So, yeah...I'm thinking about a pool.  The wife wants a $12K friggin' big assed hot tub and accessories/deck/etc; and I say, "Screw That---we could have a pool for a bit more."

My backyard isn't huge.  I had a pool guy come in and quote me around 30K for pumps, accessories, initial year of pool chemicals, cover, concrete pad all around, etc.

This is about my expected price as I don't need something huge.

It is NOT a concrete pool, it's vinyl-sided with a 20 year warranty.

Further...I don't have 30K just lying around.  Assuming I roll with the pool (which I really want).

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc?  I got quoted a super-flow pump which supposedly reduces electrical bills quite a bit and some other stuff related to plumbing that helps keep down
maintenance and such.

Further--what's the best way to finance one of these things?  I don't really have any debt other than my mortgage, maybe 1-2K on a small credit card that I use for incidental stuff.
What does ARFCOM say?  I really don't want to save 10 years for a friggin' pool to pay cash.  I'll be in a wheelchair by then.  What are my options?

It's cheaper in the long run to replace the wife.

A boat is a hole in the water lined with wood or fiberglass into which You throw money. Pools are the landlocked equivalent

it'll be fun for the 1st couple of years, then it'll become a drag. stick with the hot tub

Read the warranty on the vinyl siding VERY carefully.

They are usually pro rated and don't include labor or water costs.

A $30K boat will at least have some resale value in 10-15 years.

Huge waste of money..... I am very tempted to fill mine in.

AFRCOM taught me hot tubs are just as bad, if not worse:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1470826_Hot_tubs____Tell_me_what_you_know____Thinking_about_putting_one_in_.html

Most people that own a pool likely do not take care of it; rather they pay someone else to do it.
They're not hard to take care of but you do need to keep up on them.

Personally if I ever owned a property with a large pool I'd convert it to my own personal "cement pond" and stock it with bass and panfish.

so this would be the anti-GD answer of get neither then.

Awesome but also a pain in the wallet

So, we've had a inground pool at my dad's for 30+ years. 3 to 8 feet deep rectangle shape.

Liner has been replaced twice in those 30 years and in need of replacement probably after this year.

You have to be careful with any sharp objects in thepool. Dogs included.  After the first few years you figure it out and don't worry about it as much.  But you have to watch guests.  Drunken pool parties with lawn chairs ect could spell doom.

Each year, you have to cover it.  Pulling the cover can suck if you havetrees.  

Chemicals aren't as bad as they make it.
Pumps break overtime.  I think it has Ben replaced 3 times and is ready for another.

On average the liner has lasted 15 years, and those are the "20" year ones.  The sun fade is a bitch and the exposed liner out of the water usually goesbad.
the corners are what has usually failed in my dads.  Dark colors are a great idea when your thinking about warming the water if you are in a not so hot environment, but they will bleach white and be uneven based on sun exposure.   Meaning shady spots will be a different color..  

Concrete has its own problems.  Cracking and paint for one.

No clue about fiberglass though,  they seems like the best option today.  Dig a hole and dropitin.  But I'm sure the resin dries out after time.  No clue.


And after knowing what I have experienced all my life, I want one.

It's like anything. It needs taken care of and will incur costs.

Eta, cleaning it isn't that bad.  It's like cutting the grass.  Make a schedule, don't let it get out of hand, and it's sort of therapeutic.  Let it slip, your gonna double yourwork.

Just put in an above ground 22'-23' diameter for $5k with a lifetime warranty.  Then in 5 years when you realize it was stupid, tear it down.  Profit $7k?

This

How long is your swimming season

another thing to think about and ask your builder

This include fence, winter SAFETY cover installed

When some one ask about a swimming pool I tell them, they make great tomato gardens

I just had a 24 round installed, the kids love it.

Just replaced the liner in my pool this spring (20 x 40).  Vinyl liner pools are fine - you just have to be careful with them.  No glass or sharp objects in or around the pool as you don't want to tear the liner.



The liner we replaced was about 10 years old.  The pool was salt water and the previous owner did a terrible job maintaining the pool.  You can see where she would dump the salt into the same corner of the pool.












New liner installed and pool being filled













 

A wise man has spoken.

I installed and owned a pool for 10 years....

The illusion is that a pool is fun and a cool place to exersize during the hot summer months.

The reality is that a pool is for the kids and you get to do all of the maintenance, pay for the chlorine, filter stuff, get up at 4 in the morning when the pump blows a gasket, and on and on and on.

Get a pool ONLY if you can afford someone else (a real pool maintenance professional) to maintain it.

Love my pool. Not as much trouble as many people say. I check the water once a week and make any any additions if needed.



When we got estimates, the guy we ended up going with, told us that he owned the company and he didn't have a salt pool. He said he would set us up with a very low-maintenance pool and he came through.



Be sure you get an inline chlorinator. I fill mine up every two weeks with 3" tabs, it holds 10.



Ours is a 25 year vinyl liner, 18'x36', 3 1/2' in the shallow end and 8 1/2' in the deep. We didn't get a diving board as the deep end has to be bigger with a board and ours is half and half deep/shallow.



Total with fence and extra concrete we had poured was around $35k. We practically live out there in the summer.

Cost of said replacement liner?

I'm going with this.

I had a 24ft. doughboy pool. it was great until a storm damaged it one fall I had it half full for winter anyway after that I bought an elcheapo intek from wallyworld that lasted 3 or 4 years because every year I took it completly down and stored it in 2 big trash bags. last year we got another one.

the cheap ones from walmart are good enough to swim in, not too hard to maintain either. and they are well under 1k.

