Hello from Toronto

[Brockstreet]

My wife and I are looking to upsize our home. On her wish list is an inground pool. Not knowing anything about swimming pools I started to google basic questions about pool maintenance and almost every resource on Reddit pointed me to TFP. I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge being shared here. I am looking forward to sharing more details on the pool we end up with and hopefully get some help from the members.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[Newdude]

Hey Brock and Weclome !!!

almost every resource on Reddit pointed me to TFP

Somebody mentioned us being talked about on Reddit a while back and I went rabbit hole-ing and was prettty proud to see alot of it. Don't get me wrong, it was still Reddit and there were plenty of haters, but you could kinda tell most of them were just angry at life and we were their random target that day.

basic questions about pool maintenance

Funny you should mention that:
Click ---> Pool Care Basics

 

[Dirk]

It's not clear whether "upsize our home" means moving to another house with pool, or building one for your current home. If the latter, this new thread will be of interest:

If I could do it all again, I would…

Hello TFP community! Im grateful for everyone’s questions and contributions on this site, it has been highly educational. My wife and I are thinking about having a pool built and I wanted to ask the community about things (small and large) you would do differently if you had a chance to do it...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Brockstreet]

Hey Brock and Weclome !!!

Somebody mentioned us being talked about on Reddit a while back and I went rabbit hole-ing and was prettty proud to see alot of it. Don't get me wrong, it was still Reddit and there were plenty of haters, but you could kinda tell most of them were just angry at life and we were their random target that day.


Funny you should mention that:
Click ---> Pool Care Basics

Definitely, there were some “interesting” comments from people that were not in agreement with the recommendations (for eg. Test Kits vs test strips). I guess it just comes with the territory. Thank you for including the link for Pool basics. I have some weekend reading to do .

 

[Brockstreet]

It's not clear whether "upsize our home" means moving to another house with pool, or building one for your current home. If the latter, this new thread will be of interest:

If I could do it all again, I would…

Hello TFP community! Im grateful for everyone’s questions and contributions on this site, it has been highly educational. My wife and I are thinking about having a pool built and I wanted to ask the community about things (small and large) you would do differently if you had a chance to do it...

www.troublefreepool.com

I should have been a bit clearer in my post. We are planning on buying a home with an existing pool. Hoping to have an inspection completed by a local pool company before committing.

 

[Dirk]

I should have been a bit clearer in my post. We are planning on buying a home with an existing pool. Hoping to have an inspection completed by a local pool company before committing.

I bought a house with a pool, and that worked out for me. At the time of the sale, the neighborhood comps suggested I was basically getting a pool and extensive landscaping and hardscaping for free. In my area, a pool doesn't add much to the value of a home. And while it turned out to be a substantial savings compared to starting from scratch, the pool and yard were far from free. I've probable put $20K into the pool (adding automation and equipment and new plaster, etc). So I'm still way ahead, but again, not free.

More importantly, a pool seems like a great thing to own. And for many it is. Just go in with your eyes wide open. It's like a pet, in that you don't have to play with it every day, but you can't just ignore it either. And unlike a pet, there is no getting rid of it. It will be a maintenance obligation for as long as you own the house, whether you use it or not. It'll eventually require extensive repair (like replacing the finish, which might last anywhere from a year to 20 years, depending on where in the cycle you inherit it), and equipment doesn't last forever either. It might be well off at the time of sale, and need next to nothing in terms of repairs or upgrades, or it can be a complete nightmare that will destroy the value of your home (we've heard all variations within that spectrum here on the forum).

The inspection is critical, but choose your inspector carefully. Make sure you have one that really knows what he is doing. I had my pool inspected and he missed multiple thousands of dollars of needed repairs. At the time, I didn't know what I didn't know, so you're way ahead of the curve collecting opinions here first. And we have stories here of pools that passed inspections, only later to reveal a massive structural problem that really could not be fixed. So a guy just glancing at the pool and making sure the equipment runs is not enough. Ask in advance what, exactly, gets inspected and how he does it. Perhaps interview a few inspectors if you can find them. You'll start to hear a consensus of how it should be done, and maybe that'll help you decide who to use.

That all said, I'd do it all again. I love my pool and the fun it brings me, my family and friends and neighbors. So I'm not trying to talk you out of a pool. Just preparing you to hopefully avoid the buyer's regret some pool owners end up experiencing. Pools are great fun, but there is a whole lot more to them than just the fun.

 

[Dirk]

Another thought...

During your inspections period for the new house, visit the local planning/building dept. See if they have documents on the pool: when it was built, who built it, etc. If you can get the name of the builder, run a check on him. See if you can find any info on him, good or bad. Check on the status of his contractor's license with the State. See if he's in good standing. Check the local BBB for any complaints (a top rating at the BBB means less than nothing, but complaints can be a red flag). See if you can get references on the builder, get opinions from other pool owners that have one of his pools.*

There are a lot of great pool builders out there, but unfortunately just as many bad ones. You'll want to know which you have, if you can, before you close. This might seem overkill, but it's also the kind of thing you'll be kicking yourself for skipping should things go south after you close.

I did actually practice what I preach. But my local building dept deletes everything after five years, so I couldn't run a check.

