Central Pennsylvania Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Swimming Pool Questions
We are looking at a house that has a pool (and DH is in LOVE with it). Neither of us has had one before, I have a few questions for those who know about pools.
How often do you have to clean it (This one is inground, no trees overhanging)?
How often do you need to add chemicals?
How much are pool chemicals?
It is completely fenced and it locks, would you worry about kids or animals getting into it?
Any other pool thoughts?
TIA!
Re: Swimming Pool Questions
I'm no help either as I don't have a pool. However, DH's grandparents had an inground pool and it was a nightmare for them. I guess there was a leak and they couldn't pin point the actual problem spot and it would have taken a lot of money/time/labor to rip up the surrounding area around the pool (they had flagstone around the permiter) and they decided to fill the pool in with dirt and be done with it.
Good luck with the house hunt!
How often do you have to clean it (This one is inground, no trees overhanging)? Every other day you should take the stuff off of the top (bugs/leaves/dirt/etc) Vaccuum once every week-maybe two weeks.
How often do you need to add chemicals? We add shock once every week and have the pool company clean it once every month.
How much are pool chemicals? This can really depend on the type of pool you have (I dont mean inground/above ground but the actual type) Ours is low maint. and it's about...$10 a week (estimate)
It is completely fenced and it locks, would you worry about kids or animals getting into it? Kids, no. That is why fences are required with a pool in most places. Animals, of course! Definitely expect to find mice, squirrels, frogs, scary bugs, etc in your pool.
Any other pool thoughts? Something else to consider is opening/closing and extra utility bills. We didn't know that a pool would cost that much and we were very wrong. It's probably $20 for the electric to run the pump (per month) and $400 to open/$300 to close. We love having a pool in the summer, however I won't sugar coat it. It's a lot more work than people think and it's very expensive to maintaine. If you're up for it though, go for it! Everyone will want to come party at your house!
Thanks for all the good info K-hart! What do you have to do when you "open" and "close" a pool?
Another question, that may seem stupid, do you leave water in the pool over the winter? Does it freeze solid?
I'm sure that you can open and close a pool on your own and you only have to pay for the chemicals. It would probably be closer to $150-200 I'm guessing?? But, we go through clearwater pools and they do everything fo us. It's a huge pain in the butt to open/close the pool, so we just would rather pay someone to do it, haha. If you open your pool you will have to store your cover somewhere and it has to be submerged in water the entire season. Clearwater just stores it for us and brings it back. Basically you have to put in a crap load of chemicals and drain your pool about a foot under the skimmer. You don't have to drain the entire thing, just a little. The water will freeze over the winter months and then thaw back out for the spring. Animals should not be able to get in your pool. Also, remember that a pool inspection is separate from the regular inspection. make sure you set that up. Our pool pump was broken and we would have never known if it wasn't for the extra inspection.
Denise...Brad used to work for one of the local pool companies building/installing then later selling pools so I asked him your questions and here's what he said. If you have more questions feel free to ask me and I'll send them his way. He worked in that industry for quite a while.
As for opening and closing he said it's not that difficult but since you've never done it before to definitely have it done by the professionals the first time but if you just watch everything closely you should be able to do it yourself after that, unless you have a pool heater. Then he recommends leaving that to the professionals. He said for closing you would need a shop-vac to "blow out the lines" if you're draining out the water but depending on the type of pool and who built it that you might not need to drain all the water out. He said Crystal Pools you don't have to drain the water but they usually do recommend taking it below the skimmer. As for the cover when opening he said if it's a vinyl cover most times you can just scrub it clean, leave it completely dry then store it in a sealed trash can so mice don't get to it. For a loop lock cover you can hose it off while it's still in the pool then pull it off and let it dry then store it. The loop lock cover is a heavier cover.
For chemicals he said you should get them at a pool company or pool store (there are even online pool stores too) because he said that when you see places like Walmart and Sam's with chlorine it's usually a lower rating of chlorine so while initially it looks cheaper it ends up taking more chlorine (and costing more). He said if it's a Crystal Pool you can actually take them a sample of your pool water and they will tell you what chemicals you need to add to it.
For your utility bills it can be $10 on the bill to the run the pump or up to $20 on average if you run the pump for the recommend 12 hrs. If there's a heater that will increase the bill as well.
He also said when cleaning to be careful taking the skimmer cover off because depending on the area snakes can get it there
He said if the filter is a DE filter which are supposed to be the best (it's a diatomacious (sp?) earth filter) then it will need changed every month give or take (when the pressure starts to rise) and a 25 lb bag of DE will usually run about $20-25. If it's a cartridge filter you will just need to spray it off really good when cleaning it when you notice the pressure rising.
As for the fence, he said usually its required to have automatic locks for the fence but he said with some areas if a door from the house goes directly to the pool area they will require some type of alarm on the door so you know that the door is ajar, etc. Of course pools usually increase your homeowners insurance because of the liability so he said you might want to check with your provider to see what the cost would be.
Ok now that I've written a novel...I had my whole reply typed and the nest ate it
Like I said if you have more questions just let me know. If he doesn't remember the answer a friend and GM from our wedding still works for the pool company.
My parents have a pool and they open/close it, etc just the two of them without any major issues. The pool people told them how to do it and gave them the chemicals, etc.
I don't know if this matters, but all the realtors I've talked to about this say not to buy a house hoping the pool will increase it's value because it generally doesn't effect home value...only get the pool if it's something you truly want.
As others said they are generally more work than people expect
my parents have always had a pool and it's wonderful but work. they had a concrete bottom for both houses, liners can be a problem down the line, we never had an issue with the concrete. a word of advice, my dad is a contractor and builds custom homes, have a pool company come out and look at it and find out if there are any problems. a regular joe looking at the house won't know....get a pool person b/c you don't want to get stuck!!!