Has anyone put in a pool?

[Jennifer]

We are seriously contemplating putting in an in-ground pool in our small back yard...but I'm looking for info and sites to educate myself on pool options, systems, pros, cons etc...

I'd love any websites - or advice - or pictures - especially if you installed a pool in a small yard!

Thanks!

[Jennifer]

I actually just met with a pool contractor. This is looking pretty doable :D

We have to move our air conditioner (yikes - not sure how that would work - anyone done it??)...and think about heating options, decking and style - but it looks almost affordable ;)

I'd still love any tips from someone who has gone through the install process (including how to pick a contractor!) and anyone who has pics of pools (their own or ones they like) - especially in tight spaces...

Maybe I'll be swimming by Fourth of July next year!

[SwiftyOWB]

My parents did it many years ago and this was the process. A few people came to share their ideas on shape and placement. My parents have a large yard but it was long narrow area where they put the pool. They have said it they did it again they would have had a large deck and a wider deep end. The shallow end is much wider then the deep end and it made my mom nervous when we played on the diving board. Also they have not been happy with the tile and coping around the pool. It has not held up well during the winters. Not my actual experience but it was the house i grew up in.

[Jennifer]

Thanks Swifty!

I think our whole pool will be narrowish (an L shape)...I think we'll skip diving boards/rocks for just that reason! Where did you grow up?

[allison]

We're putting in a pool right now. Acutally this is our second pool, same house. It's a story I'll post about but don't have time at the moment. I'll just say for now that I can't wait for this to be done. :D

Our pool is going from 4'3" (is that right?) to 4'6". We didn't want a deep end and wanted to be able to enjoy the whole pool and not have to tread water anywhere. It's more of a volleyball type pool. I'll post pictures soon!

[curlygurl]

We've been looking at pools. Here's a cool picture gallery:
Picture Gallery (http://www.masterpoolsguild.com/gallery)

[Jennifer]

Allison I'd love to hear your two pool story - although I suspect it could scare the heck out of me!

curlygurl thats a great gallery - thank you! One of the hardest things is agreeing with DH on style - a bunch of pictures should help us talk about what we each want!

[allison]

Nah don't be scared, but do pay attention when you do build your pool.
When we bought our lot (we built a custom home) the lot was about 3 feet, or so, below street level so we brought in over 50 truckloads of dirt to build the lot up to 2-3 feet above street level (in order to avoid any possible chance of flooding).

So we finish building the house, move in and start with the pool. Everything was going great until we realised that the top of the pool/decking, at it's highest point, was about 10 inches above the top of our foundation. On top of that the decking sloped back to our home (instead of making a "V" with drains inbetween the pool and house/patio) and the drains were put in right at our patio about 2 feet from the house. If we were ever to have a hurricane or another TS like "Allison" a few years ago, our house would flood. This totally defeated the purpose of building our lot up to avoid flooding.

So with the pool pracitcally done, we brought our concerns to the builder who simply told us "this ishow I build all my pools". He also told us that he would have to charge us to have it redone. That was unacceptable so we had the pool taken out ourselves and hired another builder to start from scratch.

It's been a headache and it's been sooo hot here that I just want the thing done! :D

All I can say is to pay attention. We are at/below sea level here so flooding is a legitimate concern for us and having rain/runoff drain directly back to our house is wrong. Drains should be inbetween the house/patio and pool in a "V" shape and then drain out to the landscaping/yard in a mound shape. It all really depends on the land you're building on, but still, water shouldn't be directed to go toward you home.

[Jennifer]

Allison - I'm sorry you had that experience! We don't have the same sea level/flooding concerns you do - but its great advice to pay attention to drains and deck angles - the last think I want it a lot of water (whether it be rain run off, splashing, deck cleaning etc) running under our foundation, this is probably an extra big concern for us given the clearance (or lack there of!) between the house and the (potential) pool!

[numberlady]

I don't have any input, but I would love to put a pool in, so am looking for advise too!

