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Original poster

I can only ask this on MN - does anyone have an outdoor swimming pool?

42 replies

ladymuck · 12/12/2005 12:01

..and if so how much hassle is it for maintenance?

Google Earth has just updated our area, and I noted several neighbours seem to have them (alas none with children of even a vaguely similar age, otherwise I would be making ever friendlier overtones ) Idle thoughts are going through my head, but I have hithertoo dismissed them due to the amount of ongoing hassle (we're low-maintenace gardeners!)

So, someone on here must have one! Tell the truth!

OP posts:
zippimistletoes · 12/12/2005 12:04

don't have one lol

but they are very expensive to run, waste of time unless heated and can make property difficult to sell in future

my aunt and uncle used to have one but filled it with carp

handlemecarefully · 12/12/2005 12:06

I don't have one but was considering one. A friend who does have one says that it is huge hassle to keep it clean (dredge it free of leaves etc). He says that his kids barely ever use it now too!

ESSgonnaBEEagoodchristmas · 12/12/2005 12:07

Message withdrawn

gggimmesnowsnow · 12/12/2005 12:09

I have one - or will do till January when the house is sold. They need constant maintence and when they go green it is vile trying to get it all back under control. Great when it is sunny and the water is blue etc etc.

I would get one of those new ultraviolet filters if I had to do the whole thing again.

Am actually quite relieved to be pool free.

CliffRichardSucksEggsinHell · 12/12/2005 12:12

Hi GGG! Sorry to hijack but the head of Tivoli came up to me last week and told me how thrilled he was about your good news!

??????????????????????????????????????????

gggimmesnowsnow · 12/12/2005 12:24

Think he means dd - who is now approaching one year old

gggimmesnowsnow · 12/12/2005 12:26

speaks very good inglish, dont I?

She is now coming up to her first birthday....

littledonkeyrach · 12/12/2005 12:35

My uncle had an outdoor pool eons ago, and I think he had like a huge bubble type thing over it all the time. Suppose it did the job, but looked a bit ridiculous.

SecondhandRose · 12/12/2005 12:48

We've got one, a man comes once a week in the summer to do all the hard work. Just waiting for the bill from August at the moment so kind of hoping he's forgotten. We've needed a new bubble cover this year £340 and a new pump £350 but boy is it worth it, when the weather's good we feel like we're in Spain.

The man charges £35 a visit plus chemicals.

Sometimes we leave it uncovered at night in the summer but all the local mice drown in it so we try to cover it!

TheFish · 12/12/2005 12:48

pph does
the fish ahs swum in it
and ds2

Pinotmum · 12/12/2005 12:50

My friend (childless) has one. She thinks they are a hassle and it gets used maybe twice a year. She has neighbours trying to be her friend so their children can use it Some people have no shame and when one child did use it they wanted ice cream afterwards. She was appalled - pmsl

Mistletoo · 12/12/2005 12:51

I have a pool at the back of the house

of rainwater

gggimmesnowsnow · 12/12/2005 12:52

my husband's company have installed infrared alarms that trigger cameras so that the chap can catch his neighbours redhanded swimming in his pool when he is out

GingerBearingGifts · 12/12/2005 12:54

I have a pool.

Cess Pool.

Man comes to empty it twice a year.
We make sure we are all out when he does.

SecondhandRose · 12/12/2005 12:55

That's so sad, as far as I'm concerned the more the merrier while it's been heated and full of chemicals. I invite everyone round (DH does get a bit fed up though!).

SilentBite · 12/12/2005 12:55

ladymuck surely you just have a pool boy

I think the salt water ones are less maintenance. My PILs had one in Richmond which dh and his siblings used a lot and they considered it worth the effort.

I would be slightly put off on the basis that as soon as the sun was shining every tom dick and harry would be round purporting to be your new best friend.....

PrincessPlumPuddingHead · 12/12/2005 13:00

I have one. It is fully fenced so child safe. And mosaic-ed (not lined) - costs a lot more but liners are useless and rip and feel horrid under your toes. Our pool has been going for over 30 years and has never needed to be retiled, except for repairing a bit of frost damage around the top 4" or so.

Maintenance is starting it up once a year, bit of chlorine and algicide through the summer, and winterising it in september. I would say it was no hassle compared to the hours of fun it gives us, but then the gardener does all that so I don't really know what it involves. We also heat it with oil so I suppose that is maintenance, inasmuch as you need to get the oil tank topped up as and when but we do that for the main house anyway.

It is brilliant in the summer, gets used a lot, and it is perfect child entertainment. I wouldn't have one in a small garden because I would insist on having it properly fenced, and who wants to look at a 6ft fence in a small garden. But if you have an acre or so and aren't going to calculate exactly how many pence it costs per year (yes, it DOES cost more than a gym membership) then it is fantastic. Also you have to have the type of house where a swimming pool is an asset or expected, otherwise it can adversely affect your resale value.

TheFish · 12/12/2005 13:01

and she has a slide
she slides nacked down it every orning

Glitterygook · 12/12/2005 13:03

amusing image springs to mind!

handlemecarefully · 12/12/2005 13:03

Oh naked down it

It took me a while to interpret that one Cod!

Glitterygook · 12/12/2005 13:04

God, I just tried to find a pic of someone going down a slide naked - got some right filth!

PrincessPlumPuddingHead · 12/12/2005 13:07

I thought you meant I slide knackered down it every morning!

Closer to the truth

SueW · 12/12/2005 13:09

We had one in Oz and I wouldn't say it was any hassle. We had a Kreepy Krawly which took care of most of the cleaning apart from scooping a few bits of the top. A man came once a month to do chemicals.

My cousin's is heated using mostly solar power -using fine tubes on the roof of his house which the water is pumped through and heated by the sun. There's extra heat available with a booster pump iirc.

If you have small wall/lip round the edge of the pool as opposed to having the pool just drop away from the ground it will minimize the amount of leaves and debris falling into the pool.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 12/12/2005 13:10

GDG

Rofl

Original poster
ladymuck · 12/12/2005 14:25

I knew someone on here would know!

The little lord mucks seem to be water babes and currently each go swimming 3 times a week - though that is at our club or at school. There are at least 3 outdoor pools within 6 houses either side of me so I guess that we're in the sort of area where it isn't unheard of.

We did turn down a house which had a pool in its garden, but that was when ds1 was 18m old. Agree for the need re fencing, so I guess it is going to cut short our garden, but that also seems to be how the neighbours had done it - pool at bottom of garden, fenced in with hedges covering view of fence form the house.

Hmmm - easy activity for the kids over the summer and an excuse for getting a pool bou too .

Now to look at the cost...Is it more that a London gym membership, or where you thinking of out in the sticks pph?

OP posts: