In ground pool, what do you have?

[DawnM]

In an attempt to prep myself for things IF we get this house (or any house without a pool already there), we are looking at pool instal.

What do you have?

What do you wish you had (if you prefer something other than what you have OR you would like a pool and don't currently have one)?

We are going to stay around $50k which does limit the size/type of pool.   We currently have a gunite pool that was here when we moved in.   It is fine, but I have been told the previous owners paid $90k for it!   That is insane, it is a small pool with a lot of space for lounge chairs that takes up precious swim space and then another ledge with a fountain that takes up more swim space, and the pool is already small an only goes to 6' in depth.

We will prob be looking at a liner pool or a fiberglass pool.   DH says the liner pool is more customizable and easier to fix if the liner needs replacing, but I would love to hear some first hand accounts.

I also have found out we can get a plain (no customizing) rectangular concrete pool for around that price if we go small enough.

thoughts?

Oh, and another question.   I am assuming Fall is the best time to look at an install for pricing and availability of workers?   But I could be wrong.   Do you know?

 

[Kidlit]

We have an in-ground, "salt-water" pool--with a liner.   It's our first and only pool, so I have nothing to compare it to, but we're happy with it.  It's just a regular rectangular shape 1/3 shallow-2/3 deep (ish) ratio.  
 

my only warning is that beagle puppies and exposed pool plumbing don't mix 😩🤣

[Katy]

We don’t have one right now, but we discussed one with a beach entry large shallow area with a swim lane on the far side. Not until the littlest 2 can be trusted to follow rules about water safety though. 

I’ve heard family in Florida complain about fiberglass pools floating up out of the ground when it flooded. And a friend in California complained about her gunite pool because it cracked when they had a very small earthquake. But honestly she’s had a ton of trouble with that house, to the extent that it might 100% be a builder problem. I haven’t heard anyone complain about a vinyl lining one since I was a kid and my dad’s friend complained about the expense of needing to replace it every year, but honestly idk any other family that’s had that problem. Maybe it was them. 

I guess all of which to say, they all have problems. 

[catz]

My parents had a vinyl lining pool for many years.  They replaced the lining once and honestly they were getting ready to sell so it was more an asthetic choice than a functional one.  The old one was still fine.  

[wintermom]

We had an above ground pool that came with the house when we bought it. I'm suspecting that it was above ground due to the fact that we live on rock in our neighbourhood. My sil just installed a new pool that is partially above and below ground for the same reason - lots of rock! 

When we had our pool, it was a chlorine system, which we eventually moved to salf water - easier to balance and less burn-off in hot weather. Plus nicer on the skin. 

Our biggest issue can with the deciduous trees located close to the pool. As the trees grew, there was more and more organic matter landing in the pool which made it harder and harder to balance, there was more cleaning to do, and more shade (which kept the pool cooler when we would have preferred the sun to warm it more). We're in a northern climate and didn't want a heater.

The electricity costs are pretty high with a pool, as I'm sure you're aware. We are happy that we could have our above ground pool quickly and easily removed and sold when the kids were no longer using it and when we were tired of trying to keep it clean and the water balanced.

It's also nice to have a yard where we aren't constantly on "high alert" of the water hazard. Good fencing is only as effective as the monitoring of the area - you also need to ensure the gates are closed and locked and no one sneaks into the area when you're away.  

[Heartstrings]

I have a liner pool.   I don’t love the liner, I’d rather have a solid one.   The landscaping is bad so my liner floats if it rains hard and it’s very stressful.  We have built in sump pumps but they aren’t sized right so we’ve had to add additional pumps.  
 

I’d probably prefer salt to my regular chlorine. 
 

Honestly I don’t think I’d build one if the house didn’t come with it.  I’d rather have a large hot tub.  Less stressful.  

[mmasc]

I want a pool so, so bad and have done a little bit of research on it. My current takeaway is that I’d prefer fiberglass with saltwater. Fiberglass seems the easiest and most durable, and saltwater is my preference bc chlorine gives me a headache. 

