Hello everyone, two year pool owner and TFP follower here. Just wanted to stop lurking and say thanks for this site.
In 2023 my wife and I bought a house with a pool. It was a complete impulse purchase. Our seven month old daughter had fallen in love with swimming on vacation a few weeks prior. The old house was getting small with all the baby stuff, and we had talked for years about moving or building but weren't taking any steps to make it happen. My wife's Facebook friend posted the listing for her neighbors who were moving out. It seemed to check all the boxes, plus one we hadn't even dreamed of - an in-ground pool, a lot like the one my aunt and uncle used to have which gave me a lot of good memories and swimming skills growing up. We knew from family that had inquired about pools for their houses that the current cost of construction was not something we could ever justify, but buying existing seemed like a great deal. It was built in 2020, so fairly new but old enough to hopefully be beyond any major construction defects becoming apparent. I don't normally do impulsive things but it all just felt right; within a day we had made an offer and a month later we were moving in. So grateful that we were able to do this for ourselves and our daughter.
So far it's been great. Our daughter's been in classes for survival and swimming skills and loves having the pool at home to practice and play.
I tend to default to doing things myself so pool care was something I quickly took to. One of our family friends actually runs a pool store, so I'm trying to keep that from being awkward. The first partial summer in the house we relied on their testing, which wasn't too problematic since things were already balanced and dialed in. Had them do the full closing and opening next year, and I quickly realized I was not going be happy driving a water sample 15 miles down the road every week. I also didn't enjoy coming home with hundreds of dollars in suggested chemicals that I didn't fully understand, including a phosphate remover that I wasn't warned would clog my filter three times. The TFP site seemed to have a lot of information and well-reasoned advice so I started following that, and after a few weeks I felt pretty confident in understanding what my pool actually needs and why. I appreciate that the TFP methods keep things simple and I only buy and add what I can prove I need from testing. I'm still using the pool store for closing (I don't have a blower and it's their fault if it's not done right), parts and accessories, and TFP recommended chemicals. It seems prudent to maintain some kind of relationship for if I need repairs beyond my DIY level, but I've been respectfully 'uh-huh'ing and disregarding any chemistry advice:
- They seem to sell literal truckloads of Baquacil
- I was told the government would really like your CYA to be less than 20.
- After opening DIY this year I was told it's not really necessary to 'sanitize' until it's time to swim. Didn't inquire into what that meant exactly.
- Solid chlorine is "a lot stronger" so we don't sell liquid.
Yeah
Sorry this is so long. I'm currently bored and freezing in PA, impatiently waiting for decent pool weather.
In 2023 my wife and I bought a house with a pool. It was a complete impulse purchase. Our seven month old daughter had fallen in love with swimming on vacation a few weeks prior. The old house was getting small with all the baby stuff, and we had talked for years about moving or building but weren't taking any steps to make it happen. My wife's Facebook friend posted the listing for her neighbors who were moving out. It seemed to check all the boxes, plus one we hadn't even dreamed of - an in-ground pool, a lot like the one my aunt and uncle used to have which gave me a lot of good memories and swimming skills growing up. We knew from family that had inquired about pools for their houses that the current cost of construction was not something we could ever justify, but buying existing seemed like a great deal. It was built in 2020, so fairly new but old enough to hopefully be beyond any major construction defects becoming apparent. I don't normally do impulsive things but it all just felt right; within a day we had made an offer and a month later we were moving in. So grateful that we were able to do this for ourselves and our daughter.
So far it's been great. Our daughter's been in classes for survival and swimming skills and loves having the pool at home to practice and play.
I tend to default to doing things myself so pool care was something I quickly took to. One of our family friends actually runs a pool store, so I'm trying to keep that from being awkward. The first partial summer in the house we relied on their testing, which wasn't too problematic since things were already balanced and dialed in. Had them do the full closing and opening next year, and I quickly realized I was not going be happy driving a water sample 15 miles down the road every week. I also didn't enjoy coming home with hundreds of dollars in suggested chemicals that I didn't fully understand, including a phosphate remover that I wasn't warned would clog my filter three times. The TFP site seemed to have a lot of information and well-reasoned advice so I started following that, and after a few weeks I felt pretty confident in understanding what my pool actually needs and why. I appreciate that the TFP methods keep things simple and I only buy and add what I can prove I need from testing. I'm still using the pool store for closing (I don't have a blower and it's their fault if it's not done right), parts and accessories, and TFP recommended chemicals. It seems prudent to maintain some kind of relationship for if I need repairs beyond my DIY level, but I've been respectfully 'uh-huh'ing and disregarding any chemistry advice:
- They seem to sell literal truckloads of Baquacil
- I was told the government would really like your CYA to be less than 20.
- After opening DIY this year I was told it's not really necessary to 'sanitize' until it's time to swim. Didn't inquire into what that meant exactly.
- Solid chlorine is "a lot stronger" so we don't sell liquid.
Yeah
Sorry this is so long. I'm currently bored and freezing in PA, impatiently waiting for decent pool weather.
