Swimming Pool???

usedto

Lunatic Member
In my 66+ years, I've probably heard every good and bad story about swimming pool ownership there is. That being said, we are in the process of selling our place here and moving on. Both of our kids live on the central coast, so we were planning on moving down there so we could be closer to them and enjoy the cool ocean air.

Things have now changed, and the kids don't know if they will both be staying there or not. That being said, we are now entertaining the possibility of building a home on a piece of property left to me by my parents here in the central valley. We already own the property, and I can also build a shop to put all of my "stuff".

Now on to a pool. Since we won't be near water, wifey wants a pool. She already has had one knee replaced, the other has had surgery twice, and arthritis and a marginal disc in her lower back limits the kind of exercise she can use to strengthen her joints. The doc said in her case swimming is best, and she loves to swim.

I've done a little research, and it seems that gunite, fiberglass, and vinyl lined in-ground pools all cost in the same ballpark. The vinyl is pretty much out as far as I'm concerned, so it's between gunite or the fiberglass drop-in pools.

Those that know these things say the fiberglass is way less maintenance and eliminates the need to re-surface it in 10-15 years like gunite pools need (?). I know if I go to the pool laces, they'll all tell me that theirs are the best and the others are junk, so I thought I'd ask the collective here for any experience/advice/horror stories.

Any info will be greatly appreciated. By the way, we don't want anytihing fancy - just a nice rectangle so she can do laps.
 
Not that I have any experience in this matter, but I thought something like this looked pretty cool. Good for swimming and hot tubbing.
 
My last house had a gunite type pool from the early 70s. Couple years ago, I did have to drain it and have a crack patched up once. Wasn't expensive, just a lot of water. Not sure how the crack happened. Settling ground, earthquakes (Bay Area) or other reasons? Other than that, it's just regular maintenance. Mine was solar heated, so energy cost was minimal. But it will get cold in the winter. The pool is great for low impact exercise and physical therapy. Build in a jacuzzi on one end. Make sure getting in out is easy.

Personally I like being close to the coast. The Central Valley can be hot.

Good luck.
 
I know someone that has a salt water pool and absolutely loves it. He said that its a lot less work than the chlorine pools, and its a lot less harsh on your skin and clothes. Its not salty like seawater either.
 
Personally I like being close to the coast. The Central Valley can be hot.

Good luck.

We have to spend about half of the money from the sale of this place on a 1031 Exchange. My cousin's wife is a RE agent in Santa Cruz. I just got off the phone talking to her about finding some vacation rental property over there.
 
maintenance item. make sure to include plenty in your budget for that.

I'm looking forward to when I cut up the old liner (in-ground), and dump it into its hole, likely next winter/spring. Then the wood decking around it will follow it down there. Then lots and lots of class-II compaction base will be added, and that area will be turned into a "shed", or a tiny house.
 
We have to spend about half of the money from the sale of this place on a 1031 Exchange. My cousin's wife is a RE agent in Santa Cruz. I just got off the phone talking to her about finding some vacation rental property over there.
Santa Cruz would be real sweet. I'm out there year round surfing. It is a tourist town so it will be a crazy during the summer. The Beach Boardwalk has excellent FREE concerts. Blue Oyster Cult is playing tonight.

https://beachboardwalk.com/Concerts
 
Probably could take a lot of nice weekend getaways that have pools for the cost of installing and maintaining one.

This said from watching a friend maintain one.
After 20 years of it he was glad to see it go.

But then, I’m not an in the water guy.
Showers only……
Occasionally……..
 
Me and wife like to cool down in the summer. Started several years back with a 15'' above ground wading pool.

Now have an 18'' that is 48'' deep. Total investment? About 400 bucks. We usually get 3 years out of them.

Cheapest way to be cool both physically and otherwise. I'll never be without one again.

But yeah, in grounds are money pits. Mom still has a 30k gallon that has been redone once. It won't happen again. Where's my dozer??
 