[Grace Hopper]

I’ve had pools with liner and with concrete. It’s been a while though. In my memory the liner pool was generally warmer and easier to keep clean. Others  mmv, though. We found it helpful to get a pool sweep a step up from what was normally recommended for the size of the pool, it just did the job better. 
 

Were I to install one today, I’d probably opt for a saline pool with a liner and mechanical pool cover. Pricey but worth it for health and safety and peace of mind. 

[Terabith]

Okay, I have an honest question.  I love swimming, and I go to the pool at the Y almost every day, but I kind of don't understand the appeal of having your own pool in your own yard.  What is the appeal?  

[mmasc]

3 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Okay, I have an honest question.  I love swimming, and I go to the pool at the Y almost every day, but I kind of don't understand the appeal of having your own pool in your own yard.  What is the appeal?  

For us, it would be 1) the nearest pool is over a half hour away (one way) and 2) triple digit temps for at least sixty days in a row and just an overall LONG, HOT pool season makes it desirable. And if I needed a 3) there isn’t a Y here. 🙂

[Terabith]

Just now, mmasc said:

For us, it would be 1) the nearest pool is over a half hour away (one way) and 2) triple digit temps for at least sixty days in a row and just an overall LONG, HOT pool season makes it desirable. And if I needed a 3) there isn’t a Y here. 🙂

Okay, that is an excellent reason!

[Katy]

10 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Okay, I have an honest question.  I love swimming, and I go to the pool at the Y almost every day, but I kind of don't understand the appeal of having your own pool in your own yard.  What is the appeal?  

No Y here. Country clubs are more expensive than pools. The public pool is crowded, in an inconvenient location I must drive to, and so understaffed they sometimes close for not having enough lifeguards. They take hourly 10-15 minute breaks where everyone must get out of the pool, frustrating everyone. Having one in the backyard makes our house a natural hangout place for neighborhood kids, which we prefer to kids going who knows where. And pools wear out kids. They burn off all their energy, get along better, sleep better, and are generally happier and more compliant. And with a pool we can keep our house at a hotter summer temperatures than we can without one.  Hot?!? Go for a swim and cool off!

[livetoread]

I wouldn't want a pool, but I understand the appeal if you want to swim a lot. Our outdoor public pool gets super crowded and when it's hot, you end up swimming in water that is warm and greasy from all the bodies. I'm not particularly squeamish but that's gross.

[ikslo]

23 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Okay, I have an honest question.  I love swimming, and I go to the pool at the Y almost every day, but I kind of don't understand the appeal of having your own pool in your own yard.  What is the appeal?  

I don’t have to shave to use my pool.  I also don’t have to people.

We have gunite, salt water. I love it but it’s a weird shape and if I were putting one in (this one came with the house) I would opt for one with a built in retractable cover. Also our lanai is screened in but the pool is not. Again, the shape of the pool and the patio make this undoable atm. It would be nice to be able to use the pool more in the evenings but the bugs in Florida at dusk prohibit us from doing a lot of night swimming. But we have a cool underwater pool light for when we feel like taking our chances. 

[Scarlett]

At our last house we had a very cool shaped older gunite pool with a sitting ledge in the deep end. Nice wide steps on the shallow end. We repainted it and sealed it when we first bought…..it had been neglected for years.   What I did not like there was not enough pool deck around it. We bought a new pump and filter when we lived there too.

This house has a regular rectangular liner pool. Fabulous huge pool deck with a pool house.  But the pool is harder to keep clean. This may have some to do with the pump which Dh says needs replaced.  

[Nart]

We have a concrete pool with plaster and it is a salt water pool. I would never have paid to put in the pool and if I had my choice instead I would prefer a really nice sports court.

Most of the year the pool is a pain. I live a couple miles from the beach and my kids prefer to surf or hang out at the beach. There are days that they have had a lot of fun and those days it has been great, but they are kids who like having a pool but not kids who absolutely love the pool and would spend the entire day and evening in the pool It is often overcast and not warm enough to swim. I never liked it when my boys had kids over that I didn't know well because you can't ever leave kids unattended in the pool. When they were really young and I didn't hear them for a while and they didn't answer me the first time when I called for them,  I would run out to the pool area to make sure they hadn't gotten over the fence. When our dog was a puppy she fell into the pool a couple of times and luckily we were there to fish out the puppy when she fell in. 

