mashiraz

Ok, so I'm trying to think positive and make dreams.

Did a search for pools/spas etc to get an idea on sizes and costs and different sorts etc. Can't find many sites and none with prices.

Can anyone help:

How much is a pool?

Pro's and Con's?

Ongoing maintenance hassle and costs?

Size IS important, what do you think.


Any one know anything about them?

Mash..

Grub

They're wet!


(PS I'm dreaming too- might not be dreaming for much longer........)

pott

Hi , Can't really help but do remember Tim Sorrells(?) web site having info on the prices etc although don't know where it has gone.

Pott.

Stan J

They can be a bitch of a thing to clean you know ... mind you there's something in telling folk in the Uk that your biggest household bill is chlorine for the swimming pool !

colind

And if you don't do it right, they go green VERY quickly! That's why we invest $46 a week in a professional pool cleaner. He comes on a Friday so it's all sparkling for the weekend. Money well spent in my book.

By the way, I went for a quick dip after work on Monday night and noticed a huge spider on the bottom!!! Having read about funnel webs living in air bubbles in pools, I made a somewhat hasty retreat. After prodding it with the pool net for a while, I concluded it was a dead Huntsman (totally harmless). Two of its legs falling off were the giveaway! Nice!

I have to say, I love our pool and it beats Brentford public pool where we used to swim when we lived in London...

adelaidegirl

Hi Mash, last weeks Sunday Mail was advertising an inground pool, quite a reasonable size but nothing fancy, for $15,000 on special offer (the usual price was $18,000), so I'm guessing $20K+ for a big fancy (ie teardrop shape or whatever) pool. Plus the initial cost of filling it, as you have to pay for your water here. You get an allowance in your water rates, then pay so much for anything extra. For 2 adults, no children, no pool, water the garden once a week, we pay about $200 dollars extra on top of our rates each year. regards adelaidegirl

PS: Talking of water, buy a water filter for your kitchen sink, costs about $150 initially, plus say $60 a year for replacement filters, and gives you excellent quality drinking water.

Perth Helena

How long is a piece of string? Depends on what type of pool, size, options, etc. The fibreglass pool is very popular. There’s concrete as well, which can have a vinyl liner or be tiled or painted. Fiberglass pools come in standard shapes and sizes so if you want something very different, like a long lap pool, or are trying to put a pool into a tiny or awkward spot, then concrete will likely be the only option. Just as an example, a 7.5m by 4m fibreglass pool that ranges from 1m to 2m deep, holding 36k litres was $11700 a couple of years ago. That included installation but if anything unusual comes up, i.e., if they hit limestone or rock while digging, you pay more.

But it doesn’t end at the price of the pool. Once it’s in the ground you’ve got other things to deal with, like landscaping and paving. And the cost of that can vary greatly depending on how much paving you do and what sort of paving you choose. We paid $3k for about 70sqm installed. Then there’s the option of solar heating - around $2500. It allows us to use it for longer since we don’t like cold water. We also got a pool cover to keep evaporation down, reduce the amount of dirt and debris blown into the pool and to keep down heat loss. Most people keep the cover on a roller. Cover and roller can cost around $800 or more.

? Are you asking about the pros & cons of having a pool? Or pros & cons of the different types? If the first, depends on each person whether they think a pool is a pro or a con. If you hardly ever use it, hate taking care of it or are too busy then it’s a con. If you use it often, don’t mind the care and have fun with it, then it’s a pro. We’re in the second group.

The key is to keep on top of it and not let it go. Otherwise it turns into a hassle. I test daily or every other day during the 7 months we use it. You get used to how much of everything it needs – what setting to put the chlorinator at, when to add a bag of salt, how much acid to add after each use, etc. Once a month I take a sample to the pool place and they do a more rigorous and detailed testing and advise on what else to add – chlorine stabilizer, hardness increaser, etc. If you keep on top of it, it’ll cost less than letting it turn into a pond and then trying to get it back to sparkling.

Depends on the size of your yard and how much of it you want taken up with a pool. Also depends on how many people you’re going to have in it on a regular basis. If you’ve got a large family, I’d go BIG. We’re a family of 4 and ours is 7.5 metres long by 4 metres wide. In retrospect, I’d have gone a bit bigger, maybe 8.5 metres or more since our yard is large. Mainly because when you get five teenage boys in it, it can get a bit scary. Five teenage girls are a completely different story, quite mellow and placid, except for the giggling and squealing. Boys, however … bombies, splashing, pushing, jumping and wrestling. Like a pack of piranhas at feeding time. I supervise like a hawk when the boys are in there. They’re good kids but need the odd reminder to calm down once in a while.

The bigger the pool, the more it costs, the more water it needs, more chemicals, bigger pool cover if you opt for one, etc. Overall bigger cost.

Here’s a couple of sites of some pool companies in Oz. I doubt they’ll have prices but you can see the types of pools they offer …

http://www.freedom-pools.com.au/

http://www.aquatechnics.com.au/

Good luck,

Helena

mashiraz

Thanks Helena, good info...I can start dreaming realistically now. I'm sure we want one, just need somewhere to put it.
Cheers
Mash...

wizzywozza

You should ask Mike Peters who posts on here. He has a beaut inground pool that he has recently had refurbished and he also now has his own pool maintenance business - Purrfect Pools. I am sure he will give you discount for being an Expat member **wink wink**

You would have needed the pool today the temp is around 40C, and is gonna be that way for the next few days.

del

Are home indoor pools common in Oz? Obviously not needed for the summer months, but what about winter months? Would there be any benefit in getting an indoor pool that , say, has opening sides for summer use but can also be closed for winter use?