[TMat13]

We put a pool in last year in July. It took about 6 weeks from start to finish and went unbelievably well. We interviewed and spoke to about 6 -8 different pool companies. Ours is a custom design and one of the many salespeople that came out brought a laptop and played with shapes and sizes and designed our pool the way that we wanted it. I would say just make sure to interview several different companies and make sure you have a salesperson or contractor that is easy to work with. Our pool is approx. 15,000 gallons and is a sport pool. It is 3.5 feet on both ends and goes down to 5 feet in the middle. We also have 2 built in benches and a 6 inch sunning ledge. I will see if I can scrape some pics together and post them (as soon as I figure out how...:)) Any other questions, please let me know!! :D :) :p

[Jennifer]

I'd love to see pictures :D

That sounds super fast to get a pool built! Did you find your costs were pretty "on" with quotes/contract? I keep hearing horror stories about cost overuns of 40-60%, just trying to figure out if my "budget" needs to be a LOT bigger to account for that.

[TMat13]

The builder that we decided on was not the 1st person that we were going to use...however my husband really liked him and they really wanted to build a pool in our neighborhood :D because there were very few pools in our neighborhood and they wanted to put a sign in our yard so they came down on the price... There were no upcharges on our pool and no unforseen circumstances that added to the original cost. Once we decided on the pool it was very quick. They began in July and it was ready the weekend after Labor Day. I searched on the internet alot and saw several horror stories of very long delays and problems expecially with the lower end pools but fortunately ours was very easy..Pics coming as soon as my husband gets off the phone... ;)

[TMat13]

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d927b3127cce92eefa76a42700000016109AZuXLdw4cm

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d927b3127cce92eefa72a42300000016109AZuXLdw4cm

[TMat13]

Woohoo--Now I know how to post pics!!! :eek: ;)Sorry they are so big but I don't know how to re-size them..still learning

[Jennifer]

They aren't too big at all!

VERY nice pool :D Looks like a great place to play and relax!

I want to jump in and go for a float! Sounds like you had a really quick and easy building experience - that's what I'm hoping for! Nice to hear that some people have it work out that way! We're going to keep the whole thing pretty low frills - hopefully that will keep it simple and if I can keep from making any changes mid-stream that should help keep things moving!

[TMat13]

Good luck to you-I hope eveything turns out as well for you as it did for us. Keep us posted....

[tonic]

I have not put in a pool. but my husbands parents have one. They have a deep end (9ft) and a shallow end. Not sure the length of the pool, but its oval.

Some nice things about their pool that you may want to consider:

1) 9ft is deep enough to have a diving board
2) They use solar panels to heat the pool
3) Get a cover! But get an automatic cover that will make it easy to take on an off, and it will prevent pets (or kids!) from getting trapped in the pool under the cover. The sides are attached to the ground around the pool. A lot of pools have covers that just lay on top and that means there is nothing preventing something from falling and getting trapped under.

[Jennifer]

Thanks tonic those are good things to keep in mind! We are definitely looking into solar panel for pool heat...in my area I hear it's about 50/50 whether people even use a pool heater - it's mostly to warm up in the spring and keep it warm enough to swim longer in the fall...so we are debating plumbing for solar and waiting the first summer (or part of it!) to see if we should put it in or not.

I've always wanted a solar electric system for our house - but they are pretty pricey per kW- so using one for the pool seems like a good compromise :)

We're actually getting pretty excited about this...I've had a couple contractors out so far and am pleased with initial discussions - sounds like we are looking to build at the right time (ie talking now, contracting end of summer, building in the fall).

[mgrace]

bump. Just looking for some info.

[Jennifer]

mgrace what kind of info are you looking for? We went ahead and put one in after some delays last summer - so this is our first full summer with the pool in - and I have to say, while the process was an expensive PITA - every time DH and/or I get in we say it was all worth it :)

[ambula704]

Well, Im not mgrace but I would like some information and pictures if you have them!

We are looking to put in a pool next summer possibly and I have NO idea what steps we need to take to start off with. Also, I am guessing it will be around $20,000, I dont know if that is way off or not. We have a very flat yard but we want an inground pool with a pretty nice patio around it. I cannot wait until we have one!

[Ericka_Jarett]

This is my old house that I grew up in: Pool Pics (http://www.buyowner.com/PHL2732.html). There are 2 photos of the pool on there.

We had the pool put in back in 1983. The low end was 3ft and the deep was sloping down to 8ft. The pictures are from the present owners. When we had the pool it had a slide on the side where the brick patio is and we had 2 ladders one on both ends and a diving board (shown)

The couping after about 4-5 yrs started to crack and break apart (it was vinyl over padding over 2x4 boards) We took the padding and vinyl off and then went to a marine store and got diamond dust and paint and put that on as couping instead, made for a non-slip surface (the vinyl got slippery when wet)

We had a wood deck all the way around the pool and our pool was built with a sand bottom instead of concrete, it had a vinyl liner.

Only think my parents probably would have changed was not having such a harsh slop between the shallow and deep end. They wanted the deep end due to my brother liking to dive. Our shallow end was only about 3-4 ft wide and then the slope started.

My brother will be putting a pool in his backyard shortly. He is looking at kidney shaped and about 5ft deep.

[Sabrina]

Do you need to have any kind of safety inspection after a pool is installed? I ask because my neighbors installed an inground pool last summer and still have not completed the fence (as required by law) around the pool.

[bethnjim]

I am bumping this up because we are buying a new home and are debating putting an inground pool in the backyard.

My grandparents had one while I was growing up and I LOVED it. They had a vinyl lined pool which I really liked so I think that is what I am leaning towards.

[loving624]

Just another thought, we have an above ground pool but my parents have a nice big (20x40) in ground pool with a 9 or 10 foot deep end and a diving board.

But they got a salt system in their pool instead of chlorine. I'm not sure of the cost of salt vs. chlorine at first, but I personally think it is a TON easier to maintain. I've experienced both, DH and myself having chlorine in our pool and my parents having salt. I'd recommend talking to the pool place about it for sure. You can't taste the salt when you swim and it seems so much easier

[Jennifer]

I need to put pictures of our pool online so I can share them. But we did put one in last year - it's an L shape that wraps around the corner of our house (small lot so we squeezed it in!) - and we put a raised wall on the back side so we could have water features on it. It's really changed our whole yard and we've spent more time out there in the last year than we did in the 8 years we owned the house before! We ultimately decided to work with a consultant to get help on plans and permits - and I was the general contractor for our pool. It was pretty challenging - but we're really happy with it all - and it meant we got the upgrades at cost, instead of paying contractor mark ups. Our pool is gunite - 3 1/2- 6 1/2 feet deep, large "baja" shelf, pebblesheen, colored lights, upgraded (ie energy effecient) and solar heat. Managing the process allowed up to get all the upgrades for the same price as no raised wall, basic equipment and white plaster.


loving624 - I agree with you about salt. I LOVE our salt system. I think we paid about $500 to put it in, and what it does is produce clorine for the pool by generating it from low levels of salt in the water (water is about the salinity of a tear) - it makes for nice soft water from the salt - and maintenance is really easy since constant low levels of chlorine are maintained (you need the chlorine as a sanitizer for the pool). The cost is a tiny bit higher than getting a "puck" sort of dipenser unit - but the costs for the life of the system (at least several years) are upfront and no addtional chlorine puck or bleach is needed.

Sabrina - savety and inspection rules vary from area to area - in my area you need to have a final inspection of the pool - and you can't get a sign off to plaster and fill with water until your fences are all in place. You could check with your county building office to see what the codes are for your area.

ambula704 - I'm not sure if the price you want to pay is reasonable in your area or not - in mine (which admittedly is a pretty pricey area - near San Francisco in California) a small very basic pool was hard to have installed for under $30k and adding size and upgrades can take the prices up VERY quickly. We were lucky since we bought a few years ago and even with the market dips we still have tons of equity in our house so the price was more maneagable (and was a small percentage of property values) - I have to say though it was worth every penny! You may want to start by talking to a few local builders to get an idea of whether you want gunite, fiberglass or vinyl lined (I think a lot of vinyl gets built in your area which may make the cost MUCH more reasonable!). I did a ton of research on the gardenweb.com site in the pool forum area before we made our decisions. Helped me a lot and the people on the forum are pretty nice!

[bethnjim]

Does anyone have a fiberglass pool?? We are looking into this or doing the vinyl liner pool. Any opinions??