T2K Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 I agree with this DR guy. Why spend your future today. Wallowing around (not literally) in a pool of old moldy crusty dollars is awfully comforting. It's kinda like crack. The more crack you get, the more of that crack you want. Just ask DJT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 1 hour ago, Dawson's Ridge said: Youthman, if you have never owned a pool, there is a lot you don't know. Just reading over your current and past situation I strongly recommend you consider focusing on a financial plan for college, weddings, and retirement. Give me a PM if you want to talk more. DR, i'm guessing your in the financial planning business Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstrickland1 Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Well we love our pool. Salt system is virtually automatic. Awesome family times and alone time with the wife. It's gorgeous year round, a beautiful water feature. Ours is gunite with a pebble finish. Great money spent, but we didn't finance it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawson's Ridge Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 12 hours ago, Budman said: DR, i'm guessing your in the financial planning business No, I am in the enjoy your retirement business after 33 years working hard in 'the big oil building in the sky', 5 college degrees, and 5 weddings. I have a nice in-ground pool with waterfall that I would like to just give Youthman if I could. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J M O N Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Based on your initial description or your situation and goals, I would recommend against a pool. The only way it would be worth it is if your family ended up spending a lot of time using it. Initially, everyone says they will use it often, but that probably doesn't hold true most of the time. Time flies and your kids will likely be out of the house before you know it. Will you still want a pool at that time? It's not like a boat that you can at least sell, unless you are willing to move. I say all this as a current pool owner. Bought my current house just over a year ago and it came with a pool. I didn't pay extra for it, it cost the same as other similar houses without a pool (in other words, a pool will not add value to the house). We really didn't want a pool, even a "free" one. Sure, they are neat to have and a lot of fun when you are enjoying them, but that is a small percentage of the time spent at home, even if you use it a lot. We ended up getting a home with a pool simply because we couldn't find the right house that didn't have a pool, so after nearly a year of looking we eventually started considering pool homes. This is my first pool and I've had to learn a lot. Unless you pay someone (additional expense), you will have maintenance to do. Salt pools generate chlorine from the salt and you will have to replenish the salt. A salt cell is used for the chlorine conversion and I am told they last about 5-7 years and cost around $500 to replace (haven't had to do this yet so just going off what a pool company told me). Even salt pools need chemicals (muriatic acid is the most frequent, along with other types of chemicals to balance the water correctly). You either have to buy the chemicals to test the water yourself, or make regular trips to your local pool supply store to have it tested there. The salt water conversion doesn't happen below 70 degrees so you still have to add chlorine in the Winter. The pumps need to run for 8-10 hours each day to filter and circulate the water so that adds to your electric bill. Don't forget about your water bill -- you have to replace the water that evaporates -- the larger the surface area the more evaporation you will have. Also keep in mind, everything you need for pools seems to be more expensive than it should -- from nets to clean the pool, to the chemicals needed to maintain it. Thus far, we haven't had to replace any major components yet, but it's just a matter of time. Small stuff has had to be replaced and I probably still got a couple hundred bucks of expenses there. Before we bought the house and started looking at houses with pools, my kids were of course excited and promised they would help with pool maintenance. Now that we have the pool, well, you can guess what happened to their excitement when it comes to helping clean it. Even for first-time pool owners where the thrill hasn't worn off, I think I can say we haven't used the pool nearly as much as we thought we would. Consider this point -- I spend a whole lot more time maintaining the pool than I do swimming in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Well.... I suppose my viewpoint may be somewhat different than the general tone here. We've had our pool for 23 years (came with the house), and I have never regretted having it. Some of our best family times have been centered around the backyard pool. As our boys were growing up (one age 19 and away to college, and one 15 and still at home) there were a lot of kids their ages in the neighborhood, so our pool became a favorite place for gatherings - kids and parents (a decent gas grill is a must also!). Sure, there is maintenance and expense - you will probably need to resurface every 8 years or so (cost $3500 last time) - but most of the work you can do yourself. I don't mind coming home and spending a few minutes with pool brush and a dip net, it's kind of therapeutic for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 3 minutes ago, Seadog said: (came with the house), That's the key. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawson's Ridge Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 9 hours ago, Seadog said: Sure, there is maintenance and expense - you will probably need to resurface every 8 years or so (cost $3500 last time) - but most of the work you can do yourself. I don't mind coming home and spending a few minutes with pool brush and a dip net, it's kind of therapeutic for me. Average cost in greater Houston area to apply new plaster $6,500 - $8,500 based on size of pool. Pebble Tech more in the range of $12-13,000+. All has to be applied with commercial equipment and experienced crew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 what kinda interest rate do some of you guys have3ishSent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 34 minutes ago, Dawson's Ridge said: Average cost in greater Houston area to apply new plaster $6,500 - $8,500 All right, another SE TX member! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 12, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted October 12, 2016 I've contacted a few paver guys and am meeting with one tomorrow to discuss ideas for a simple outdoor living area. Thanks again for everyone's input and for talking me down from the ledge. LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieb Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 My daughters recent "simple" outdoor area - fairly elaborate custom built wooden extension off the house and new 20x25 patio cost her around $25K, give or take. Now that ain't simple in my book but I'm old - and cheap! Best luck with your decision -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 8 hours ago, richieb said: My daughters recent "simple" outdoor area - fairly elaborate custom built wooden extension off the house and new 20x25 patio cost her around $25K, give or take. Now that ain't simple in my book but I'm old - and cheap! Best luck with your decision -- Hey get a bunch of rocks from the woods and fancy them up with a lot of digging and cementing. Cost is minimal. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 13 hours ago, Dawson's Ridge said: Average cost in greater Houston area to apply new plaster $6,500 - $8,500 based on size of pool. Pebble Tech more in the range of $12-13,000+. All has to be applied with commercial equipment and experienced crew. I suppose those prices have gone up like everything else. The $3500 job was probably five years ago, and of course the job went to the lowest bidder. Some bids were higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted October 13, 2016 Moderators Share Posted October 13, 2016 3 hours ago, JJkizak said: Hey get a bunch of rocks from the woods and fancy them up with a lot of digging and cementing. Cost is minimal. JJK Pretty much what I would be doing, diy for me positively. Only difference if Florida is like it is here you have to buy the stone, bought and handled many tons doing landscaping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 20 hours ago, dtel said: Pretty much what I would be doing, diy for me positively. Only difference if Florida is like it is here you have to buy the stone, bought and handled many tons doing landscaping. I installed a 12 volt winch on the back of the small dump cart behind the mower to drag rocks into the cart. The winch plugs into the mower with a dryer plug. You ought to see what a 500 pound rock does to the cart tires. I don't have any pictures though mainly because things get very intense when your doing this. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 14, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted October 14, 2016 Should we get an Outdoor Living Area with Hot Tub and Fire Pit Discussion begins below: So we met with a paver guy and his foreman today. The thought is to add large thin stone to the 11' x 30' lanai. They suggested using the same thin stone to extend out into the yard. A friend mentioned that I might want to pour a footer to go under the hot tub due to the weight. I asked the paver guy and he said that if you pack down the sand and lay thin stone down, it will be just as solid as concrete. Do I have anything to worry about if he guarantees his work for 2 years if I get that in writing should the weight of the hot tub crack the pavers / stone? I keep saying stone / pavers as I think of 4" thick "pavers" where the stone are maybe 1" thick? I don't know the technical term for them. The stones below on the flooring is what I'm thinking about. We have the typical rectangular "pavers" in our driveway and my wife doesn't want those. They are going to draw up some sketches and meet with me again on Saturday to go over them. He's pretty new in business, need to find out how long he's actually been doing pavers (or at least his foreman that will actually doing the work). All he has is a Facebook page right now so I was hoping to do a little bartering with him for a custom website but he has already secured a web developer. https://www.facebook.com/stonehardLLC/ Seems like these guys are willing to do any type of work to help pay the bills. He's pretty excited about the possibility of our build as he says he wants it to be his best build yet. I say all of that to once again, seek wisdom from the counsel of many. I don't have a problem with startup businesses. I remember starting my company in web development in 2004....I had no clients, I had no "portfolio" so I had to start cheap so that I could build a portfolio and prove my worth. I'm thinking this might work out to my benefit as I should be able to have them do it much cheaper than say a huge paver company that has been doing this for many years. He says he will guarantee his work for 2 years. If we did decide to go with him, I would want everything in writing before I put down a deposit. Anything I should be wary of? We also want to get 1 or 2 more quotes / bids to see how they compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 You're rolling the dice. A 2 year guarantee is great up till the point that there's no company then there's no guarantee. You also may not run into issues for the first two years as settling is a slow process. Have him supply references. Call his customers, ask about how he conducted his business and go look at his work. Was he on time? Were promises met? Is he a member of the BBB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 14, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted October 14, 2016 That's why I wanted to get other perspectives. When we first built our home 10 years ago, I had a guy come out and he drew up some concepts for the back yard and I think it was around $14,000. Talk about sticker shock. LOL. 1 hour ago, CECAA850 said: A 2 year guarantee is great up till the point that there's no company then there's no guarantee. Sounds like our home. Our home was the last home the builder built before Paragon Homes went under. Fortunately we haven't had any issues in 10 years that we've lived here so it all worked out but if we would have had a roof leak or the AC go out, it would have been on our dime. 1 hour ago, CECAA850 said: Have him supply references. Call his customers, ask about how he conducted his business and go look at his work. He recently did one of our neighbor's backyards....added some pavers for her hot tub and a small fire pit. She was the one who recommended them to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 15, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted October 15, 2016 Thanks for all the detailed info. I know zero about this stuff so that's why I'm asking questions here and certainly appreciate everyone's thoughts and recommendations. He is coming by tomorrow to discuss the project further as we only had time for a brief 15 min meeting the other day. I have some questions to ask him based on info I'm receiving here. I'm not fond of the "crazy paving" due to the abstract pattern. I prefer lines, rectangles and squares. Our fire pit is likely for roasting smores, and providing some heat. We get maybe 2 cold months out of the year here in Florida and even then, it's not super cold. We rarely get below freezing. I'd prefer an above ground fire pit so it's less likely anyone stumbles into it. I agree with the moveable furniture. I don't want a stone curved seat. Although they look fantastic and artistic, they would just be extremely uncomfortable and non-flexible as well as add to the expense of the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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