People don't seem to be using their pools much.

[coastal]

I took a long drive today and saw a lot of pools from the road. Saw some pool toys but in the middle of a hot day, I didn't see anyone in their pools! I think once the kids get in their teens they lose interest and then Mom and Dad don't get around to enjoying their pools since the kids are not there to be watched.

I like my pool and I try to get in at leasts once a day. But it seems that with a lot of people the pool fun wears off and there is sits.

Have you been using your pool as much as you used to?

 

[jefeyessica]

This is our second summer with our pool, and we use it way more than last year. Last year I hadn't discovered this forum, and the water was always green. I actually kind of hated the pool. Now that I'm the expert, I LOVE it. We swim almost daily. The days we don't swim, the kids go stir-crazy. Of course my kids are still young, so the novelty might wear of by the time they hit their teenage years

 

[257WbyMag]

I would say that we have used ours more this year than before. The problem with us has been that it really has been super hot lately and with strong UV indices. We have a 3 year-old and she wants to be outside all of the time (and in the pool). It's hard to tell her that we can't go outside today because it just inst all that pleasant or safe when it is 103 and a level red air quality day.

When people get a new toy, be it a pool or a trampoline or whatever else, it seems like the "new" wears off and people just don't use it as much as they did when they first got it, especially with kids.

 

[newnick]

This is our second year with a pool as well. The wifey and kid cought me at a weak moment last year when I was to busy to put up a good fight against a pool. The wife has been pushing for at least 20 yrs. for a pool. This year take a guess who spends the most time in the pool and who does 90% of the upkeep.

 

[newnick]

Sorry for the rant.
Spent most of the afternoon in the pool by myself again, it sure is peaceful, but smokin hot. The funny thing is I don't even know how to swim,lol.

 

[dlduvall]

I have to say, we are spoiled! If you drove by our house in midday, you'd think we didn't use ours either. With a heater on the pool, we are more accustomed to swimming in the evening. My family is all blond, fair skin, and who wants a sunburn? We don't go out in the middle of the day, and often are in the pool until 9pm during the summer months. After a day's work, swimming is the perfect de-stresser. :-D

 

[Vegasmom]

We didn't use our pool as much at our previous home as we do now. Not sure what to attribute it to, but my husband even got in today (and that makes 4 for the season, which is more than he swam in 6 years at the old house!) I have him to thank for spotting the algae I am currently fighting

I swim laps 5 times a week, and the kids and dog swim almost as much. We swim day and night. Love it!!

 

[coastal]

I would think that most people here on this forum would take full advantage of their pools.

The lonely pools I saw were in DE, I don't think I have seen anyone in any pool I passed by all weekend.

When I had a pool in Maryland, my daughter was young and she lived in it. Lucky I had a heater so that really expanded the season. I was able to get in it into October! Of course, after school started and the days got shorter, my little fish didn't get in very much.

Now in SW Florida, our pool has a spa so of course a heater and I get in pool all year round. I don't heat the pool when I'm the only one there, it costs too much (and that will soon double) but I turn on the heat to the spa about 2 hours before the Southern Comfort Manhattan is ready and enjoy as I call a friend or sibling up north and mention I'm calling as I relax in the spa.

Since it seems inevitable that most family pools are a finite backyard activity, with a changing family lifestyle (and speaking as a Realtor) I think an above ground pool is a great way to go, especially up in the frozen north. When the kids outgrow the pool or when you go to sell the house, you can just roll up the pool and no more objections from potential buyers. Unfortunately, most HOAs do not allow them.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Last summer I was in the pool more than my kids. They didn't want to go in unless it was a "pool party" and we had company. This year its different, we'll see if it lasts.

I'm amazed at how many pools here are still winterized. I can only imagine what's lurking under the cover....

 

[AV8TOR]

Maybe pools grow old on some but man do we ever use our pool. 6 AM is my first swim which I do laps for exercise, much easier on the body than running. The wife does hers later in the morning and we are always in again in the evening. I agree with the blazing sun right now in the DFW area but thank goodness we have some shade which comes at the expense of multiple leaf rank duty daily but it's worth all of it.

 

[sefrlw]

Our pool is 10 years old this year. The first 4 years that is all we did. the next 5 years of pool use were dictated by soccer schedule. This year the 10th year was the easiest opening ever, thanks to TFP and it is looking like it will be back to a year of this is all we do. Heck this past weekend with our son out of town for a week that is all we did. Sit, swim and drink. Oh wait we did go out on the boat one day then hung out in the pool that night. Needless to say we have a nice tan already.

 

[gabagoo]

This is our first full year with the pool and we use it every chance we can. Weather has been off and on so we use the spa more. There is so much to do to complete the landscaping and electrical,, I almost feel guilty rerlaxing soaking up the rays...lol

 

[PachinkoPlayer]

This year is our first year, We had it up in May freezing our booty off. (no solar cover) then it started warming up and still in it every day. 2 weeks ago we had what we call a "heat wave" and the pool water was creeping towards the mid 90s and at night hovering around 90, so we skipped two days.

Now it has been in the mid 70s this week and really breezy. Where our pool is situated is a strong breeze/draft and we are "chillin" again....

But the girls are only 2 and 4, so we still got a few years, and as far as heating and cooling an itex pool, you are pretty limited on what you can do due to the small size of the pump etc.

But it will all change soon! Will be getting a bigger and better pump filter system to finish out the year on the intex, then work on getting our "real" pool ordered and hopefully setup by May of next year!

 

[amjohn]

With the brutal temps and sun in Texas, I take a break from working at home mid-day while the water is still around 85 degrees and take a few laps to cool off. Then I go back in the house and get back to work. I have olive skin, so I can take some sun, but my husband is very fair and has already has pre-cancers (no full-blown cancers yet), so we are mostly out in the evening, usually for a couple hours. On the weekends we are out stargazing at night. I have been begging and borrowing other people's pools for three years now, and even swam at the local (absolutely disgusting) YMCA, before we realize, DUH!! we need our own pool. this is our first full summer with it, and I don't see this wearing off any time soon.

 

[azle]

I would say AT LEAST once a day if not all day during the weekend! too sunny? Sunblock, too hot? go under, hungry? jump out fire up the grill throw meat on jump back in jump out when cooked, jump back in. It's simple keep cool in the pool! Do yard work jump in the pool go for a walk jump in the pool I guess you see where my priorities are. Oh by the way 5.5 years with the pool I have been accused of being a kid at heart! I might have gills......

 

[Butterfly]

I would say AT LEAST once a day if not all day during the weekend! too sunny? Sunblock, too hot? go under, hungry? jump out fire up the grill throw meat on jump back in jump out when cooked, jump back in. It's simple keep cool in the pool! Do yard work jump in the pool go for a walk jump in the pool I guess you see where my priorities are. Oh by the way 5.5 years with the pool I have been accused of being a kid at heart! I might have gills......

Wow, I hear you! Today almost all day in the pool w/a friend over this morn and three grands this afternoon!

I cannot even pull a weed without getting in the pool first and keeping cool popping in and out!

Yep, keep cool in the pool :lol:

 

[Cherie]

WOW, LOTS of Texans on this thread! Yes, Texas is hotter than blazes. And if you don't have any shade over your pool, you'll get fried, even if the water is wonderful. This is our 2nd season with our pool and when we get the deck finished and the slide up, the kids and I will be living in the pool every chance we get. I plan to figure out a way to tilt a big umbrella to provide at least some shade on the pool We're hoping to get the deck finished before the 30% chance of rain hits in two days, but hubby is pretty sore tonight from the last two days :?

Also, in our area anyway, we've had a lot of orange days - and when you have asthmatics in the family, outdoors is a no-no on those days. I keep trying to coax hubby into tossing the wedding cake steps in, even though we have nothing to weight them down with yet

 

[amjohn]

Cherie, go to Lowes and get the Southern Butterfly offset umbrella with solar lights (call ahead, only a few stores have them in stock). It is huge, offset, and tilts. The base is meant to be filled with water, but that was still wobbly. We filled it with the rock that is around our pool and it has not budged. We do take the umbrella portion down when there are storms expected (like earlier this week- friends just a few miles north of me got rain, we got nothing.).. The umbrella is not cheap- there are some cheaper versions available through ACE and Target and Walmart, but for construction, this one is hard to beat. Plus the solar lights are really cool for night swimming. Anyways, our deck project is now a winter project, so this is as close as I am going to get to shade of any sort for this year. This picture was taken at 5PM so the the umbrella is not tilted as the sun is to the right and falling across the umbrella. However, the thing will tilt to a crazy angle if we wanted it.

 

[Cherie]

Thanks amjohn. When you tilt to the hilt , does it cover a pretty good amount of your pool?

Our gray clay is giving us a fit for digging those holes today! We're trying to soak a few with water, knowing full well that we'll have a gooey mess on our hands when we come back to try to dig again with the machine. But I think we're about 40% done with the holes.

We'll run to Lowe's after I call and make sure they even have any. But for now, it's to Home Depot (because they're closer) for a post-hole digger I tell ya what though, we sure wish we'd rented the stand-on post-hole digger when we did our Kentucky Rail fence :?

Gotta run....

(updated post)All Lowe's in our region are sold out and can't order these items

 

[amjohn]

Cherie, when you tilt it, the canopy angle is almost straight up and down. Looks kind of unstable at that point. With it just sitting flat and swung out over the pool (with no tilt as in my picture), it starts giving us shade by noon. By 4:00, about 1/4 of the pool is covered. I have a 28 foot diameter pool.
Sulphur Spring's Lowe's is a little bit of a trek for you, but when I got mine there a couple weeks ago, they still had three more, and they were not selling them to other stores. It might be worth it to give them a try. In my mind, I would consider it worth the drive. Sulphur Springs is 45 minutes from Greenville. Wylie is 45 minutes from us- so going down I-30 you would be looking at about 1.5 hours each way. That may sound like a lot, but we do that at least once a month just to go to the doctor.
I am amazed you are digging holes right now. We don't even try in this kind of weather, and we have a 100hp tractor with a 5 foot borer on it. About all you can do is dig a little, add a little water, wait a couple hours, then repeat. You have to use the same process whether you are using a shovel or a hole borer. But at least you can hang out in the pool between holes while you are waiting for the water to soak in.
Gotta go- time to get in the pool- 3rd time today- it's 102F- it's like the sun is about 7 inches away.