Any regrets or must haves before installing an in-ground swimming pool?

[Newhousename]

I’m about to commit to a swimming pool in the garden. In ground 8x4m. Before I do I’d be grateful to hear from anyone who has one and regrets it or any must haves/must avoids. It would have a ground source heat pump and is the type without external pump/pool house which saves space and cost. It’s a huuuuge investment for me so having last minute cold feet. But everyone I speak to in real life say their only regret is not doing it sooner.

Hmm we have a 2 acre rural property and I still don’t think ours is worth it for the short lived time it gets used.

We have one but live in a hot country so it’s used daily by my kids. However, maintenance is a PITA. We seem to be constantly needing to replace some part or another. The previous owners tiled it on the cheap so we need to retile it in the near future which I’m sure won’t be cheap.

Don't do it @Newhousename someone I know had an outdoor swimming pool put in several years ago, and it cost about £70K, and it's been nothing but a PITA. Hardly used really. Even last summer when it was really hot, they found that some of the time it was hard to swim in it/stay in it, as it was nearly 40C and the sun was blaring down on them. Also, as has been said, high maintenance, and costly too. This person has been talking about how it's more bother than it is fun, but they can't bring themselves to fill it in as it cost so much money!

There used to be a big outdoor pool (lido) in a town that's not a million miles away from me, and it was shut down over a decade ago, due to high running costs and maintenance costs etc... Every week on the town's facebook page, there is someone saying 're-open the lido!!!' But it was a lot of hassle and expense for something that was used for around 30-40 days of the year.

I would personally never install an outdoor swimming pool at my property, an indoor one definitely! But not an outdoor one. Not in the UK!

I am bit surprised at the posters saying 8x4 metres 'isn't that big' though, (for a pool in a private garden.) It's 27 ft x 13 ft. hardly tiny! 32ft x 16ft is the average sized private garden outside swimming pool, (in the UK anyway,) so it's not much smaller than that. You could certainly get some decent swimming in.

Obviously different, and sorry for hijacking, but does anyone have any experience with an indoor pool? We are thinking of building a 14m long one in a separate garden building.

We’re properly rural and looking to move locally - in our area hardly any properties I’m seeing have outdoor pools. Most people prioritising equestrian facilities. Personally I find the maintenance a hassle considering the use it gets. We’re all home too late to use it of an evening, so it’s hot weekends only but even then we are sometimes too busy or away. Obviously that’s just us and I’m some families would get loads of use out of them. The adults I know that want them for exercise purposes have installed indoor pools with a counter current unit. At least then it can be used all year.

Don’t have my own, but almost everyone I know who has a pool would not do it again… even people living in the south of France and Oz. There are two exceptions, out of maybe fifteen. They really use their pools and seemingly have an honorary PhD in chemistry

If you have a health condition, I think it's safer to swim with other people/lifeguard tbh

Also factor in increasing hosepipe bans where and when for months you won’t be allowed to refill or top up.

@ProfessionalPirate Why too late? The evening, preferably after dark, is probably my favourite time to use the pool.

I’m a keen swimmer and swim all year round at an outdoor public swimming pool. It’s my dream to have my own outdoor pool but I couldn’t see much swimming benefit in a pool
any shorter than minimum 20m, as swimming laps would be v difficult in anything smaller.

I don’t live in the UK But we have a pool. It measures 18 x 9 mts plus there’s a little children’s pool on the side of it. We pay people to look after it and we have a heat exchanger which cools it in the summer and heats it up in the winter. It’s run energy wise by some of the 55 solar panels we have on our roof. It’s used a lot and is as big as it is because everyone in the family except me is a serious swimmer. It was well worth the investment.

@NewhousenameWe installed one when dc were 10 and 8. That’s 23 years ago. It’s had a new liner but it’s been used and it’s not that expensive to heat as we have a heat pump and solar power with batteries. Ground source means extensive garden upheaval.

@Newhousename Only you know if your family will use it. No one else can tell you that. You must landscape it and don’t have one in a small garden. Don’t use up space if space is at a premium. Our garden is 1.5 acres. It’s got its own section of the garden and frankly, people who own a very expensive house aren’t worrying about devaluing it with a pool. Look at Country Life. Lovely houses often have pools. But - if you aren’t a unique house, have an estate house, have a small garden, aren’t planning high quality landscaping or worry about bills and maintenance, don’t have one. Done properly in the right garden, they are great.