[popmom]

6 hours ago, mmasc said:

I want a pool so, so bad and have done a little bit of research on it. My current takeaway is that I’d prefer fiberglass with saltwater. Fiberglass seems the easiest and most durable, and saltwater is my preference bc chlorine gives me a headache. 

This has been my conclusion, too. Dh and I really want one, but it's just not in the budget during this season of our lives. 

Saltwater pools still have chlorine though. It's just generated in the filtration system. And you don't have to actually deal with the chemicals.

I think the problems with fiberglass pools in Florida are due to the water table being high. 

[Kidlit]

7 hours ago, Terabith said:

Okay, I have an honest question.  I love swimming, and I go to the pool at the Y almost every day, but I kind of don't understand the appeal of having your own pool in your own yard.  What is the appeal?  

1. I always wanted one, though I have always had enough relatives and friends with one that we could usually swim most any day of the week. It's nice to be able to just walk out into our backyard and not have to pack up to go anywhere. 
2.  It's HOT where we live--my younger kids swim almost daily (with the exception being bad weather or we're not at home) from mid-May until around the end of September. 
3. We don't have a YMCA in our county, and the city pool has a pretty exorbitant membership fee (it's basically a country club). 

the most important reason is I've always wanted one. LOL

 

[Terabith]

I definitely feel very lucky and grateful that I have two YMCAs within 15 minutes of my house, both with two pools each.  They each have a lap swimming pool and a family pool for playing and shallow water exercise classes.  

[KungFuPanda]

I have 23 pools within 15 minutes of my house; plus 4 indoor pools.  Membership is a lot less expensive than owning. A pool in my yard would make zero sense. My kids grew up at these pools. Usually we walked to the one that’s almost across the street. We didn’t even cross the street to get there. We have a paved bike path that has a tunnel under the road leading to the pool. We always met friends there and appreciated the neutral territory. Nobody had to host and if your kid had a meltdown and needed to go home it wasn’t awkward for the friends to stay and swim. I never wanted the upkeep, legal responsibility, or to be on high alert with safety. I absolutely get the appeal though. It’s so calming just to lounge by a pool and read even if your season isn’t super long or hot. 
 

My mom has a huge above ground pool that’s 35 years old and level with a side deck. She’s gotten a lot of use out of it over the years and truly enjoys it almost any day it’s warm enough. She lives rurally and it would be a drive to get to the nearest YMCA. The grandkids that live nearby are in it all summer long. 

[CTVKath]

We have a salt-water, vinyl liner in-ground pool and we love it. We've replaced the liner once in 15 years, the pump twice and the salt-cell every few years. The only thing I'd change is to add permanent shade. We currently use umbrellas and a canopy and replace those every few years which is cheaper than building something permanent.

We don't have a neighborhood pool but there are 2 pools we could join about 25-30 minutes away. The beauty of a backyard pool? We can jump any time we want to jump in.......even multiple times a day. I don't have to worry about hot parking lots, exhausted kids, hauling a boat load of junk or expensive purchased snacks. We can have friends and family over without paying guest fees and we can have a party any time we want without having to rent anything. 

Another perk to a backyard pool is being able to use it off season. In the spring, we open it as soon as the yellow dust pollen is done. In the fall, we wait as long as we can before closing. We have a heater and we're always hoping to heat it one last time for my husband's October 5th birthday.

[DawnM]

21 hours ago, wintermom said:

We had an above ground pool that came with the house when we bought it. I'm suspecting that it was above ground due to the fact that we live on rock in our neighbourhood. My sil just installed a new pool that is partially above and below ground for the same reason - lots of rock! 

When we had our pool, it was a chlorine system, which we eventually moved to salf water - easier to balance and less burn-off in hot weather. Plus nicer on the skin. 

Our biggest issue can with the deciduous trees located close to the pool. As the trees grew, there was more and more organic matter landing in the pool which made it harder and harder to balance, there was more cleaning to do, and more shade (which kept the pool cooler when we would have preferred the sun to warm it more). We're in a northern climate and didn't want a heater.

