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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

House with swimpool. Is it pointless?

325 replies

SweetSally · 05/12/2019 20:20

Hi lovelies!
My husband and I are considering buying a house with an indoor swimpool. We don't know anything about swimpools and are not sure if it's a good investment...

The property is in the UK and the swimpool is indoors (extension added to the house) and it also has a conservatory added to it. It's large space and the swimpool is rather generous when it comes to the sheer size of it.

Please, could you share your experience? We actually want to use the swimpool and are not considering the house because of it. We do actually like the property.

OP posts:
Babynamechangerr · 06/12/2019 15:21

I own a house with an indoor pool. I think the key consideration is that the shape of this pool means it probably either doesn't have a cover or the cover only partially covers the pool meaning you will lose so much heat.

Our pool costs alot to heat with a very good cover on it (think £10k...) which is Alot more in the winter v summer.

There are other reasons I personally wouldn't buy the house but that would be a major one for me.

If you did, assume you'd only be able to afford to heat it in summer, 4 months of the year max.

Babynamechangerr · 06/12/2019 15:23

maintaining it would amount to another mortgage!

Maintaining it alone wouldn't but heating and maintenance could definitely equate to the cost of an average mortgage.

It's cold here most of the time unfortunately!

Booboostwo · 06/12/2019 17:00

Nowadays you can get all kind of covers in all kinds of shapes.

Oliversmumsarmy · 06/12/2019 17:03

in the south prices have stagnated since 2016 really, maybe there they have risen

Not around here they havent

Babynamechangerr · 06/12/2019 17:28

Nowadays you can get all kind of covers in all kinds of shapes

Yes it's possible you can, but I think the OP would be wise to investigate the cost of that, ours, was so expensive and it's only a standard rectangle.

Booboostwo · 06/12/2019 22:27

Ours is a rectangle that still covers our pool even though it has the same as the OPs, it has thermal properties and it is a safety cover, i.e. you can walk on it. It was still under 1000 euros new.

Dontpaintitgrey · 06/12/2019 22:33

What @Illeana said. I work in property we usually find that the case. So if you love the house just buy it and fill the pool in.

I think unless you’re seriously into swimming they’re pretty pointless. An outdoor pool on the other hand......

Moanranger · 06/12/2019 22:50

How old are your children? I would be very uneasy about a pool with toddlers. It just takes one unwatched moment. My personal story is dragging my non-swimming cousin out of a swimming pool, she about 18 mo. She fell in in a flash. Unbelievably scary.I wouldn’t buy. ( I bought a house in UK with an outdoor pool and had it immediately filled in. Old & crocked. Cost me a grand. House on market a long time, probably due to pool!)

Weenurse · 06/12/2019 22:50

I love the house.
Agree that downstairs needs a bit of a rearranging.
If planning on being there a long time, go for it.
Our DC loved having friends over to swim when they were younger.

Clymene · 06/12/2019 22:56

I think you are very gracious OP and you speak excellent English. Start a business in the swimpool - you honestly won't be short of takers. Aqua aerobics, baby swimming, swimming lessons. Endless possibilities Smile

dontalltalkatonce · 06/12/2019 23:00

Sally, I think you have excellent English and much better English than more have Croatian. When I saw 'swimpool' I thought immediately that your first language was not English, as my father's native language is not, he is Spanish.

Flymetothetoon · 06/12/2019 23:02

We had a house with an indoor swimming pool and it wasn't expensive to maintain. Heated by its own boiler and the chemicals to treat it were relatively cheap to buy on-line. Only downside was out of the four of us I was the only one who used it. They sound lovely in principle but in practice they don't get used (in my experience)

anxioussue · 07/12/2019 05:56

the three primary are all a similar distance. one doesn't have as good a report. the other two are maybe oversubscribed. It wouldn't bother me. It could bother some.

Booboostwo · 07/12/2019 06:10

I live in France where most people have swimming pools (in the south). Yes they can potentially be dangerous but there are precautions you can take. Ours has a fence around it with a double gate latch high so young children cannot open it and a safety cover you can walk on.

thecalmorchid · 07/12/2019 06:33

We had a swimming pool and used two huge heat reversal pumps to heat it. These are very inexpensive to run. We also opted for a salt water system which is nicer that chlorine in my opinion.

You'll definitely need a lock and a good door alarm system.

It looks lovely. It looks modern, clean and well maintained, it shouldn't detract from the value of the house.

FakeChristmasTreesaremynewnorm · 07/12/2019 06:40

It's a really lovely pool but you are sacrificing other things to get it such as the location on a busy road and the relatively small kitchen.

The idea of running a few classes to help with the maintenance costs is intriguing though, it is a nice enough pool and the location might prove an asset in that case.

Oliversmumsarmy · 07/12/2019 13:10

If you were looking at running classes you would need some sort of permission and I doubt you would get it on the parking alone.

You would have to work out how many cars you could get on your driveway and then still be able to independently drive on and off your driveway. They certainly wouldn’t allow parking on your road.

It would have to be a very small class

thesunhasgothishatontoday · 07/12/2019 17:25

We have an outdoor pool. Like this it was in house when we bought. I'm moving later this month and will be installing another pool in new house.
I like the idea of an indoor pool but we all really love being outdoors in the summer so an indoor pool felt pointless even tho we could use it all year round.
You get used to the maintenance very quickly and we do it all ourselves apart from a once a year pump and filter service

ChaosTrulyReigns · 07/12/2019 17:59

Well played OP, well played. Wink

House with swimpool. Is it pointless?
mcvet · 07/12/2019 18:27

There’s a house near us that has a big indoor pool and their young child drowned and I must say it worries me so much that one day the door would be left open in error ; is that macabre ?

Sara107 · 07/12/2019 18:46

Speaking to someone with an outdoor pool in their garden, so slightly different situation- it takes a lot of maintenance, is expensive ( eg they had to get the whole heating system replaced, and it’s not easy to get rid of if you don’t want to use it! Find out how much it’s going to cost to maintain, make sure it’s in good condition and consider how much you will actually use it. If you only swim a couple of times a week it would likely be cheaper to go to a nice club instead.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 07/12/2019 18:52

Ffs it’s not a fu**ing swimpool.
I couldn’t give a hoot if you buy it or not, with or without a swimming pool.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 07/12/2019 18:56

aosTrulyReigns

Well played OP, well played. wink

Well played OP, well played. wink

I don’t get it?

Horehound · 07/12/2019 18:56

I have one although it's an outdoor pool and I live in Scotland. We have a huge perspex style dome cover which actually heats the water very well. Up to 28deg in summer and we now have an air sourced heat pump which means we will be able to use the pool for longer in the year. It's great fun and we are in it all the time in summer so I expect if yours in indoor you will use it Alot
Chemicals aren't too expensive and it's not much maintenance. We need to "winterize" the pool... not sure you need to do that for an indoor pool though

TrixieMixie · 07/12/2019 19:33

Do you mean a swimming pool? Or is there a separate thing, a swimpool? If so, what is it exactly?

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