PDA

View Full Version : Considering Buying a house with an Indoor Pool...



EdWalleman
11-06-2012, 06:13 PM
Hi,

My wife recently took me to look at a house with a rather LARGE indoor pool, and I was wondering what to look at when considering whether to buy the place...

The pool is reportedly (I didn't measure it) about 20x40 and the pool room is about 40x60. The structure is about 2 stories high (maybe a little shorter). It has a CONCRETE roof, consisting of large, T-shaped beams, reminiscent of a parking garage. The walls are unpainted red brick, like you typically see on the exterior of a house. There is no insulation whatsoever (the walls are 1-brick thick and both sides of each brick is visible), and this house is in SE Michigan. There are 6 doorwalls with large windows above (3 on each of the long sides). The structure is attached to the house via a 20x20 annex, which consists of a hallway with doors at opposite ends, the mechanical room for the pool, and a bathroom/shower.

It also looks like they recently added ceramic tile to the (presumably concrete slab) floor, but they stopped short of the edge of the pool by about 6 inches, all the way around, leaving an unfinished-looking edge.

The pool was full and uncovered. The water was crystal-clear, and had no smell of chlorine. (Perhaps a bromine pool?)

They had two large, natural gas heaters hanging from the ceiling at opposite corners of the room, each pointing down the long side of the deck... these are the kind that you often see in a shop or a large garage. The thermostat was set to 48 degrees F and it was so cold outside that the concrete ceiling was dripping water all over everything.

There were two LARGE "centrifugal" vent units, one in the middle of each of the exterior walls.

The pool itself looks to be made of poured concrete, with a stippled texture to it. It looks to be 12' at the deep end and has a diving board.

There were no signs of corrosion on anything in the place, including the pool's (stainless?) handrails and the aluminum trim of the doors and windows, though I didn't think to look inside any of the electrical boxes until I read a previous post here today... I'll need to do that if we go back to look at it again.

My biggest concern is the possibility of deterioration of that concrete roof... either a complete failure or perhaps corrosion of the internal iron ("rebar") causing a chunk of concrete to pop out. But as far as I could tell from the floor, the concrete looked as good as new. The ceiling is not painted, in case that has any bearing... bare concrete.

If I had to date the structure, I would guess from the aluminum-trimmed single-pane windows and the 1969 build date of the actual house, that the pool and enclosure were built in the mid 70s.

Not knowing anything about INDOOR pools, I was almost wondering if the pool enclosure had been designed to allow for turning down the temperature like that on purpose for extended periods of non-use, considering that all of the materials used are relatively impervious to moisture? But even if it was designed with that thought in mind, that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.

Any advice what to look for? We like the house but I don't want to buy a major problem or a major unexpected expense.

Thanks!