Hey everyone, thought I'd join up here to learn about owning and maintaining a pool. So I've decided to put an in-ground pool at my house but I'm simply overwhelmed with the whole process.
I'm torn between going with a concrete pool or a fiberglass pool; here in the metro Atlanta area you can't swing a dead cat without finding a concrete pool builder. I've had a couple of concrete pool contractor to do a site assessment and give an idea of what my family is looking for. In general we're looking at roughly a 35' long by 16' wide free-form style pool along with a spillover spa. My wife would like a 'tanning ledge' and maybe a jump rock for my small child; depth wise we don't want anything more than 6'. From my research either Concrete or FG will give us what we want but at the end of the day the final product has to look right.
Honestly I'm biased towards a FG pool because I want a very low amount of maintenance and long-term satisfaction. Also the lack of install time of a FG pool is a huge deal given I have a dog with free access to my entire backyard; keeping them up for a couple weeks compared to a couple of months. My problem is finding a good FG contractor that's actually interested in earning my business so I'm looking for recommendations, tips and advice.
-Anyone 'local' (metro Atlanta area,) have recommendations for contractors? Is that allowed here?
-Any general tips or considerations that you can pass on, what did you learn during your pool's construction phase.
-For decking we're most likely going to choose Cool deck or similar product, we may opt for pavers as well as we want the look to be more custom. That said, if we need to trim some off the budget this will be where it come from. Those that did just concrete decking, were you disappointed?
-A spa is a very desired option for my wife and I, given that the FG spas are more therapeutic that a concrete spa is it still worth it?
-Given the place in my yard this will be installed, direct sunlight is not a problem so I'm not concerned with swimming is cool'ish water however I will put a heater in for the spa. I understand this may extend my 'season' by a month I will mainly use it for the spa. I have propane and not NG so this is a concern somewhat but as I understand these heaters are very efficient? How quickly would one of these heat up a spa and at what cost?
-I do plan on installing LED lighting but I'm on the fence about opting for automation controls. Those that have experiance with both automation and manual controls is it worth the money to go with auto controls?
I'm torn between going with a concrete pool or a fiberglass pool; here in the metro Atlanta area you can't swing a dead cat without finding a concrete pool builder. I've had a couple of concrete pool contractor to do a site assessment and give an idea of what my family is looking for. In general we're looking at roughly a 35' long by 16' wide free-form style pool along with a spillover spa. My wife would like a 'tanning ledge' and maybe a jump rock for my small child; depth wise we don't want anything more than 6'. From my research either Concrete or FG will give us what we want but at the end of the day the final product has to look right.
Honestly I'm biased towards a FG pool because I want a very low amount of maintenance and long-term satisfaction. Also the lack of install time of a FG pool is a huge deal given I have a dog with free access to my entire backyard; keeping them up for a couple weeks compared to a couple of months. My problem is finding a good FG contractor that's actually interested in earning my business so I'm looking for recommendations, tips and advice.
-Anyone 'local' (metro Atlanta area,) have recommendations for contractors? Is that allowed here?
-Any general tips or considerations that you can pass on, what did you learn during your pool's construction phase.
-For decking we're most likely going to choose Cool deck or similar product, we may opt for pavers as well as we want the look to be more custom. That said, if we need to trim some off the budget this will be where it come from. Those that did just concrete decking, were you disappointed?
-A spa is a very desired option for my wife and I, given that the FG spas are more therapeutic that a concrete spa is it still worth it?
-Given the place in my yard this will be installed, direct sunlight is not a problem so I'm not concerned with swimming is cool'ish water however I will put a heater in for the spa. I understand this may extend my 'season' by a month I will mainly use it for the spa. I have propane and not NG so this is a concern somewhat but as I understand these heaters are very efficient? How quickly would one of these heat up a spa and at what cost?
-I do plan on installing LED lighting but I'm on the fence about opting for automation controls. Those that have experiance with both automation and manual controls is it worth the money to go with auto controls?
