Beginning to research for pool...

[kiotiugly]

I hope I understand how this forum works - looks like a good source of information that I'm looking for, so here goes...

My family and I are looking to install a pool at our home within the next year. We live in the middle of our 140 acre farm and have plenty of space in our yard. Our intended uses will be primarily for the four of us to enjoy, with the occasional friendly get together being held.

I would like to handle as much of the install as possible to save money. I'm an experienced do-it-yourselfer, having built our house from basement to roof and everything in between. I have a backhoe, bulldozer and dump truck and am very experienced with plumbing, electrical, carpentry and concrete. So far as I am aware, we have no zoning restrictions and have county-supplied water available.

I am dumb as a post about swimming pools!

Right now, we are envisioning something in the range of a 16' to 20' wide by 30' to 40' long rectangular shaped pool. My wife and I would like to be able to swim laps for exercise. Our plan also includes a semi-in ground installation. We have a gently sloping hillside behind our house that I would like to level off an area and install the pool there. At that point, we would like to install a deck around it and give the appearance of an in ground pool. We've looked online and seen some above ground pools that are intended for this purpose - some even with in-wall steps.

So the long and the short of it - or long and longer of it - where do I start? We have some pool stores about an hour away and I was going to call them to see what they might recommend. I'm not opposed to buying from the internet either, especially to save money. I have access to a place to unload a semi with a forktruck, so shipping would not be too much of an issue.

I would really like to hear recommendations about brands of pools, all of the associated equipment, and recommended retailers. Also, any advice that I can get from folks who have gone through the same thing.

We recently purchase a little Intex pool so that we could cool off this summer and get used to maintaining pool water, at least on a small scale.

I really appreciate any information that I can get and look forward to learning about pools.

Thanks.

[Watermom]

Personally, I like to buy local for two reasons. 1) To support the local economy when I can and 2) if you have a problem with the pool, you have a place to go to get some help instead of having to get a big piece of vinyl or whatever shipped back to someplace. Just my $0.02.

Maybe some others will chime in here with their opinions.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[kiotiugly]

So just out of curiosity, how does this work? I don't know if I can post anywhere else right now, and I can't even access my profile. I'm assuming this is due to the moderation process. Will there be some point at which I will be able to go to other parts of the forum and update my information?

I'm doing other research on pools and right now I'm kind of hung up on what is a suitable base for an above ground pool and what are good materials for the the construction - steel, aluminum, resin, etc.

Thanks for the help so far.

[Watermom]

Until your registration is completed, if you log out, you'll then be able to see the entire forum. If you want to search, you can use this link which will search the entire forum, plus our sister website www.poolsolutions.com:> http://pool9.net/search/ (Copy the link and then paste it into a browser window after you log out.)

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership updated.

I'm going to suggest an alternative: buy an Intex pool, THIS year.

There's a good chance you are on well water . . . and are going to have to learn to deal with less than perfect fill water. You also may find that you don't like pools as much as you'd think OR that you like them MORE than you expected. With a pool like this:

Intex 32-Foot by 16-Foot by 52-Inch Rectangular Ultra Frame Pool

you can get a really good idea of what you want, what you enjoy, and what you need.

If you DO upgrade to inground, you can probably Craigslist that pool for 1/2 of what you pay for it. But you may find that you really don't want anything else.

But, if you really do want to swim laps, you may find that you want to do something wild . . . . like combine 2 of these pools into one 60' pool!

If you are already a swimmer, you know that 36' or even 40' is pretty short for lap swimming. If you aren't a good swimmer yet, once you are, you'll fine that even 60' is fairly short. My sons, who swam competitively at fairly elite levels can only take 3 or 4 strokes on 40' pool, after coming out of the turn, before they have to set up for the next flip turn. Even my wife and I find 40' too short.

But, an inground 60 - 75 pool is pricey. Maybe you're up for that.

But the joints on an Intex are lapped and glued which means it's possible -- at least in theory -- to cut the ends out of 2 pools and make 1 longer pool. As far as I know, it's never been done, but I'm kinda hoping to do it for myself and my wife summer of 2015!

There are some complications, like making drop-in turn panels. An Intex pool would not survive daily turns on the end walls, even if you use open turns rather than flip turns. And there's the issue of running 2 filter systems, or combining and adding 1 standard system. But I think it would be extremely cool to have a useable 60' lap pool for under $7,000 total!

[PoolDoc]

Forgot to add:

If you do get an Intex, remember that

1. The pool site needs to be LEVEL, not nearly level, AND
2. You should prep the site 100% and THEN buy the pool from Walmart or Amazon or someone else that will give you a 30-day return. Intex does honor warranties, but slo-o-owly.

If you're ready to install the pool as soon as it arrives, you'll be able to exchange it if there's a problem (maybe 5% of the pools) rather than wrestling with Intex.

