Yes: Pools are worth it....

[KeysPhoneWallet 807]

I mean I just did power wash it. I didn’t dump the filter this time though. That’s a pain, I’m actually worried that the fingers in the bottom of the sand filter need to be replaced.

[kmac30 416]

I just cleaned out my cartridge filters for the first time. Pool opened last summer around August. Absolutely disgusting. Everywhere I read said pool service companies clean them once or twice a year, so I assumed I was ok. I’m going to start cleaning them monthly during the hot season. The water in the tank was brown.

[BottleRocket 646]

On 6/9/2023 at 3:20 PM, freyguy said:

 

Just make a habit of power washing your plaster once a year.  And it's up to you if you want to do that with an empty or full pool.  Just make sure to follow it up with a blasting of chlorine, and then filter dump.

 

I had never really considered power washing with the pool full.  Can you power wash under water?  My black algae isn't nearly as bad as in these pictures, but it's getting worse than it has ever been.

 

[fattyflattie 4,639]

I’m still fighting a bit of it. Nothing at all like the pics above. Just a few tiny spots (1/16” to 1/4” maybe) in some of the corners.   Think I’ll hit it again tonight, cannot risk it turning into that. 

[freyguy 4,273]

2 hours ago, BottleRocket said:

 

I had never really considered power washing with the pool full.  Can you power wash under water?  My black algae isn't nearly as bad as in these pictures, but it's getting worse than it has ever been.

 

Yes, I've done it.  I reason it out in my head that doing it underwater dampens the blasting power...(giggity)

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,236]

2 hours ago, kmac30 said:

I just cleaned out my cartridge filters for the first time. Pool opened last summer around August. Absolutely disgusting. Everywhere I read said pool service companies clean them once or twice a year, so I assumed I was ok. I’m going to start cleaning them monthly during the hot season. The water in the tank was brown.

I found mine best cleaned during and after "pollen season" here in Houston. I'll do mine usually 3 times year, sometimes 4 if pollen gets bad.  Usually late April then not until Aug/Sep at earliest for next cleaning. Of all the pool "chores" I actually don't mind it. Something about seeing the filters go from dark to white again is theraputic for me....  only takes about 30mins now that I have my process down.

[TTU13 108]

Finally took the keys over for our pool (will post pictures once landscape is done).

Chlorine levels are super high, but chalking it up to them shocking the shit out of it and having the chrloinator on full blast before handing over to me to maintain it.

My plan was to let it come down naturally (rain water, filling it with water and setting chlorinatior to min) over the next couple days. Especially since the pH is spot on. Am I wrong for this? As a kid, my mom spent so much time trying to add chemicals to balance out the other chemicals and it was a back and forth game. Where my dad would just end up draining half the pool and refill it when she’d go out of town and it would be spot on for months.

Another question is run times (rpm and schedules). I’m seeing several different things and they’re all conflicting. Any advice?

Any good recs on pool stores, where best to buy supplies, websites/message boards to follow? I live in Wylie for reference.

[TexasEd 8,067]

1 hour ago, TTU13 said:

Finally took the keys over for our pool (will post pictures once landscape is done).

Chlorine levels are super high, but chalking it up to them shocking the shit out of it and having the chrloinator on full blast before handing over to me to maintain it.

My plan was to let it come down naturally (rain water, filling it with water and setting chlorinatior to min) over the next couple days. Especially since the pH is spot on. Am I wrong for this? As a kid, my mom spent so much time trying to add chemicals to balance out the other chemicals and it was a back and forth game. Where my dad would just end up draining half the pool and refill it when she’d go out of town and it would be spot on for months.

Another question is run times (rpm and schedules). I’m seeing several different things and they’re all conflicting. Any advice?

Any good recs on pool stores, where best to buy supplies, websites/message boards to follow? I live in Wylie for reference.

Buy chemicals Home Depot or Walmart.

Get a good test kit.

Read a lot on troublefreepool.com

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by TexasEd

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,236]

11 hours ago, TTU13 said:

Another question is run times (rpm and schedules). I’m seeing several different things and they’re all conflicting. Any advice?

Look to turn over pool every 24 hours, meaning you want you pump to process how ever many gallons your pool is every day.

