Advice on buying a house with an indoor pool

[SpidercalledChester]

Hi. First world issue, but just wondering if anyone here has an indoor swimming pool and if so, could give me some info on the process of running and maintaining it, and most importantly, the costs of doing the above. We looked at a house today which we really liked in terms of the living accommodation, bedrooms and garden. It is right at the top of our budget and we're not really sure. It has a swimming pool, which we were not looking for and have never ever considered as something we'd like to have. It's in some ways putting us off the house altogether - it is obviously factored into the price of the house, but we might prefer the house if it s was cheaper and with no pool. However, the idea of just being able to jump in for a quick swim before/after work would be amazing I guess. The agent couldn't give us much info about what having it would involve or cost. I would totally rule out an our door swimming pool (safety and fact it can only be used a short period of the year) but the more I think about it, the more I can see the benefits of having an indoor pool. I would love to know what other peoples' experience is and what the costs might be.

(Sorry am a regular but have name changed because I don't want some people I know in RL to know we're thinking of moving).

Thanks.

[AlteredState]

Around 10 years ago i knew someone with an indoor pool and I still remember listening to the owner complaining about how expensive it was in oil to heat it. And the owners were wealthy. Any pool would put me off unless I didn't have to think/worry about money. Only if you are in this category would i go for it.

[snice]

my friend had a pool(outdoor though) and she always reckoned that it would be cheaper to buy everyone she knew/might swim there once a year membership of the local private health club. It ATE oil.

[LolaCrayola]

I have an outdoor pool, but live in a hot country. I don't heat it and after the initial shock of getting in it is wonderful. I would not consider having a pool in the UK, I don't like indoor pools, you definately won't get as much use out of it as you think. The expense of just maintaining a pool is ridiculous, I dread to think what heating one would be.

[Jaynebxl]

Interesting. I only know one person in RL with an indoor pool and they love it. They've never moaned about it, don't heat it much (it isn't that cold in their house) and use it loads. I'd love one.

[rovercat]

We have one, (outdoor though again) and love it. Check how its heated is the first question, we have an air source heat pump and solar panels and this keeps ours at about 85 which is the only temp my DH will get in!! Oil would be very expensive and although we have oil CH there is no way I would use it to heat a pool. You can buy multi tablets that will keep the chlorine and PH balance right, so no messing about mixing chemicals and since we starting using the tablets about 2 years ago we've had no problems at all with the pool going out of balance, can't remember how much they were but can check if you'd like to know. I would guess that an indoor one would hold its temperature better than an outdoor one but would still be concerned if its got a conventional heating source. HTH.

[notJenkins]

My parents had one and they were forced to go on a water meter. My mum would not allow you to run the tap for more than a millisecond despite having a huge pool.

It was quite a faff doing the water checks etc.

[SpidercalledChester]

Thanks. Helpful advice especially about talking to the current owner about maintenance etc. I hadn't thought about a maintenance contract but actually that might make things easier as at least you'd know the costs and that it was being managed properly.

I think we'd use it a lot. Swimming is the only form of exercise I've ever really enjoyed and pre children I used to get up at 6 andgo for a swim before work on a regular basis and we swim with the kids most weeks so I am confident we'd get plenty of use from it. But the practicality and cost of running it definitely concerns me. The house and pool run off oil too which itself is something I'm not used to dealing with. If we decide we are serious I wonder if we should look into whether it would be worth having solar panels installed at least for the pool....?

Very interested to hear other views.

[ivykaty44]

poolstore.co.uk/content/how-much-does-it-cost-to-heat-a-swimming-pool

a heat pump could be run on solar panels

[ILikeBirds]

Is it actually big enough to exercise in?

I once read that swimming pools are so expensive to maintain they actually devalue a house (in the UK), not sure how true that statement is.

[SpidercalledChester]

I think there's probably some truth in that Ilikebirds - this house has been on the market for quite a while which gives an idea. It's beautiful, especially the garden, but not huge for the price they've been asking and does need a bit of money spending on it. I'm sure others have been put off by potential pool maintenance costs too. It would be a 'forever' house for us, so impact on house price over the long term doesn't bother me quite as much as the running cost issue.

