Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Swimming pool in garden

28 replies

CanICelebrate · 31/05/2020 09:30

If you’ve got one.... how big is it? How big is your garden? Do you actually use it? How much was it? Anyone happy to share a picture?

I’m seriously tempted, probably for next year now, but want to do it properly so it’s usable and worth the money.

OP posts:

Finfintytint · 31/05/2020 09:33

Ours was about 15m in ground in our old house. No idea how much it cost to install as it came with the house. It did dominate the garden. We used it a great deal but it made our house very difficult to sell.

Chocolateandcarbs · 31/05/2020 09:36

Ours was about 7m long. Fantastic fun, but it was too labour intensive to justify the few days a year that it was brilliant. We’ve filled it in and got a bigger paddling pool, which suits our needs better and now the children can play outside whilst I do jobs inside as I’m not paranoid about them drowning! If we had enough space to have the pool in a locked, gated area with a patio around it, we’d have kept it.

Chocolateandcarbs · 31/05/2020 09:37

Agree with previous poster - we got our house for £75k under asking price as the pool put so many people off.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Home improvement

Finfintytint · 31/05/2020 09:38

Also there’s running costs to consider and maintenance- swimming pools are quite needy!

CourtneyLurve · 31/05/2020 09:45

Definitely a lot of work for such a short season. I'd recommend getting one of those Intex inflatable pools to test out first.

pinotgrigio · 31/05/2020 09:52

We have one but are in Australia so much more time to use it. We have a pool guy who comes once per month to manage the chemicals - it's a pain to do it yourself. We scoop leaves out once per day.

Try not to have one under a tree. Ours is fully gated (legal requirement) and takes away some of the worry.

We've had a pool for the last 6 or 7 years and it's been used an awful lot, absolutely brilliant with the children, but again, different climate.

Oh and make sure it's heated (and factor in those costs with the maintenance/chemical costs). Really - even in Australia where we have several weeks over 40' an unheated pool is really cold. We use solar panels to heat ours, not sure how effective that would be in the UK though.

Cordial11 · 31/05/2020 09:55

Yes but the same as above we are in Australia, wouldn't have it in the UK unless it was heated maybe?

Pool guy comes once a month and DP does the leaves and scooping. Ours is under a palm so cause abit more hassle!

My favourite thing in summer is having a day at home lying by the pool but can still potter about the house doing jobs and feel like I've had a great day.

CherryPavlova · 31/05/2020 09:58

We bought an above ground at the beginning of the lockdown. It’s been excellent, not the same as the sea or a decent sized in ground pool but lovely in this warm weather. It’s ugly, but well hidden in the orchard area.
It’s an Intex rectangular pool, 32’ by 16’. No diving as shallow - only 4.5’ deep. Enough to float and splash around in.
Running costs are minimal. Heating is solar panel. Small pump. Chemicals we have already from the hot tub.

It’s been so nice we are considering a larger, in ground pool for next year. Hopefully, it will be a good investment for if we have grandchildren in next few years.

Nordicwannabe · 31/05/2020 10:03

We got an above-ground framed pool (4.5x2m) at the start of summer, along with water filter etc and solar heating. It's amazing - really glad we got it! We put it up 2 weeks ago, and with this amazing weather have been in most days. It would be nice if it was bigger of course: DD can just about swim round in circles (or tow us on an inflatable! ) but it's too small for adults to swim. Still a lot of fun though: perfect for playing with inflatables etc. DD is only 7, and we figured that a play-pool was what would suit us. You do get bigger sizes.

Might be worth you trying one of those initially, to see how your family use it? It's obviously much lower cost than an in-ground pool, and you can just take it down over winter.

savetti · 31/05/2020 10:06

Cost?

Ledkr · 31/05/2020 10:07

I have a hot tub which i obviously have at a cooler temp in hot weather.
Its a labour of love tho. Keeping it balanced and the water clean but its been an absolute godsend in this weather and dd uses it like a pool and floats about on her giant unicorn

Yecartmannew · 31/05/2020 10:13

I have a bestway frame pool 3 x 2m with a swim tether. It's basically the swimming equivalent of a running machine. I've been swimming for 20 to 30 minutes every day.

It is cold but I'm used to it now. I'm going to keep going as long as possible, perhaps with a wetsuit later in the year.

We can't put an in ground one in as we rent (HA)but if we continue to get the use out of it all year I am considering a greenhouse/polytent to cover it next year to keep it warmer for longer. We get some lovely sunny but cold days late and early on the year.

Only DH and I have used it so far due to lockdown but the grandkids can't wait to be able to visit!

We have pool, pump, cover, ladder, chemicals, cleaning kit, and swim tether and the whole lot was under £300.