So lookup you pumps GPM (gallons per minute) stats at different speeds (will be in pump manual) and how many gallons (approx) your pool is.

Pool Gallons / GPM = pump run time in minutes (at that setting)

From there you can tweek to suit your needs. I personally don't ever run my pumps at 100%, really ever over 60% as I run it 24hrsx365 at varying speeds. One because I believe its better for the pump and salt system and 2 because we have an infinity edge spa and I like to see the water flowing over always.  So I run pump at 60% for X hours and pump at 30-40% for other hours.

[PantsTent 2,002]

16 hours ago, TTU13 said:

Finally took the keys over for our pool (will post pictures once landscape is done).

Chlorine levels are super high, but chalking it up to them shocking the shit out of it and having the chrloinator on full blast before handing over to me to maintain it.

My plan was to let it come down naturally (rain water, filling it with water and setting chlorinatior to min) over the next couple days. Especially since the pH is spot on. Am I wrong for this? As a kid, my mom spent so much time trying to add chemicals to balance out the other chemicals and it was a back and forth game. Where my dad would just end up draining half the pool and refill it when she’d go out of town and it would be spot on for months.

Another question is run times (rpm and schedules). I’m seeing several different things and they’re all conflicting. Any advice?

Any good recs on pool stores, where best to buy supplies, websites/message boards to follow? I live in Wylie for reference.

What are you calling super high?  Target level depends on your CYA level (I'm also a troublefreepools follower).  But yes, it will come down on it's own with the long hot days.

The "turn your pool over each day" is a decent rule of thumb, but not required. Run pump fast enough to skim properly, and long enough to produce enough chlorine and keep the pool clean and your good.

 

[Snake Diggity 4,625]

For information sharing purposes only, I had someone from Blue Haven pools come out to give me a quote on remodeling our pool.  We are in SW Austin.  He gave me back of the envelope quotes as follows:

$45k to add a spa (includes adding propane gas line/tank/service)

$20k to resurface the pool (includes modernizing the drain)

$5k to add a tanning shelf

$5k to replace my equipment and the shed covering it

$15k to add a basic covered area on top of the existing patio slab next to the pool.

That was in range of what I was expecting (even tho still probably north of what I am willing to spend right now), so I asked for a firm quote.  He said he would get me a formal quote by the end of last week, I followed up on Thursday and got no response, so I assume he ghosted me.  The hot tub cost is the only thing that was a lot more expensive than I expected.  It sucks that shit I want costs so much.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Snake Diggity

[Okie State 3,821]

For information sharing purposes only, I had someone from Blue Haven pools come out to give me a quote on remodeling our pool.  We are in SW Austin.  He gave me back of the envelope quotes as follows:
$45k to add a spa (includes adding propane gas line/tank/service)
$20k to resurface the pool (includes modernizing the drain)
$5k to add a tanning shelf
$5k to replace my equipment and the shed covering it
$15k to add a basic covered area on top of the existing patio slab next to the pool.
That was in range of what I was expecting (even tho still probably north of what I am willing to spend right now), so I asked for a firm quote.  He said he would get me a formal quote by the end of last week, I followed up on Thursday and got no response, so I assume he ghosted me.  The hot tub cost is the only thing that was a lot more expensive than I expected.  It sucks that shit I want costs so much.

$20K seems high to resurface right? I haven't started getting quotes so maybe not. Not sure what modernizing the drain means.

[Snake Diggity 4,625]

21 minutes ago, Okie State said:

10 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

For information sharing purposes only, I had someone from Blue Haven pools come out to give me a quote on remodeling our pool.  We are in SW Austin.  He gave me back of the envelope quotes as follows:
$45k to add a spa (includes adding propane gas line/tank/service)
$20k to resurface the pool (includes modernizing the drain)
$5k to add a tanning shelf
$5k to replace my equipment and the shed covering it
$15k to add a basic covered area on top of the existing patio slab next to the pool.
That was in range of what I was expecting (even tho still probably north of what I am willing to spend right now), so I asked for a firm quote.  He said he would get me a formal quote by the end of last week, I followed up on Thursday and got no response, so I assume he ghosted me.  The hot tub cost is the only thing that was a lot more expensive than I expected.  It sucks that shit I want costs so much.

