Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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We installed a pool built by Backyard Oasis in June of 2011. We had a very good experience with them and would do it again. They did not do our pool coping and decking because we had a friend in the concrete business who did it, but they all worked very very well together and it was fantastic.
The specs on our pool: 25k gallon, gunite, freeform, salt water pool. We have a tanning shelf that has an umbrella stand in it, which is fabulous! It is also a nice place for smaller kids to play, etc. It is not huge, but does the job.
We do not have anyone come and clean, etc and keep the pool "open" all year long. We installed (well my husband) a temperature gauge that would cause the filter to kick on when the water temp was below 34 degrees, and that is a great thing to have!
We started the building of our pool in february (we also built a detached garage at the time and that was a coordinated effort for everyone). The pool opened in mid June. With the gunite we had to let the concrete set for 30 days before moving forward with anything. I will also add that the color of your water can affect the price of the pool! We went with the "how dark can the gunite be so that we don't have to pay more"....so, just realize that is out there.
As far as added expenses, we pay about 100 dollars a month more in our electric bill (this is every month). Our chemicals are very low because of the salt water system. I end up using maybe 10 bags of salt a year, and about 10 bottles of muriatic acid, so it is not too much at all.
For us poorer folk...LOL Anyone with experience purchasing and installing an above ground pool? We are building a small home in the Louisburg area, and would love to have a decent above ground in the backyard off the deck.... Any recommendations, advice would be appreciated!
We went with Rising Sun and I would not recommend them. It's been weeks and weeks since the start of the install and we're still dealing with them trying to get it right. They are not very responsive to calls, are awful at providing information and communicating what is going on, and are pretty much incapable of providing a turn-key pool.
We went with Rising Sun and I would not recommend them. It's been weeks and weeks since the start of the install and we're still dealing with them trying to get it right. They are not very responsive to calls, are awful at providing information and communicating what is going on, and are pretty much incapable of providing a turn-key pool.
I am also thinking about a pool. I have a few young kids. Do you guys all have covers and fences? If I got a pool, I would want a cover that is done with a turn of a key and one that a grown man can walk accross. Thoughts?
I am also thinking about a pool. I have a few young kids. Do you guys all have covers and fences? If I got a pool, I would want a cover that is done with a turn of a key and one that a grown man can walk accross. Thoughts?
Fences are required. So are door alarms. The cover you are talking about is multi-thousands of dollars and not cost effective. Once the kids learn to swim you will not need it any more.
We had a 1-2 year old when our pool went in and we stuck with the door alarms and careful watching. We also began teaching her to swim immediately and she was fine by last summer at just past 3 years old. She can swim alone just fine now.
We recently completed our inground vinyl lined pool in May with Rising Sun. Have nothing but good things to say about them and would highly recommend them and their vendors.
We had to act as general contractors for the entire project but with their help and recommendations it was easy as they worked with all vendors to help coordinate the build. It is a big building project so it was almost like having a part-time job while building it.
I did all the design myself using hand drawings, CAD, and lots of yard spray paint which greatly helped to obtain quotes and keep within budget as I knew the exact sq ft of decking, size of retaining walls, pool placement, etc...
It took me and the wife almost 6 months from deciding to pursue a pool and investigate to committing and having them dig and tear up my yard!
I can go into more details or PM me but some lessons learned and highlights!
- Do all your research ahead of time, visit neighbors with pools, visit recently installed pools with the same size/shape you are interested in, search internet forums.
- Come up with a design and try to stick to it, biggest issue we always encountered with others was "we ended up with way more concrete patio than expected and it doubled the cost!"
- We are outdoor people and spend most of our time outside in the yard or screened patio. We knew a pool would be used a lot. Know what you like before committing to such a project.
- My backyard was torn up WAY more than I expected. Enjoy living in a mud pit for a couple months. The only over budget item was getting more sod than expected.
- Utility costs have been very minimal. Town of Cary offers a once a year water rate adjustment for filling pools which greatly helped save on the water bill. Chemicals have also been pratically zero with the salt system.
- Maintenance hasn't been bad. Best analogy I heard was "a pool is like a pet, doesn't need tons of attention each day but can't be neglected every day either"
We put in a fiberglass pull and hot tub. It was a mid-size fiberglass pool, but feels large enough for a group or a few people floating around. The hot tub waterfalls into the pool which has it's benefits and drawbacks. We have a large gas heater so we could use the heater for the entire pool and extend the season, or just for the hot tub which will heat up from freezing to 100 degrees in under an hour. Unfortunately because they share a pump and filter we can have the hot tub running and the pool filtering at the same time.
I really like the fiberglass, we've had dogs in the pool and seen no damage. If I could decide again I would have went with blue instead of white as it can look dirty around the edge, so there is extra cleaning.
Our pool has an oversized sand filter and a chlorinator, but maintenance has not been that bad and I do everything myself, including changing the sand. Total cost for everything was 30K. It also added 5K to the tax value of our house.
We definitely had people warning us that it's not a good investment, but I love our pool and enjoy having an oasis in our backyard.
My son loves to go to the pool, and he always makes good choices
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