We did that once. In the middle of a lake. In retrospect, you'd be surprised to learn how bonding experience it is to drag that thing across the mud bottom back to the shore with a bunch of friends. Highly recommended.

As for pools...uh, can't say much for rather obvious reasons, they are not exactly common in here. But for that very reason I too would go something season friendly, that is, an inflatable or then a pool that is not your own to begin with. The advantage of those is that you won't be stuck with them like you would be with a real pool. I'd figure that once the novelty wore off, I wouldn't use it much either. And if it is for kids, they usually tend to have even shorter attention span than I do.

I live in New Mexico. It's been 30° C here for most of May during the day (+- 5° or so for the most part—though we've also had snow, lol—life in the mountains :) ).

Summer will be hotter. I'd say the useful pool season with a heater is May-Sept. If I used a solar heater so it is "free" to heat, I'd totally try for an early start and late close, too. Regardless, we'd have a solid 4 months of swim time.

I think those on the down side of the pool are likely correct in many ways, no question. It's an expensive proposition, and the likely cost per hour of actual swimming is a calculation I am likely to do here in the future—and I probably will not like the answer. A neighbor suggested that if we were gonna do a pool, we should enclose it so that we could at least use it year round (which would certainly help the per-use cost numbers). An inside pool is not the same though, and getting the esthetics right would be non-trivial (and expensive). I think it'd go from ~$50/square foot to well over $100 adding it as an indoor space. Though it's an intriguing idea I suppose.

I should add that part of the rationale has to do with some work we are going to have to do anyway. Our septic system is under the driveway, and dates to the 1970s. The driveway is starting to spall (it's concrete), and there is a new code requiring septics to be updated by 2015. As a result we will be forced to rip up 3000 ft^2 of concrete and replace septic anyway.

The idea was that we may as well move said septic tank a little, reverse driveway (making it about 1/2 the length---the current carport faces 180° from the street, so the drive is like a J with the bottom filled in), and put a pool in ~2/3 of the space that is currently a 1500 ft^2 slope of concrete (including patio, not a 1000 ft^2 pool!).

Dunno. The trouble is having a useful outside space in the summer in New Mexico. It gets so hot, that underwater is the only place you can be without loads of shade, and we live on the side of the mountain with little shade.

I don't think it would pay for itself property value wise, but in our neighborhood it's not a negative I think (you get to a certain range and pools start becoming very common if not expected).

It probably wont add anything to the property value. Also as for use estimates, I would go with about a quarter of what you estimate. People always seriously overestimate how much they will use a pool. Fully enclosing the pool is not a bad idea, as you will not need to spend as much time cleaning it, or chlorinate it as much (this assumes it is fully enclosed like a house). A lot of the work involved cleaning up leaves and other debris in the pool, and the chemicals to keep the water clean from it. Plus making it indoor makes it safer too if there are kids around.

We'd for sure have an automatic cover (even inside), which helps a great deal in heating and keeping clean regardless.

Haven't really wrapped my head around enclosing it. I think I'd want the roof to open, which would cost an absurd about of money (more than we have to spend).

Get a large hot tub with a bar....:yeah:

I already have a hot tub off our bedroom, actually. That gets used almost daily.

With a bar, and accessories, :O:

Nah, I have little interest in sitting in hot water and getting drunk. Sometimes I bring a glass of ice water.

It is more than enough,:yep:

Build a koi pond, use it as a pool. Swim with the fishes. :D I sort of do that when I clean the filter of the koi pond that I built. If I had made the pond about a foot deeper it would almost be a pool, would have protected from the darned herons more too. Great thing about the koi pond are the mosquito fish, never get bite by mosquitoes in my yard. No chemicals to mess with either. Probably would be cheap to DIY out west if rocks are plentiful. Looking forward to eating the first tilapia soon!

Moving the septic, and rebuilding a smaller driveway will be less than I thought (even though given where we are we need the most fancy type of septic).

Now to find out how cheap I can build an adobe garage... maybe I can do it myself (or myself helping with bricks and mud...).

We built a big in ground pool about 7 or 8 years ago when we built the new house. We had one at the old house, and only lasted a year in the new place before we decided to build another. Perhaps my circumstances are different from most: I have roughly 8 dozen children (give or take 7 1/2 dozen), each of whom has a least 56 thousand friends, and all of whom appear to live at our house. Only one summer without it convinced us that a gigantic hole in the back yard filled with water is preferable to having them all in the house.

I can attest to the fact that pools are expensive to build and maintain, and they are definitely a PITA to keep clean (particularly with hairy 3 black labs in the mix), but I still wouldn't be without one. At least when the kids and their friends are lounging about the pool my house, I know where they are and what they're doing with whom. That ain't the worst thing in the world when four of the kids are of the feminine persuasion. Plus, it's great for parties (although I never seem to get invited).

If I was to do it again, though, I would definitely go with salt water rather than chlorine or Baquacil. Far less expensive to maintain, and much more pleasant to swim in too. We'll be switching over to salt water at the end of the season, and this time I mean it!

Good luck!

That was exactly our experience with our pool in CA. We were so excited the first year, but as the years past, our interest waned. However the maint expenses don't wane. I lived in that house for 7 years and I think we only used it for the first year. The last four years I lived there we had a cover on it 365.

The problem with having a pool is that since it is always there, it stops being something special.

And pool maint is not cheap nor effortless.

Yeah, I'm considering a salt water chlorine generator (for those thinking it's salty like the ocean I'm being clear---8212;it is minimally salty, and uses the NaCl to make Cl constantly).

Where my house is, we have no beaches without an airline flight required. So swimming is in a pool. Public pools are a zoo. Since we have little shade, playing outside in June-August is pretty hard most of the day. It's simply too hot. A pool would give the kids something to do. We visit the grandparents a few days a week in the summer already, and the kids spend hours in the pool. Downside is that we don't feel like we should invite other kids, though having friends is exactly what the kids want.

I suppose it might be worth looking into a country club as a reality check.

How big is your pool, flatsixes? We don't have room for a huge one given the slop, huge boulders, etc.