Pool is about 15m long by 5 I think - so we'd all get good practice at tumble turns! I used to be a member of a London fitness pool which was this length (was under an office block in the city). I would do 50 lengths before work or 100 when I had more time.

Thanks for that link ivykaty - I will read and mull over.

[PigletJohn]

you do also have the cost of the dehumidifier plant, since of course a lot of moisture comes off it which will make your house damp. The blanket you roll over the top will cut down moisture but make little difference to heat loss.

The only people I knew who bought a house with a pool filled it in quite quickly.

[justaweeone]

We have a few properties near us,that rent their private pool out by the hour to help with the maintance costs,however not sure how that works with regard to insurance.

[SpidercalledChester]

justaweeone that's interesting. Is that to private swimming instructors?

rovercat missed your comment earlier. Thank you for that.

[EspressoMonkey]

We have indoor and outdoor pools and now have a maintenance contract on them. The outdoor pool isn't heated but cleaning it is a bit of a nightmare due to the debris from the trees. I used to fish it everyday. It got to the stage where it was out of action more than it was in action. Heating them is expensive, no doubt about that. I do use mine everyday though.

You could always do what my friend did; she drained her pool, filled it with toys and puts her young DSs in there to play whilst she lounges on the poolside sunlounger. DCs can't escape and all the mess is contained.

[EspressoMonkey]

And also our indoor pool which we had built ourselves is heated with a ground source heat pump which is energy efficient. Worth considering.

[Merrylegs]

We looked at a house with an indoor swimming pool but in the end thought it would be too much responsibility in terms of maintenance etc. Turned out to be a good call because we have since heard the pool was in fact slowly leaking and has done untold damage to the neighbours property. Ouch.

But round here lots of people let their pools out as timeshares to make them pay..- so you buy your slot at the same time each week and swim then with the pool all to yourselves.

[SpidercalledChester]

Good point Merrylegs - I guess we'd need a special survey from a pool expert to check out that kind of thing?

We've basically decided it probably isn't for us....for now. But equally that it will probably still be for sale in a couple of months time so we can mull it over and see if anything else we like as much comes up etc and then reconsider. We aren't in any rush to move fortunately. Some really interesting food for thought here (including draining it and using it as a massive playpen )

Thanks for all the thoughts.

[BranchingOut]

I did know a family with a lovely indoor pool and they used it a lot, plus the children all became really good swimmers.

One thing about that pool was that there was separate access to it from the house, plus a changing room etc, which meant that arrangements for letting others use it were viable. I enjoyed the benefit of this a lot myself!

[HormonalHousewife]

This is one thing that I would hate to have.

'selling feature? ' ... Nah would definitely have me out of the door.

[SquinkiesRule]

Hot country here and we sold our house with pool and got one without. The cost and time involved with maintenance was the downfall. We never heated ours, no need, I can't imagine the cost increase in doing so.
We worked out it was cheaper to join the local club and swim there than to just buy chemicals, then time out to clean on top not a lot of swimming was done.

[MissHC]

My dad has a pool, albeit an outdoor one. Heated on solar power though so costs very little. Other maintenance is not that much, but, as it is outside it only gets used part of the year. You do need to put some time into it.

[PanicMode]

A friend of mine has a ginormous house in the Cotwolds with an indoor pool - probably about 20x8m and it costs her about £600 (a month!!) to keep it heated. She regrets it massively - they used it loads when they first moved in, but now she said that the novelty has worn off and it's such a faff to keep it maintained and heated that she wouldn't buy a house with an indoor pool again.

[MarshmallowFarm]

Can I hijack to ask about outdoor pools? Thinking of buying a house with one which we would empty in winter. Am amazed to see that it would devalue the house as for us it's the added bonus. Are running costs for an outdoor pool as much as an indoor one?

[SpidercalledChester]

The poolstore link above is very good. From what I can gather (certainly no expert, having never considered this issue 5 days ago!) the heating costs are likely to be more outside, plus additional cleaning faff (and cost?) but you don't have to dehumidify. I think solar systems may also be easier to install but I'm not sure about that.