estate listings on some very high-end homes (and some, maybe most community pools), but are vinyl liner pools more the norm?
Most of the ones I have seen in any personal homes in neighborhoods I've lived in or near on the Westside or Southside, have typically been concrete in their entirety. I have never personally seen any vinyl liner in ground pools at individual homes. The only vinyl one I know of was a community pool my aunt and uncle had in their condo complex over 15 years ago. Our current neighborhood pool is concrete and the one I grew up in was concrete too. Maybe not super helpful, but just what I've observed.
I know two people with vinyl liner pools. One had a family connection and their pool was 25ish years old before they moved. I know the liner was really faded and I think they eventually got a new one, but didn't have any issues for many, many years with the original liner. The other person has had some issues recently. They hired one company who didn't do it correctly but it still worked. However, they had a tear develop a year or two later and needed a whole new liner. While talking about it on social media, another person chimed in that they got a liner one year, and the next year a some animal dug so deep and then up, it tore a hole in the liner. Maybe that person didn't have a proper base?
You might want to consider fiberglass. I've seen these more and more in recent years. There is a manufacturing facility in Fortville (NE of the city). I only know of one family who purchased one, but that is through a relative and I'm not sure how their pool worked out for them.
Most of the concrete pools I've seen are either part of very high end homes or community pools. The costs though get to be spread over the entire neighborhood with the community pool, so I can see why a housing builder might choose to go with concrete.
A lot of pool issues can be due to installation. Research the company you hire very carefully. Pool companies that do well cleaning and maintaining pools might not do so well installing pools, and vise versa. You can check for civil lawsuits at mycase.in.gov Use Indiana's Secretary of State business search for all names associated with the company. When you do the civil lawsuit search, use all personal names as well as the company name.
One relative of mine had a smaller, circular above ground pool. He is very handy and built an amazing deck around it. Another friend from high school had a similar pool. I felt there was nothing wrong with either of these builds. They were just as nice as any in-ground pool. If allowed on your property, you might consider an above ground pool with a nice deck built around it.
A lot of pool issues can be due to installation. Research the company you hire very carefully. Pool companies that do well cleaning and maintaining pools might not do so well installing pools, and vise versa. You can check for civil lawsuits at mycase.in.gov Use Indiana's Secretary of State business search for all names associated with the company. When you do the civil lawsuit search, use all personal names as well as the company name.
Thanks for this info! I'll keep it on hand if/when.
Funny that Westside Mac sees mostly concrete pools in personal homes. Most people I know with an inground pool select one with a vinyl liner. I see concrete pools at apartment complexes or community pools. I'm not a fan of fiber glass pools in Indiana and have seen a few that popped out of the ground with winter freezing/thawing cycles.
We've had a inground vinyl liner pool for 20 years. There was a small rip once that was repaired by our pool guy. We've replaced the liner once. There are different thicknesses available. We've selected the thickest grade.
We chose vinyl as it was a do-it-yourself project. We contracted out excavating, electrical and concrete work of course, but my husband and brother-in-law built the pool structure and did the plumbing for the filters. We found a local pool guy that did some final work on it. I'm really happy we have it this summer since we're still staying home.
BTW--there is a pool company I would recommend in the Indianapolis area. Since our original pool maintenance guy retired we've used them for opening/closing, and they replaced the liner. I'm happy to send you the name should you want it.
So my friends had an outdoor Forth of July party yesterday. Their vinyl pool is older, about 35 years or so. One set of parents purchased the home with the pool, then the kids purchased the home from the parents. A few things my friend mentioned about the pool: Their brand new liner was thousands of dollars and basically he figures ten years for replacement. They are on city water with a fire hydrant in their yard, however, the local water company only allows for fill-ups at certain hydrants, basically requiring one to hire a water truck company. He was able to make a deal for cash but also used his hose because the deal he made didn't completely fill the pool.
It is possible in some areas to have a company tap into the main line and they can provide a connection if someone with a pool wants to run say a 2" line to their yard near the pool. Given how much the initial cost was to fill the pool, this would likely pay for itself quickly. At the cash price deal, it might take a few years longer, but still sounds like it would pay for itself eventually.
In discussions with others, most people aren't going to do a pool because they are just too costly. My friend said that some years, for whatever reason, it takes a lot more chemicals to get the pool read. Other years, not so much. A few folks even commented how they're neighbors are actually filling their pools in.
Never thought about the fiberglass issue, but one of the guys at the party who works construction said if they ever got one he was thinking fiberglass only because him and some buddies could rent the equipment and install it on their own.
