Summer is upon us and with it comes those inevitable days of boiling temps where you wish you could just step out into your backyard and leap into the pool.
Deciding whether you want a swimming pool on your property is a process that requires a lot of thought and weighing of the pros and cons of ownership.
What needs to be taken into account is the cost of installation, in addition to the burden of maintaining the pool once you have it.
There’s no denying it is a considerable investment, but the intrinsic value of having one should be weighed against monetary outlay.
There are two terms that have entered the vernacular that can be related to pool ownership: “staycation” and “backyard oasis.”
Once upon a time, people could beat the city heat by escaping to their summer cottages. With meteoric rises in real estate prices, purchasing a second property is way out of reach for most folks. That cottage might be your “secondary residence,” but it is still property that needs to be maintained and great chunks of vacation time are spent working on the place.
James Cardarelli, store manager of D&D Pools & Spas in Orangeville, points out that ongoing innovations in pool construction are shaving installation costs.
“Once pre-casting became more popular, pools started getting more affordable. The (pool installation) business is trending towards being more affordable.”
A precast concrete swimming pool is a concrete pool that is constructed or “cast” using a mold in a manufacturing plant. Once the concrete is poured and has completely cured, it is hauled to the site for installation. This process not only cuts installation costs, it is also not limited to any specific design and pools can be custom cast to a customer’s individual tastes.
Today’s pool installation contractors are also landscape specialists. The result is an opportunity for clients to have their special retreat without having to pack the car and spend hours battling traffic enroute to cottage country. Thus, the term “staycation.”
Then there’s the question of maintaining the pool once it is built.
There’s this persistent fear of a pool owner having to laboriously mix and apply chemicals to ensure the pool water has the proper pH balance. One would almost need a chemistry degree to get it right.
That may have been a concern years ago, but new technology and qualified pool contractors have all but negated that problem. “We recommend a weekly water test,” says James, who says it’s a relatively simple, step-by-step procedure that should take no more than an hour or two.
The rule of thumb is that the pH level of a pool should be somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8. To achieve this, you need the right balance of pH, calcium hardness, and alkalinity. The chlorine level needs to be around 1 and 2 parts per million (ppm).
Dealing with potential chemical imbalance and constant monitoring can now be handled by smart pool monitoring devices which float on the surface of your pool and send an alert to your phone when the pool needs servicing.
There is another technology to eliminate the harmful effects of chlorine and it is an ultraviolet sanitation system.
It works by filtering pool water through a tube harnessed with a high-powered UV light. The light zaps both the DNA and RNA components of all organic materials, killing off germs, bacteria, and other microscopic hazards.
These are two of several new innovations. If the client still has reservations, D&D Pools & Spas offers a weekly maintenance schedule where skilled professionals will come to the home once a week.
Technology has come to the forefront which makes cleaning the pool far less arduous; not the least of which is a pool cleaning robot. Using sensors, algorithms, and suction-based technology, the robot is able to clean a pool within hours using very little energy.
There is also the tried-and-true method of leaving it to the professionals. D&D has been in the business for well over two decades and offers a comprehensive pool maintenance package.
While the decision to have a pool installed remains one that has to be carefully thought out, the evidence shows that pool ownership is a practical alternative when it comes to keeping cool during those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.
WRITTEN BY: DAN PELTON | RESOURCES: D&D POOLS & SPAS, ORANGEVILLE
