Purchasing New Inground Pool - Too many decisions!

[spatt]

Hello all,

I am hoping you can lend me some insight to what pool you would put at your house. I have started research on liner, fiberglass and gunite. If you could afford to do any of these (or another kind that I may be unaware of) which would you pick?

I do understand the basic differences between the pools. I also know that liners have to be replaced every 5-8 years and that gunite has to be resurfaced every ?? years. I spoke to a fiberglass salesman today that was saying fiberglass was the way to go .. but he is a salesman. He said there was really no upkeep, no resurfacing, etc. And that it would look as good in 10 years as it would new. But the upfront cost wasnt any cheaper than a gunite pool. I didn't know if chemicals were more difficult from one to the other either?

Any insight would be appreciated!

[PoolDoc]

Unlike vinyl or gunite pools, when the surface of a FG pool deteriorates, you're stuck.

The best way to go depends mostly on local factors:

1. What is your budget? In most parts of the country the order of cost, least to most, is vinyl, FG, concrete.

2. What can local contractors do well? (If there are no skilled gunite contractors, you may want to rule that option out, unless you have a really generous budget!)

3. How will you use the pool? (A dedicated lap swimmer will kill a liner, doing flip turns!)

4. Which is more important, appearance or function? Will your pool users primarily splash, swim, exercise, lay out, or party?

Once you can answer some of those questions, people here might be able to help you take some steps further.

Best wishes.

[mmomega]

Recent, 1st time pool owner here so hopefully I can answer or help answer questions you may have after going through the process myself.

I decided to go with a gunite pool, my pool builder recommended this to us, my wife has known him in the community for years and he laid everything out for us and it made way more sense to go the route we did.

Gunite, MiniPebble + Plaster, he said we "should" not have any problems for a good 25 years.

[pbdbk]

We are shopping now for a gunite pool. Liner pools have always seemed to me to be too susceptible to damage. We don't have any pets right now but we used to have a Labrador that would live in the pool if we let her. I don't like to think what her nails would have done to the liner. Children aren't much better. Their nails are shorter but they tend to take all sorts of things into the pool and then use them in ways you never would have dreamed of. Fiberglass pools would seem fairly durable but more limited in choice of shapes and sizes than gunite. Having lived in Florida since 1956 I've seen what exposure to the sun does to fiberglass boats over the years. It doesn't render them structurally unsound but the gel coats often become crazed with small crack lines. This may or may not be the case with fiberglass pools and would probably only be a cosmetic issue but if I'm going to spend several thousand dollars on a pool I'd like it to keep its looks.