Swimming pool. Yay or nay?

[Bellabelloo]

Having spent so much time at home including during all of the glorious weather we had last spring and summer, we're thinking about putting a pool in the garden. We've got the quotes etc, just worried about all of the advice that it will devalue the house. Has anyone built a pool and regretted it? Thanks!

@Sheleg

£1,000 a month to heat a pool? How the other half live!

Don't tell Greta !

One of the requirements for my fantasy lottery win house is a swimming pool, so for me it would be a definite plus. It would need to be indoors so I could use it all year round, and I guess in my fantasy the cost of maintenance would be easily covered by my lottery win.

If you have a big enough garden and can afford it - and if you live in a warmer (or less cold) part of the U.K., why not? Maintenance can be expensive and can be a chore, though, and I gather they can be a negative when selling.
Having said that I’d have had one (heated!) like a shot when dds were young, only our garden was far too small.

Best investment early last summer at a dd’s house was a small, above ground pool (heated and filtered) 3 x 4m, for small dds to keep up their swimming/water confidence, when all the pools were closed and holidays were off the menu. They adored it and used it loads.

Small Gdcs, that should have read.

@garlictwist

I don't know why I'm reading this as I live in a back-to-back terrace with no garden but I love swimming and in the event I win the lottery the first thing I'd get is a pool (and a garden to put it in I guess).

However - I would only want one that I could actually swim in so it would need to be at least 20 metres. I don't see the point of heating and maintaining an oversized paddling pool.

Keep playing the lottery and look at endless pools.

It’s like a treadmill for swimmers. You just swim against a current, it’s heated, it fits in a double garage - mine is in mid installation :)

All the team GB swimming elites got one over lockdown 1 too apparently

Actually, if I was going to install one now I think I would go for one of those endless resistance pools because of the exercise value - but that would be more for me than fun for the kids I reckon.

A natural swimming pool would be amazing. But are they heated also? Not sure.

If you do go for it I would have one with gradual steps down into the shallow end in case dogs/cats fell/jumped in (or a dog wanted to swim) so they could climb out.

On balance I would say, if you can't easily afford it - or are already calculating running costs, then probably don't do it. It does need more than a chlorine tablet chucked in once a week! There's the PH too.

We have a brilliant pool guy who comes regularly in summer to do all the jobs and keep it in tip-top shape. (Because if you have lots of people swimming in it you want it to be as clean as possible.) And then he properly closes it in winter etc. He is very laid back and nothing phases him and he takes all the hassle out of owning one and we get all the pleasure. If you can find someone like that I would say go for it!

Definitely a yay from me.

My mum built a pool in the garden of the house I grew up in - it was above ground but a permanent structure. Never heated and was used from April to September/October. She's put one in the garden she has now too (different house) which is an above-ground one but has been sunk half in the ground with raised decking around it. Both were DIY jobs, both looked something like this www.allswimltd.com/plastica-chelsea-wooden-above-ground-swimming-pool (the one in the house I grew up in was about 1/10 the price of that one, but quite similar). They both lasted over 10 years with no noticeable deterioration.

The first one she had was a major faff with chlorine powder that felt as if it was burning all your airways when she was doing it (and she got bleached patches on a lot of clothes). The one she has now is a salt one that needs a lot less maintenance and has no horrible chlorine smell in the water (although it does have a small amount of chlorine put in, but much less than a pool that is only kept clean with chlorine). It has a robot vacuum to keep it clean.

I would LOVE to get a pool in our garden! It's the only exercise I can persuade my husband to take (we'd need a current machine or something) and my son who is a complete water baby would be in and out of it for the entire summer. I tried freezing-cold-water swimming (as opposed to normal British summer sea swimming) this December and found it much easier than I expected, so there's a possibility I'd keep it open in the winter too. Plenty of people use lidos/Hampstead pools etc throughout the winter.

@Icanseegreenshoots, if there's anything you can tell me about equipment etc your DH needed and where he went to for tutorials I'd be so grateful! We have no side access to our garden so I don't know how we'd get the hole dug. And @Pipandmum, do you know what type of pool you got?

Should have said obviously if you heat a pool it will need much more maintenance to keep it clean. But certainly in the South of the UK I just don't see the need - both my parents' ones have been extensively enjoyed without (half the reason I want to get one is to cool off in the summer), and the salt one doesn't take much maintenance now.

We bought a house with a pool that needed doing up. My husband wasn’t keen on doing it up but I really wanted too. Thank goodness we did, has been best thing ever. Heated by air source heat pump so cheap to run , we use it so so much , as do family and friends when allowed! Over the summer holidays it’s brilliant, don’t need to go out on day trips and spend money. We heat ours up really warm so can be used come rain or shine. At start and end of season you need a professional to open pool properly with chemicals and close it for winter. From then on we do all the chemicals and testing, cleaning ourselves, it’s easy. One thing to be aware of with air source heat pumps is that the air outside needs to be above 10 degrees to heat, so our pool is open typically from around April to end of September. Go for it, you won’t regret it!!