A friend has an fiberglass in-ground that's at least 20-25 years old. They've had pump issues a couple times, but each time was an easy swap-out kind of repair. They even had it lifted and turned 90° to allow building a garage. Overall, it seemed pretty easy to maintain, and they had no complaints.
I agree with having a whirlpool / Jacuzzi portion at one end. If I use ours regularly, I have almost no body pains. Otherwise, I can really feel the years!
 
A simple tap water outdoor shower replaced our electro-mechanical-vinyl nightmare. Sarge loves it. She calls it her fern wash.
 
My dad installed a fiberglass pool, heavy rains of hurricane increased the water table high enough for it pop out of the ground. Reseated it but bottom got mushy a year later because water was seeping under it again.

Things we found in pool were frogs, snakes, armadillo and our neighbors dog which couldnt climb out of it. I was on a float and noticed the armadillo only after my arm was rubbing against its tail when his head and body was in the skimmer, talk about scaring the crap out of me. Mom kept having dreams about finding a grand kid floating in the pool so it got filled in and a deck got installed over where it once was.

Running pumps and heater increased electric bill well over $100 a month and that was 35 years ago. Fun for a few years then becomes something no one wanted to deal with anymore. Join a community center with a pool.
 
@loopstick, that happened about 10 years ago or more, if memory serves.

Me and wife like to cool down in the summer. Started several years back with a 15'' above ground wading pool.

Now have an 18'' that is 48'' deep. Total investment? About 400 bucks. We usually get 3 years out of them.

Cheapest way to be cool both physically and otherwise. I'll never be without one again.

But yeah, in grounds are money pits. Mom still has a 30k gallon that has been redone once. It won't happen again. Where's my dozer??
Floating ring, Easy Set here. Fold it up. Put it in a rolling "janitor" dumpster. Take it inside for the winter.
 
Things we found in pool were frogs, snakes, armadillo and our neighbors dog which couldnt climb out of it.

Tragedy struck Mom's pool several times. Lost 1 cat, 3 raccoons that were semi-tame, an elderly Pekingese that had gone blind (that one really hurt) and a bull. Yes, you heard that right. A full grown bull we had plans to sell. Fell in during the winter through the top cover and tore it to shreds, ultimately dying.
Thousands upon thousands of frogs died each year when Dad shocked the pool. Turtles galore as well, though I did what I could.

Unnaturally shaped bodies of water with few escape routes are murderous for our animal friends.
 
Swimming pools are fun for the whole family, with one exception: whichever family member has to actually take care of it.

It's constant, persistent maintenance to keep the water in "the zone" and you're cleaning it almost of a daily basis. Couple times a day if you have tall trees around.

Spring you have to go through the hassle and expense of "opening" it. In fall the hassle is "closing" it.

Sometimes they're too cold, sometimes (rarely) they're too hot. Thy're usually too cold until mid/late summer (depending on your location).

I've had a couple pools in my time, both in and above ground. Will never have another one again. Mainly because everyone else was having fun while I was taking care of it all the time. I've got enough chores around the house without adding another chore to them. And that's what the pool became to me; a chore. Got to a point where I couldn't even enjoy using it because I was always thinking about how much work i would have later that day or the next day.

I'd suggest looking at one of the swim spas for your missus. Creates a current you swim against (like a treadmill for swimming) and if you buy the right type it can be used as a hot tub when not swimming exercise.

A nice bonus for those in cold climates is a heated swim spa can be used all winter long for swimming, where a pool has to be closed up for winter.

Also consider with a pool the length you can swim is limited by the width of your pool. So swim a coupl estrokes, turn around, swim a couple strokes, repeat. With a swim spa it's essentially endless. Swim until you're ready to stop. A lot of Spa places will let you do a "wet test". Basically, they bring you in after hours and you can try a demo model to see if you like it or not.

Swim spas aren't cheap though, you can easily spend as much (or more) on the spa than you would on a pool.

Chemicals are required in either a pool or a spa so that's a moot argument for or against either....
 
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