I had a very smart fellow tell me years ago that a swimming pool was a great thing for a neighbor to own.
Having said that, we've had the same above ground 28' footer for about 20 years. During that time we've replaced the liner three times, pump motor once, then the pump and motor once, plus the yearly costs of chemicals and accessories.
I installed it myself on reasonably flat ground with a transit, rototiller, tractor scraper blade and a lot of hoe and rake work.
We first got it when the kids were younger and it seemed they always wanted to go swimming and the county pool is about 10 miles away, always crowded and I thought the admission was too high. Originally, they were in the thing everyday, but as the new wore off, they didn't swim nearly as much, but we kept it. Then SWMBO liked to sit in a floating chair and read several times a week, but eventually even that got to be less and less. Now the grandkids are at the point where they love to visit and go swimming. (That's the best pool usage for me, I get to see them a lot more than I do during the winter months)
I'd considering tearing the thing down several times over the years, but it seems that every time I think that, then one group of another will all of a sudden decide they want to swim more, so it stays up.
The only problem I really have is during the periods when nobody wants to swim much, but the pool has to be maintained the same all the time. The labor involved with opening and closing the pool can take some time and it always seems like they need to be opened or closed right when you have something else going on that is also important.
The yearly chemical costs are almost identical if the pool is being used every day or if it's not used for a month. Once the pool is opened and stabilized, I spent maybe an hour a week maintaining it.
I use the PhosFree line of chemicals to open, close and maintain it, once I get that going, I don't use near as much chlorine as I did before I found out about that company.
A winter cover is a necessity, makes it much easier and less time consuming to get the pool opened in the spring and an automatic cleaner is almost mandatory in my case. Even when a lot of people are using the pool, nobody wants to vacuum the darned thing.
I've also found that buying the accessories online is much cheaper than getting them from brick and mortar stores, plus I don't have to buy gasoline and spend time driving around to find what I need.
A deck, either full or partial, makes the pool much more handier (for those that like to swim in it and for the poor fool who is maintaining it), but I've got a small fortune invested in just the treated lumber around mine, then this year I spend another small fortune coating the deck with a deck restore product because the grandkids complained about the splintering.
But in my case, I'm stuck with the darned thing because it was me that suggested to the wife that we should get a pool and the only thing I do other than maintain it is to jump in and cool off after a hot and sweaty lawn mowing!
Having said that, we've had the same above ground 28' footer for about 20 years. During that time we've replaced the liner three times, pump motor once, then the pump and motor once, plus the yearly costs of chemicals and accessories.
I installed it myself on reasonably flat ground with a transit, rototiller, tractor scraper blade and a lot of hoe and rake work.
We first got it when the kids were younger and it seemed they always wanted to go swimming and the county pool is about 10 miles away, always crowded and I thought the admission was too high. Originally, they were in the thing everyday, but as the new wore off, they didn't swim nearly as much, but we kept it. Then SWMBO liked to sit in a floating chair and read several times a week, but eventually even that got to be less and less. Now the grandkids are at the point where they love to visit and go swimming. (That's the best pool usage for me, I get to see them a lot more than I do during the winter months)
I'd considering tearing the thing down several times over the years, but it seems that every time I think that, then one group of another will all of a sudden decide they want to swim more, so it stays up.
The only problem I really have is during the periods when nobody wants to swim much, but the pool has to be maintained the same all the time. The labor involved with opening and closing the pool can take some time and it always seems like they need to be opened or closed right when you have something else going on that is also important.
The yearly chemical costs are almost identical if the pool is being used every day or if it's not used for a month. Once the pool is opened and stabilized, I spent maybe an hour a week maintaining it.
I use the PhosFree line of chemicals to open, close and maintain it, once I get that going, I don't use near as much chlorine as I did before I found out about that company.
A winter cover is a necessity, makes it much easier and less time consuming to get the pool opened in the spring and an automatic cleaner is almost mandatory in my case. Even when a lot of people are using the pool, nobody wants to vacuum the darned thing.
I've also found that buying the accessories online is much cheaper than getting them from brick and mortar stores, plus I don't have to buy gasoline and spend time driving around to find what I need.
A deck, either full or partial, makes the pool much more handier (for those that like to swim in it and for the poor fool who is maintaining it), but I've got a small fortune invested in just the treated lumber around mine, then this year I spend another small fortune coating the deck with a deck restore product because the grandkids complained about the splintering.
But in my case, I'm stuck with the darned thing because it was me that suggested to the wife that we should get a pool and the only thing I do other than maintain it is to jump in and cool off after a hot and sweaty lawn mowing!
