A word about above ground swimming pools...

[WhereEaglesDare]

Dont do it, it is never a good idea unless its a smaller one that require little to no maintenance.  My wife's uncle gave us a use 18' 42" tall above ground pool, WHAT A JERK.  Needed a new pump, no big deal, 80 bucks, but there is so much more.  I am pretty sure it has cost close to 700 bucks now for this free pool.  not to mention the days of work I had to put in to leveling the yard, digging up the grass, etc...

DONT DO IT

[Ginsu Victim]

I almost bought one but then realized how much work would go into maintaining it and I changed my mind.

[CheffoJeffo]

Are you somehow suggesting that inground requires less work ? 

I dunno ... mine is working out fine. Kids love it and I had it set up and ready to fill in about 2 hours.

If maintenance is an issue, then I would suggest that you've picked the wrong hobby.

 

[WhereEaglesDare]

If maintenance is an issue, then I would suggest that you've picked the wrong hobby.

My wife made me do it, I fought up and down about it, but just got me in more trouble and I still had to put it up.

[DaveMMR]

When I was a kid we had a 15' Round Above-Ground pool.   Spent more time cleaning the pool than actually going in it.   It's worth it if you like to entertain or you know people are using it everyday - otherwise, a big pain!

[Ginsu Victim]

Are you somehow suggesting that inground requires less work ? 

I certainly wasn't. I just thought, "Oh, I'll pop down to Walmart and buy a pool," but then I realized how much work even a cheap one would take.

[Ed_McCarron]

We have one of those goofy inflatable ring pools...  Takes 5 minutes to clean, then the kids use it for an hour.  Plus, it doesn't care that much if the ground isn't level.  Biggest problem is that the kids think its fun to lean on the ring, thus lowering the side and creating a 1000 gallon slip-n-slide...

[northerngames]

we had one for so long that the brace's and top ring part rusted out and it had to come down becuase it was going to give becuase of the rusted brace's.

I remember ma cleaning it pretty much daily.

it was allota work but allota fun too!!

we recently got one of them $7.00 plastic turtle pools for our hogs and they love it and we dont need to clean it but every few days lol.

a kid down the street got a new one when we were little and his dad built it and it was like a 18'-24' not sure of the actual size but he was geeked when it was done and invited us all down and some other friends for a swim.

We all watched him climb the ladder with a huge proud smile and then he did a huge belly flop mind you he is a lard ass. When he hit the water the side completely gave and it blew him and over a thousand gallons right out the side right past all of us standing there all in a matter of seconds.

it flooded his whole back yard and garage and so much water come out at once it actually made it out to the front yard and road.

it was one of the funniest things I had seen as a kid and the face he had when he stood up i will never forget. Also his dad's face was somehting else to see too when he came out of the house after hearing something  

it was terrible but at the same time too funny.

[Hoopz]

Chad started a thread a few years ago that he picked up one up on Freecycle.  I dont remember if he had to sink much money into it after he got it home.

I got one last year for $50 that was 8 foot diameter, 30 inches deep, and had a pump and filters.  They probably stuck me for another $40 on a skimmer, more filters, and more chlorine, but we enjoyed it.

 

Using it this year?  2.5 feet doesn't seem very deep?

[Benevolance]

It's deep enough to sit in and cool down on a hot day.

[Dartful Dodger]

When I was a kid we had a 15' Round Above-Ground pool.   Spent more time cleaning the pool than actually going in it.   It's worth it if you like to entertain or you know people are using it everyday - otherwise, a big pain!

As a kid, teenage even college student, I never thought of our working on our above ground pool as a "pain".  I have no memories of dreading to do pool maintenance.  I do have memories of having lots of homework to do, but the home work would have to wait until after I leisurely walked around inside of the pool with a vacuum.

As a middle aged guy who hates the sun, I don’t see the point of owning a pool.  But, I also don't see the point to owning a dog(or any pet), 60's muscle car and I’m starting to see that owning an arcade game takes up time and space I don’t have...

[LLUncoolJ]

Are you somehow suggesting that inground requires less work ? 

I dunno ... mine is working out fine. Kids love it and I had it set up and ready to fill in about 2 hours.

If maintenance is an issue, then I would suggest that you've picked the wrong hobby.

 

I am. We had an above ground when I was a kid and then again at my 2nd house and they were a lot of work. I just put it an inground and that thing pretty much runs itself. I'm sure you could buy all of the crap my inground has for an above ground, but when you're talking about adding a $1500 control panel to a $1500 pool, it is a little different than adding one to a $35000 pool.

This one has the panel that schedules when to turn the pump on and off, how much chlorine to produce, tells you when to backwash, turns the lights on and off, etc. It is a salt water system that manufactures its own chlorine. It has a self powered robot that cleans twice a day.  All I really have to do is empty the skimmer and backwash every 2 weeks. Of course it comes at a price, but like I said, if you are going to commit to spending that kind of money, it's kinda dumb not to spend an extra 10% and minimize the work.

[patrickl]

As a middle aged guy who hates the sun, I don’t see the point of owning a pool.  But, I also don't see the point to owning a dog(or any pet), 60's muscle car and I’m starting to see that owning an arcade game takes up time and space I don’t have...

ROFL. Completely agree.

[Level42]

As a middle aged guy who hates the sun, I don’t see the point of owning a pool.  But, I also don't see the point to owning a dog(or any pet), 60's muscle car and I’m starting to see that owning an arcade game takes up time and space I don’t have...

ROFL. Completely agree.

What do you mean, you don't even own a cab !

[shardian]

I had one of those 8' wally world ring pools. It was picky as hell about even the tiniest amount of slope. Sure you texas boys don't have that problem, but up here finding the flat real-estate for a pool is a major problem. I laid down a truckload of sand...for this frikkin tiny plastic pool, leveled the crap out of it, and it STILL leaned to one side badly. Not to mention the only place I had for the pool is in a 100% all day shaded spot. That water was so cold our daughter couldn't get in. Boy did it feel nice after mowing though...

I ditched the pool and made many trips down the hill to dump the sand.

[patrickl]

As a middle aged guy who hates the sun, I don’t see the point of owning a pool.  But, I also don't see the point to owning a dog(or any pet), 60's muscle car and I’m starting to see that owning an arcade game takes up time and space I don’t have...

ROFL. Completely agree.

What do you mean, you don't even own a cab !

Yes, because I see that "that owning an arcade game takes up time and space I don’t have"

[Ginsu Victim]

Man, if there's one thing I don't miss about living in Houston it's the ---smurfing--- humidity.