Wednesday, August 21, 2013

I thought Vacations days were supposed to be relaxing?

So, the pool is gone, as of this afternoon. I took the day off work, and now I've successfully made a big hole in the back yard.

Taking down the pool was a lot harder than I expected in some ways, and easier in others.

Things I learned:
  1. Don't even TRY to save the liner when you're removing an above ground pool. It adds so much time in prep, and we failed anyway, while being so careful. The seals around the jets, skimmer, as well as the fact that you're trying to get it away from sharp sheet metal makes this basically impossible.
  2. Our "Above ground" pool, was buried 6-24 inches in the dirt - our back yard is sloped...   A lot of digging.
  3. HOLY CRAP I hate spiders. Huge spiders every where. I screamed like a little girl, but thankfully it was a hot day so everyone had their A/C on and their windows closed. I don't go out of my way to kill something, but I'm apparently part ninja and I killed those suckers to death before I could stop myself.  (In other news, its going to rain for the next 4.5 years)  
  4. I had to pick one of the HOTTEST friggin days to REMOVE my pool. When finished, my first thought was - "Oh, I'd live to go for a swim!" *face palm*
I made a hole!

I sold the pool for a very fair 250 dollars.

It was a very nice, one piece metal walled, above ground pool. The liner was shot, but that's only 150 to buy new. So for $400, my buyer got a $2,000+ Pool, Sand Filter, and 1HP Jacuzzi brand pump.  I, got some help disassembling it, so he could see how to put it back together. and The deal is done, and we're both happy. I think it was my dad that told me that a Fair deal is one where both parties are happy, or both people feel screwed - I agree!

My neighbors and their amazing kids (all 4 of them!) had some soil left over from some yard work, so We worked out a trade and they even helped me drag it into my back yard. I've got about 1/4 the dirt I need to fill in the new hole I've successfully made. Dirt compacts quite a bit over time, so I'm planning on using about 25-50% "more" dirt than I think I need, to turn that hole into a bit of a dirt "dome" in assumption that it will settle over winter to become flat.

It feels like my money is going down a hole lately...

This summer has been BRUTAL on us. $1500+ on car repairs in the last month, and I found out we need a roof more urgently than I had ever thought... and of COURSE I just put the deposit on our honeymoon!

The Owner of Urban Roofing came by to give us a quote tonight, and it was very informative. I'll share what I learned in my next post!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Bye Bye Pool!

So, We've Decided to Sell the pool.

There are a number of reasons why we've decided to, and I'll go over them in detail below.

First, The pool:



Its one of the smallest "permanent" pools you can buy - a 12 foot round, 4 foot deep pool. Its got a Big Sand Filter, and a 1 HP Jacuzzi Pump, which are both great brands and long lived.

Before we sold it, I tried a few things to justify keeping it:

Cost Cutting:

I set the pump to run only 4 hours a day, However, quickly realized that that wasn't enough - the pool turned green as I use chlorine pucks, and the lack of water flow caused them to sit there and not dissolve. It then cost about 40 dollars in chemicals to bring it back into line.


Using it more: 

I bought a new Solar cover to get the pool to be warmer. Result: during colder weeks, the pool reached a very respectable high 70*f 's range, However, It was cold out, so we didn't use it.
When it was hot out, The pool got above 90 degrees... which wasn't refreshing at all. So... we didn't use it.
When the solar cover was off on a heat wave, the chlorine was eaten up within 24 hours and I had to shock the pool, making it pretty much un-fit for swimming, Although, that didn't stop everyone from using it.


Cutting off the A/C to the house:

I got that Nest thermostat - I set it to perma "Away" mode. This made both of us cranky, and not sleep well. We did use the pool more, but the overall quality of living went down, so that lasted about a week or two.

Game Over man, Game over!

Last week we made the decision to sell it. It didn't last long. 2 days later (a.k.a. Yesterday) and its sold. I've already got it drained, and the fellow is helping me take it apart Monday night.

Why?

Its too close to the fence:

I can't get the lawn mower around the pool. The result is 3 foot tall weeds, unsightly, prickly plants. its made it so I don't want to entertain.

Its just too big for our backyard:

We have a Semi-Detached "link" home. 30 foot wide lot, and our back yard is maybe 25 feet deep. Between the large Deck, and the pool, we have about a 10X15 patch of lawn to "play" in.

Monthly Cost of running the pool:

Running a pool pump 24/7: $60
Chlorine Pucks: $20
Shock, Algaecide, PH-Up, Calcium, etc: $5-10
Budgeting for wear and tear (new tarps, Solar blankets, floaty toys, etc) : $5

Total Monthly cost for that small pool was around $90/Month!

Over the summer so far, I've used it 5 times in 3 months.

Averaged out, that's $54 per swim. 

On that reason alone:

Bye Bye Pool!