Just wondering how many of you bought a property with a swimming pool when you made the big move.
My kids say its a must but OH says too much hassle for him.
What are your experiences?

We had our new pool and deck built and love it.

We didn't get to use it much last year though due to August being rainy but we used it a lot the year before.

For maintenance of the pool: once it has been opened for the season and initial cleaning done, we put pucks into the basket every few days and skim the pool daily for bugs/leaves etc. The pump is run for around 12 hours per day. Every 10-14 days or so we have to add 'shock' to thoroughly clean the pool. For cleaning the bottom of the pool we have an aquabug that moves around the pool and saves you the hassle of doing it all manually (although you do have to do the very edges yourself).

A pool is great to have when you have little kids (and big kids).

Just looking at the pics makes me all excited about summer

There is No Danger of me buying a house without either a pool or enough room for one to be installed...I can possibly be persuaded to compromise regarding other stuff but not this, no way

Fantastic Pool and deck Yes-Can-Do, you'll enjoy the summer when it comes

Nice-looking pool. I note that you have a big back yard. This is an important consideration. The yards round our way are quite small, yet most people have pools (mainly above-ground). They take up pretty much the entire yard.

My neighbour relined his pool last year and spent ages maintaining it. I never once saw any of his household in it. Another neighbour took his pool out last year. My BIL is planning to do the same.

We have an above ground pool at our cottage and at first thought - how do we look after that! But its really easy as OP says- if your kids are the right age then your time and effort wont be wasted - get them to help!
Whats the point of moving to another country if you cant live differently!

Nice to have, especially with kids of a certain age, but dont kid yourself that there is not a lot of hassle and expense involved in maintaining one, and with very small kids or grandkids I absolutely would avoid it, as you cant turn your back for a second.


If you are buying with the pool in place, dont be suprised if it needs money thrown at it to get it working right, they seem to be high maintainence items, especially once they are a few years old...new liners, replacing pumps and filters etc etc etc.

How old is the pool is an important question before buying. If a vinyl pool, what age is the liner, what age is the filter and motor? Is it heated? If you buy this time of year, with the pool presumably in winterized situation, you should arrange to hold back some of your buying funds in escrow until the pool is "opened" and you can determine its condition. A pool company can determine this for you if you hire one to open up.
Swimming pools are great when the kids are young (under 12) but usually after that age the kids develop their own agendas and stop using it very much. If it is running well there is not a lot of work involved, basically chuck in some chlorine, clean weekly or use an ongoing cleaning device.
Ongoing expenses are chemicals, hydro for motor and natural gas for heating. If and when you need a new liner you're talking $4-8K, a new heater $2K, Motor and filter $2-3K.
When you finally decide you've had enough and live in a municipality it will probably cost between $5 and $10K to have it taken out.

Note that the city of Toronto has a large number of swimming pools which are open for long hours and are free (at the point of service). They have lifeguards so you can take your eyes off your seven year old and read your book.

Are they really free? Maybe TO has something going for it after all. Costs us about $10 as a family to go swim at the Trenton base pool

Not quite the same as taking a nice refreshing dip on a summer evening at home though, is it.

They're free in the sense that the health service is free, there's no fee for usage, but they're not a gift from God; property taxes fund them. Granted a pool at home, if big enough to swim in, would be very nice but living by a park with a municipal pool in it wasn't too rough either. "I say pre-teens you're rather noisy this evening, why don't you go for a refreshing dip?"

It's for exactly that reason we're keen to keep on the right side of our neighbours, both of whom have pools. Not quite so carefree as a municipal pool with a lifeguard etc, but when our offspring are old enough to be able to swim unaccompanied we'd like still to be friends with pool owners... all the convenience with none of the expense except the occasional two-four or bottle of wine by way of a thank you - and we'll drink half of that anyway!

A fine plan.

Of course, once the rowdy pre-teen became the lifeguard, I heard no end of complaints about people who chase their kids off to the pool expecting the staff to babysit for them.

YCD - Do you need to drain it partially or completely for the winter (or do you have an ice-rink ) ?

You have to drain to below the filter intake and drain the filters, otherwise all the pipes will crack. $$$$. Putting a bunch of chemicals in is a good idea too, cos without the filters it will end up green by the time summer rolls around again.