Does anyone have a pool in their yard?

surprise3rd

One of the houses we are looking at has a pool in the yard, it is in ground, but screened in completely and attached to the house.  I am trying to convince DH that the maintanence will be considerable less since we won't have to skim, clean leaves etc. and there won't be the same frogs, snakes and yes alligators...we live in South Carolina...as there would be if it was not screened in. 

So my question is really how much work is an in ground pool if you are really just worried about the chemical balance?   I could be completely nieve since I have never had a pool before.  Thanks.

canhardlywait1

I would say it is work, but none that I do: )  We hire a company to come in and open and close it ($250 for each).  Chemicals for the year cost about $300.  We have a little robot that vacuums and my husband vacuums as well.  We skim more in the spring/fall when the trees are shedding or after a windy storm, mush less skimming mid summer.  We live in Mass and the weather is ok, but what makes it worth it for us (and super expensive) is heating it!.  We have a propane heater and probably spend $1000 a season heating.  We can start swimming in May and stop at the end of September.  We like it warm: )  Another cost is electricity to run the pump - it runs us about $400/mo!

My kids live in the pool and we have people over all of the time.  Neither of us grew up with a pool so it was eye opening for us!

Littlejen22

If you get a GOOD automatic vacuum it is a lot easier.  Also, do they have chlorine or salt?  If you convert to salt that is also MUCH easier.  You still need to vacuum regularly b/c a pool can turn green.  They are a lot of work but screened would have benefits.

surprise3rd

canhardlywait1:

I would say it is work, but none that I do: )  We hire a company to come in and open and close it ($250 for each).  Chemicals for the year cost about $300.  We have a little robot that vacuums and my husband vacuums as well.  We skim more in the spring/fall when the trees are shedding or after a windy storm, mush less skimming mid summer.  We live in Mass and the weather is ok, but what makes it worth it for us (and super expensive) is heating it!.  We have a propane heater and probably spend $1000 a season heating.  We can start swimming in May and stop at the end of September.  We like it warm: )  Another cost is electricity to run the pump - it runs us about $400/mo!

My kids live in the pool and we have people over all of the time.  Neither of us grew up with a pool so it was eye opening for us!

Thanks...quick question $400/mo for electric total or in addition to the electric for the whole house?

Ciarrai

Yup.  Like everyone else said, get a good vacuum and if it's salt, it's totally easy.  We buy salt every few months and some other chemicals (acid and conditioner).  No idea what they run bc DH usually buys them but I know I don't notice them as a drastic increase on the cc statement or anything.  A lot of friends (especially ones without salt pools) have a pool service.  They come every week or two and check the chemicals, clean it out (though you need to in between) and take care of all that.  I think when we looked into it, it was like $40/mo.  We clean out the vacuum and skimmer basket a few times a week (basically every time we're outside), but we have trees over our pool.

FWIW - We LOVE LOVE LOVE our pool.  The kids are in it at least once a day and often multiple times a day from about mid-April/early May through mid October or so.  Our pool is heated and it's a gas heater.  We have heated it a few times and heated our spa even more often.  It's not a huge blip on the gas bill or anything. 

surprise3rd

I am trying so hard to sell DH on this pool thing.  He is not interested at all.  Living in SC we use a pool from mid march to october.  Right now the neighborhood we live in has a small pool we love, but if we end up leaving this tiny sub-division we would have to go to a HUGE community pool which does not interest me.  Thanks for all the imput.

Bellisimo

We have a salt water pool with a Polaris and we still have the pool people come weekly to treat it and clean it (even during winter months).  It's heated, so we use it roughly 9 mo. out of the year, but it's work.  Even with the pool company coming weekly to maintain it, we still have to clean it in between times, regulate the Polaris and the overflow drain, etc.  When we use the gas heater, it's definitely reflected in the gas bill...but that's not a problem.  If we only have to heat it a few times a year, that's nothing.  Just something to consider.  The only thing about it is that we HAD to TRIPLE QUADRUPLE secure it with fencing that the kids absolutely cannot get through for obvious reasons.  Even though DS is a relatively strong swimmer, DD is not yet and regardless, we would NEVER want the kids to have access to it without our supervision.  So, it's completely surrounded by iron fencing with no exterior doors leading out of the house to the pool area.

Bride2b2004

We have a pool.  We love it.  DH and I always talk about how we love that we can take a vacation every weekend in the summer right here at home.   If you are pool people, having a pool is great and well worth the trouble.  Like a PP mentioned, we have an iron fence that goes just around our pool, that has only one gate and is inaccessible for children.  surprise3rd:So my question is really how much work is an in ground pool if you are really just worried about the chemical balance?   I could be completely nieve since I have never had a pool before.  Thanks.Well, since you never had one, you will need to research and understand chlorine, ph and how the chemicals work.  If you aren't knowledgeable and don't stay on top of it, owning a pool can be expensive and maintaining the balance can be tricky.  However, google is your friend and if you are willing to learn, it won't be tough.  Once you have your pool in balance, it is really a matter of adding chlorine every other day and vacuuming (or throwing in the auto vac) when necessary.