Go for the pool and then if  SHTF  you can convert it into a bunker.

DON'T DO IT!!!!

JUST DON'T FUCKING DO IT!!!

That prince included the in-line chlorinator and salt-water thing.

I'm just concerned as to how I can pay for it.  lol

FIFY

 

Simple, take the paper quote and a stack of hundred dollar bills outside.  Burn the hundred dollar stack, re-evaluate the quote, proceed to burn the quote.  

Edit - I own a boat, I know what burning smells like.

Rented backhoe + a big ass vinyl tarp + a shit load of bedliner over the seams+ water = pool. Honestly you can get away with just a rented backhoe

This.  And I don't give a shit what they say now, NO ONE ELSE IS GOING TO HELP YOU MAINTAIN IT.

Had a pool when I lived in Dallas.  No way I'd own one north of that.  My advice would be to buy a good used boat for a fraction of the money.  At least you can sell it when you get board with it in a few years and it won't need maintenance in the off season.  

Trust me when I tell you, there's almost no time when a pool doesn't need some kind of attention.

I have had four houses with pools. Two came with them and two I had put in custom. They are expensive to put in, always more than the estimate, They are expensive to keep up and you never use them as much as you think you will. You also NEVER get a good return on investment if you sell your house.
All of mine were Concrete, one with Pebbletec, one with diamond bright and two with marcite. The last one with a salt system. I can't imagine vinyl would be any better.
The hot tub would probably get you laid more and be less work to keep up.

Then don't get one, best advice was if you cant afford to have somebody take care of it don't get one. I live in Fl and after growing up with a pool looked for a home without one.

THIS!!!!    I've owned pools for 16 years. Something breaks/leaks about every year.  Upkeep is a bitch

We love our pool...

We bought a house with a pool, and it was a bit of work getting it up and running.

Yes, it is work.

Yes, it takes some time.

Yes, the pumps cost money to run.

But we are in it every day. My kids are in it all day.

The chemicals are not that bad, cost wise.

Work? LOL what do you people have, an olympic size pool?

I put maybe 30 mins in per week, tops and it's perfect.


Then again, I'm in a southern state and its open year round.

A pool is like any other expensive toy.

If you have to borrow to buy it you'd be better off not buying it.

Pool is fun.
Upkeep is not hard.
Get a two speed or variable speed pumps(s).
Good for our family and gatherings.

If you have to borrow, money, don't even consider it.  Pools are a very expensive toy and they add next to no value to your home.


Since you are going to consider it anyway...

Installation pretty much always runs more expensive than quoted.  It did for both pools that we had installed, and the 4 others installed for friends/family.  Ours went over by $3300 and $6800.  My brothers in CA went over by $12000.

Look at your local laws and see what you will have to do for fencing.  We had a 6 ft privacy fence, so we were good.  My brother had a 6 ft steel grate fence.  He had to replace it with a privacy fence (cost him another $6k on top of the $12k that installation was over).  His installer failed to mention that, and fence laws around pools are very common.  Many places also require a safety fence/gate right on the pool.

Contact your home insurance agent and find out how much your insurance will be increasing.  Our insurance rates almost doubled when we got the pool installed.  Rates went up drastically right before we sold our last house as well (even though we had no issues/claims).  That was about 7 years ago, and there had been a rash of incidents regarding pools in the state.

You are going to mostly drain your pool each winter, then refill it each spring.  That can get quite expensive, depending on where you live.  20k gallons of water isn't cheap.  And if you have to drain into the sewer, that will be expensive as well.

We enjoyed the pool when we first had it.  We moved to a bigger house about a year after installing the first one.  That is why we installed the second one.  If we had stayed in the first house for another year or so, we probably would have never installed the second one.  We rarely used the pool after the first couple of years.  When the kids were young, we used it much more often.  After the got older, not so much.

I will never own a home with a pool again.  Too expensive, too much risk, too little benefit.

Meh, I'm getting bids as we speak for an in ground lap pool. I say go for it if you can afford it.

Buy this cheapie at $800.  Use it for a couple of years.  If you still want a pool, consider it a demo fee and get the real deal.  If you don't like it after two years, you're out $800 + chemicals.

I would pay off the credit card in full before even contemplating going into debt.

The pool pump alone will increase your utilities, and possibly gas if heat is required even if only to prevent freezing equipment .

Ditto

If you swim every day and it helps your well being, its worth it in reduced medical costs alone.

I've owned 3 homes with pools. and have owned one for the past 19 years.  In flippin Idaho, where the season is 5 months.

Still love it.  

If you keep up with the maintenance, its NOT that big a deal.  Or maybe I've become a well-trained pool boy over the years....

-Check the chemicals EVERY DAY and keep them right. You'll use less in the long run.
-A robotic pool cleaner is well worth the $600 we spent.  Does a lot of the work we used to do, in terms of vacuuming.  

I probably spend 5 min a day, plus an hour a week (filter, or vacuuming, or some water treatment) plus a half day in the fall to close it, and a half day in the spring to open it.  That's  it.

I swim practically every day in the summer, and I feel better at 60 than I did at 45.

My opinion may be colored by the fact that my wife & daughters teach swimming in the summer, and it pays pretty well.  Put all my kids through college that way...

Yeah; I'm leaning heavily towards getting one; however---what's the best way to fund it/pay for it?  Home equity line, etc?