The electricity costs are pretty high with a pool, as I'm sure you're aware. We are happy that we could have our above ground pool quickly and easily removed and sold when the kids were no longer using it and when we were tired of trying to keep it clean and the water balanced.

It's also nice to have a yard where we aren't constantly on "high alert" of the water hazard. Good fencing is only as effective as the monitoring of the area - you also need to ensure the gates are closed and locked and no one sneaks into the area when you're away.  

Yes, our last house came with an above ground and it was a large one they paid over $7k for.   We enjoyed it, but it really made me want an in-ground.

We now have an in ground in this house.   We love it and want one in the next house, but def. don't want to pay what the previous owners of our house paid.

[DawnM]

4 minutes ago, CTVKath said:

We have a salt-water, vinyl liner in-ground pool and we love it. We've replaced the liner once in 15 years, the pump twice and the salt-cell every few years. The only thing I'd change is to add permanent shade. We currently use umbrellas and a canopy and replace those every few years which is cheaper than building something permanent.

We don't have a neighborhood pool but there are 2 pools we could join about 25-30 minutes away. The beauty of a backyard pool? We can jump any time we want to jump in.......even multiple times a day. I don't have to worry about hot parking lots, exhausted kids, hauling a boat load of junk or expensive purchased snacks. We can have friends and family over without paying guest fees and we can have a party any time we want without having to rent anything. 

Another perk to a backyard pool is being able to use it off season. In the spring, we open it as soon as the yellow dust pollen is done. In the fall, we wait as long as we can before closing. We have a heater and we're always hoping to heat it one last time for my husband's October 5th birthday.

OH MY GOSH!  How funny.   My husband's birthday is also October 5th!

What kind of permanent shade are you thinking?   Like those sun shade things?   

[DawnM]

52 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I have 23 pools within 15 minutes of my house; plus 4 indoor pools.  Membership is a lot less expensive than owning. A pool in my yard would make zero sense. My kids grew up at these pools. Usually we walked to the one that’s almost across the street. We didn’t even cross the street to get there. We have a paved bike path that has a tunnel under the road leading to the pool. We always met friends there and appreciated the neutral territory. Nobody had to host and if your kid had a meltdown and needed to go home it wasn’t awkward for the friends to stay and swim. I never wanted the upkeep, legal responsibility, or to be on high alert with safety. I absolutely get the appeal though. It’s so calming just to lounge by a pool and read even if your season isn’t super long or hot. 
 

My mom has a huge above ground pool that’s 35 years old and level with a side deck. She’s gotten a lot of use out of it over the years and truly enjoys it almost any day it’s warm enough. She lives rurally and it would be a drive to get to the nearest YMCA. The grandkids that live nearby are in it all summer long. 

LOL, we still want our own pool.   And we will be getting one.   I have no interest in swimming in a pool with 50 other random people and competing for a table/lounge chair and having to talk to people I don't know.   Seriously, I think I have a target on my back that says, "I would love to listen to your opinion on virtually anything, please come talk to me and tell me all about yourself" 🤣.   We have had pools in our previous homes and know we def. want our own pool at our own house.

[DawnM]

17 hours ago, Terabith said:

Okay, I have an honest question.  I love swimming, and I go to the pool at the Y almost every day, but I kind of don't understand the appeal of having your own pool in your own yard.  What is the appeal?  

Oh, let me count the ways!

1. It is really peaceful to sit out by the water even if I don't go in.

2. I love just floating around in a float that isn't allowed at many community pools.   

3. The squealing and screaming and loudness of the YMCA is overwhelming to me

4. I hate having to talk to people I don't know and they ALL seem to want to come up to me while I am reading/lounging/even talking on the phone.

5. I love the peace/quite/serene backyard of my own house

6. I don't have to lug anything or anyone, I simply walk out the back door

7.  I don't feel that comfortable in a swimsuit in public

8. I want to "hang out" in the pool and I have had so many instances where I am trying to just be in the water talking to another adult and the kids start splashing/yelling/horse play around us like we aren't even there.

