Do You Have a Pool in Your Yard?

Love my pool!
Very low maintenance.
Easy to keep clean.
Great for the kids.
We have an in ground.

We have a hot tub that I love but I love going to a community pool. My kids and I always have friends to hang out with and there is no work😊

We do not have a pool, but my hope is to have one when we have a bigger piece of land. I'd love to be able to swim everyday!

Look into getting an above ground pool set in the ground. The above ground pools often collapse, etc. They can actually set them in the ground so you have the illusion of an in-ground pool for a fraction of the price.

I'd love to have one, but also living in the NW suburbs you kind of only get use out of it in the summer months. Depending on your budget, it may or may not be worth it for 3 months of fun when you can get pool passes to public pools for the same cost.

We have an in ground pool. Living in Houston, I would NEVER buy a house without one! LOVE IT!!!!

Yes. We have an inground pool. It was at the top of our "must have" list when house hunting.

We absolutely love our swimming pool. We only have our wood fence surrounding our property line...no pool fence, no child proof cover.

Maintenance is actually quite minimal compared to what people think. We pay 45 bucks a month for a pool company to come once a week and keep the pool in check...chemicals included in that price.

Our pump is energy efficient and runs in the evenings...very low cost overall for a summer full of fun in our very own backyard. We host parties here year round. The pool has a heater and we heat it Christmas day and invite tons of people over for a "Polar Bear Plunge" complete with hot cocoa.

I don't ever worry about my kids safety...they did infant swimming and have been strong swimmers and back floaters ever since.

As for other kids...if they can't swim then they are in a life jacket and parents have to stay to watch them. Kids are not allowed in the pool if I am not home.

I do believe it is worth it!! We love having a pool. It is endless hours of fun in our very own backyard...and the kids sleep so hard all summer long....they are pooped every night.

I say go for it!!

We have a pool. I wouldn't buy a house without one. We live in a town where it gets to be 105+ during the summer, and the kids are in the pool all day, pretty much. In terms of maintenance, we pay a pool guy to maintain the chemicals. He comes once a week. I think we pay him $50/month - well worth not having to deal with the chlorine etc myself. As long as you don't do anything dumb with your landscaping around the pool (as in, don't plant anything that flowers a lot or grows any fruit), there's very little maintenance. Our genius neighbors planted star jasmine all along our shared fence, and so its little flowers end up in our pool year-round. So, I have to skim the pool a little here and there. Other than that, I really don't have to do anything to maintain it.

I really enjoy having a pool in our back yard - my kids want to play here instead of at others' houses, and we do become the gathering ground for kids all summer. I don't mind that at all, it's fun for the kids and I know where they are. :) And I do like being able to go float around in my pool - I have one of those lounger things that they won't let you bring to a public pool (not that I would want my post-baby body seen in a swimsuit in public anyhow, haha).

we don't have one but growing up I an in IN ground pool and loved it. My husbands uncle has an above ground pool that uses salt water. We go and visit him (he lives 3 1/2 hours from us) about twice a year. We were just there a few weeks ago and had so much fun! He did tell us though that he has to go out there every morning and clean it and take care of it so it stays nice.

Once we buy a home with a nice yard we will most likely get one too :)

Check the ordinance as with above ground they're different.
Maintenance is pretty minimal with above ground. I would do chemicals once/week. We bought a solar cover online that worked great. The kids loved it and swam nearly every day along with many of their friends. It was cheap entertainment.
Hang a line outside for towels as you'll go through a million :)

Before you do anything, check your local building codes.
Ours is accessed by stairs to a gate which leads to the deck.
No fence needed as long as the gate is self locking.
Yes-we love it!

I do not own a pool but would not consider one until all three of my kids were very strong swimmers. I have often mentioned to my hubby that since we live out in the country (and not walking distance to a park, friends, pool, etc) - I would like to install an above ground one. However, my parents live 25 minutes away and have an inground one....so I would have to weigh the importance of having one at OUR house versus just going to theirs! I think if it means the kids would stay home more and have people to our house more than leaving our house in the summer, I would be all for one! Hubby is not a huge fan so I know I'd have to do the majority of the work.

