• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Do you have a pool?

How often do you use your pool?

  • I don't own a pool!

    Votes: 11 50.0%
  • Only on the Fourth of July

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Mostly the kids use it.

    Votes: 3 13.6%
  • All the time....it's great

    Votes: 6 27.3%
  • Blurb, glug, glug, glug

    Votes: 2 9.1%

  • Total voters
    22

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
Because of the fact that we don't have central A/C in the house, our pool is used almost daily from June 1 thru mid Sept. I have known lots of people with pools and they only get used once or twice a year. Seems like a big expense for only a few hours use.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Of course, my pool is only about 4 feet in diameter!

We had a pool growing up and it was great until I got old enough to maintain it. Then it wasn't so great. I think that is why I don't want one now.

I don't need any more chores!
 

OhioTC18

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
We have one, it's not been put into service yet this year. Too many other issues taking priority. But we'll get it going and use it until some time in Sept.
 

Cityboy

Banned
Just got out of the pool. We are in it almost every day in the summer months. We usually start swimming around April; kids are brave enough to hit it on any warm day starting in March.:eek: . We keep it open through October. Best money we ever spent.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
We have a pool. I don't use it very often. I go to hotels with pools, I don't use those too much either. I go to the ocean, I rarely get it that either.

Now my wife and daughter would grow fins and live in the pool/ocean if they could.

We are considering building another pool next year. Much to the dismay of my savings account. Our current pool is roughly 150' away from the house, at the bottom of a hill on the other side of the woods. We purchased a couple more acres and now have the space to put a pool much nearer the house. I honestly believe it would be used much more if it was much closer. But I doubt I would use it much no matter what!
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
Let's see...there is about 20 or so kids here right now in the pool and playing games in the pool house. That is about normal for a summer afternoon. Oh, wait, I see a few in the paddle boat and another half a dozen or so fishing and swimming in the lake.

It's quite busy around here on a normal day. :wave:
 

buy_25

Banned
lets see my house is 68 degrees and my in-ground pool has about 120 yards of dirt where it was! No, I do not have a pool!

Parents have the inground now, not me!
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Dargo said:
Let's see...there is about 20 or so kids here right now in the pool and playing games in the pool house. That is about normal for a summer afternoon. Oh, wait, I see a few in the paddle boat and another half a dozen or so fishing and swimming in the lake.

It's quite busy around here on a normal day. :wave:

Sounds like your house is "the" party house for all the kids! :applause: We are trying to do the same with our house. I'd rather have the kids here, where I know what they are doing, and know that they are properly supervised. I also think it is great for the kids that they like to bring people home, and great that the other kids like to come to your house.
 

TOMLESCOEQUIP

Just Plinkin Away the $$
My wife went out just this week pricing above ground pools for our back yard. Now that the $2000 she thought about spending has turned into $5000, she's got my attention. I don't know how to tactfully make this pool issue disapear without taking a direct hit to the wallet ! Any ideas ?
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
My wife went out just this week pricing above ground pools for our back yard. Now that the $2000 she thought about spending has turned into $5000, she's got my attention. I don't know how to tactfully make this pool issue disapear without taking a direct hit to the wallet ! Any ideas ?

Send her to Dargos house and tell her to clean his pool. She'll only have to do it once. If there are tiles around the edge of the pool give her some ajax and a scrub brush and tell her he wants the grout nice and clean too. If she does it once and thinks it wasn't that bad, tell her that she has to go back every week and do it. :(
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
Okay, late last night we broke another volleyball net in a vigorous game in the pool. These "cheapo" nets just won't work. There is no way in the pool that you can keep from having someone getting their hand caught on the net and giving it a good tug during a competitive game. My posts are 1/4" wall 2" diameter stainless posts that are mounted in "cans" that were poured into the concrete. They are not moving at all, but the nets get destroyed too easily.

So, now the question, where can I find a good, high quality volleyball net? I'd like to order one online where I can hopefully get a better price. Our pool is a 20X40' pool, so I need a 20' wide net. Any ideas?

