NBR: Pool owners

blue_elle · May 2014

Anyone have a pool? We're house hunting and found one with everything we're looking for (on paper at least, haven't seen in person yet), plus a pool. Curious how much time/money goes into maintaining. Also, do you get a lot of use out of it? I would like to swim all the time, but wonder if it's one of those things that in reality doesn't happen once the novelty wears off.

candypantsls · May 2014

I think it depends if it's heated or not!!! We had one built when I was a kid. We had three kids in the family. Pool was not heated, and had lots of trees around so we didn't start swimming in it till late June, early July because it was so dang cold! And that was in Texas. You'll probably end up hosting more friends over in the summer, which you might like or dislike, ha.

worleygirl · May 2014

Depends on the type of pool too. My mom has an older home with pool and it's a ton of work. But I have friends with newer ones that are much easier to maintain. Also, keep in mind insurance will be quite a bit higher due to liability. My mom's pool is used daily. It's definitely worth it for her. We've considered putting one in but to justify the cost I think we'd have to make that our primary entertainment and I prefer having a large travel budget. We'd definitely consider buying a home that already had one but probably not until our kids are older.

thelittlepear · May 2014

We have a pool, and love it. It's definitely work and money though. We do all the maintenance ourself, so that saves a bit of money, but takes more time. On average I'd say that we spend $250 on water, $500 on chemicals, $350 to get it closed (we open it ourselves, but let the pool company take care of blowing the lines and stuff - we don't want to risk having anything freeze over the winter!), $300 or so for heat (mid-May to mid-Sept). Last year the pump broke, so that was a $500 bill (parts only, we replaced it ourselves). There is also the extra insurance cost, but I'm honestly not sure how much that was. A good estimate is likely between $1500-$2000/year in costs associated with it.

Other big costs: if it has a liner (depending where you are located, climate wise), that's a $5000-$7000 cost every 10-15 years. It's not often it happens, but when it does happen, it's expensive! If parts go, you have to replace them (like our pump for example).

I'm a teacher, so I'm home all summer, which means it gets more use. We also try to be really intentional about having people over - may as well use it since it's there and going! That said, if you really hated it, you could always have it filled in

km_md · May 2014

I don't have a pool but my mom does. So I grew up with one at home. It is definitely expensive and our water prices keep going up but she gets a ton of use out of it. We have family dinners there all of the time, my mom likes to sit out on weekends when she's not busy, stuff like that. It gets used most days during the summer. There is a fair bit of upkeep too with chemicals and vacuuming and such but if more than one person is doing the work it isn't so bad.

NBR: Pool owners

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