The consensuses is that in-ground pools are very costly initially, and very costly to maintain. Plus, it was said that our climate doesn't return a good rate of return. I had a relative who about five or so years ago was looking to buy a house. He wanted one with a pool already built because he knew how much it costs and was hoping to save some money by basically buying used. The problem was he was always out bid, sometimes substantially. His realtor told him that there is always a core group of buyers looking for a home with a pool. Knowing that a pool would costs $50K+ new, if the original asking price is mostly fair, they will easily offer $10K more as an additional incentive.
I believe with where things are economically in this country, we've gotten to a stage where in-ground pools are becoming more and more cost prohibitive for most people. However, when people come into money, get a surprise bonus, kid goes military route instead of college, etc., people might be more inclined to build a pool. One person did say that their neighbors did have a pool installed (didn't say what kind) and that the dirt dug for the new pool was used by another neighbor to fill their pool.
This was pretty informative, but I'll note something I saw on a YouTube video. In this blog link, they talk about stainless steel sides of a vinyl pool. In the YouTube video I watched, the guy cautioned using metal siding if one is planning on going the salt water route.
Yes chemicals and filling the pool get costly. It really depends on the weather. Im not sure how it is for other states but with how up and down our weather can get its hard to judge from year to year. Too much rain or too many days of hot sun with no rain can throw the chemicals off. Let alone if you leave for a week's vacation. We had some summers where we spent about $100 at the beginning of the season and didn't have to really buy any more chemicals after that. Other years it was closer to 250 or more throughout summer. That was an aboveground pool mind you, but still. When we bought our new house we looked at HOA fee since there's a community pool and between pool and other amenities we figure that was easier and less work on our part and cost us about the same or less than what we were doing when we had a pool. But obviously you have limits to privacy and access with community vs personal pools.
I don't know lots of people with below ground pools mostly community or above ground. Just what I've observed was more concrete. But yes the ones i saw were all in indy bubble suburbs (Carmel and Brownsburg are my experiences) where there is a little more money that can be spent on the more expensive concrete pools.
So my friends had an outdoor Forth of July party yesterday. Their vinyl pool is older, about 35 years or so. One set of parents purchased the home with the pool, then the kids purchased the home from the parents. A few things my friend mentioned about the pool: Their brand new liner was thousands of dollars and basically he figures ten years for replacement. They are on city water with a fire hydrant in their yard, however, the local water company only allows for fill-ups at certain hydrants, basically requiring one to hire a water truck company. He was able to make a deal for cash but also used his hose because the deal he made didn't completely fill the pool.
It is possible in some areas to have a company tap into the main line and they can provide a connection if someone with a pool wants to run say a 2" line to their yard near the pool. Given how much the initial cost was to fill the pool, this would likely pay for itself quickly. At the cash price deal, it might take a few years longer, but still sounds like it would pay for itself eventually.
In discussions with others, most people aren't going to do a pool because they are just too costly. My friend said that some years, for whatever reason, it takes a lot more chemicals to get the pool read. Other years, not so much. A few folks even commented how they're neighbors are actually filling their pools in.
Never thought about the fiberglass issue, but one of the guys at the party who works construction said if they ever got one he was thinking fiberglass only because him and some buddies could rent the equipment and install it on their own.
The consensuses is that in-ground pools are very costly initially, and very costly to maintain. Plus, it was said that our climate doesn't return a good rate of return. I had a relative who about five or so years ago was looking to buy a house. He wanted one with a pool already built because he knew how much it costs and was hoping to save some money by basically buying used. The problem was he was always out bid, sometimes substantially. His realtor told him that there is always a core group of buyers looking for a home with a pool. Knowing that a pool would costs $50K+ new, if the original asking price is mostly fair, they will easily offer $10K more as an additional incentive.
I believe with where things are economically in this country, we've gotten to a stage where in-ground pools are becoming more and more cost prohibitive for most people. However, when people come into money, get a surprise bonus, kid goes military route instead of college, etc., people might be more inclined to build a pool. One person did say that their neighbors did have a pool installed (didn't say what kind) and that the dirt dug for the new pool was used by another neighbor to fill their pool.
This was pretty informative, but I'll note something I saw on a YouTube video. In this blog link, they talk about stainless steel sides of a vinyl pool. In the YouTube video I watched, the guy cautioned using metal siding if one is planning on going the salt water route.
If I remember correctly the sides of our pools are not metal. It's a heavy plastic about 4 inches thick. Husband ordered everything online 20 years ago. It was kind of like putting together legos. If your friend has any skills I'd look at the online vinyl pools. A truck delivered everything. We just had to move the pieces to the backyard.
Husband wanted to fill it in about 8 years ago. I talked him out of it. We're very happy to have it this summer since we can't vacation really. It's making staying at home much easier for now.
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