Purchasing a house with a Gunite pool. Questions

[TheCrow11]

Hello,
We are getting ready to purchase a house with an inground gunite pool. Since it’s the off-season here in Colorado, I have some questions for the experts here. Our main concern is the surface of the pool, currently it’s covered, I will be having someone come out to inspect it, but what issues should I be looking for? The county website said the permit was pulled to build it in 84 . The previous owner closed it down mid summer so I’m expecting it to be green when we pull the cover which I’m afraid will make the bottom difficult to see. They say they don’t know when it was last resurfaced as they only owned the home for 2 years. Any help is appreciated, please feel free to ask any questions.
Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! Try to get as much info about the pool and equipment as you can and add it to your profile signature - much like mine below. In addition, take some pics and post them as well so we can see what you have to work with. As for the plaster surface itself, not much we can say at this point while everything is winterized and covered, but we'll do the best we can. Without question, be prepared to test your own water - no pool store testing. We recommend either the TF-100 (link below) or Taylor K-2006C. I can tell you now the TF-100 is a great value. The water tests results will tell you a LOT about the previous ownership's ability to understand chemistry.

Nice to have you with us.

 

[Jimrahbe]

tc,

Welcome to TFP... A great resource for all your unknown pool status questions, whether your Junction is Grand or not so grand...

If I were buying this house I would go in with idea that if the pool was built in 1984, that it will need all new equipment and a coping, waterline tile, and re-plaster upgrade.

That way, no matter how the pool actually looks, you will be on the upside... It is easier to negotiate down rather than up...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[BasicTek]

Welcome to TFP!

I bought my house with 1st pool in 2016. I had no idea what I was getting into, and didn't ask any questions (I did know, from the county website that it was built in the same year as my house (1986)) . My inspector (that I had to pay extra for pool) didn't tell me the pool needed to be refinished (which it did). The only thing my pool inspector did point out was the pressure gage was unreadable ($10 lol). I made some poor decisions, like 1st hiring a pool service that was terrible (did fire them in 2 months). I made things worse by using pool store next (that was over 6 month mistake). I purchased solar impulsively to expand my pool season, in the 1st year I had to replace the auto vac, the variable speed pump (this was probably just bad luck) the chlorinator (which I replaced months later for salt water generator which was a great idea but expensive). Finally about 9 months later I started to follow the TFP approach they have detailed on this site (pool school). All in all dropped about 10K in the 1st year (not including the refinish and possible paver deck we hope to do this year for an addition 4k-13K).

So hopefully you will get a better inspection than I did, have better equipment luck, get a test kit, and follow TFP before finding out the hard way... Or else live and learn

I do love having the pool though and I use it almost 12 months of the year (it's sporadic from December to February), the SWG is awesome to maintain, the costs are way less than pool store or pool guy. I test myself, using this forum, to learn how to handle any questions, plus my pool is immaculate and balanced almost perfectly. Good luck!