My neighbors have an in ground pool.
They open it in April or May and close it end of October.
During the height of summer, the water gets too warm to be refreshing - it's like swimming in a bathtub.
It gets used but mostly by their dog.
Once the novelty wears off it doesn't get used much.
Nice thing about an above ground pool is it's a lot easier to get rid of once you are ready to get rid of it.

We just moved last month. Our last house had a built in pool, the new house doesn't. We live in AZ and of course, swim a lot in the summer. However, my kids are older and since discovering the public pools, like those more than our back yard pool. They have slides and lazy rivers and diving boards, etc. So for $1 each to get in, even if we went several times per week, it was still way less than the $120 per month we were paying for pool service. So technically we don't miss our pool in the back yard. I have heard that the above ground pools are a lot of work. JMO but I would just go to a public pool with the kids if you have one close by. Good luck.

no thanks, i'll visit the YMCA outdoor pool 10 mins away.

I don't want any dead bodies floating in my back yard.

My MIL has one .. it is more costly than getting a pool memebership at some of the park districts. Her town does not have a pool, hence the reason she wants/has one.

IE Forest Park- for my family which is out of district it would be $210.00 for the summer. My MIL will be paying over $300.00 for a new liner. That does not include the $50-100 a month on chemicals and the water to refill it at the begining of the season.

Saftey wise- fence is necessary etc.. You just have to teach the kids to stay away.

I really am not sure if it will pay for itself or not.

My neighbor has an above ground pool. I asked her about maintenance and beyonod the initial costs, it is not horribly expensive. You have to shock the pool now and then and there is the maintenance for winter and half full pool or something like that. Once you get used to it, it does not seem so labor intensive. I would love to get a pool, and my older kids would consider me the coolest mom ever, but I do have concerns since I have a 5 yr old and a 20 month old. Plus we live on the corner with a chain link fence so not much privacy. I would talk to your neighbors and see how they handle it. If we do ever get a pool, that is what I plan to do.

We bought our first house in January. It has an above ground pool off the back of the house. I wasn't sure if we would keep it or tear it down. We decided to give it a year or two before we decide to rip it our or keep it. So far I love having it! The kids love it too. They are 5 and 3. The I my entrance to our pool is from a room at the back of the house that we are able to keep locked for safety.
What I really like about having our own is that it is not a big ordeal to go swimming. We don't have to pack up the kids and towels and extra clothes and everything else we might need, because it is already here! I also like the fact that if hubby and I want to swim alone we can just wait until the kids go to bed and swim at night. I am a huge fan of night swimming on account of how much I hate sunscreen. (I burn very easily, and most sunscreens either make my skin feel like it is on fire or make me itch to high heaven. It is not fun.)
As for maintenance, it is not as bad as I thought it would be. It is work, but not as much as I expected. I will say, hire a professional for spring opening and winter closing. It will save you a lot if time and frustration.

Yes,after the kids were born we put a high gate around it

Our neighbors put an in-ground one in last summer. Boy were we green with envy!! But now it is hardly ever used at all. They travel a lot, but even when they are home, maybe a couple of times a week. And she stays at home, so I think my kids would be in it more often, at least that's what I think.

We also just visited my sister and BIL in SC, they have a gorgeous in-ground pool with a diving board. We were in it Friday and Saturday, but they also said it rarely gets used. Too much to work full-time, come home and swim, take care of the dogs, cook, clean, etc. Plus my sister is 13 weeks pregnant. I would think she would want it more in the summer, but she doesn't. She also said their electric bill is $400 a month because of the pool. Ouch!

I had a pool in my yard when I was in the 2nd grade. It was above ground and was about 2' tall. That was over half a century ago. That is how much fun I had in it. If you want to give your kids those kinds of pleasant memories, get a pool. I bought an above ground pool and had it for 5 years. I don't know how much those memories are worth to you. Only you can decide.