9. Privacy!

10. I don't have to plan.   If I feel like taking a dip, I do, I don't have to drive 20 min. to a swim club.

I am sure there are many, many, many more reasons, but I will simply NOT go to a public pool if I don't have to.

[DawnM]

20 hours ago, Heartstrings said:

I have a liner pool.   I don’t love the liner, I’d rather have a solid one.   The landscaping is bad so my liner floats if it rains hard and it’s very stressful.  We have built in sump pumps but they aren’t sized right so we’ve had to add additional pumps.  
 

I’d probably prefer salt to my regular chlorine. 
 

Honestly I don’t think I’d build one if the house didn’t come with it.  I’d rather have a large hot tub.  Less stressful.  

My husband would like a hot tub.   I can't stand them.   I start getting overheated and have heart palpitations within 15 min.   

[wintermom]

17 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Oh, let me count the ways!

1. It is really peaceful to sit out by the water even if I don't go in.

2. I love just floating around in a float that isn't allowed at many community pools.   

3. The squealing and screaming and loudness of the YMCA is overwhelming to me

4. I hate having to talk to people I don't know and they ALL seem to want to come up to me while I am reading/lounging/even talking on the phone.

5. I love the peace/quite/serene backyard of my own house

6. I don't have to lug anything or anyone, I simply walk out the back door

7.  I don't feel that comfortable in a swimsuit in public

8. I want to "hang out" in the pool and I have had so many instances where I am trying to just be in the water talking to another adult and the kids start splashing/yelling/horse play around us like we aren't even there.

9. Privacy!

10. I don't have to plan.   If I feel like taking a dip, I do, I don't have to drive 20 min. to a swim club.

I am sure there are many, many, many more reasons, but I will simply NOT go to a public pool if I don't have to.

These are all great reasons to have your own pool. I have to admit that my vacation in Costa Rica was even more enjoyable due to our private, little pool at our Airbnb. It was pretty and relaxing to look at everyday, and wonderful to lounge in to cool off. If I lived in a hot and humid region, I'd love a little pool. Who cares about swimming laps - there are many other reasons to have a pool.

I've also been noticing different types of "natural pools" that are built into the hardscape/landscape plan of houses. They look like natural water holes or natural pools under a waterfall, and they look fantastic! That's my dream pool.

https://www.quietnature.ca/portfolio/natural-swimming-pools/

[KungFuPanda]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

LOL, we still want our own pool.   And we will be getting one.   I have no interest in swimming in a pool with 50 other random people and competing for a table/lounge chair and having to talk to people I don't know.   Seriously, I think I have a target on my back that says, "I would love to listen to your opinion on virtually anything, please come talk to me and tell me all about yourself" 🤣.   We have had pools in our previous homes and know we def. want our own pool at our own house.

I do get the appeal. Mom loves her pool and doesn’t mind the work at all even though it doesn’t get really hot where she lives. She thrives on people coming over all the time too.  In hotter places I can see where it’s even more desirable.
 

I went through a phase where I watched all of those swim pond videos and they’re beautiful. I even looked at the plunge pool videos and they are super neat. I might have considered that, but now I have a grandchild and it’s not a good idea for us. They’re soooo pretty and calming though. You should definitely get one and post pretty, calming photos for us. 

[Annie G]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

Oh, let me count the ways!

1. It is really peaceful to sit out by the water even if I don't go in.

2. I love just floating around in a float that isn't allowed at many community pools.   

3. The squealing and screaming and loudness of the YMCA is overwhelming to me

4. I hate having to talk to people I don't know and they ALL seem to want to come up to me while I am reading/lounging/even talking on the phone.

5. I love the peace/quite/serene backyard of my own house

6. I don't have to lug anything or anyone, I simply walk out the back door

7.  I don't feel that comfortable in a swimsuit in public

8. I want to "hang out" in the pool and I have had so many instances where I am trying to just be in the water talking to another adult and the kids start splashing/yelling/horse play around us like we aren't even there.

