To pool or not to pool? Personal pool in Sun City.

New member here...

We're interested in Sun City and my wife says she would like a personal pool.
I'm wondering if many there have one or if the residents consider it redundant.

The biggest advantage I see is you can swim anytime day or night in a personal pool.

 

Clearly there are advantages to having your own...but it comes at a cost. We have a couple of friends that have them and the cost to heat them is pretty high. Obviously the summer months aren't the issue, but if you want to use it year long, get ready to spend up.

Our house had a sunken whirlpool in the backroom and the first thing we did was fill it in. The smell of chlorine even though it hadn't run in a year was awful. We are toying with buying a 2 person whirlpool for the back yard, but we have so many of them at the rec centers it just doesn't make much sense.

We wandered the home show at Cardinal stadium Friday and have to admit the in-ground pools looked truly alluring. Who knows, maybe someday.

 

Yes, pool heating is expensive. I probably wouldn't heat it, just let the sun do the work.
A hot tub (much cheaper to heat) and the RC pools would be used during the cooler months.

I've also joined Trouble Free Pool's message board. If I buy a pool home I want to do my own pool maintenance. From what I've read there, the pool guys give fancy names (and prices) to chemicals that are common, inexpensive household products.

I did a search and didn't find an answer to another question.
Are drinks allowed by the rec center pools? It's something I definitely enjoy.

 

I bowl too! Have quite a few 300 & 800 Series American Bowling Congress rings.
Haven't had one in awhile, but I can still give those young guys a battle.

No drinks by the pool though... that alone may be enough to tip the scales!

 

Anyone know how many laps you can do in a private pool in a home in Sun city.
I think I could get across the pool in several strokes.

 

Having a pool is a full time commitment in the desert !

Besides the sometimes twice daily maintenance be prepared to tackle
some of the system issues like pumps, filters, water lines, decking and the list
goes on including the occasional critters.

One other thing is if you go out of town, some companies will charge more
if your not contracted and usually only show up once a week unless you
make a special agreement.

I personally would not have a pool and every time I take care of a friends
I get reminded of just how much I appreciate the rec. pools.

 

Depends on how long it is...layful:

 

Since I was considering a hot tub, another possibility is buying a home without a pool and then buying a 17' swim spa. I would think that being self-contained they would be easier to deal with, plus there are fully insulated covers available.

 

On hot tubs: We bought a new house here in the Twin Cities several years ago. Built a huge deck and floated a hot tub out on the deck.We had romantic visions of sub-freezing nights in the hot water with steam rising and looking at the stars on those cold winter nights. Our two girls who were pre-teen and teen at the time and used it infrequently (when they did it was more like a splash party than a soothing, relax type experience). We (the adults) used it even less.

That taught me I never want such work again. Constantly trying to balance the PH and have somewhat clear water. Way too much work. I can only imagine what a pool would be. The ads showing backyard pool owners with smiles on their faces and cold cocktails floating on crystal clear water don't tell the whole story!

NO pool....NO hot tub....ever!

Oh yes, I worked as a swimming pool supervisor at a huge campground in Foxboro, MA one summer and we had several full time people taking care of the equipment, cleaning, etc. I do know my way around such gear.

 

I could not resist to comment on this

I grew up south of the river in the T/C's, our neighbors had the pool, hot tub deal and they spent more heating that
in the summer then their house in the winter ! They were the second owners there and for the first year in all four
seasons the place was like the Apple River and the State Fair combined :drunk:

Reality must have set in as far as expenses and the " Wild Ones " that attended the events, because shortly
the place was on the block in less then two years. and honestly I really don't know why, But I'll admit it was nice
not having to crawl to far to get home

 

Sounds to me like a little bit of drunken debauchery going on there triple G. The rigors of youth eh?

It has been an interesting transition for us Rusco. We've never had a pool and moving here seemed we would never want one. My wife loves to swim and is really good at it. She floats in and out of visiting the Bell pool for laps and often complains of the challenges of getting a lane when it gets crowded.

The house we just bought is a corner lot and has near on a 10,000 sq ft lot. We'll rent it out for now, but when we downsize, our goal is to wall it, garage it and pool it. The house is half the square footage of the one we are in, so when we add the attached garage on the side, we'll make it a cabana/3rd bedroom/3rd bathroom with an outdoor kitchen to boot. I keep telling my wife we'll put a slide atop the garage but she looks at me like i'm nuts...maybe I am.

Of course heating it in the summer isn't an issue, and with solar, the costs shouldn't get too crazy the rest of the year. That leaves the maintenance and that should be reason itself not to run for the RCSC board again.

 

Sorry, but you made me laugh. You bought a house for a future downsize but you will add a garage, extra bedroom, bathroom, outside kitchen and pool.

 

I know it sounds funny, but...compared to the compound it will be a third smaller.

Go figure.

 

Yeah BP...you found out we were moving into the neighborhood and started making plans to move out. What's that about?

Anyway - I'm going to hijack this thread. We are going to be doing that pool, outdoor kitchen thing next spring/summer. Any good referrals?