how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

a house we are very interested in has a gorgeous in ground pool.
Pools are big deterrents for me but i love the house.

i am really concerned about how much maintance goes into caring for a pool as well as the costs of the upkeep of a pool.

anyone have experience?
should i walk away as fast as i can from this house??!?

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

We have an inground pool. My husband opens & closes the pool and we maintain it ourselves.

If I had to take an educated guess (I'm guessing on the HIGH side for you)...


Costs are for the season:
Opening: $100
Closing: $50
Clorine Tablets $120
Shock for the Season: $75
Other Chemicals: Alkaline $60/bucket, Anti Algae $30, etc - these can last more than 1 season if you store them properly.

There is definitely a learning curve. You have to check your water at least 2x per week, take the water to leslies every month for a more thorough check, vacuum regularly, run the filter (get a timer), brush the sides.

It's worth every penny for us. DS & I were in it every day this summer.

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

I don't do mine myself because DH and I don't know how...

We have it professionally vacuumed once a week ($60)...and then the opening and closing is the expensive part...I think it was $350 for each...

There are also random chemical charges thrown in as needed...

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

hmm.. ok the price doesnt seem soooo bad...

if you maintain yourself, do you have to do it every week? meaning add chemicals every week, clean it every week?

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

Definetely get an automatic vaccum. You just set it and forget it (well not really but set it for a few hours once a week. DH takes care of the pool and does the checking of chemicals, getting leaves/ bugs out of the water and etc on the weekends. No much gets done during the week, maybe vacumming but again we have an automatic one. Your first year will be your hardest because everything is new to you and there is a learning curve, but it does get easier.

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

Hey-

We just bought a house with a pool. Same situation... we weren't really looking for it, but we loved the house, and it had one. And we will use it often, I'm sure!

Anyway, literally the first day we moved into the house, we noticed there was a leak in the pool. That was a real bummer. It ended up being quite the pain to find the leak. Also, an added stress that was not needed when we first moved in. We fixed it finally, and it only cost $250. Some companies were charging $200 an hour! So, upkeep like that needs to be factored in, too. Also, we will need a new filter in the Spring. Yippee! The joys of homeownership! :)

I don't know if people inspect inground pools with the house inspection. We didn't, and I wish we had just to avoid some unnecessary stress and surprises. For whatever reason, we NEVER thought that the pool would have an issue. I guess we were wrapped up in everything else about the house.

So, I guess I'm just saying, check out the pool before committing. Regardless of our issues, we are VERY happy with it! :)

Good Luck with everything!

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

thank you everyone!!- great idea about getting an automatic cleaner... that would be "a must buy" if we get the house!

if we put an offer on the house we were def planning on getting a separate inspector for the pool. i am so skeptical about things that seem like a great idea like a pool. i wanna know how much it costs a summer, how much my electricity bill goes up, what needs to be replaced, how much does that cost.. what happens after 10/15 years etc
right now the pool falls under con in my pros and cons list..
but we do love the house, we'll see!


please feel free to add more input!!!
thanks!

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

I think it costs approx $90/month in electricity to run the filter. I think it's about the same for Central AC also...

Re: how much does it cost to maintain an in ground pool? how much work is involved?

I will tell you to put an inground pool in is very expensive, so if you think eventually you will want one then it is a def a big plus. $$$$