9. Privacy!

10. I don't have to plan.   If I feel like taking a dip, I do, I don't have to drive 20 min. to a swim club.

I am sure there are many, many, many more reasons, but I will simply NOT go to a public pool if I don't have to.

All of those reasons PLUS you can use your own bathroom and change in the privacy of your own house. And run in for a poolside snack if you want one rather than lugging it in a cooler or buying at at a concession stand. 

[Tenaj]

21 hours ago, mmasc said:

For us, it would be 1) the nearest pool is over a half hour away (one way) and 2) triple digit temps for at least sixty days in a row and just an overall LONG, HOT pool season makes it desirable. And if I needed a 3) there isn’t a Y here. 🙂

For us it's the convenience of being able to go swim for 15 minutes or five or whatever with no travel time.  Quick dips are the way we like to swim.

[popmom]

I have a question for the pool owners. 
 

Do you have an umbrella policy? How much did your homeowners insurance go up?

[DawnM]

17 minutes ago, popmom said:

I have a question for the pool owners. 
 

Do you have an umbrella policy? How much did your homeowners insurance go up?

I don't think we have anything extra, we just had to have a fence around it for protection.   

When we were fostering a 2 year old, we had to put up gates at each door so Andrew couldn't get out to the area.   

[CTVKath]

4 hours ago, DawnM said:

My husband would like a hot tub.   I can't stand them.   I start getting overheated and have heart palpitations within 15 min.   

I agree with you on the hot tub. I might use it once in spring and once in fall and that's about it. Except when it snows. If it's snowing, we jump into the hot tub while holding umbrellas. However I'm in Georgia so that only happens about once a decade.

[CTVKath]

4 hours ago, DawnM said:

OH MY GOSH!  How funny.   My husband's birthday is also October 5th!

What kind of permanent shade are you thinking?   Like those sun shade things?   

That's awesome! October 5th is a great day for birthdays! 🙂

We use a 10x10 canopy that has extending sides over the shallow end of our pool over the steps because it is hot, hot, hot, hot and humid here. We take it down over winter but it only makes about 2 summers before needing to be replaced. The legs are either buried or secured with concrete blocks but even so, we've had them go in the pool several times during thunderstorms and microbursts. What I'd love to add is a wood pergola about the same size over the steps and that end of the pool deck that has a removable sunbrella-type fabric shade cover so it could be removed completely in winter and temporarily secured during bad weather. The canopy does its job though and it's a lot cheaper.

[Ottakee]

7 hours ago, DawnM said:

My husband would like a hot tub.   I can't stand them.   I start getting overheated and have heart palpitations within 15 min.   

You can lower the temp on hot tubs.  Winter mine is 101-102 and now that it is warmer it is 95°.   I love it but I know not everyone does

[Rosla]

We all know that it is great to have a pool. I've recently found the article about its benefits here and it was mentioned that pools can increase the value of your property. To be honest, I didn't think about that.

Anyway, this year we finally decided to buy a pool. But we can't choose between in-ground and above-ground. I like the way the in-ground one looks more, but the above-ground is easier and cheaper to install.

Why did you choose exactly in-ground pools?

Edited July 19, 2023 by Rosla

[Heartstrings]

2 hours ago, Rosla said:

We all know that it is great to have a pool. I've recently found the article about its benefits and it was mentioned that pools can increase the value of your property. To be honest, I didn't think about that.

Anyway, this year we finally decided to buy a pool. But we can't choose between in-ground and above-ground. I like the way the in-ground one looks more, but the above-ground is easier and cheaper to install.

Why did you choose exactly in-ground pools?

I didn't put in our in ground pool, it came with the house that I wanted.  We have issues with it every time we get a good downpour because the yard wasn't graded properly and doesn't drain properly.  We have in ground sump pumps that help some but they get overwhelmed a few times a year and cause our liner to float.  I'm not sure if it would affect a concrete pool.  So definitely factor that in when making your decision, you want good landscapers who can grade or put in the proper drains and pumps and around it.  And definitely have your waste/backwash tied in to your sewer if possible so you aren't flooding your yard or the neighbors yard every time you need to drain some or backwash. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by Heartstrings