OT - Pool owners

Eggcelsior

travisstrick said:

I just hide in the live oaks until tfj and cen tex get out and don their clothes then I use theirs.

That's not thinking hard, that's thinking smart.

Smokin_Trout

Teach everyone how to do everything- otherwise you will be a pool boy!
We have solar panels that help warming it up. They can also cool it down by running them at night. FAFCO is the brand out of CA.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

travisstrick said:

I just hide in the live oaks until tfj and cen tex get out and don their clothes then I use theirs.

I thought that was you. The war paint threw me off a little. c'mon in, the water's fine

KennyLee

Some great tips and insight, which I expected from this site.  Few things....

We do have some large (50 foot+) oaks on our property and throughout our neighborhood, one of which is in the corner of the backyard and would definitely affect the pool.  The last thing we would do is get rid of them. So I guess we will have to determine if it's worth the struggle with leaves, etc.  I don't mind the extra work as I do most of my own yard work, home maintenance, etc., plus I have three kids who handle a certain amount of chores, one of which would be the pool also.

We may get as many as four different plans and bids.  We are however only looking at established companies that have been around for awhile either through referrals from people who have built a pool or just reputation in the area.  As tempting as it might be to go with some fly-by-night contractor for less money, I want someone who I know I can find in a few years when something inevitably goes wrong.

A few people mentioned decking space.  I plan to pay particular attention to that aspect once we get some plans back. 

Really appreciate the tips and suggestions.....keep them coming.  I know I will be revisiting this thread as we go through this process.

JohnMc

Careful on the decking.  I spent almost as much for the deck as I did for the pool.  Went with the GAF synthetic product that was supposed to look like wood but eliminate maintenance.  The deck guys did a fabulous job with keeping the contour of the pool all around and without splicing any of the boards.  Turned out absolutely beautiful and all the GAF factory reps were in my yard for weeks taking pictures and showing it off.....THEN it went to hell in a hand basket.  The stuff started curling up, kept getting moldy looking like untreated wood would after years.  it required cleaning/washing every few weeks.  Curled up so bad it was ripping out all the fasteners.  Couldn't get GAF to do anything about it and they quickly pulled off all the pictures they were bragging about before.  Their excuse was that it was "installed" wrong, too close to the ground.  I believe they said it had to be at least 18 inches off the ground or something.  Ended up tearing up the whole thing within a year and replacing with treated lumber.  Could have put down teak for cheaper than that stuff.  I have nightmare pictures from start to finish if you are considering that product.  Pool itself is awesome, saltwater, never have to do anything to it, no chlorine smell, skin feels better after you're in it.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

KennyLee said:

Some great tips and insight, which I expected from this site.  Few things....

We do have some large (50 foot+) oaks on our property and throughout our neighborhood, one of which is in the corner of the backyard and would definitely affect the pool.  The last thing we would do is get rid of them. So I guess we will have to determine if it's worth the struggle with leaves, etc.  I don't mind the extra work as I do most of my own yard work, home maintenance, etc., plus I have three kids who handle a certain amount of chores, one of which would be the pool also.

We may get as many as four different plans and bids.  We are however only looking at established companies that have been around for awhile either through referrals from people who have built a pool or just reputation in the area.  As tempting as it might be to go with some fly-by-night contractor for less money, I want someone who I know I can find in a few years when something inevitably goes wrong.

A few people mentioned decking space.  I plan to pay particular attention to that aspect once we get some plans back. 

Really appreciate the tips and suggestions.....keep them coming.  I know I will be revisiting this thread as we go through this process.

I have 30 large live oaks that drop leaves and pollen twice a year and acorns once. It's a total PITA for the 2-4 weeks that it happens but I would never cut down my trees to save on pool work. for 90% of the time the trees are not making a mess, they are awesome to have around. 

Also, to be clear, salt water pools are chlorine pools. Here are the deets on that:

Salt water chlorination, is a process that uses dissolved salt (2,500–6,000 ppm) as a store for the chlorination system.^[1] In order to achieve this concentration, the chlorine generator (also known as salt cell, salt generator, salt chlorinator) uses electrolysis to break down approximately 200-500 pounds of salt (NaCl). The resulting chemical reaction eventually produces hypochlorous acid (HCIO), and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), which are the sanitizing agents already commonly used in swimming pools. As such, a saltwater pool is not actually chlorine-free; it simply utilizes a chlorine generator instead of direct addition of chlorine.

It does taste like salt and it's cheaper and some say easier than chemical chlorine tabs but you are not getting away from chlorine by having a salt water pool.

Proser

New BGE owner and have been lurking for a couple of weeks. Interesting that this is the first post I have replied to, but I have an opinion on this subject.

Wife and I are over fifty with no kids at home. We decided to put a pool in a couple of years ago and couldn't be happier. We have alot of trees and like mentioned above, for 3-6 weeks a year they are a PITA and I do the cleanup so oh well. But the trees help to keep the pool cooler in the dog days of summer.

I found that offering the laborers a beer or two when they were finishing up for the day seemed to help with the amount of decking I was charged for and the extra rock we wanted around the water features.

Lots of great ideas found at www.troublefreepools.com  Best thing I got from them was to add a fill line from an extra station on your sprinkler system and to have a overflow drain plumped in while they are building.

We used Pulliam Pools out of Ft Worth and would recommend them.

Springram

My pool and spa is 30 years old but has brand new Pebble Tech Sheen plaster, new filter and heater. If you bring your shovel and a large truck, you are welcome to dig it up and take it with you.

