[ho428]

Mine is an 18 x 36, I designed it and have had it for 12 years. Shallow on each end and deep in the middle, no diving board. I use it about every day May-Sept. Power runs about $40 a month, chems about $300-$500 a year depending on any alge issues that come up.
Only PITA for me is not getting to use it enough having to open it late and shut it down early.
With kids I'd think it would be well worth it, for just the two of us it's just a luxury we enjoy.
Doubt I'll ever not have one now.

We thought about a Hot tube but we thought it would get used less.

I would recommend a pool house or some sort of changing and bathroom area isolated from the main house, especially with kids running in and out a lot.

Our pool with kitchen and bath in the pool house.

[wrenchmen]

Looks Great HO...pool house is a great idea.

Here is a pic of my brother and I spreading the vermiculite:


And another of Myself and 2 good friends installing the Liner,
{notice the "supervisor" relaxing in the chair}

[steve]

wow ! i wish i had the balls to try it myself. bet that saves a bunch of $$$$ !

[dancolkate]

It's worth every penny

[mrrat1]

I have a 16x32 inground. It was here when we bought the house, put in in 84' we bought in 02'. It was as built. Replaced the liner first year $2700 along with some underground line repairs. 2 years ago replaced filter & pump $850. I guess about $50-70 per month elect. $300 for chemicals a season. $175 to open or close, some times I will do that.......depends! Weekly I spend about 2-3 hours at the most, the time has been going down with less trees. I am going to build a homemade 4x8 hot box for a solar heater this year. There are concrete repairs needed (cracks), and some coping is starting to come away from the concrete. It's used quite often, we have no kids, work from home so the pool gets hit at lunch some days by her, during the week family is over it is cool to see the kids turn from toads to fish as they get big, but weekends we limit visiters. I will never have a house without a pool now, and this was the first. She loves the poolI always throw the fill in for a garage line, but I hope to get one built someday! Dave K.

[455Grandville]

I like this style of pool, you can waterski, jetski, and fish in it too

[GETRIDAONE]

My wife used my cars against me for her pool. “ You have all those cars so I want a pool” Once she started looking at exercise pools it was all over. As it moved along she decided it needed to be covered so she could use it in the winter also. That meant a heat pump for spring and fall and a gas heater for winter. She is real good at taking care of it herself. It does require attention to keep the water at the right PH and Chlorine levels. It is a salt water pool so you don’t have the chlorine smell as much. The big advantage of enclosed is that doesn’t get dirty. I did get something out of the deal, the garage in the back ground with a lift.
It’s a PITA in the building stages but worth it in the end. GOOD LUCK whatever you decide to do

[jdw_poncho]

I have never wanted a pool in the past, but this year I cant wait to get bids for a in ground. Not sure what changed. Anytime I go on vacation we rent houses with pools and thats the only reason I'm there. I live on a large double lot and I already have 2 garages, 30X40 and a 20X24 for toys. So I need a pool now, but both times I talked to a local pool company they said expect at least 35K. That seems a little rough to me, I was expecting 20-28K.

Anyone have any comments or expierence with the fiberglass in ground pools? I'm pretty sure this is one of those "get what you paid for" deals. But add another 5K for deck and fence thats getting me out of the mood quickly.

[455firebird1969]

I recently bought a house that has a pool. The pool was not something I was looking for, but it was in the back yard of the house that we liked the most, and the house's location was the best of everything we were looking at. We bought the house for its size, floor plan and location, the pool was not a major part of my decision, however; my wife and kid sure like it now that we are swimmimng every day...

The pool requires daily cleaning and chemicals, I'm not sure what the electricity cost is but $40 a month would sound right, and $200-$300 a summer in chemicals easy...

It took me a while to figure this thing out, then I found a great website called "TFP.com". I got lots of great help, as far as keeping the water crystal clear...

I say go for it...

[68birdragtop]

Like another member here, I dug my own 16x32 with an 8ft deepend inground pool 2 years ago to save on cost as having a company come in and install one for me was over my budget. It was physically and mentally draining to say the least!!! I did everything myself with the exception of concrete work and liner install in which i needed extra hands.I HATE DIRT AND ROCKS!!!

With that said, i find the cost to run reasonable.I do my own opening and closings.Chemicals i'd say maybe $300/season. Maintaining a pool is not much work if you keep on top of it. Do a little here and a little there each day instead of devoting a weekend afternoon when you should be BBQ'ing and swimming while having a few wobbly pops.I do not run a heater due to cost of purchase and cost of running,however like another member mentioned,i am building a solar box as well with 200 or 300ft of black pipe coiled with shut-off/bypass valve with a cost of roughly $300.

Prior to this DIY inground project, i put up an above ground pool. We wanted an inground but not sure if it was worth it. We had it up for 5 years and loved it.Problem was as the kids got older(and their friends) they started wanting to jump off the ladder etc... Bottom line was it kept them/us cool but the limitations of it (for us) were setting in.I disassembled it and sold it to the neighbor across the street.The beauty of it was if we did not use it we could just take it down and have a yard again.If we sold the house it could be taken down.The cost of it was relatively cheap.Easy to install.They run off 115volt GFCI circuit so that keeps cost down.Bottom line was that we loved the above ground and it owed us nothing but we outgrew it.Both kids learned to swim in it and it showed us that a pool was a good fit for our family without having the expense of an inground and finding out we were not.

Anyways,to make a long story longer we love it,short season or not.It is great for parties and when it is hot,it is GREAT! Be warned though,if you have kids,expect to have more kids.At first it is nice but then you having to be responsible for others kids and watching them wears off real quick.

Check your local about permits,legal fencing,etc..Those costs can add up.Do not think just because your yard is fenced that it is legal.Here i had a fence that did not conform by 1 1/2 inches.Solution was to tear down and build new fence or take all boards off,lower string by 2 inches and re-install all fence boards(which i did)
Another thing to consider is an insurance rider on your home policy to cover the pool.I'm not talking about damage to the pool but someone seriously hurting themselves or lord forbid drowning in your pool.I have mine insured for $2million.Not a lot of extra cost but it gives me a little piece of mind.

Here are some pics of my project: