Help for clueless in Ohio

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J

JustLovely

0
Jul 20, 2011
2
Ohio
HI! :-D

My husband and I are in mid/Northern Ohio. We are house shopping, and we really like a house we found with an inground heated 16' x 32' pool with a diving board. The pool was built in the early 80's. I have been asking around people in the area who have pools (above and inground alike) Everyone seems to say it wasn't worth the work & money. I LOVE water! I have always wanted a pool, but I am starting to wonder if it is worth it. Has anyone in the same climate had a good experience with their pool (particularly inground)? How much yearly do repairs and cemicals cost you? Is it really more work than it's worth (I was told we couldn't even take a vacation if we wanted unless we found someone to come over daily and take care of it). It's cold here, so how many months a year could we use it?

I really appreciate any advice you have!! I'm clueless! Please let there be someone who likes having a pool! :shock:
 
Hi, welcome to TFP! If you can, talk to the current homeowner and find out as much info as you can about the pool such as plumbing repairs, age of equipment, do they have any owner's manuals for the equipment, any leaks or other issues and how they have maintained the pool. You should have the pool inspected for potential problems before you purchase the house. It should be separate from the home inspection and conducted by a pool specialist.

If you are looking for a maintainence free pool you will not find one, however pool care is not as complicated as most pool stores lead you to believe. Liquid chlorine is your best choice for sanitizing the pool as it does not include CYA or Calcium which build up over time and become problematic. You can provide liquid chlorine by using 6% plain bleach, or 10-12% chlorinating liquid (actually just stronger bleach). Most folks can dose the pool with chlorine every other day and stay within the recommended chlorine level for their pool. A consistently and properly sanitized pool will not develop algae. The most important thing you can buy for your pool is a high quality test kit, such as a TF 100 or a Taylor k2006. Strips do not give accurate enough information to properly maintain a pool.

Find out what type of heater the pool has and the associated fuel cost to determine whether you think it is worth it to heat the pool. We have members in parts of the US and Canada with very cold winters and they love their pools!
 
I'm from Southwest Ohio, and we open our pool end of April or early May, and try to close it in Oct.
I don't have a heated pool so my swimming months depend on the weather.
Seeing as the house your looking at has a heated pool, you could extend your time as long as your willing to brave the cold air.
Maintenance is not that hard, like zea3 said. Just test daily so you can catch anything before it happens. Pool stores lead you to believe that you need to come in weekly for a test and buy all this chemicals.
I've had a pool around me most of my life, childhood and now I own my own pool. My wife has always wanted one and finally got one. It can be quite enjoyable and relaxing.
But you have the final say if it's something your wanting or not.
 
I live in southern NH. Ppl thought we were nuts for putting one in here. We even had to blast to put it in. The don't call it the Granite State for nothing.

We LOVE our pool. We have a SWG and that takes SO much work out of the picture. We open in May and close in Sept. We also have a heater. We use it only in May and Sept to extend the swimming season. The rest of the summer we use a solar cover and that does wonders.

We spend about $500/summer on fuel, about $50/month when the pool is open on extra electric running the pump, maybe $200/year on chemicals. The SWG and the BBB method are the reasons for such low chemical costs. When you buy your chemicals at the grocery store instead of the pool store, it makes all the difference.
 
Well I can tell you that you have the same weather we have right now. I got home and walking to the garage and piddling a bit, I was soaked. I spent the next 2 hours laying in the pool and drank a few beers and thought to myself "This is why I built a pool for days like this." When it's cold, I heat the hot tub and usually say "This is why I built the hot tub extension to this pool." I sure wished I started with a WalMart Intex back in the early 80's when I had plenty of room in the backyard to do so. The cost is so insignificant in respect to the payoff.
 
If you follow the advice here the cost and maintenance are very acceptable.

I have a chlorine injection system and wouldn't have a problem leaving it for a week or so without anyone to watch it. Sure you take a chance of something happening but even if it did, you'd know how to fix it.
 
I can tell you there is nothing better then coming home after a long day at work knowing you will be able to relax in the pool. We use our pool mid may to mid september.. so all in all 4 months of swimming enjoyment for you and your family. Also using the bbb method makes it all worth while..just look at some of these pictures on here and tell me thats not the prettiest water you have ever seen.
 
Thank you so much guys! I am feeling much more encouraged. I have sent a list of questions about the pool to the realitor who is listing the house, and we are going to try and get some more information about it. Hopefully, if all goes well, soon we will be the happy owners of a home with a pool! :-D
 
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