[kiotiugly]

Hi again, and thanks for the responses.

We will be using county water to fill the pool - we do have a well, but it is not plentiful enough to fill a pool.

I looked at the pool that was linked in the earlier response, and this is where I get really confused, because I don't know what a good pool is and what one should cost. That one looks like it will cost about $2000 - then I look on another website and see that I can get a "real" 21 x 41 above ground pool for somewhere around $4000, depending on what type of liners/pump/filter/chlorinator/etc. My problem is that I don't know what a "good" one is.

I've watched several online videos regarding above ground pool install (so you know that I'm now and expert!). The site prep doesn't worry me too much - I've prepped sites for my house and barns prior to pouring concrete and other than being tedious and time consuming, it's not too tough (I do have a transit level to help with this).

I've called some local dealers and was not real happy with the conversations that I had. They would ask what I was looking for, and I told them basically what I said above (20 x 40 or so) and they all basically said "Huh, we don't sell those. How 'bout a 30 foot round?" Additionally, the prices that they quoted me were drastically higher than what I've been looking at online, although again, and I can't stress this enough, I don't know if I'm comparing apples to apples in terms of the quality of the components of the pool.

I've read about different materials of construction - steel, aluminum and resin, and also talked to some pool owners here at my work. All of their pools are steel, and one of them is about 15 years old, while the other is only 3, but neither have had issues yet.

I'm just a little relucatant to sink $2,000 into a pool that I may only use a summer and then try to sell...we did get one of the little Intex pools and that was what made everybody say - "Wow, why don't we have a real pool." Additionally, we recently returned from vacation where we swam in pools all week. One reason for the size I was looking at was because one of the pools that we frequently swam in was one of the smaller ones, only about 45' from end to end, and we swam laps in it. I hope that I am not mis-using the term lap swimming - because we are not serious, serious swimmers. It's alot more like swimming from one of the pool to the other, momentarily stopping and turning around, then swimming back - no kick turns and springing off of the end of the pool.

Once again, thanks so much for the help so far. I would love to hear recommendations on brands (and brands to avoid) as well as retailers for them. Additionally, given the size of pool I'm looking at, what should I be looking for in terms of pump and filter, brands and sizes, and what style of filter? How 'bout a chlorinator? What is an indicator of a "good" liner - is there a specific thickness that should be considered the minimum?

When it comes to site work, what is the recommendation for the depth of sand beneath the liner - or is there something better? Is it better to make the edge cove out of sand/earth or use a styrofoam cove - I've seen both on the installation videos that I have watched.

Right now, I still have so many more questions than answers, but am very much enjoying the learning so far.

Again, thanks for the help and advice. Good luck and take care.

[Watermom]

This thread may help you some. http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...ound-Pool-FAQs

I can't help with all of your questions but will give you some opinions on a few of them

I would go with a sand filter if I were you. Sand filters are the easiest to use, and do a pretty good job. I have always had sand filters and never had any trouble. When you have to backwash them, it is a matter of turning the handle on the multi-port valve and that is that. DE and cartridge filters are both, in my opinion, more hassle. I would never want to have either one of them I don't think. Simply my opinion.

I also would not want a chlorinator. The pucks that it uses have CYA in them. Now, all outdoor pools need some CYA but only some. We have people come here all the time who uses trichlor pucks for long periods of time and they can't understand why they get algae. The problem is that as your CYA level rises, so must your chlorine level and most people don't know that. All they know is that they are keeping their chlorine levels the same as they always have and it worked before and now it doesn't and they have a green pool. More about the CYA and chlorine relationship can be found here:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

Once you pick out what pool you want, someone here can help with a recommendation for a pump. I will tell you that when it comes to pool pumps, bigger is NOT better. Ideally, you want a smaller pump paired with a big filter. Many places sell pump/filter combos for AG pool packages that are grossly mismatched. Usually a pump that is too big and a filter that is too small. Too much power on the pump will force debris through the sand bed (or destroy a cartridge filter) without actually filtering. We see this ALL the time on the forum.

I'm not sure about the depth of the sand. I can't remember what we have. We do have a foam sand cove on our pool. My liner is 28 mil. It is actually an inground liner (I have a 27ft AG pool) because I didn't like any of the pattern choices they had on the AG pools. I did have to pay more for it but I wanted something I would be happy with.

Another thread you might find useful: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...ng-a-new-liner

Use this to search with instead of the search feature that is part of the forum software. It will search the entire forum plus our sister website www.poolsolutions.com:> http://pool9.net/search/

Hope this helps you some!

[PoolDoc]

@ Watermom: my bad; I read all the stuff about leveling and excavation and missed the "semi-inground" reference. I deleted the posts about in-ground pools.