* This is all stuff you should be doing with the new house, too. You can't be too careful, IMO. So it's really not much extra effort to double the process for the pool.

 

[Brockstreet]

I bought a house with a pool, and that worked out for me. At the time of the sale, the neighborhood comps suggested I was basically getting a pool and extensive landscaping and hardscaping for free. In my area, a pool doesn't add much to the value of a home. And while it turned out to be a substantial savings compared to starting from scratch, the pool and yard were far from free. I've probable put $20K into the pool (adding automation and equipment and new plaster, etc). So I'm still way ahead, but again, not free.

More importantly, a pool seems like a great thing to own. And for many it is. Just go in with your eyes wide open. It's like a pet, in that you don't have to play with it every day, but you can't just ignore it either. And unlike a pet, there is no getting rid of it. It will be a maintenance obligation for as long as you own the house, whether you use it or not. It'll eventually require extensive repair (like replacing the finish, which might last anywhere from a year to 20 years, depending on where in the cycle you inherit it), and equipment doesn't last forever either. It might be well off at the time of sale, and need next to nothing in terms of repairs or upgrades, or it can be a complete nightmare that will destroy the value of your home (we've heard all variations within that spectrum here on the forum).

The inspection is critical, but choose your inspector carefully. Make sure you have one that really knows what he is doing. I had my pool inspected and he missed multiple thousands of dollars of needed repairs. At the time, I didn't know what I didn't know, so you're way ahead of the curve collecting opinions here first. And we have stories here of pools that passed inspections, only later to reveal a massive structural problem that really could not be fixed. So a guy just glancing at the pool and making sure the equipment runs is not enough. Ask in advance what, exactly, gets inspected and how he does it. Perhaps interview a few inspectors if you can find them. You'll start to hear a consensus of how it should be done, and maybe that'll help you decide who to use.

That all said, I'd do it all again. I love my pool and the fun it brings me, my family and friends and neighbors. So I'm not trying to talk you out of a pool. Just preparing you to hopefully avoid the buyer's regret some pool owners end up experiencing. Pools are great fun, but there is a whole lot more to them than just the fun.

Thank you. This is really informative. I plan on pulling all the building permits on the property. I only had 1 pool company in mind but as per your recommendation I will definitely engage 2 to 3 pool companies to determine the scope of their inspection. I also plan on getting a structural engineer (who I deal with frequently at work) to take a look at the hardscaping around the pool to ensure I am not dealing with major issues like leakage and frost heaving. Appreciate all the tips Dirk, and I will post more updates as we move forward with our home search.

 

[wireform]

I'm afraid that a winter pool inspection in your neck of the woods can't reveal much at all unless this pool is use in winter too.

 

[Brockstreet]

I'm afraid that a winter pool inspection in your neck of the woods can't reveal much at all unless this pool is use in winter too.

Our hope is to close on the home towards the end of May, so hopefully conditions will be favourable and the pool should be open by then.

 

[Dirk]

Our hope is to close on the home towards the end of May, so hopefully conditions will be favourable and the pool should be open by then.

This might be a long shot, but see what you can do, or what is being done, to maintain the pool. Sometimes the owner or his realtor will see that the pool looks great, to make a sale, until closer to close, when it often gets abandoned. And in the Spring, it might only take a week or two for the pool to turn nasty.

I don't know if it's ever done, but technically it could be an amendment to the purchase contract that the pool shall be professionally maintained until the date of closing. (You won't be able to keep it up yourself, and you shouldn't even try to ask for that. Too much liability for both parties.)

You absolutely do NOT want to be dealing with an algae-infected pool while simultaneously trying to pack-move-unpack. Fixing a green pool takes a lot of time and effort, not to mention a big expense. Moving is stressful enough, and having access to a nice, clean pool for unpacking breaks could be very nice.

 

[wireform]

Had two pools last season where the walk through before closing had a pretty pool and 2 days after closing it was a swamp and that's because they have it figured out to stop paying 10 days before closing and be cheap about it and then 3 days into ownership it's not swimable.

 

[Newdude]

I don't know if it's ever done, but technically it could be an amendment to the purchase contract that the pool shall be professionally maintained until the date of closing.

It was fairly standard practice by me. For my sale and purchase both pools needed to be running/clean for closing. If it was mid winter, there would have been riders in the contract that the seller was responsible for any issues at opening.

As said above, that still leaves room for things to go south quickly when it goes unattended with the hustle and bustle of moving, but it was a head start at least.

Being late Sept, both the old and new pool were specifically left open to shield the sellers from any issues next year. In this case, asking it to be open/clean a bit early in Toronto is a fair ask IMO.

 

[Brockstreet]

Thanks everyone for the help and guidance. I will talk to my realtor to add riders on the offer outlining the early opening and ongoing maintenance until the day of closing. I believe this would be fair ask, especially because properties with a swimming pool have been sitting on the market longer than homes without a pool.

 

[Newdude]

When you ask your lawyer, they'll likely say 'of course, that's a great idea', and the other lawyer will tell the homeowner it's a fair ask.

Doesn't mean the homeowner will go for it, but neither lawyer will think it's unreasonable. If the homeowner balks, they might be aware of things they don't want known.