Swimming Pool or Not?
Have you ever thought about putting a Swimming Pool in your yard? Would you know where to start? Would you build it in the ground or above it?
Over the years I have thought about building a swimming pool several different times. Finally last year I decided it would be much easier to purchase a house with a pre-existing pool which I did. I personally prefer in ground pools regardless of the much higher expense. The only real place to start when thinking of putting in a pool to to decide on above ground or in ground. Above ground is much easier however if you go with an in ground pool you will need to call all of your utility companies to have all of the underground lines marked to find out if you have the appropriate space available to have a pool dug. Most stores that sell in ground pools have a list of contractors to do the dirt removal, pouring of either concrete or plaster, plumbing, ect. However if you choose to price shop some or all of these duties or even do some of this yourself you will need to start with finding a contractor that will do the digging and dirt removal process for the pool. At this point you will need to have made the decision on what size and or style pool you are building so that you can have the proper prints for each contracted person. Many of the pool stores in my area actually have a pamplet "Guide to installing your new in ground swimming pool". This does a very good job at describing the procedures and what you should take into account before starting.
I put an above ground pool in my yard about 6 years ago. It isn't the round corregated aluminum above ground pools you might generally think about. It is steal and free standing even when empty. It didn't cost all that much less than an inground, but is considerably safer. Here is a link to a picture. https://www.usaswim.com/pages/pool.html That isn't my house or my pool, just an example of what the pool looks like.
Since the pool is 4' all above ground, plus has a 3 1/2' fence on top of that, you need to scale 7 1/2 feet to get into my 4 foot deep pool. I figure if you climb the 7.5 feet you probably won't be hurt by the 4 foot water level. Also, no snakes or local wildlife end up in it accidently. Finally, it can't be taxed because it is a removable structure and not a part of the house.
Edited: funbikerchick on 28th Mar, 2006 - 7:29pm
Something that I had not really considered in the past when thinking about installing a pool were near by trees. This isn't actually for the reason you might think of leaves and such falling into the pool but rather the roots of the trees. This is for two reason actually.
1. If you go with an inground pool with even small trees nearby you may find the smallest crack in the pool could allow the tree roots to grow and damage your pool as it stretched to get to the water.
2. Larger trees may cause you to cut the roots upon install of your new pool. This can cause the tree to die or become less stable in high winds.
We bought a house with an inground pool about 8 months ago, and it's been quite a bit of trouble.
It has a nice cover, but during the fall and winter you really have to keep it cleared of leaves, and every time it rains we have to sump pump the water off of it.
Then opening it for the summer was a pain. We knew nada about pools, but almost had the pump and filter and chemicals figured out when our back yard flooded during a very hard rain and mud got in the pool. The vinyl liner came loose too and we had to drain the whole pool and have the pool guys vacuum it back down.
Then there's the drowned 6 birds, 2 baby bunnies and one rat we had to fish out of it.
It's all better now though and worth it just to see my daughter having so much fun playing in it.
Oh and it does have a large tree not 5 feet from it that worries me. I want to have it cut down, but it cost an arm and leg to have a professional do it.