We have an above ground pool and don't heat it. It improved our quality of life no end last Summer. If I could afford it I'd get a proper one.

Definitely yay! I would love one in my garden.

We have one, not in the UK, and it is the only thing that gets us through hot summers. My dc are teens, one super sporty and one absolutely not, and both love it and have loads of friends around.

   It isn't heated and so we use it from June to September. No longer.Apart from getting someone to close and open it, it doesn't cost us that much in maintenance. We have a robot cleaner and we monitor the water and put in the chlorine etc when it is needed.

You would need a garden that's still a generous size after installing the pool otherwise it could be difficult to sell, costs do vary partly depending on how hardy you are, we are swimming in the sea currently so unheated would be fine

It amuses me to think you dont have to have days out with the kids if you have a pool!

I live in an area where a few houses have pools. They put us off when looking for a house to buy (especially indoor ones). I'd have wanted a discount rather than paying a premium for a pool. So if you're going to get a whole ton of enjoyment from it, then go for it. But not as a value-add.

Expensive to run, and can be off putting to house purchasers, took a friend ages to sell because she had a covered pool, she had to fill it in before completion.

so expensive. I'd rather join the gym of a nearby hotel with a jacuzzi and salon. just couldn't be bothered with the work that goes with it even if I were a millionaire.

I had a colleague who bought a house with a pool. They were not looking for a pool, but the house ticked all the right boxes and was within budget. Colleague said he looked at all the chars of running a pool, except for feeding every teenager in the county for the summer!!

Natural swimming pool. The only way to go. Google them.

Cos I love them here's a pic

I disagree an outdoor pool in the U.K. is great! I use the one at my mum’s house - like pp they close it in Oct and open it up around Easter.

It’s heated - they have the pool man out twice - once to open it and once to half drain/close it. Last year there was a leak so had to pay for various holes to be dug to try and find it to repair.

The running costs really aren’t that much according to my stepdad - just costs of heating and running the pump - my mum reckons it’s about £100/month.

They don’t need vacuuming daily!! A good netting usually suffice with a vacuum only when needed (although we cover it whenever it’s not in use so not much chance for debris) - usually every week or so. Similarly, it’s pretty easy to keep on top of chlorine- if it’s going green, it needs chlorine. We just put a couple glugs in and leave it uncovered for an hour or so. It’s as difficult as you want it to I guess.. (once you know the basics - and they are basic tbh)

I’m the one that uses it the most - it’s lush swimming in the rain and in the evening, floating around on warm days or “stimulating” 😂 exercise when it gets a bit cooler. It’s nice to sunbathe around and during the summer I often work from the pool (I worked remotely pre-covid).

When the pool is open I use it several times/week and get really toned and buff by Aug, then over winter I slowly become a pasty blob until the cycle starts again 😃

Agree with a good fitting cover - the ones that also keep heat in the water. Last year there was no pool cover for a few months and there were several animals in there over the summer (which doesn’t usually happen except the occasional frog/newt)

I’ve heard it devalues a house (it came with the house), I guess it depends whether the house can comfortably carry it ie enough land etc. I personally see a pool as a definite “must have” in my ideal forever home, as if you enjoy swimming then you will use it, it’s so much better than a sweaty, stuffy, very chlorinated public pool and during lockdown it was an absolute godsend... I’m counting down until it reopens!

A bit concerned a poster uses gravel as a filter media.

We have a pool for over 20 yrs not uk, our pool is open, by a professional, April then closed down, by same professional, October.
Cleaned every 3 days levels checked and adjusted as required.
We spend most of the summer school holidays there along with further visits through the year. We will do the cleaning while there ourselves, our poolguy charges are reasonable considering it’s important to keep your pool water healthy for bathers.
A few years ago we changed our pool filtration media to AFM glass as this cleans your pool water down to one microns whereas sand is 20.
It does not channel, ie water pumped trough sand makes channels in the sand missing valuable water filtration, therefore not as effective at cleaning bacteria etc from your pool water. A back wash keeps the media clean and free from nasties. AFM will usually last the life off your filter, sand requires replacing often, it is usually covered in slime and riddled with channels.
Our pool is 10x6m
No affiliation with this site just our preferred supplier, good pool filtering info.
www.drydenaqua.com/our-solutions/swimming-pools/products/afm

Neighbours did when I was growing up, and regretted it as it was difficult to keep clean. It is not there now.

@Mamma I’d encourage you to read up on pool hygiene and how to correct green water. [Algie] Not to throw a couple of glugs of chlorine in wait a couple of hours all be fine. No it won’t, all chemicals levels need balancing not just chlorine, requires filtration and most certainly a good vacuum. Filtration and pool cleaning requires to be done more during hot sunny weather, rule of thumb 1/2 the air temp per hrs per day. ie 24 air 12hrs filter running per day. blog.intheswim.com/is-it-safe-to-swim-in-a-pool-with-algae/

Haven't RTFT but do have a look at Natural Pools. A lot friendlier for nature, and not so much stress if you lose interest.

www.countrylife.co.uk/gardens/natural-swimming-pools-everything-need-know-building-one-garden-184617