It's more of an ecosystem than a pool at this point

July 25, 2011 6:48 AM

Mr. M. and I have a gunite pool that was installed at our house by a previous owner. We haven't opened it in the 7 years we've lived here. I want to have it renovated so that we can actually use it, but I have some questions.

First some background on the pool. When we bought the house 7 years ago, the previous owner told us that we'd probably have to get the pool replastered sooner rather than later. We tried to open it the first year we lived here, but we were told by the company we hired that there was a leak in the one (does that seem right?) clean water return, so they wanted us to put some sort of waterfall thingy in. At that point we kind of dropped doing anything with the pool, which is where it is now.

The pool is probably around 15 or 20 feet by 35 or 40 feet and it's "Lazy L" shaped. The 2 long sides and the short side on the deep end have flagstone decking and the short side on the shallow end has some ancient concrete that should be replaced (either with more flagstone or the whole deck area should be replaced with something else). I anticipate that after getting the water drained and the pool replastered, we're going to discover that the mechanicals and/or plumbing need some work because of our neglect.

My questions are as follows:

1. Would all of this work be done by a pool company?
2. How long would you anticipate the work outlined above would take?
3. Very roughly, how much should I expect to spend?
4. Once I have the pool up and running, how much should I expect to spend each year on maintenance and such?

I've never had a pool before, so I'll probably have a billion more questions that I haven't even thought to ask. Gunite pool owners, please share whatever information you think is important.

posted by Maisie to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

As far as the repairs, you're probably going to need to call a pool company or 2 and get an estimate.

This sort of work's cost varies greatly by region.
posted by k8t at 7:42 AM on July 25, 2011

Response by poster: I'm in central Connecticut. I guess I should have mentioned that in the original question.
posted by Maisie at 7:59 AM on July 25, 2011

(I asked a pool question recently and didn't get much of a response here -- even checking the archives shows that Metafilter isn't much for pool advice, sadly.) But here's the little bit of info I can add: We have a leak in our pool (a pool that we use frequently) and we've just been quoted around $350 to "pressurize the system" which will show where the leak is coming from if it's indeed coming from the plumbing. I got recommendations for pool companies from friends and neighbors. It seems like most of the companies in my area (california) do handle all the work from top to bottom.

Good luck.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:22 AM on July 25, 2011

I was quoted about $100 per foot of perimeter for replastering (on the West coast), so around $10k to $12k for your size pool. You will almost certainly want to replace the more than 7 year old heater, which would be at least $3k plus installation. If the pump and water lines to and from the pool have been through many freeze thaw cycles over the past 7 years, they would likely need replacing. Pumps start at around $300 and go up to $2k, plus installation. You will also need a new winter cover and/or safety cover which will likely need to be made to measure at around $1k to $2k, and a solar blanket for summer would be a good idea. There are many pool supply companies online, where you can get an idea of prices for this stuff.

If you are maintaining the pool yourself, expect to spend around $500 on chemicals a year, plus heating costs in the swimming season. Also expect to spend an afternoon a week cleaning and vacuuming the pool. A solar pool heating system would be around $10k. I have no idea what sort of gas/electric bill heating a pool causes.

In a climate with hard freezes, you will need to have the pool company come and blow the water out of the lines every winter before the first freeze $???, (or heat the pool all winter).
posted by monotreme at 11:00 AM on July 25, 2011

I have owned several gunite pools and have even built one from the ground up (down?). While I think that monotreme is a bit high in most of the estimate figures, you are looking at a substantial cost for the things you think you know about the pool at this point. The most worrisome thing is the return line leak. The leak is most likely underground and will take a lot of hit and miss digging to locate and repair. Fixing the first place you find that is leaking is not a guarantee that you have fixed the problem as it appears that the leak may have been from winter freeze and could have occurred in multiple places along the line.

Fixing pools is like remodeling a house you didn't build. There is no way to know what you are in for until you open the walls and look inside. While you may be able and willing to afford it, let me point out that, in Connecticut, the useful swim season is probably less than six months of the year. You are looking at a substantial investment for very limited use coupled with continual maintenance to preserve the pool once it is usable. I would spend the money on a club membership and let someone else do all of the work and carry all of the risk.
posted by Old Geezer at 3:23 PM on July 25, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the insight.

In case anyone else searches the archives for pool repair costs in Connecticut, I thought I'd follow-up and post the quote I got yesterday. A local pool contractor came out to look at my pool and quoted me $16,000 for all of the work except the decking.
posted by Maisie at 3:19 AM on July 26, 2011