Might be a little difficult but, hey, you can at least try.  :<)

Actually, I still use the pool most days and even the spa during the summer when the sun goes down.

BUT...think long and hard. They ain't cheap to maintain.

Springram

Spring, Texas

Foghorn

We have oak trees over our pool and have the experience that is described by others above.... Except during one storm where my wife and I were awakened at 2 AM on the first night of our vacation in our hotel room in Hawaii with the following conversation:

 

Son and daughter on phone simultaneously:  "Mommy, Daddy, why haven't you replied to our texts?  There was a storm last night and a possum family fell in the pool.  One of them survived by floating on all the debris and we found him this morning.  We sent you pictures.  His name is Oliver."

Mom:  "He's very cute.  Put Grandma on the phone."

Grandma:  "So do I call animal control or should I just flush him down the toilet?"

Children in the background:  "EEEEEKK!!!!"

 

 

Eggcelsior

Not quite the Artful Dodger, Oliver faced this grim choice at the hands of Grandma, Mrs. Sowerberry.

Foghorn

Actually since Mom is a docent at the zoo she helped the kids keep Oliver alive for two weeks until we found out we have a local possum rehabilitation facility that reintroduces them to the wild in groups.

Doc_Eggerton

The Spouse waves hello from the hot tub.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Doc_Eggerton said:

The Spouse waves hello from the hot tub.

took me a while.............

Eggcelsior

Doc, you're low on RO! Time to restock...

Fred19Flintstone

Robert Irvine on the tube. 

erniemcclain

The Mrs and I had one installed about 15 yrs ago.  My advice:

1. No trees in immediate area.
2. Far enough from roof line that drunk or stupid people don't try to dive in from the roof.
3. Chlorine.
4. If you go rectangular, get the largest radius corners you can.  No square corners = much less dirt in the corners.
5. Get a robotic pool cleaner.
6. Remember--the more they are used, the easier to keep clean.

 

Ljpick

Just put in a pool spa combo. 20000 gallon with a tanning ledge and 3 to 6 ft depth. Pebble Sheen finish is awesome worth the up charge IMO. And as stated earlier you can never have too much deck and you will always under estimate the after landscaping needed. But its worth it my 7 year old twins love it.

Ljpick

And the hot tub is awesome year round for those of us over 7

Aviator

We have a Hotsprings Grandee hot tub. Perfect for us. It is with the salt system and absolutely maint. free. I just check the water with a strip, take a sample to the pool place when I feel like it and is perfect. Change water in 4-5 months. After a hard days work, the massage of the jets are unbelievable.

Springram

Ljpick said:

Just put in a pool spa combo. 20000 gallon with a tanning ledge and 3 to 6 ft depth. Pebble Sheen finish is awesome worth the up charge IMO. And as stated earlier you can never have too much deck and you will always under estimate the after landscaping needed. But its worth it my 7 year old twins love it.

agree. Pebble Sheen is cheaper in the long run.

Springram

Spring, Texas

caliking

About the filler line mentioned some posts above:

Hooking it up to a station on your sprinkler system (maybe the last one) sounds like a good idea. You can time it to fill a little each time the sprinklers go off, or if you manually run it, you can set the time you want it to run for and then go back inside, without having to worry about shutting it off.

Overflow drain is a good idea. My pool has a filler line but no overflow drain. Every time it rains heavily, SWMBO and I argue about whether to drain the pool a little or not. Eventually I break down, go drain a few inches of water off, and then the rain stops 10 mins later. Happens every time.

My neighbor has an automatic pool filler - set it to a preferred water level and it will fill whenever the level drops. I don't know how much it costs to have as an option but I wouldn't mind having one. I'm not about to try and have it retrofitted though. 

@Foghorn - your story wins!

KennyLee

Springram said:

Ljpick said:

Just put in a pool spa combo. 20000 gallon with a tanning ledge and 3 to 6 ft depth. Pebble Sheen finish is awesome worth the up charge IMO. And as stated earlier you can never have too much deck and you will always under estimate the after landscaping needed. But its worth it my 7 year old twins love it.

agree. Pebble Sheen is cheaper in the long run.

Springram

Spring, Texas

Is pebble  sheen the finish in the pool or the decking?  Haven't gotten to that stage yet.

DHall

Lots of good ideas here but another one to think about especially if you ahve trees and want to keep them.  We put in a pool about 3 years ago and installed a Cover-Pools cover.  It is the best investment we could have possibly made.  I dont have any pics of ours handy but here is the website..http://www.coverpools.com/

First and foremost is the peace of mind of safety with small children (we have a one year old and 4 year old).  With the cover closed it can support the weight of our family times two with no problem.  It takes approximately 35-40 seconds to open or close the cover with the electric key switch.  Second it keeps the pool basically spotless.  I have a Polaris system and standard 2 skimmers.  I have never hand vacuumed the pool and only use the dip net very occasionally.  ALso, we have the standard cholorine system with feeder tube that holds about 9 tablets.  With the cover on during the summer I go through less than one big bucket of tablets a year.  I leave the cover on all winter and check the chemical levels at most once a month and almost never have to add anything.
The only thing I regret is I wish I had added a heater because with the cover we could heat the pool up in the spring time really quick and efficiently to add more useable swim time and do the same thing in the fall as it starts cooling off.  The cover comes with an automatic pump you just hook a garden hose to it and place it in the center of the cover and it kicks on whenever water is present on the cover and pumps it all off.