$20K seems high to resurface right? I haven't started getting quotes so maybe not. Not sure what modernizing the drain means.

My pool is quite old so it has a single drain.  Apparently this is not up to current code because it is a safety hazard.  Modern pools have 2 drains.  This contractor told me that no insured company would resurface my pool without updating that single drain to a double.  I am ignorant on all this but the way he explained it made sense to me.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,236]

1 hour ago, Snake Diggity said:

My pool is quite old so it has a single drain.  Apparently this is not up to current code because it is a safety hazard.  Modern pools have 2 drains.  This contractor told me that no insured company would resurface my pool without updating that single drain to a double.  I am ignorant on all this but the way he explained it made sense to me.

if they are upgrading your equipment too, I'd check if a SVRS capable pump can be used instead. It's designed to do the same thing, but there might be some downsides on it that I'm unaware of, my inlaws did that on their remodel to avoid all the drain work.

Edited June 14, 2023 by MonkeyDoughnut

[Hefeweizen 5,323]

2 hours ago, Okie State said:

12 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

For information sharing purposes only, I had someone from Blue Haven pools come out to give me a quote on remodeling our pool.  We are in SW Austin.  He gave me back of the envelope quotes as follows:
$45k to add a spa (includes adding propane gas line/tank/service)
$20k to resurface the pool (includes modernizing the drain)
$5k to add a tanning shelf
$5k to replace my equipment and the shed covering it
$15k to add a basic covered area on top of the existing patio slab next to the pool.
That was in range of what I was expecting (even tho still probably north of what I am willing to spend right now), so I asked for a firm quote.  He said he would get me a formal quote by the end of last week, I followed up on Thursday and got no response, so I assume he ghosted me.  The hot tub cost is the only thing that was a lot more expensive than I expected.  It sucks that shit I want costs so much.

$20K seems high to resurface right? I haven't started getting quotes so maybe not. Not sure what modernizing the drain means.

20k doesn’t seem too high, depending on the new material.  Especially one with pebble finish.  If it’s just regular plaster it’s too high.

 

I miss my pools.  Especially as summer begins.  Nothing beats that first swim in the scorching heat.

[Davis Lane 5,584]

So, starting price for fiberglass pool we looked at is $45K.

Talk about a kick in the pants.

[NoRagrets 1,125]

My friend bought a container pool and loves it. Worth it especially if you’re in a highly regulated state. 

[Dahobbs 17,534]

3 hours ago, Davis Lane said:

So, starting price for fiberglass pool we looked at is $45K.

Talk about a kick in the pants.

Folks tried to tell you. 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,236]

Random item....If you haven't gotten RC boats for your pool yet, I highly recommend, especially if you have kids.

[TexasEd 8,067]

12 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Random item....If you haven't gotten RC boats for your pool yet, I highly recommend, especially if you have kids.

My son turns 10 in July.  I'm on it.

[Davis Lane 5,584]

12 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

Folks tried to tell you. 

[PantsTent 2,002]

1 hour ago, TexasEd said:

My son turns 10 in July.  I'm on it.

I turn 48 in July. I'm on it.

[Okie State 3,821]

Random item....If you haven't gotten RC boats for your pool yet, I highly recommend, especially if you have kids.

That reminds me that we do have one. Think I'll get it out today.

[faps 806]

Day 1. I feel like these dudes are hauling ass. Supposed to take two months. We're south of Pearland.

7:30am

3:30pm

[PantsTent 2,002]

18 minutes ago, faps said:

Day 1. I feel like these dudes are hauling ass. Supposed to take two months. We're south of Pearland.

7:30am

3:30pm

For me in SW Austin, that was 10 days of breaking and digging rock, with 3 or 4 rain delay days in between.

[faps 806]

Yeah, nothing but clay down here.

[fattyflattie 4,639]

5 hours ago, faps said:

Yeah, nothing but clay down here.

Can’t see your pics but we were dug in 1 day.   A “milestone” scope happened each week.   I don’t recall how long overall it was but 6-7 weeks maybe?   In Richmond. 

