re: Pool Build Cost

I used to build and clean pools while I was in college. Worked with a company for four years and saw tons of people make mistakes when deciding what type of pool to get. I would tell you to not get a pool but if you have your mind set on it, I have a few thoughts;

1. Go with a fiberglass pool. This will give you the most bang for your buck and will save you the most amount of money in upkeep down the road. The only real issue that ever happens with fiberglass pools is that they can float based on the water table... at least that was what my old boss told me, I never saw it actually happen. Vinyl pools are the biggest money pit and can leak constantly and you will need to replace the liner at some point. The backfill behind the liner can also become a problem over time. Gunite is nice but is always the most expensive by a long shot.
2. Do not get a saltwater pool. Salt water will corrode everything. This also comes with an added cost of adding on a chlorine generator that takes the hcl and takes out the h to leave chlorine behind. People like them, but at the end of the day, you have a normal chlorine pool with water that is eating away at all of your equipment.
3. Get a sand filter, cartridge filters have to be constantly cleaned out/taken apart/pressure washed. To clean a sand filter, all you have to do is backwash.

ETA: IMO, the most cost-effective pool/pool equipment combo is a fiberglass pool with a sand filter. This will save you costs upfront and maintenance costs down the road big time.

Good luck!

quote:

---

1. Go with a fiberglass pool

---

Fiberglass has a life of around 20 years with UV exposure. Water will increase it to some extent, but I'm not sure how much and what factors will affect it. A quick google search says to expect 25-30 years. I don't know what kind of maintenance will need to be done at that point. Gunnite will need to be resurfaced every 15 or so depending on how well you keep up with your water chemistry. Decide what works best for you.

quote:

---

2. Do not get a saltwater pool. Salt water will corrode everything.

---

I used to have salt and changed it over to chlorine recently. The PPM of salt is very low in comparison to sea water. I did not find that it caused corrosion in the equipment. I did get some rebar rust stains in the pool, but I probably would have gotten those with chlorine as well. I think the salt has a negative effect on aluminum patio furniture though. Lots of flaking paint.

quote:

---

cartridge filters have to be constantly cleaned

---

This depends on a lot of factors. I clean my cartridge filters once or twice a year. Not that big of a deal IMO

quote:

---

Great information. I know the fiberglass is a lot faster process. We have friends that did gunite and it took 6 months and their yard is a wreck

---

doing my second gunite pool currently. First one in 2017 was 16x42 with built in hot tub with waterfall, 2 deck jets, tanning ledge and 2 bubblers.....spent 67k all in before i added a little more concrete, think i was 72 in the end. this was greek type with the round ends and round hot tub.

current is 18x40 square, square hot tub and a 12x12 tanning ledge...gonna be 100ish all in. has water fall, 3 deck jets.

1st one i did not do anything but concrete around it and had travertine as the coping, this one has my house brick as the coping and it comes off the pool with 2 bricks wide strips that go to the brick porch, between the brick dividers is the turf.

first pool was salt water, this is chlorine. both with cartridge filters which are easy as frick to clean. I liked salt but it does eat everything around the pool, is a pain in the fricking arse to clean the salt generator with acid and the generators are getting harder and harder to get.

both those are easy as frick to keep clean now a days.

first pool took about 10 weeks but that was more because hurricane harvey hit and collapsed it so had to be dug back out. this one will be under 6 weeks so not sure why your friends took that long. if i wasnt doing brick, this one would have been under a month.

this is the first pool

quote:

---

This depends on a lot of factors. I clean my cartridge filters once or twice a year. Not that big of a deal IMO

---

would love to see how you do it because it took 4 people from the local pool company 30 minutes to get my filter apart.

What kind of filter do you have? I have Pentair 320 cartridge and it takes about 30 SECONDS with an impact and deep socket.

Stop the pump.
Pop open the drain on the bottom of filter housing.
Back the nut off the band holding the top half to the bottom half.
Remove the band.
Take the top rubber piece off the cartridges.
Remove cartridges.

It's realistically under 2 minutes total.

im assuming yours is designed like this?



unless your filters are plugged and need to be cleaned and you have extremely low pressure flowing to the generator, then you should not be affect the salt cell generator with the filter, no matter the type.

for those complaining about how much a pain in the arse a cartridge filter is



1) turn pump off
2) using your hands loosen the top gauge slowly to relief pressure
3) take impact with socket and reove the bolt where the spring is
4) pull the top off and set to the side

insides should look something like this


1) remove the black top piece that holds all 4 in place
2) remove one at a time and clean with a spray nozzle on a water hose
3) put back in one at a time, place black top piece back on
4) replace lid once all are in
5) put bolt back in place making sure the top seals correctly
6) place top gauge on, but do not over tighten
7) start pumps and bleed the air through the top gauge
*) once water starts coming through the top gauge, tighten.

you may need to clean the tank, if so pull the drain plug and wash it out after your remove the filters.

cleaning should look like




here is a quic video on how to do it

LINK

I had a pentair like shown in the video

quote:

---

I hear people talk all of the time about how much easier a saltwater pool is. Our last house had a chlorine in ground pool and it was super easy to maintain. I have no idea why people bitch so much about chlorine pools.

---

both are easy so long as you do not have a bunch of trees around.

quote:

---

The suckiest part about owning a pool is keeping the fricker cleaned and vaccumed. The water balancing part is easy.

---

easy as frick too

couple things

1) run the pool minimum of 8 hours during the summer, i suggest 10 though.

2) get the skim a round skimmers for all skimmers

3) get robotic vacuum, run daily

4) get a solar pool ionizer, 1 for every 15k gallons

5) test water weekly and add chemicals. if you live close, let the company that installed the pool test the water.


if you really want to take it to the next level, you can get hte smart pool monitor from water guru or even automate using the pentair system.

quote:

---

i'm already researching costs for swapping to a sand filter.

---

I'm not sure of the costs now, but it shouldn't be incredibly high. They're incredibly easy to backwash too.
1. Turn off pump
2. Open drain valve line off of filter
3. Flip to backwash and run for a minute or two, you can monitor the water clarity in the vile
4. Turn pump off
5. Flip to rinse and for another minute
6. Motor off and move back to filter and then close the valve.
7. Flip that bitch back on and you've got good circulation again.

quote:

---

for those complaining about how much a pain in the arse a cartridge filter is



1) turn pump off
2) using your hands loosen the top gauge slowly to relief pressure
3) take impact with socket and reove the bolt where the spring is
4) pull the top off and set to the side

insides should look something like this


1) remove the black top piece that holds all 4 in place
2) remove one at a time and clean with a spray nozzle on a water hose
3) put back in one at a time, place black top piece back on
4) replace lid once all are in
5) put bolt back in place making sure the top seals correctly
6) place top gauge on, but do not over tighten
7) start pumps and bleed the air through the top gauge
*) once water starts coming through the top gauge, tighten.

you may need to clean the tank, if so pull the drain plug and wash it out after your remove the filters.

---

Just that easy huh?

You know how I changed my sand filter the last 7 years? I turned the pump off and flipped the lever to the backwash setting for 2 minutes, then rinse setting, then back to pump.

Zero searching for tools.

Zero getting wet and muddy fumbling around opening bands and scraping knuckles on the concrete trying to get the damn drain plug off with channel locks.

Zero dragging the water hose over and spraying nasty shite all over myself and the yard.

Sorry but you aren't going to convince me this cartridge bullshite is anywhere close to easy like my sand filter.

Literally zero maintenance on that thing.