Swimming pool or not?

chicagoremodeli

Hey all! I don't know how many of you own a pool but i would like to buy one since recently i bought a house and did some work. What kind of pool you prefer? my budget is somewhere around $1000-4500

gregzoll

You may find after seeing the costs & taxes that Good Ole Chicagoland applies to those with pools, you may think twice. Last year we put up our pool (one of the Intex inflatable ring pools), and never used it, took it down after two months. This year, not going to use it. We are debating joining one of the private pools in our town for $420 a season, which after you figure cost & time for maintenance, you end up getting off cheap by joining a pool.

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Jim F

Do they up your taxes for an above-ground pool in Chicago. I know here in NY they only consider in-ground pools to be a permanent improvement worthy of a tax increase.

creeper

There are a lot of variables in deciding which is best suited for your needs.

Are the kids little and you just want to splash around?
Do you want to be able to dive in or would you sacrifice deeper for longer so you can get a better work out

Anyway at 4500 max your options are quite limited to an above ground. You still option of sinking it in the ground though.

Get the biggest you can afford if you love swimming.

joecaption

http://www.ehow.com/info_8677784_ave...ound-pool.html

creeper

Solar heating can raise the water temp by 10 degrees as well as extend your season by a few weeks.

sdsester

As a teenager I worked as a lifeguard with additional responsibilities for cleaning a community pool. Once I saw how much maintenance was involved I vowed never to have one of my own.

Do cost out what chemicals and maintenance is going to cost you in terms of time and money.

That said, I am intrigued by the natural pool movement. They use nearly no chemicals and look beautiful.

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creeper

Steve:
While I can appreciate the magnitude of caring for a community pool, its really not that bad for home use.
Opening and closing the pool is the biggest challenge. Block a entire day's time for that task.
Weekly vacuum. Skim out the bugs and leaves as needed

A bucket of chlorine pucks will cost about 30-40 bucks and will last 2 seasons. Weekly shock or after heavy use
So really its around 150-200 bucks per season

I love having a pool

Natural salt water pools are becoming more popular. Nicer on the skin too!
Speaking of swimming...I'm off for my swim now

sdsester

The natural pools I was thinking of are not salt water although I have read good things about them. The movement I have been watching is more about creating ecosystems with a pool as anchor.



I have also seen some systems that kill microbes by running the water over copper plates. You could not expect fish to survive that though.

I do see how having your own pool could be nice. Neighbors in Central Illinois built one of the nicer lap pools into their landscape. There is nothing like a pool party. I just never was willing to pay for the upkeep and was near large bodies of water to swim in anyhow. Or I would swim after playing some tennis at a poor man's country club.

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hyunelan2

The house we bought came with an above-ground pool. It almost prevented me from buying the house. My wife thought it would be "o so fun." I grew up with a pool and knew how much of a PITA it is. Besides the cost outlay, you have the additional hundreds of dollars for chemicals every year. Running the pump is about like running the A/C for your electric bill. Then, you have to clean and fuss with the thing. After all that, you just want to go inside and sit down, not use it. Not to mention that Chicago summers only give you about 3 to 3.5 months of use.

Most of the use my pool has had was out of guilt for having it and not using it, rather than actually wanting to go in it. Maybe if it was an in-ground that was deep enough to swim in, it would be different. Above ground pools are about as much fun as standing in a puddle. If you have kids, I could see that reason (the only reason we have not torn ours out yet - but my kids are still too little). Then again, buy a really cool sprinkler and you're money WAY ahead, and lightyears ahead with time.

Jim F

We have one of the 18' X 52" Intex frame pools. They don't cost that much to maintain during the summer season and store in the winter. I paid 500 for the pool at Target last year while it was on sale. I did upgrade to a better ladder and sand filter a few years back. We get a lot of use and enjoyment out of it. My pool is big enought for me to get a workout and t the standard 24' above groung pool is bigger yet. We had an 18' X 48" previously and that was just a little too shallow for me. It was replaced last year after I decided it had too many holes in the bottom to patch.