[Goofyboy 3,293]

Day 1. I feel like these dudes are hauling ass. Supposed to take two months. We're south of Pearland.
7:30am

3:30pm

It will feel like that for a bit. Took 12 weeks for my pool due to weather. If they aren’t held up by that, they move pretty fast.


Does anyone use a smart water tester? I like gadgets and smart home item, IF they work well. I like the idea of my water Chems being monitored electronically and that I can easily check them by phone.

[TTU13 108]

Any recs on app controlled water faucet adapters? Looking to be able to fill pool when out of town remotely.

[Herbie Hancock 7,348]

My Pentair Screenlogic app has that feature, but your system has to be plumbed to your water line. I was fed up with my builder and they wanted extra to do that, so we did it ourselves after completion. Not sure what options you have since you're in the city and permits and whatnot. I didn't have that problem

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,236]

I think they are talking about a temporary type one like this - New Pool Sentry M-3000 NA231. Highly rated on Amazon, but no personal experience:

[Storm the Field 5,294]

A pool's better than no pool when it's this damn hot, but holy hell, hopped in on Sunday and it was the warmest the water in my pool has ever felt. Floating thermometer looked like it was about halfway between 90 and 91. I don't ever recall seeing it above 88. Bath water.

[faps 806]

Pool chillers worth it then?

[kmac30 416]

Pool chillers worth it then?

Not sure the answer, but I wish pool builder mentioned it last year during build. Pool was 94 a couple days ago

[Da Fino 2,783]

37 minutes ago, faps said:

Pool chillers worth it then?

I was talked out of one a couple of years ago when we were looking into renovate the pool at our last house. The guy told me the performance wasn't worth the cost. I don't care anymore. I want one. This thing is too hot already and getting the water up into the air at night isn't helping enough. 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,236]

1 hour ago, faps said:

Pool chillers worth it then?

Glacier type chiller (swamp cooler style) maybe but I couldn't justify the ~ $20/day run cost of the heat pump variety. 

[Catpfish 618]

I have a heat pump/chiller set to 89, so not extreme, but it is less than $10 a day (probably closer to $5) and my pool has no shade at all.

Total electric bill was about $380 last month and the house is all electric, so it's hard to apportion because the house AC runs more when the weather dictates the chiller use

[williemackgarza 1,826]

I was talked into a chiller and never set it up. Just sittin here for the past 3 years. Builder threw it in as a gift and we fired him and finished ourselves. Never got around to getting it tied into the system

[Biff Tannen 45,688]

Considering starting a side business delivering giant ice blocks to cool down pools.  Seems like it would be an in demand service in central texas during the summer.  Any thoughts?

[Your Mom 4,806]

On 6/24/2023 at 12:24 PM, Biff Tannen said:

Any thoughts?

Start at my house. 

[conVINCEd 21,469]

How much ice would you need to drop the temperature 10 degrees when it’s 100 outside?

[Surly Bevo 24,908]

17 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

How much ice would you need to drop the temperature 10 degrees when it’s 100 outside?

A fuckton....seriously people don't understand physics and just how much water they have in their pool.  Put it this way, if you got say a 20K gallon pool you have about 170K pounds of water in there aand are gonna need 8000+ pounds of ice to drop that bitch 10 degrees.  

Edited June 26, 2023 by Surly Bevo

[conVINCEd 21,469]

37 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

A fuckton....seriously people don't understand physics and just how much water they have in their pool.  Put it this way, if you got say a 20K gallon pool you have about 170K pounds of water in there aand are gonna need 8000+ pounds of ice to drop that bitch 10 degrees.  

I will now refrain from making a suggestion that a commercial ice maker might be a good alternative.  I was good at math, English, and history, but bad at science.

[Biff Tannen 45,688]

1 hour ago, Surly Bevo said:

A fuckton....seriously people don't understand physics and just how much water they have in their pool.  Put it this way, if you got say a 20K gallon pool you have about 170K pounds of water in there aand are gonna need 8000+ pounds of ice to drop that bitch 10 degrees.  

[Beer Drinker 615]

I recirculated my hot tub only one day, then put 6 bags of ice in it (can't remember if they were the big or small bags).  It didn't do shit.

