Jeff Matthews Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 PITA! Had one. Scuppers clog, run the pump dry and risk burning up the pump. Pumps break; cost a lot. Always cleaning filters. Chemicals get out of whack, and you wind up with green water. If your water has copper in it, you can't get it out and it stains the bottom with a rust color that will only go away for about a week or two if you overdose your pool with Vitamin C (no BS). Then, the copper (having been dissolved by the Vitamin C) settles back down to the bottom and stains it rust color all over again. You just can't get rid of it. At some point in time some years ahead, the pool will crack, grout will start chipping out between the decorative tiles along the rim. The skim coat (stucco?, it's not stucco) starts chipping away. You have to spend a lot of money resurfacing the whole pool all over again. Trees. Trees. Don't even put a pool near trees. Fall and Winter is hell and exacerbates all of the above problems. Oaks will drop 1,000's of acorns. Stay far, far away from oaks. You can't really get those things out of the plumbing once they go into the drains and scuppers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigStewMan Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 38 minutes ago, Jeff Matthews said: PITA! Had one. Scuppers clog, run the pump dry and risk burning up the pump. Pumps break; cost a lot. Always cleaning filters. Chemicals get out of whack, and you wind up with green water. If your water has copper in it, you can't get it out and it stains the bottom with a rust color that will only go away for about a week or two if you overdose your pool with Vitamin C (no BS). Then, the copper (having been dissolved by the Vitamin C) settles back down to the bottom and stains it rust color all over again. You just can't get rid of it. At some point in time some years ahead, the pool will crack, grout will start chipping out between the decorative tiles along the rim. The skim coat (stucco?, it's not stucco) starts chipping away. You have to spend a lot of money resurfacing the whole pool all over again. Trees. Trees. Don't even put a pool near trees. Fall and Winter is hell and exacerbates all of the above problems. Oaks will drop 1,000's of acorns. Stay far, far away from oaks. You can't really get those things out of the plumbing once they go into the drains and scuppers. So you’re saying “Go for it?” I have a VERY large pool; but, it’s called the Pacific Ocean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 Youthman, this thread should have been a poll! Lots of us saying "Stay away!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted October 8, 2016 Moderators Share Posted October 8, 2016 At the rate voting is going what about a large hot tub, OR talk the neighbor into a pool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 26 minutes ago, BigStewMan said: So you’re saying “Go for it?” I have a VERY large pool; but, it’s called the Pacific Ocean. Oh, I like pools. Just not owning one. The best pool is your friend's pool. You get to enjoy; they get to pay and work. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 37 minutes ago, BigStewMan said: So you’re saying “Go for it?” I have a VERY large pool; but, it’s called the Pacific Ocean. Yeah the water looks so, um, well dirty there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2point1 Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 This pool has me thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 7 hours ago, Youthman said: Also in January, we will not be paying $350/month for our daughter's competitive cheer so we will have some income saved there. I used to own a cheerleader. Like you, a "competitive" cheerleader and not a "spirit" (school cheerleader). We would spend thousands to travel all over to cheer for an imaginary team (Go Tops!) and against an imaginary team (Beat the Bears!) with a 2 1/2 minute routine only the mommies and daddies ever saw. Blech. Not a fan. +++ I don't have a pool, but I've never heard any good things about pools and eventually they get filled in as maintenance goes the expensive way as the cheerleader story, above. ^^^ You can be assured that no matter the 10-year warranty the company guarantees (which will take your money and inevitably go out of business) you will have cracks in the pool liner, leaks, pumps go out, heaters go out, you have to spend money for weekly maintenance, chemicals, on and on. It never stops. Pools are money pits that rarely get used. If the family insists on the pool experience, I vote you put that $350 a month into a checking account for vacations and take your kids to places where they have pools, The beach, hotels, resorts, Disney World, etc. It will be money well spent and a huge amount of money saved. Bottom line; rent a pool, don't buy one. +++ Edit: I wrote my response to the first post without reading all the other responses. It looks like I am in the majority for a change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 Pools and boats are similar... a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into, while a pool is water in a hole you throw money into. But, with kids, youth groups, sun, florida... I can see a bit where you would want one. Bruce 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 I have to admit I loved my boat while I had it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigStewMan Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 1 hour ago, oldtimer said: Yeah the water looks so, um, well dirty there. actually it’s been YEARS since i’ve been in the water. I go to the beach often; but, normally just taking a walk or watching people fish off the pier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtmudd Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 1 hour ago, Marvel said: Pools and boats are similar... a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into, while a pool is water in a hole you throw money into. But, with kids, youth groups, sun, florida... I can see a bit where you would want one. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 On 10/8/2016 at 9:56 AM, Youthman said: My wife and 4 children (ages 10 - 17) want us to buy a pool. For a long time I thought it was a dumb idea but I'm warming up to it. My dilemma is simple....I'm ok with buying a pool as long as we can pay cash for it. We do not have $30,000 cash in the bank so that would mean us saving for a few years. My wife feels that "Life Happens" and if we don't finance it, we will never get the pool. My struggle is we spent too many years in debt and struggled the first 12years of our marriage because we had accumulated $50,000 in consumer debt and did not own a home. We were broke as a goat and we hated it. Even though we make quite a bit more than we did the first 12 years of our life and we are much more financially stable, I really have no desire to go back to making payments. The only thing we have financed now is our home and we are paying a lot extra each month to pay it off early. We need to meet with a pool builder to see what it would even cost. We would like to have cobblestone around the pool, a small fire pit and maybe down the road we will add an above ground Hot Tub. I'm estimating it will cost around $30,000 without the Hot Tub but I could be way off and it be much more. We currently have 24yrs left on our mortgage. My wife's idea is to finance the pool, then refinance our house for a 20 year mortgage with a lower interest rate. Also in January, we will not be paying $350/month for our daughter's competitive cheer so we will have some income saved there. I realize a pool isn't an investment...if anything, we might break even on it if we sell the home down the road. The "Investment" would be in our family time. I see both sides....it's just the financing that is holding me back. To most people, financing isn't a big deal. To me, it is. I enjoy having extra money to do what we want, when we want it. I have too many friends that if they needed to come up with $500 right now, they couldn't, mostly because they drive two fancy cars, have credit card debt, student loans etc (that was us too many years ago). I told her I would reach out to my other family to get your thoughts. I would love to hear your advice, especially from those that have owned pools. Some people that I've spoken to that have owned pools say they are definitely expensive to upkeep. I took my Phantom 4 above our house and took a picture and then Photoshoped sketched out a possible layout for a pool and firepit just to give us an idea of what it might look like. It probably will not be that large, but if I'm going to build a pool, I don't want it to be super tiny as we have a family of 6 and we always have a house full of our kid's friends. Today, my son invited 10 of his friends over early before homecoming. Thanks in advance for the advice, Michael I do not have a swimming pool and have never owned a swimming pool but I did swim in one at a Holiday Inn Express in Gulf Shores a while back. I do however own my home. My advice to you would be to forget the pool and related expenses and focus on owning your home. You could add the pool now and it would go with your home should unforeseen circumstances occur. 20 years is a long time. I would think about utilizing the power of the extra dollars that a pool would cost and refinance your home for as short a period of time as possible, 10 years if the math works out. This is the most precarious economy that I have seen in my lifetime. I would concentrate on digging out rather than digging in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 9, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted October 9, 2016 I certainly appreciate all of the insight and advice. I've let my wife read the forums and we both agree that a pool is not the best thing to do. We do however agree that having an outdoor living area (cobblestone area, hot tub and fire pit) would be a great addition to our home. Here are a few styles that we like Wife really likes the Pergola with the stone bases. Simple, yet functional. Love the look of these stones. We probably would not have the stone seating. Chairs around the fire pit would be just fine. Could do without the structure and add a hot tub somewhere. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Looks good to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 I would hazard a guess that almost all of those configurations would cost just about the same as a pool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 But they would add more value to the home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Why not upgrade to a home that already has all of this and let someone else take the loss? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted October 9, 2016 Moderators Share Posted October 9, 2016 1 hour ago, Youthman said: Wife really likes the Pergola with the stone bases. One thing to remember you two live in FLORIDA, a Pergola lets the sun shine through during the hottest part of the day, about all they do is look cool. Structure is good, it gives a place to put things mostly out of the weather, like ceilings fans, speakers/electronics plus a place to grill out of the sun or rain. If it were me in Florida it would have some bamboo, thatch and a tropical look, but that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 2 hours ago, Youthman said: We do however agree that having an outdoor living area (cobblestone area, hot tub and fire pit) would be a great addition to our home. I like the idea too, all of it. I think it would add to the value of the house at sale time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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