I could have bought a Nice Cessna

E

evapilotaz

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Drone airspace abuser
I could have bought a nice used late model Cessna 172 or something for the price of the pool I just bought. Pool construction starts next week. :mad2:
We just had our house built.

Oh well the family will enjoy it. :yes:
A pool is a must have in Arizona.

Atleast I'm keeping the FBO happy with my rentals. :yes:
 
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evapilotaz said:
I could have bought a nice used late model Cessna 172 or something for the price of the pool I just bought. Pool construction starts next week. :mad2:
We just had our house built.

Oh well the family will enjoy it. :yes:
A pool is a must have in Arizona.

Atleast I'm keeping the FBO happy with my rentals. :yes:
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Actually, a good neighbor with a pool is a much better deal.:rofl:
 
Never own the pool,or the boat,always be the friend of the person who does. Always offer to bring the beer.
 
frfly172 said:
Never own the pool,or the boat,always be the friend of the person who does. Always offer to bring the beer.
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I just moved, the old house had a pool. Yes, fun times, but guess who does all the pool work? Yup, the old man. Good riddance, I won't miss it a bit.

I'd rather be at the lake swimming off the back of the boat....
 
The house we sold before having this one built had a pool. Guess who took care of it.

Good ole Dad. Yep that's me.

The family would get more enjoyment out of the pool vs Airplane.
Oh well sacrifices we make for our wife and kids.

Someday I will own an airplane. Most likely in a partnership or club.
 
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frfly172 said:
Never own the pool,or the boat,always be the friend of the person who does. Always offer to bring the beer.
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As a former boat owner, it was hard to turn down an offer of free beer or contributions towards fuel or launching fees.
 
evapilotaz said:
I could have bought a nice used late model Cessna 172 or something for the price of the pool I just bought. Pool construction starts next week. :mad2:
We just had our house built.

Oh well the family will enjoy it. :yes:
A pool is a must have in Arizona.

Atleast I'm keeping the FBO happy with my rentals. :yes:
Click to expand...

Neighbors calling......is it ok if so and so comes over to use the pool? It gets tiresome. Then there's the accident. Neighbor or child falls, etc. get lawyered up!
 
There is GA problem. When GA was booming, kids swam in the river. Now men are putting swimming pools before planes. Death of GA and western civilization.
 
I once owned a house with a pool. Spent more time cleaning the damn thing than swimming in it. :mad2:
 
I've had the pleasure of having two pools built on my lots. Let me give you a nickel worth of free advice.

Be there for EVERY MINUTE of construction. If something doesn't look right, and the foreman isn't there, stop and get the foreman right away. Every job is sub-contract out to a bunch of doofs who don't give a wet dribbly spit about your job. I'll give you a small rundown of my last pool construction mistakes.

1. Digging. I told them there was a crust of shale about 6 in thick. It was included in the bill. They wanted a rock fee after they showed up. Nope, not paying go away.

1A. Digging. Agreed to remove two stumps from the property and fill a retaining area only with dirt/rocks. They tried to fill the retaining area with the stumps. No, go away. They loaded the stumps on a truck.

1B. Digging. Spa was on the plan as an eye shape, dug it round like the last 140 he has dug. Do over.

1C. Beach entry has a 18% slope from the entry to the step, he made it 6" deep and flat. Do over.

2. Plumbing. Contract said no 1-1/2" PVC, contractor showed up with all 1-1/2" pipe. Nope, go away. Came back with 2" PVC.

3. Electrical. Run from the main panel to the pool was for 220V @ 30A, they tried to use the smaller gauge. Had to force them to look up and use the correct stuff.

4. All underground wires must be > 9" below surface in poly conduit, they only got down about 3" in some areas, had to go in with a jack hammer to get it all correct depth. They offered to fill and seed the section, but I said that's not allowed by permit.

5. Paid for 250BTU heater, they showed up with a 200, oops. Paid for a 2.5HP Hayward Northstar pump, they showed up with 2HP Hayward whisperflow(it was on the shelf in the office). Paid for deck grout color matched with rock, they put in white, ripped out and redone in matching color. Metal french drains spec, they had plastic, spec a red diving board flush to the surrounding deck, they brought white and tried to put on a pedestal.

You can't trust anyone to do anything the way you contract it unless you stand in front of them and point to the plans and specs.
 
I actually think if I lived in AZ, I'd like the pool.

I don't, I live in OH. I do not like our pool. But we're stuck with it, oh well.
 
Floatplane + Lake FTW
 
I Love having the pool, and we use it a lot but getting this one built right was really a problem. The previous contractor was much better, but still made mistakes. It's like chipping $20 off every job is going to make them rich.
 
docmirror said:
Be there for EVERY MINUTE of construction. If something doesn't look right, and the foreman isn't there, stop and get the foreman right away. Every job is sub-contract out to a bunch of doofs who don't give a wet dribbly spit about your job.
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Wow, if it's that bad just for a pool, I can't imagine how bad it must be when building an entire house (something I have yet to embark on, but would like to do some day).

If I couldn't personally supervise all the time, I'd probably hire a separate person/company to be my rep onsite at all times. They wouldn't answer to anybody else at the jobsite, only to me, and their sole job is to find and fix every problem, no matter how small.
 
