Uncle_Bob

People let their dogs swim in their pools. At least I can wipe my own ass.

Holliver

I'd stay away from theirs too.

Holliver

Just a quick update - We closed on the house with the pool on Tuesday. Very exciting. Now we need to work out all the pool maintenance malarky. Can't wait until summer, lounging in the pool with a daiquiri

joto

Don't forget to get the floating chair or lounger with a cup holder and the plastic glasses. Enjoy!

Mummy in the foothills

Find a local pool store and get friendly, they will help. The local one to us was called Leslies, they would test water you brought in and recommend what chemicals and how much.

They sell the floaty chairs and drinks holders too

Havnfun

We love Leslies too, they are really helpful. Their pricing for floaty chairs and other pool toys are really high though. I found them much cheaper at the Sporting Goods stores or even Target.

joto

Try Target, Wallyworld, Tuesday Morning for floaty chairs and other pool toys.

Pulaski

Congratulations, may the partying begin! ..... But please follow pool safety recommendations, keep the gate secured, never leave children alone, etc.

Jerseygirl

Bought ours from Costco...also get the chlorine from there.

Orangepants

Congrats on the closing. Living the dream definitely - San Diego is one of my favourite cities.
We took the "plunge" and are now building a pool - Just got back from 10 days in the UK...and this is what it looks like so far.. another 3/4 weeks to go. Cant wait to go out shopping for loungers..

Gillymonkey

That had better be a strawberry daiquiri!

VJW

Hello
We do all the opening/closing/chemicals too, it tells you how to do it all on Youtube, its really quite easy. We have also invested in a solar cover. Basically its a huge sheet of thick bubble wrap that we pull over the pool at night. It keeps the heat in at night and extends our usage of the pool by a couple of weeks either side of the summer season. (We live in upstate New York, so need all the help we can get from the sun) Good luck, we love the pool, makes our whole summer seem like we're on holiday.

scrubbedexpat099

Home Power this month has an article on heating pools.

fubar

Pool owners in this thread....I use the BBB method and have not seen it mentioned here. Basically just a bottle of regular old walmart bleach every 4 days and the pool is crystal clear and I've not had a problem in 4 years. Used to have a pool in the UK and was constantly battling against water chemistry issues and it cost me hundreds. Having a pool over here (colorado) heated to 90 has not been a large expense (May thru Oct) for the amount of fun it gives the family and friends. Have a look at this site and if you're spending more than $50/month on chemicals, you may like to read up and give it a try.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/the-bbb-method-f54.html
For anyone that says bleach is not chlorine (this includes Leslies) I'm happy to argue about it. My local pool store gave up on me buying chemicals and have mentioned I don't make a big scene when I'm in there on the poor soul buying hundreds in chems. I still buy everything else I need from there pool cover etc. Just disagree with all the crap they try and sell you when neat bleach and nothing else except CYA is all I've put in the pool for the last four seasons

scrubbedexpat099

Chlorox would be best, the only one you can add to drinking water.