Buying a house with a pool

[Chappers51]

My pool is 10x5 maximum depth 1,50 but mainly 1,20. It’s a liner and has been in for 15 years, it was my luxury when I moved here permanently and I try to go in everyday once the water temperature is 18*C. I usually open it in mid March and aim to swim until the end of September but managed to go in a couple if times in early October. I’m in the process of getting a devis to replace the liner this year.
Would I bother if I moved? Possibly not, but on the other hand I might as well spend my money on something from which I benefit.

[DaveW]

The blessing here is that the mountains are just behind and they get all the snow and rain. Reservoirs were built to catch both in the pre-alps and use that on the coast in the summer. I think it got very stretched last year and the reserves are still stressed despite some heavy rainfall recently. The forecast is for more snow in the mountains, which all ends up as water, keep it coming!

I must admit to being a wimp, I wouldn’t go in a pool under 27 degrees

[Quiksilver]

Ours is a 12 x 5 inground, liner pool. I wouldn't want to be without it. The abri ensures that the water's clean and warm enough to swim between April and October. It stops evaporation, too. Our electricity bills for the last two summers were horrendous, entirely due to irrigation and the pool pump and robot, so we're planning a few solar panels on the roof of a pergola to take care of powering them in future. Pool maintenance doesn't have to cost the earth if you get the necessary chemicals from a brico rather than a pool shop.
When you say 'how much is added', demi, do you mean property value or were you thinking of taxe foncière? As long as the previous owners declared the pool, it will be included in TF and no nasty surprises, but it's worth checking as the Gov are clamping down on undeclared everything.

[demi]

Thank you all for your replies.

By 'how much is added' I meant the value of the propery, not the taxes.

I was used to swimming in the sea in the UK from late May until end of October. My minimum temperature is 16C.

Unless this house is utterly amazing I think I will be saying 'Non' to it. I'd be paying for something I don't want.

[Hotrodder]

I haven't had a pool myself but when I first arrived in France I was in charge of looking after a pool for clients. Judging by the effort it took, and the issues mentioned above re: taxation, electricity costs, maintenance chemicals and breakdowns, etc. I wouldn't even consider having one myself. If I had money to burn I would jump at the chance of a simple hot tub which would be cheaper in every respect.

[basquesteve]

The people that I have known with a pool during the last 28 years use it the first year and very rarely later, the time and money spent cleaning it every day and maintenance cost are unbelievable

PS Make sure its barriers conform so a young child cannot fall in and drown

[Bayleaf]

I haven't had a pool myself but when I first arrived in France I was in charge of looking after a pool for clients. Judging by the effort it took, and the issues mentioned above re: taxation, electricity costs, maintenance chemicals and breakdowns, etc. I wouldn't even consider having one myself. If I had money to burn I would jump at the chance of a simple hot tub which would be cheaper in every respect.

We got wise after a while, and said "we're gardeners, not pool guys - find someone else to do the pool"! Utter headache, and one particular set of clients couldn't even agree with each other on the general maintenance, and both clashed with their "professional" pool guy (a rip-off merchant if ever I saw one!) - it was always someone else's fault! Non merci! After hoiking out dead mice from their filter several times, I thought "I'm better than this!"

[Spectrum]

We always wanted a pool, an in ground type, but having had a couple of above ground, and after last years heatwave, and an estimate of 50€ for a new pool we have decided to increase and up grade the house Air/con instead, the thinking behind it, while in a pool you are still exposed to the sun, I can suffer from Rosacea, so we will stay in doors in a cool house instead, if DW feels the need to be surrounded by water I will run the bath for her. They do put value on a property, mainly the Brits watch all these homes abroad shows, and they all want a pool to show off to their friends in the UK, they are an expensive luxury, if you have the money or are able to keep the maintenance up then good for you, if I remember in a past forum life there was a lot of threads about pools and a lot of arguing as well.

[rabbit]

We installed a 10x5 pool at our previous house. First couple of years it was great but after that daily cleaning became onerous. In summer the pump needs to be running for about 12 hours a day. Never again for me.

[L Austin France]

Back in the UK I designed & built my own 24ft x 10ft in ground pool.
Fibreglass panels, built by the guy who made our water tanks, with rendered base & liner. Pool suround slabs cast in home made moulds. Swimjet cobbled up from company bits bins & control panel built by guy who made our panels.
The only parts I paid 'real money' for were the sand filter, pump, pool fittings & liner.
Easy to look after with all corners radiused & gizmo that crawled around cleaning up. It even had a fountain that could be screwed into the pool base & rose up out of the water when it's valve was turned on.
Simple Robinsons plastic solar panels & home made controls kept the pool at good temperatures & a heat exchanger connected to the house boiler allowed for heating the pool for our annual new year bash.
The kids loved it & summers after work drinking wine in the pool cabin & dunking in pool made it all worthwhile.
The total cost would have been about £5k but probably half that with donated parts by our suppliers. Chemical costs were negligible,
Would I have another pool now retired here in Brittany. Definitely not.