Is a pool okay?

[hertsgirl1984]

Ive recently been given a council house. Id previously rented privately but my landlord decided to evict us through no fault of our own, and after a few weeks in a temporary flat we've been lucky to get a 2 double bed house with a large garden.Its cheap rent, and ive just gone back to work after 6 months of illness. My daughter (14) has anxiety issues and doesnt go out much but loves swimming. The pool will be only 15ftx30ftx4ft. and cost about £1800 to install. It will then cost about £30 a week to run properly. Which is less than the average smoker or drinker wastes each week. My question is .... will my neighbours find it vulgar and are people likely to criticize us for having this in social housing?

Will the pool actually be useable and warm? Might be a bit of a waste of money if its too cold and to small to swim in.

I don't know about Council housing , but if private you would need, at minimum, landlord permission and a commitment to make good at the end of your tenancy. The latter would probably cost at least as much as installing a pool in the first place.

You should check with the Council.

Then, to be honest I would not worry about what neighbours think. But I would worry about using any nest egg you have. You have only just gone back to work. You are talking about something that will cost £1,500 a year to run, with cyclical maintenance on top. This might buy other interventions outside the home, including say a holiday to somewhere she would enjoy, that would help your daughter more. And the £1,800 remains in the bank for a rainy day.

That seems amazingly cheap to install! Are you allowed to, have you checked with the council?

Don't worry about your neighbours - i imagine your biggest problem will be people angling for an invite on hot days!

Are you actually allowed to put a pool in the garden of house that belongs to the council?

Who cares what the neighbours think? But I suspect you'll get all and sundry wanting to be your mates on hot days rather than people finding it 'vulgar' tbh

You would probably need to seek permission from the council and agree to remove it when you move out otherwise the council will have to maintain it for subsequent tenants.

I think it would be unlikely to be warm enough to swim without some form of heating and a cover, which will probably be quite expensive, and you'd need to check whether you have sufficient electric supply

I live in the Algarve - my pool only reaches 20 degrees in April/may, which is fine for me as I like cool water, but most people swim at around 26 degrees. It might be about that temp now but that's with daytime temps of around 30 and 20 at night (it's the night time temps that cool the water). There would also be noise from the pool pump, which may disturb your neighbours (we're used to it here as we all have them)

Thanks guys, all good points. its so cheap because the liner and pumps and filters can be bought on ebay for that price and my brother whos a landscaper will install it for free. Ive had a pool before and its only viable to heat it may to october. theres a special solar cover which you fut on when you arent using it and that does most of the heating so it only needs a 'top up' from the household electricity. It will be about the same size as my old pool which i enjoyed immensley with my daughter and the few freinds she has will be round all the time aswell as her cousins, theres nothing i enjoy more than a house/garden full of happy kids. I think the council will be okay as i know people with large fishponds and they are just told to fill it in when they go. This house is gorgeous though and I wont be having any more sprogs so I expect to stay put till old age :)

How much use is the solar cover in the uk?

I've got a solar cover on my pool, but it doesn't heat the pool, rather it keeps the heat in. You really do need a separate heater to warm the water up in this country, mine usually gets up to 26°C in the summer.

haha good point. we relied on this with our old pool in the westcountry. I guess we must just be made of tough stuff lol. To be fair, we always swam in the sea and dipped in the rivers and lakes on the moors too so it might have been a bit on the chilly side but we didnt care. Its about twice the size of the large intex paddling pools you can buy and plenty of 'towny' kids brave those each summer. It wont be as warm as the leisure centre pool but you cant drift around on a lilo with an ice pop in those.

You may not be able to stay there once your DD leaves home - I very much suspect the 'home for life' aspect of council housing has had its day :(

Oh well, if you've had one before then you know what you're getting yourself into, so long as your brother doesn't mind - sounds a lot of work! And of course he will have to come and fill it in when you're done.