re: In-ground Pool Owners: do you regret it?

Same here. Grandkids love it!

We bought a house with a custom 30k gallon pool when our oldest kid was in 7th grade. Our kids and their friends used it a bunch and then (after 13 years) once the youngest was about to leave for college we moved from that house to a nicer house without a pool.

I was the pool boy and quickly got good at it.

No regrets but I don’t want another pool. I didn’t actually use it that much.

My pool area was heavily landscaped which required the yard man (again, me) to do extra work rather than it being instead a nondescript patch of lawn.

It was a very nice architectural feature of the house and it probably made the house sell more quickly (but who knows?).

tl/dr: Pools are good in the appropriate situation

We are in pool damn near every day

Well worth it

It's been great, we don't have kids but all the family has come over during the summer with theirs so that's nice.

A couple more weeks of use in east texas then turn to the hot tub

Yep. First time pool owner here. Since May. Definitely still learning, but I’ve picked it up fairly quickly. I wouldn’t say it’s a looot of work, but it does require consistent weekly maintenance. I probably spend about an hour or so each week on it. That said, now that I have one in South Texas, I can’t imagine life without it.

The first thing I did was measure the pool’s length, width, and depth at several different points because it has an irregular kidney shape. I also took a bunch of pictures from different angles and plugged all of that information into ChatGPT. It created a detailed schematic of the pool and helped me estimate how many gallons it holds.

From there, I found a formula online to determine how long and at what speed I needed to run my variable speed pump each day. I also plugged in my fixed electricity rate, and ChatGPT estimated how much it would cost to operate daily, weekly, and monthly. It then helped me set up an automated schedule that met the daily circulation target while also working around our family’s schedule.

Once I had a good estimate of the pool volume and a pump schedule in place, I bought my own Taylor pool chemistry test kit. I test the water every Wednesday, which gives me time to make any necessary adjustments before the busy weekend pool rush.I plug in the exact chemistry test results and because ChatGPT knows everything about my pool and schedule it tells me exactly how much chlorine, acid, alkalinity, etc to add and when.

I handle the filtration system and water chemistry. My wife and kids keep the skimmer baskets cleaned out and the pool deck clear. Wifey now has her own Ryobi Whisper Series blower that she’s obsessed with, and the kids love checking the baskets to see what bugs they’ve collected.

We also picked up a Aiper pool robot that does a great job scrubbing the walls, floor, and getting debris out. I drop him in every other day and let him do his thing for 3-4 hours.

Overall, it’s been very manageable and absolutely worth it. Kids and wife love it. I’ll be cracking a cold one, sitting in a float, and watching this UT @ Ut game here in about 45 minutes. Pool looks crystal clear and is sitting at 87 degrees right now.

eta: I plan on purchasing a automated chemistry measuring filter. So if anyone has advice or suggestions. I would appreciate it.

In my 20s I always wanted a house with a pool, my boss said it was nothing but a hole to put your money in. I think I was in my early 40s when I bought my house with a pool, lesson #1- if there's a hose in the pool hooked up to the faucet, it means...THERE'S A LEAK!

We installed one about 5 years ago, 9,000 gallon saltwater. Very low maintenance and use it daily. I would do it again

quote:

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worst decision of my life

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That's either hyperbole or you've had quite the cushy life.

frick that fricking pool.
How’s that, that shite takes up all my time.
Unless you swim everyday it is not worth it . Fixing to get a pool guy. I don’t care if he screws my old ladt.
Will be worth it!!

Installed one in March of 2020 when da covid hit. It was awesome those first few years. Now I think we have gotten in it 2-3 times this summer.