5 Things to Consider When Adding a Swimming Pool to Your Home

Not only can a swimming pool be a fun addition to your home – it can also add value to your property, and it can be an excellent source to get your daily physical exercise. In fact, doctors say that taking a few laps in the pool every morning or evening can have significant health benefits. While you could simply hire a licensed contractor or pool builder to install a pool in your back or front yard, it is important to consider a few things beforehand. A pool can be a big investment and any slight mishap can have negative consequences. Here are 5 things to consider when adding a swimming pool to your home.

1. Do you want to renovate the whole back or front yard, or do you just want a pool. If you look at your backyard right now, chances are that if you imagine a pool it will look relatively silly in relation with what is around it. When you install or build a pool, you usually have to do a full landscape revamp too. This is because not only do you need a concrete path around the pool, but you probably want to keep some of the grass too.
2. Make sure to measure accordingly. The last thing you want is to build a pool and realize one of two things: either it is way too big for your back or front yard space, or the pool is way too small and you could have gotten away with building a bigger one. This is especially important to consider if you are trying to raise the value of your home – a homebuyer won’t want a pool that is disproportionately sized. If worse comes to worse, though, you might be able to fit in a hot tub.
3. Don’t forget all the costs that are involved with building a pool. Just like anything, pools need maintenance and regular cleanings. Also, you need swimming pool chemicals to make sure that the pool doesn’t turn into a hotbed for germs and bacteria. Not only that, but your pool may need to be heated, especially if you want to swim at night or during the winter. You can probably get away with a cold pool, but a heated pool is much nicer.
4. Make sure that you have enough room to hold all the equipment. What you don’t notice when you swim in a friend’s or neighbor’s pool is all the filtration and pumping equipment. This equipment is usually hidden behind a gate or in another area of the home. If you don’t have the room for all the equipment, you don’t really have room for a pool. A contractor will be able to tell you how much room you need and if you can feasibly make room.
5. Decide who will build the pool. Pools can be contracted to a number of people to build them. For instance, you could go to a professional landscaper or you could go with a contractor. A contractor might not build something as aesthetically pleasing as a landscaper. Yet, if you want to save money, you could do most of the work – all it takes is a few friends to dig the space where the pool will go. You could even make a summer project out of it.