Pipandmum · 31/05/2020 10:20

I put one in. The biggest hassle was access - I have a detached house but with storage sheds on both sides to garden walls. I was redoing one side, changing it from storage to liveable space so suddenly had access to the garden from the street to get a mini digger in and all the soil out.
Its 8m by 4m, concrete with liner. Steps in an arch off one side. It cost about £20,000, including installation, and I spent another £5000 landscaping around the back of the garden. It takes about up one fifth of the garden.
It has an air source heat pump, which was more up front cost but much cheaper to run. Maintenance is easy - I vacuum it once a week (takes about an hour) and put a chlorine tablet in the filter twice a week. I pay a guy to come and shut it down for the winter (taking the motor out etc), and again to open it up (about £150 each time as he needs to put chemicals in and come back a couple times to check levels). I could have bought a more expensive heater to run year round but the one we have means we open the pool at Easter until October half term, though not much used in October!
It's been great. Kids used it all the time when younger, less so now (just at weekends during school time), but I use it several times a week. Just about long enough to properly swim in but I have to do a lot of laps!
I knew when I put it in that it would not necessarily add value and it might put off buyers. However I live on the Isle of Wight so weather is generally better here and pools are not uncommon. I have no regrets.

Sparklingplasters · 31/05/2020 10:26

I’m considering it too, I’m surprised at the comments on a short season. In south east England surely April to September is po weather? If the pool is heated.

We are in Surrey and looking at rightmove there isn’t much property with pools but Sussex seems to have loads.

Wotrewelookinat · 31/05/2020 12:53

@Yecartmannew I’m interested in your set up as we could only fit in a small pool but I’ve thought about a tether. Would you mind posting a photo or PMing one to me please?

And does anyone have a saline pool rather than chlorine?

Yecartmannew · 31/05/2020 14:21

[quote Wotrewelookinat]@Yecartmannew I’m interested in your set up as we could only fit in a small pool but I’ve thought about a tether. Would you mind posting a photo or PMing one to me please?

And does anyone have a saline pool rather than chlorine?[/quote]
We bought a swim tether kit which is a Velcro belt and long bungee, but due to shipping delays we improvised in the meantime with a luggage strap for a belt, a car/bike bungee and a thin rope.

Angle of rope needs to be around 45° from surface of the pool for best effect and reach from the tether point to about the middle of the pool.

This video shows how it works. I would estimate you need to take the height of the tallest swimmer with arms stretched above head and add a couple of feet. We are all shortish so a 3m pool is plenty. In fact we could have done ok with a 2.5 m. You really don't need much length at all.

Yecartmannew · 31/05/2020 14:22

Also, we have attached the rope to the fence be hung the pool but you could bang in a stake or tie it to the ladder if you have one

Yecartmannew · 31/05/2020 14:25

behind

Wotrewelookinat · 31/05/2020 15:48

Fab, thank you! I’m very tempted...

spagbog5 · 31/05/2020 15:55

We put our pool in 14 years ago and it's 10m x4m below ground ground / gas boiler.
We absolutely love it and it's been worth the cost just for lockdown!!!
It's had daily use for weeks.it cost us 40,000 but we had it all landscaped etc too.
Our kids all have had fantastic childhoods using it with friends and family and it's been fantastic for us as a family.
We adore it and wouldn't be without it and keep it warm so it's enjoyable to be in.
Also have a hot-tub thats17 years old so definitely doesn't owe us anything.

atilathehut · 31/05/2020 17:03

Our pool is 10 x 6. We put it in last year. All in all it cost 75k but that included a fairly big patio area around it and we got a safety cover which was about 20k if the cost but well worth it because you don't have the big roller at the deep end and it's so easy to take the cover off - plus no worries about people falling in. The pool is tiled which is more expensive than lined - got put off lined as we have dogs and was worried they would tear it. It gets heated by an air source heat pump but I have no idea if the cost although we had to put an additional electric circuit in. That said I wouldn't be without it - the kids are in it all the time and just sitting by a pool in this weather is an amazing thing. The downside is everyone want to come to your house for BBQs 😀

x2boys · 31/05/2020 17:21

Very envious of posters with a real pool,we have a rectangular. Intex pool which is 8ft it's just a really large paddling pool really but tp the kids love it even the 13 yr old ,I would love a real pool managed I win the lottery😍

atilathehut · 31/05/2020 17:43

Also as other posters have said it's not that difficult to maintain - we have a robot cleaner that goes in once a week and put chlorine in once a week too. Then it just needs a rinse which takes 5 mins. Provided you don't forget the chemicals it's easy and the sort of cover we have means it doesn't go green over winter. We have a hot tub too - never use it

DouglasJohnson · 02/02/2021 11:27

""Also as other posters have said it's not that difficult to maintain - we have a robot cleaner that goes in once a week and put chlorine in once a week too. ""

Your path seems logical to me. We have a swimming pool but I cannot say that we have used it often before. I thought about this question when it became clear that the quarantine would continue in the spring of 2021. I am categorically against chlorine where my children will swim. So I will need to clean the pool every day. I am considering several options for pool cleaning robots from the review on this authoritative site. Does the power of a gadget matter if the pool is not very large? And are there any other alternatives besides chlorine for disinfection?

EatingAllTheCookies · 02/02/2021 11:37

When we forgot to chlorinate our pool. And it's only a 12ft one. It went algae green very quickly. Even with pump running and filter going and regularly changed.

Flip

1 2