[Rimbo 25,936]

Remember that mess my pool was a few months ago? Well, I'm swimming in it now. And finally can start looking for a replacement bulb for the light. Had to wait until the water was warm enough to swim in to get the light housing out and figure out if it was 12v or 120v.

Right? See? The voltage is RIGHT THERE, in light gray and slightly lighter gray.

(It's not actually that hard to see in person.)

[Herbie Hancock 7,348]

I recirculated my hot tub only one day, then put 6 bags of ice in it (can't remember if they were the big or small bags).  It didn't do shit.

Ahh, hot ice! Heat up the ice cubes! It's the best of both worlds!

[thunderlounge 7,836]

I guess this is the best place to get started.

 

I'm looking to build somewhere in the next 3-5 years. I already have the land outright, so that's a plus.

I would really, really like to incorporate a pool from the beginning to hopefully make things easier overall, and maybe save a tiny bit over deciding to do it later. I'm not sure of an overall specific layout yet. However from all the plans I've searched and evaluated in the past 6 months, I have a general idea of the type of spaces I'll have as options.

One such feature will be a big garage/shop. Something in the 40x40 or 30x50 type range. I had a thought (you can see what's coming) and looked at bumping up to something in the 40x60 range. It wouldn't make much of a price difference in the big picture of things (going steel building), so why not wall off part of the shop and put in a small pool?

Or as an alternative, depending on eventual floorplan, add on an additional steel building just for that.

I figure that in terms of construction, going on at the same time as the rest of the house, what's the difference between a hole in the yard, and a hole in a (soon to be) building? I mean building from the ground up, not once in use.

I really don't want to be limited to May-September with a traditional outdoor pool, so thought it may be an option to put a metal building around it, or as part of a shop.

I've become slightly more partial to a separate building, or one added onto the shop, if for nothing more than significantly less air to circulate and keep the humidity down with. Plus I'd be able to better ventilate and not have to worry about turning over all the air in the shop as well.

For size, I'm thinking like 16x28, give or take. Puts me in the 80ft total range, (88, actually, so a hair more). Add a side spa, with a flowover, or a small waterfall, and that's it.

 

 

 

 

Something similar to that size, or there about. Different decor, but you get the idea.

Not 100% sure I would want to use plexiglass and make it more like a greenhouse, but that gives an idea of space and structure.

I did talk to a local installer, who said their one of their gunnite pool packages that was about the size I was looking at (80ft), and it was $350/ft additional. The package, with attached spa and waterfall, upgraded equipment, was $57k (plus the 350/ft additional, so about $60k probably.)

What I wasn't thinking about at the time was going enclosed, as I was just looking more for basic planning info to see if it was even feasible. Taking the additional environmental equipment out of the picture, would having it placed in the middle of a 30x30 or 30x40 slab be any different than in the middle of a yard? Since the slab wouldn't be there initially, would it really make a difference and run that part of the cost up? Doesn't seem like it would, as the building would go up after the pool is dug and the big equipment is out of the way.

 

So that's what I'm thinking over.

Where my questions are currently:

- would it be worth it for going year round? I'd definitely use it daily.

- would the additional cost (extra hvac, dehumidifier, utility costs) outweigh the benefits?

- could the utility cost potentially be offset (long term) with solar, depending on equipment load?

 

Anything is possible with unlimited budget, but for us normal folk would something basic like the second pic really add a significant cost to where it was 3 or 4 times what it would be in a conventional patio type setup? I'd guess the concrete works out the same either way, so extra equipment and the building shell would seem to be the biggest addition to the cost.

This is going to be my last place, so a little extra for something that provides a lot of use can be justified.

I really don't think if I had to go outside completely, that I would do it. 7 months of sitting useless would just not be worth it for me for several reasons, but biggest would be filling/draining every year on a well.

 

Has anyone been around, or done anything similar? Am I really getting way over my skis in looking into this?

Just want to do my homework and get my ducks in a row, and if it turns out it isn't feasible, so be it. Seems a lot better than going all leroy jenkins on it and fucking up.

[TexEx15 17,531]

When it’s as hot as it is this view is priceless.

[thunderlounge 7,836]

Ran across DynaDome last night. Might be a better alternative to a steel building, if it isn’t too big of a difference.