Swimming pool vs basement

[Naturallyalmond23]

We are getting ready to renovate a period house. It is 1930s. It has a very large garden, enough to take a swimming pool and we would enclose it so it is not exposed. We also want a basement for games, etc. We are in a high water table area. Which would you prefer? The house has 5 rooms and plenty of space downstairs, it has been previously extended.

We cannot afford both a swimming pool and basement. I like the idea of an outdoor games room where we play outside rather than inside but UK weather is not great for half the year.

Have you had a quote on the cost of a swimming pool? I’m in Spain and they are very expensive to install here (at least €50k) then you have the costs of water, maintenance etc. my pool guy doesn’t have a pool and would never have one - they are always springing leaks or needing something doing to them, and even in spain you only use them about 4 months of the year. I would have thought in the UK you’d get much more use out of a basement.

100% get the basement. The pool maintenance costs are never ending.

Basement and a hot tub outside?

Can you afford to run a swimming pool if you can’t afford to install a basement as well? They’re really expensive.

Basement

I’d go for the pool but install solar and an air source heat pump.

My pool is tiny but it’s still expensive keeping the water levels high (back washing lowers the levels plus evaporation in summer), then you need a pool robot, decent pump, nets etc plus keeping an eye on ph level and chlorine. Mine sprang a leak earlier this year - 2k to fix. And it’s not unusual for rodents to chew through wiring as well!

Garden room for games/wet and cold weather. Add an awning for Summer.

Basement for the future, unless it's there now and just needs upgrading. Otherwise with a high water table.....

Forget the swimming pool.

If you can afford to keep it going - a swimming pool! But I am speaking as someone whose only form of exercise is swimming, everything else is too hard on my joints.

if I had a pool - a proper heated indoor pool that I didn't have to go outside to swim in - I would swim twice a day every day. It is my dream to have enough money to do that... but as a newly retired 65 year old that isn't going to happen 😩

Pool will run on solar and maintenance is very low. My parents had a swimming pool, properly constructed, and it never leaked. The pool liner has lasted for close to 26 years and it is still going but almost white when it started off as sea/sky blue.

People often express concerns about pool maintenance but that is not a worry for me. The weekly cost from my parent's experience is the cost of a bottle of brut a week. They have a gas boiler specific for the pool and it is on a split time tariff with EON. That's my genuine experience. If it is outdoor with falling leaves and debris it may be time consuming but in an enclosure and running on solar or a heat pump, the running cost is low. A bit of bromine every couple of weeks to keep the water clean is all.

I like the idea of a basement but they fail more than swimming pools fail. It's really hard to make a choice :( because of so many pros and cons for each.

That's what my mother wanted and did.

In a high water table area I wouldn’t do a basement. Even if it sealed fine, on resell any buyer would think it was an issue!

How was your pool built and what liner did you get? My parents pool have never leaked and it is 40ft by 20ft and they have had it for over 26 years. Genuinely never leaked and the running and maintenance costs a low.

My dream would be a pool.

That's the only, only reason I worry about the basement long term. I worry that if something happens, it will become an expensive nightmare to make good and yes, in the future if I wanted to sell, buyers would use issue like that to beat us over the head.

Solar alone really won’t cut it for heating a pool in the uk even with a massive array and battery set up. It’s definitely worth getting an air source heat pump to work alongside the solar.

The people who built it didn’t do a very good job, hence the leak! It’s now properly lined etc but it still is a fair bit of work to maintain, and most people I know with pools say the same. Of course the main issue is the cost of water as they constantly need refilling. I have several friends with solar panels and large pools and they all say it’s very difficult and expensive still to heat them to a level where you can use them across several seasons.

there’s also the issue with beasties falling in including cats (all of mine have fallen in!) and you don’t want to cover the pool in case something falls in!

Personally I would rather have the basement, unless lots of people are going to be invited round to swim in the pool all the time. I don't like swimming alone, or even just with family, it's really boring and for me the novelty would wear off quickly and not be worth the expense. But that's just me.

@whirlyhead that's interesting, apart from the water circulating through the system and the bromine to keep it clean, there is no regular refilling of the water. From time to time they would top up because of evaporation but that would be may once or twice a year running the hose for about 30 mins.

It's good to hear your experience and it is something I will include as part of the pros and cons.

I see most people would prefer a basement. Maybe that's what we will go for. The lack of natural light and the high water table bothers me but it would be useful space to play games and I hope the novelty does not wear off for that.

I wouldn’t be keen on a basement in a high water area and I think your parents’ experience of a pool has been abnormally complaint free.

How are you going to heat a pool via solar power in the UK?

I was wrong, my husband said the pool guy said it would be a air source heat pump for pools that he is including in the quote.

@FuzzyWolf I am not sure their experience is abnormal. The elderly gentleman who has been maintaining their pool and that of other people in the area and wider, hasn't had any major issues. He charges them £25 every month to do the bromine and give the bottom of the pool a quick sweep. Granted their pool is enclosed so not open to the elements.

I can only tell you what my experience has been and perhaps where there has been heavy maintenance costs the pool has either not been built properly or the heating solutions have not been given attention, like making sure you have the right tariff with your supplier, cycling the water during off-peak times, heating during off-peak times, covering the pool to keep the heating and making sure you apply bromine. I would think that maintenance would get better with things like heat pump, multi-rate tariffs and the like, warmer weather.

On the other hand, we can just leave the basement to do its thing unless it starts suffering from damp or the lack of natural light becomes depressing.

I do like the idea of building a very nice outbuilding as an alternative to the basement and swimming pool.

Is a purpose-built outbuilding for games / leisure a better idea than a basement and swimming pool?

I’d go pool, unless you need the space. As others have said, the basement feels like a risk with a high water table area. Friends with a pool (outdoor) use it all the time, they do swim through the winter as well, but then they are very healthy sorts.

Basically, which do you think you’d use more?

Good question @FancyBiscuitsLevel . I would like to think the swimming pool because it would encourage a healthy lifestyle whilst the basement will just encourage a sedentary lifestyle. I'm used to swimming and do enjoy it so would not get bored. But I know we should not necessarily make our decision based on resale but that too matters. If people have a view that swimming pools are high maintenance (even though true in reality or not) it is something to consider.

The water table is high where we are and there will not be much natural light.

Maybe I abandon all of it and we just build an outhouse.

My dream would be an endless pool in the basement.