I lived in Arkansas for 18 years. We lived in the country for 8 of those years. We had 26 acres and a stream that I dammed up and made a lake. The nicest thing about our lake was that it was spring fed so it was cool in the summer and clear and clean as city water. And God changed the water all the time.

If my kids were young, I'd have a pool for them to play in and make fond memories in. Only you can decide how much that is worth to you.

Good luck to you and yours.

Safety first: sounds like if you are worried about safety then you are going to be very safe with your children if you do get a pool.
Next I live across from a water park, but nuts that I am a couple of years back we got a pool like you described and put it in our backyard. I myself lasted a couple of years with it. But we eventually got rid of it. It was so much work. Cleaning was horrible and there was sap falling into it. We spent tons of money on water and chemicals. And electricity went up from the generator. Long story short, we are back to going to the water park. My advice since you probably don't have a water park ten yards away is to buy one of the cheaper versions and if you like it then spend a lot to have a huge one put in in a year or two.

We have a 3 ft high intex flexible wall pool. It's small and removable after each season. We LOVE it. It takes a little choline and a little baking soda each week. We test the water each day to make sure the levels are correct. The chemicals were cheap. The pool itself was only $60. The kids play in it everyday. I'm so glad we got it.

If you decide to get an above ground one do NOT get the style that has the air ring around the top. I did have one and I did a bit of research after we had it up and were using it.

They get the slightest bit unbalanced, even if it's just kids swimming around in circles. The water swishing around can make it like a pendulum. They can roll and anyone in the water will be trapped in a burrito like shape. They will drown, a rescuer would have to use a sharp knife to cut through the layers of plastic to try and get the person out. They would cut the person and it would still be too late.

If you get an above ground pool get one that has poles on the sides and some sort of strap holding them in place. Or the kind that has the steel sides. They are the safest.

I have an in ground pool and am able to use it most of the year. I love diving into the water.

My friend was not watching her 15 month old grandson well and he nearly died in their pool. He spent four months in Loma Linda Hospital and now has 24 hour nursing care. Too awful to see.

I would never have a pool in my yard. The maintenance and expense are enough to make it so I wouldn't want one, but the safety issues are what make me say no way, never, not a chance. Even with fences and covers, kids find a way in. Maybe someone leaves the gate open or doesn't put the cover on. Maybe you run in the house for two minutes to answer the phone or use the bathroom, or get snacks, or whatever - that's all it takes. Or, you could be having a party and using the pool and one kid can still go under without anyone noticing.

Obviously, drownings can - and do - happen at a community or public pool too, but the chances of it happening at home seem higher to me. I would worry all the time about my 2 year old accidentally finding her way out there.

It depends on the part of the world where you live. Our lives would be hateful without one, it is over a 100 degrees most days in the summer, and without our pool, we would get no outside time.
It is above ground, metal framed, and 4.5 foot deep, 24 foot across. We have steps and a lockable gate. We have had this same pool 15 years, it has a heavy duty pump and filter, we shock it once a week, and vacuum it every week. I skim it with the net every day. I don't know the temp in Illinois, we get about 5 months of swim time here.

Our house had an above ground pool when we moved in. We used it for the first 2 summers, but then just didn't have time to maintain it. I ended up draining it and posting it on Craigslist, and within a day some metal scrap salvagers came and took it apart.

My neighbors have an Intex pool that they set up every summer. We use it, because they invite us to do it pretty much every time they see us outside, but I'd be quite fine without using it. We have a YMCA membership, and I could also get a family membership to one of the many park district pools in the area. I'll probably end up getting one for Centennial Park Pool (downtown Naperville) next summer, or even Cypress Cove in Woodridge. Downers has the Downers Grove Swim Club, so you might want to check that out.

Having a pool basically wrecks that part of your yard if you (or a future buyer) ever decide to remove it. It took us a few years to have enough $ to fill in the void and sod over the space after we got ours removed. I will never again buy a home with a pool.

When I lived in Vegas we had one. Most folks did. It was almost essential. Here in Seattle, no way.