Do people use their outdoor pools in the winter months?

wizzywozza

I think you only have indoor pools if you are very wealthy!

Use in winter months depends on which State you live in and whether you have the pool heated or not. In Adelaide people seem to start using them around October (if they are brave!)

Mike's pool is solar heated and was a perfect 32 degrees C when I was in it last weekend.

Jacqui

Our pool is about 7m x 4m, solar-heated and has a cover. We were advised to keep the temperature 30c or below, above that it encourages meningoccal bacteria to breed apparently. On a hot day, if you're trying to cool down, you wouldn't want it above 30 anyway. We expect to get about 7-8 months use out of the pool each year.

It's no good for lap swimming (which I do) or practising strokes (my kids are competitive swimmers), and we probably spend more time down the local aquatic centre. The garden pool is just great though for the kids to mess about and cool down in. And it does tend to attract the neighbourhood children too.

It is a bit of a palaver taking the cover off, cleaning out the leaves and insects before you get in each time, slapping the kids in suncream, putting everything away when you've finished, etc. and of course I have to drop whatever I'm doing for the next couple of hours to do "lifeguard" duty. There are regular news reports of children drowning in pools over here, better to be safe than sorry, so one of us is always out there watching them. Like Helena said, they do get carried away, even the older ones, and especially the boys.

If we can afford it, we would like to have an indoor pool in our next house, as you described, with wide doors that open out to the garden. And a pool that was at least twice as long.

Grub

I too hear alot of reports about kids drownig . We have a 3 year old and another on route (yes- perfect timing as always), so am TERRIFIED of that happneing. I would like to be able to let the kids play out without me watching them like a hawk. Obviously i would be there if they were using the pool but if it was all locked up (gated) would i be able to feel fairly confident that the little angels wouldnt jump in??

I must admit i would dearly love a pool- a real dream of mine!

mashiraz

Congrats, didn't realise you were expecting...when due?

I think it's law to have pools fenced in, not sure if this is adherred to or regulated, but that's what we were told. It would give you piece of mind.

One of our is 7 and can just swim, other is 2 and is scared of water (even the bath) so, a pool is essential to get them swimming like fishes asap.....I'd be supervising them cus I'd be living between it and the spa..

Mash...

abergas

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mashiraz
can anyone help:
How much is a pool?

Hi mash, found this web site from a link on expats with lots of good info.
http://emigrate.hotshopping.com.au/
Here's the stuff about pools;Have fun reading
Pools are charged by their perimeter - all the prices below are "installed" prices.
a rectangular 10x5m is 30 linear metres and would cost $22k including pump, filter everything you need.
Add $1100 for a nice colour smooth "quartzon" concrete interior instead of the rought white pebbledash.
Add $1100 for a spa area with jets (not separate spa but a nook within the pool)...
Add $380 per light - suggest 2 or 3...
Say $550 for a cleaner, $3000 for in floor cleaning (guess)
$2000 - 4500+ for fence ($85 per metre installed). or $10k for all glass fence ($200 per metre) (or do some glass, some aluminium).
$1100 for double row of colour waterline tiles.
$5000 for Terracotta paving around pool but get a separate builder to do this for half,
$800-$1200 for automatic acid/chlorine delivery for fresh water pool instead of salt water pool.
$1000 for Pool cover & roller, adding 3-6 degrees to pool temp and helps keep the temp overnight, good for this time of year.
$5500 Solar or gas heating, or $11k for Heatpump heating (incredibly only 1/4cost to run than gas, based on aircon heat exchange technology, so can keep pool heated consistently, good for 11months of the year)
Electrical work $300+.
Could hit rock adding $1-2k but I've not heard of that myself in the Samford area.
$200 topsoil, $200 bobcat work and $100 for grass seed to sort out the mess afterwads.
So it all adds up if you want the optional extras! Just like aircon, it seems that most people don't heat their pools, which seems a waste of the excellent weather! Once the temp drops below 27 degrees people tend not to go in and at mid April a pool in the sun, uncovered, sits at 24 degrees and falling. For a few months during summer, the pool, uncovered, sits at 30-31 degrees. A fence is compulsory.

Building a pool - It's probably going to be outdoor ! Even with the wonderful Queensland weather it's nice to have some sort of heating. Everyone pushes Solar heating. Gas heating is unusual apart from heating a Spa because it is expensive. An option to consider is a "Heatpump" - basically an refrigerator system in reverse. It doesn't heat quickly, but once heated it keeps the temparature and uses a quarter of the cost than if you used gas. It achieves this because incredibly it's 400-500% efficient. Sounds impossible, but it's because it draws heat from the air, even if the air temparature is fairly low. In this way, for 3kw of electricity used, it can actually generate 15kw of heat for your pool. It's more expensive that any other to install, but if you were thinking of using gas, then consider the cost of the equipment plus just one year's heating and you probably find that it matches the cost of a heatpump plus one year's heating. Furthermore, because the running cost is cheap - you've effectively paid for the luxury up front - you can keep your pool warm all the time without feeling guilty ! Heatpumps about £8000-£10,000, $350-$500 a year to run. Gas about $4000-$5500, about $3000-$4000 a year to run. Solar about $3500-$4000 (x 1.5 if you want to double the number of solar panels), and about $50 a year to run