I love my pool but keeping it balanced is proving to be a chore.

Add a little salt, add a little acid, oops too much acid, shock it, What's that black stuff? Add the dark blue chemical, Why does the water smell funny?, Shock it, Add a lot of salt, Why is there no chlorine?, Add conditioner, shock it, why does it say Low salt?, clean the salt cell, Whoa too much salt, drain some water out and refill, what's that yellow stuff?, shock it.

And sometimes you can swim in it.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I love my pool but keeping it balanced is proving to be a chore.

Add a little salt, add a little acid, oops too much acid, shock it, What's that black stuff? Add the dark blue chemical, Why does the water smell funny?, Shock it, Add a lot of salt, Why is there no chlorine?, Add conditioner, shock it, why does it say Low salt?, clean the salt cell, Whoa too much salt, drain some water out and refill, what's that yellow stuff?, shock it.

And sometimes you can swim in it.
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That's about how this summer was for us.

Oh, and we just closed it.
 
I cannot believe the pool technology these days.

UV system, Salt systems, Pop up head cleaners, Variable pool pumps, Automatic chlorinators. All to make pool maintenance easier.

A float plane the best of both worlds. I would have to travel somewhere to get a seaplane rating.
 
Once balanced, it is simple / cheap to maintain, especially w/ salt water.
My biggest recommendation is keep it balanced over the winter too.

I ignored my pool all winter and it was a bicth bringing it back to life.
Cheaper to just keep it balanced through the winter than let it go and have to fix it.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I love my pool but keeping it balanced is proving to be a chore.

Add a little salt, add a little acid, oops too much acid, shock it, What's that black stuff? Add the dark blue chemical, Why does the water smell funny?, Shock it, Add a lot of salt, Why is there no chlorine?, Add conditioner, shock it, why does it say Low salt?, clean the salt cell, Whoa too much salt, drain some water out and refill, what's that yellow stuff?, shock it.

And sometimes you can swim in it.
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I will withhold comment about your homeowner abilities. ;)

I have a pool with a GoldLine salt system. It works flawless. Keep the cell clean every 6 months, and in the heat of summer I need to add chlorine tabs or run the pump longer. Don't forget, the chlorine gen only works when the pump is running. I haven't had to shock for years, and never add conditioner, or other chemicals.

If you don't have a DE filter, get one now. I have a used large DE filter for sale for $175.
 
I might take you up on that. I have a filter with 4 cartridges and the cartridges are 150 apiece
 
but if I switch to DE I would have to install a backwash system correct
 
Ugh... don't get me started on this one...

No pool. But the hot tub.. Then there was the jacuzzi bath tub (hint, very bad idea as a regular bath).. and then there is geothermal heating/cooling. There simply isn't enough 4 letter words...

The Bo is cheaper ...
 
My dad always says the cheapest place to build a pool is in the next door neighbors yard! :D We have a pool at our current house, it gets used about twice a month in the summer, I haven't been in it this year!:mad2:
Best investment I ever made was hiring a pool guy! Costs me about $2-300 per month and I don't spend my off day screwing around with the pool.:D
 
It seems to me, if you are planning on getting a pool, or buying a house with a pool you won't be happy unless you plan on paying someone to maintain it and do that from the start.

Those that I know that pay someone to maintain their pool never have problems and love it and those that try to do it on their own think it's a giant PITA and hate it.
 
We are getting bids on a pool right now. Yep, asking prices on a 1977-1980 172 are about the same as the pool.
 
jesse said:
It seems to me, if you are planning on getting a pool, or buying a house with a pool you won't be happy unless you plan on paying someone to maintain it and do that from the start.

Those that I know that pay someone to maintain their pool never have problems and love it and those that try to do it on their own think it's a giant PITA and hate it.
Click to expand...

:yes::yes:
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
but if I switch to DE I would have to install a backwash system correct
Click to expand...

Well, I don't backwash mine. I take the filter grids out every month or so and clean them and install. You can put a backwash line in and send the drain out to the curb or into your yard, but I get much better results with the grid removal and cleaning. It's not much different than the cartridge system but you add a bit of DE after it's cleaned.

The hassle of DE is it's almost too good a filter medium. It traps almost everything that isn't water, so if you get an algae bloom, and then kill it, the algae will get trapped in the filter and then you have to clean the grids. I get away with about 3-4 hours per day of pump, but my neighbor who uses cartridge filter runs his pump for 6-9 hours a day in summer.

Everything is a compromise, I just like a super clear pool so I went with the best filter I could get.
 
jesse said:
It seems to me, if you are planning on getting a pool, or buying a house with a pool you won't be happy unless you plan on paying someone to maintain it and do that from the start.
Click to expand...

Or tell your kid to do it. That way *he's* the one that gets to grumble what a PITA it is.

I speak from experience! :)
 
Or, you could build a natural swimming pool and avoid the chemicals altogether.
 
I have always maintained my pools in rentals, and owned homes. I find it cathartic to go out and check the chemicals, brush the plaster, and check everything out. The house we're in now has some huge ass pine trees above the pool.. they make me mad..
 
In sandy or dusty areas the best investment you will make is a Kreepy Krawly device.........one of mans best inventions..........lol
 
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