Don’t have bright blue. We have a toned down grey/navy and it’s fantastic with the planting.

@Newhousename , we had a large pool in our previous house while our children were young. Of course there are times it’s not in use in this country. The heat pump sounds like a great idea, hopefully you’ll be able to keep it at a decent temperature during the summer and it won’t take long to heat up when you want to use it. Ours was installed nearly thirty years ago and it took three days and an awful lot of gas to heat, sometimes by the time it was heated the predicted weather changed and we didn’t end up using it. I don’t regret it, we had fun as a family with it but we’ve moved and have a jacuzzi in our garden now which as we’re retired suits us better, it heats up in hours and is very easy to maintain even so when our grandchildren visit we don’t get a look in. 😂

I'd get an above ground one that had a surround. I don't think getting an outdoor in-ground one in the UK would be a good investment as we just don't have a long enough season for using it.

8x4m

8m x 4m is essentially a plunge pool. You get in, plunge and float around. You cannot do any real swimming, it's too small.

So why not have a jacuzzi instead?

Same maintenance as a small pool, plus added jets and bubbles. Less prestige but arguably more useful than a small pool if all you're doing is plunging and floating.

Water is becoming a scarce resource. What is wrong with the public pools?

@TheKittenswithMittens Quite a lot. Getting to one!

@Newhousename A Jacusi isn’t having a quick swim though. 8 m is 30 ft. It’s obviously not a lap pool but dc will enjoy it. Obviously not for serious swimmers. Ours is a bit bigger but not much.

Do not under any circumstances have an above ground pool. A sure fire way to devalue your house! Impossible to landscape and in my view, not safe.

In laws have one. It was glorious when they were younger, and were willing/able to manage maintaining it. It would get opened late April and stay open till mid September.

However, it was like that because MIL put a lot of work into cleaning it and keeping on top of the chemicals.

They need to be warmer than you might think to be comfortable in the uk - they are rarely big enough to power up and down to stay warm. They can cost an absolute fortune to heat, although ive heard ground source heat pumps are better.

You cannot be worried about money and have one. You need money. Ground source heat pumps are very expensive to instal. I’d have the house heated by then too !

Oh and be prepared, if you want to really use it, you need to be able to afford to largely switch it on and leave it on.

Pools take absolutely ages to heat from cold and you need to keep a pump running regularly to keep water moving/chemicals circulating, or you'd be amazed how fast they can go green. Once a pool goes green it's a real pain in the arse to get it clear again and if you have a liner, strong "shock & floc" chemicals can really bleach/damage it.

Most of the people I know with a pool pay someone to open & close it (expensive) and often are paying a regular pool guy to maintain it as well.

I am in Oz and bloody love my pool. I wouldn’t bother in the UK though.

I have had indoor and outdoor pools in the UK and loved them. With a small pool a swim jet is essential otherwise they are no good for real swimming. If I was to have one put in now, I would opt for a small indoor so I could swim all year rather than an outdoor pool.

If you are going ahead with an outdoor pool then try to ensure it is well away from trees and other plants that are going to fill the pool with leaves all the time. Also make sure you fence the pool area for safety reasons or have a walk-on cover. Not only are you protecting the pool from children, but also thirsty wildlife that will otherwise find their way in and drown.

Do you have DC and, if so, how old are they? Factor in that every play date/meet up with take place at yours going forward (well, unless a lot of your/their friends have pools too). If the children are young, this means you have to supervise them all of the time in a way that you don’t if they are just playing in the garden or elsewhere in the house. If they are of an age when alcohol is a factor, then that becomes a concern. My friend says that there were about three halycon years when her two DC and all of their friends were old enough for her to think they were safe in the pool and young enough not to be drinking. Even then she felt obliged to remind them about sun cream and so on. If all of the kids are at yours there’s then the cost of snacks, drinks etc. And the noise! My friend grumbles that she never gets to relax in her own garden as there are always other people’s children over to use the pool.

The kids clubs/activities, dinner, and bedtime take over our evenings. By the time the kids are asleep, I’ve got just enough energy left to walk the dog and sort the horses before collapsing in a heap! perhaps I’m in a different phase of life to you.

To be honest I don’t appreciate the pool for its exercise potential. I’d much rather go for a run. We just use it for weekend fun in the sunshine 5 days a year