Oh yeah, there were way more than 20 kids here last night too. My estimate was low. There was probably that many cars here. But, exactly for the reason Bob mentioned, the crowd being here is by design. Besides, I had a couple of business associates here and they really enjoyed getting involved in a competitive volleyball game in the pool with a bunch of 18 to 20 year old girls. :thumb:
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
PBinWA said:
Send her to Dargos house and tell her to clean his pool. She'll only have to do it once. If there are tiles around the edge of the pool give her some ajax and a scrub brush and tell her he wants the grout nice and clean too. If she does it once and thinks it wasn't that bad, tell her that she has to go back every week and do it. :(

I don't have any tiles in the pool, but I do have quite a bit of intricate brick work around the pool. It has to be scrubbed by hand. Otherwise, the little robot does a heck of a good job cleaning the pool. I'd say that the pool only gets hand cleaned about 3 times a year; once at opening, once mid season, and once late in the season. Other than that, I just check the water chemicals about every other day or so. I'm a real nut on keeping the water quality exactly as it should be.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Dargo, is your pool a "liner" pool, a fiberglass pool or a concrete pool?

We have a "liner" pool, as does my brother, but I'm giving serious thought to a fiberglass pool if/when we put in a new one. Fiberglass is somewhat limited in size/shape but supposedly the easiest to maintain long term. Costs more up front but lower operating costs.
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
My pool is a liner pool with the liner being 30 mil X 30 mil. Most often the pool companies sell liners that have a thinner mil side material than the bottom. Also many of them want to sell a pool liner that is a 15 mil X 10 mil. They claim that is most common. They had to "special order" my liner because they told me that most people have no problems with the thinner mil liners and that the thinner mil liners are easier to install. Since I wasn't installing it and I wanted a very durable pool, I didn't give a shit what liner was "easier" to install!

I installed some fiberglass pools in the past. They are okay, but the gaskets between the fiberglass panels degraded over time and the pools leaked. That required constant caulking or, at worst, digging up the sides and unbolting the panels and re-installing the gaskets. For a 20X40 pool, nobody made a 1 piece unit when I was buying. If there was a really strong 1 piece 20X40 fiberglass pool I may have considered that. I also was going to install an all concrete pool that had poured walls and floor etc. The people I spoke with who had those also spoke of constant leaks and patching of small cracks in the concrete. Basically, after researching it for a couple of months I went back to a liner pool. I think I have a 10 year warranty on my liner and was told that if I keep my chemicals in check without any wild swings in quality, I'd get much longer out of the liner.
 

Spiffy1

Huh?
SUPER Site Supporter
If the neighbor doesn't load his "honey wagon" for a while, there's a nice big pool behind his barn.

Doesn't seem to attract swimmers though.....:rolleyes:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Dargo said:
For a 20X40 pool, nobody made a 1 piece unit when I was buying. If there was a really strong 1 piece 20X40 fiberglass pool I may have considered that.
Ahh, they now have ONE PIECE fiberglass pools up to 20x40!

We are looking at those now. They are pretty expen$ive, but seem to be the top end of pool technology right now. Lowest maintainence, longest projected lifespan. Concrete/gunnite used to be state of the art but I think they are fading away, especially in colder climates, due to cracks and higher chemical costs.

We've replaced the liner in our pool one time due to a tear, which was repaired, but the liner then shrank when the new water went into the pool. Can't say I know the thickness of my original liner, nor this one, I do know I ordered the thickest they had but don't know what that is.

Right now we are looking a the ability to move the pool to about 45 feet away from the family room patio and about the same distance to the kitchen patio. Honestly I think the pool would be used a heck of a lot more if it was adjacent to the house. By the time the disassemble the pool and move it, I think we'd be better off starting over and buying all new. Our current pool is 8 or 9 years old, still plenty of life in it, but probably easiest to give it away to someone who will come in and take it apart/haul it off for free.
 

TOMLESCOEQUIP

Just Plinkin Away the $$
B_Skurka said:
Our current pool is 8 or 9 years old, still plenty of life in it, but probably easiest to give it away to someone who will come in and take it apart/haul it off for free.
I'll send my wife right over with a truck & trailer & my 2 ryobi cordless drills.............................:a1:
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
We've talked of adding a pool now that we have a place with room for one. Since Boating and Pool season coincide, I'm not sure if we'd use it enough.

Bob, can you give me a ballpark price on what you've found for the 20 by 40 fiberglass ones? If you've seen the price on a 20 by 30 I'd be interested in that also.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Fiberglass? Liners? Robots? What's all this new fangled stuff? The pool we had was made out of good old fashioned CEMENT (or something similar). We used to all run around with band-aids on our toes during the summer 'cause we wore all the skin off them on the not so smooth surface.

I suspect the modern pools are a easier to maintain but I'm not telling my wife about that! ;)
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Doc said:
Bob, can you give me a ballpark price on what you've found for the 20 by 40 fiberglass ones? If you've seen the price on a 20 by 30 I'd be interested in that also.

Doc, installed price range (basic install to full patio, imprinted concrete or stone surround, all the whistles and bells) run from about $30K to $70K for really fancy stuff.
 

cj7

New member
I have a 24' round with a liner. It is about 7 years old and still going strong. When we first put it in we ahd hoped we would have some kids by now. It does get used but not as often as I hoped.

A couple of years ago I thought about ramming it with the loader just to watch the water run out..lol but I then came to my senses and knew better in mor ethan one way..lol

Actually I do like the pool when I get to use it. Very relaxing.
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
B_Skurka said:
Doc, installed price range (basic install to full patio, imprinted concrete or stone surround, all the whistles and bells) run from about $30K to $70K for really fancy stuff.

My concrete surround is 14' on two sides, 12' to the front porch of my pool house, and 18' to the porch on my main house. By the time I had all the custom brick work and concrete work done and $12k landscaping with a fountain, I was pressing towards the upper part of your range with a liner pool. It sounds like that if a 20X40 one piece fiberglass pool with steps on both ends and a "buddy" seat in one side were to be priced now, I'd be pushing over a 100k for a pool. :eek: :eek: :eek:
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
B_Skurka said:
Doc, installed price range (basic install to full patio, imprinted concrete or stone surround, all the whistles and bells) run from about $30K to $70K for really fancy stuff.

Thanks Bob. That's the ballpark I was looking for. :eek:

I don't think we need a pool. I'd rather upgrade the boat. :D
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Dargo, as little as I actually get into the pool, my preference is to save the money and put in a liner pool. But to give you an idea on the pricing of JUST a liner pool versus JUST a fiberglass tub . . . the 'basic' materials for an 18x39 liner pool are under $6000. The 'basic' fiberglass pool at roughly 16'x38' is about $18,000. Neither of those prices includes heater, filter, pump, plumbing, labor for installation, etc. Just the basic material for the pool itself. So in either case, add roughly $12,000 to the basic price and you are sitting with a very basic low end in-ground pool install.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Around here your average in ground pool is a $30-50K deal. According to people I have spoken too. I think Bob's prices are pretty accurate.

PB
 

Cityboy

Banned
B_Skurka said:
Doc, installed price range (basic install to full patio, imprinted concrete or stone surround, all the whistles and bells) run from about $30K to $70K for really fancy stuff.

Holy bat squeeze Robin! :eek: I'm coming to Indiana to start a pool construction business. I paid around 17-18K for our 20x40 four years ago and had additional concrete poured. No fancy brick work or landscaping; just the deck and added a fence later. 30K is some serious bucks for a basic pool, I couldn't imagine a 70K pool. You could build a huge pool for 70K here.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Dargo said:
Let's see...there is about 20 or so kids here right now in the pool and playing games in the pool house. That is about normal for a summer afternoon. Oh, wait, I see a few in the paddle boat and another half a dozen or so fishing and swimming in the lake.

It's quite busy around here on a normal day. :wave:
Dang Brent...

How old are these kids? I volunteered to watch the neighbor's kid last Saturday. He and my son are both 4 and about whooped my butt watching just the 2 of them.

I just hope the one's at your house don't need watching (as the resident parent). If they're of age, watch all you want.:eek: :thumb:
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
With the sweat rollin down my back to my butt right now ,if I had a pool ,I would be in it ,:moon:
 

kensfarm

Charter Member
SUPER Site Supporter
If you just want to get wet.. WalMart.. $250 bucks you can get one of those "blow up the top ring pools".. 18ft(wider at the bottom).. by 4 ft deep. Includes filter w/ skimmer, ladder(not very sturdy), hand skimmer, bottom vacuum, pool cover, etc.

It's nice to jump in after the farm chores.. melts away the heat of the day.. relaxing.. the chlorine helps disinfects all the scratches, nicks & cuts.. helps dry out poisen ivy.

I just keep a couple of chlorine tablets in the top skimmer, add a little algecide.. and wash out the filter once a week, the pool stays very clear.
 
Top