Take the Plunge
Plan a Pool this Fall

BY MARY ANNE COLE

Although temperatures are cooler now, the heat of summer never fades far from memory. Many San Antonio homeowners use the winter months to plan and install new pools in time for May, when temperatures can settle in above 90.

Today’s pools offer lots of great options for every need. Most homeowners like to have a pool for one or more of three reasons: exercise, aesthetics or entertaining. Some pools can achieve all three goals at once, but it's best to know which one is most important to you so you can design the right pool for your needs.

Exercise
If you like to do a few laps in a slow breaststroke before breakfast, the size and shape of your pool won’t matter much. But if you really want a swimming workout, you need to have a straight lane of at least 20-yards-by-6-feet in width. It’s possible to combine a lap pool with a more free-form shape, but be careful here because the pool can turn out oddly shaped. If you like a lap pool, sometimes it’s best just to let it be what it is and celebrate its elegant, timeless shape. You can also vary its look with landscaping, decking and paint color, which can change the color of the water from the more traditional aqua to a deep blue-black. For distance swimming, you can also install an Endless Pool®, or one like it, which allows you to swim in place in a less conventionally shaped pool, though the feel of “swimming upstream” can take getting used to for some.

Aesthetics
Some people just like the look of water and, if you’re in San Antonio and not on one of our beautiful lakes, a well-designed pool is a great option. Many San Antonio homes are designed with a focus on a backyard or a central courtyard, and a grotto pool can add interest and beauty even if you never put a toe in it. Irregularly shaped, surrounded by rocks and cascading waterfalls and beautifully landscaped, a grotto pool is the kind of pool you’ll never tire of looking at. It’s also great for a plunge on a hot day.

A sleeker aesthetic option is a vanishingedge pool, which is particularly appropriate when your pool is built on ground that slopes away from your vantage point in the house. The vanishing edge — also called an “infinity edge” — allows the water to run over the far edge of the pool into a trough below, from which it runs back into the filtering system. The result is a pool that looks like it drops off into infinity, with no boundary on
the far side. And, of course, whether it’s a dreamy grotto pool or an elegant infinity pool, nothing is more important than lighting and landscaping. When you’re pricing your pool, be sure to leave enough in your budget for both.

Entertaining
Pools built primarily for exercise or aesthetics can also be great for entertaining. But if you entertain a lot, you may want to consider a couple of entertainment-friendly options. One is a gently sloping beach entry, which allows easy access and exit for children and plenty of shallow water. Adult entertaining, in addition to the requisite hot tub, benefits from many seating areas around — and even in — the pool, so your guests can spread out to smaller conversational groups while still being part of the party. And, of course, the hosts don’t want to be stuck inside, so an outdoor bar and barbeque — or even a full outdoor kitchen — can help make sure everyone’s included. Just as it is for aesthetic pools, lighting and landscaping are particularly important for entertainment-oriented pools, but they should concentrate on the deck and seating areas as well as the pool itself.

Resale value?
In today’s real estate market, one of the major considerations is whether a planned improvement, like a pool, will pay for itself in resale value. The answer is a definite and unequivocal “it depends.” The National Association of Realtors reports that pools can add about 11 percent to the value of your home here in the Southwest. If virtually every house in your neighborhood has a pool and if the value of your home is in the high six figures, you may find that adding one will keep your home value in line with others in the neighborhood. But a pool can also reduce your “pool” of potential buyers, deterring a family with young children (because of safety issues) and older couples who may not want the additional maintenance work and cost.

Keep in mind that you won’t add to — and may actually decrease — the value of your home if you go the cheap route. Above-ground pools, for example, not only don’t pay for themselves, they actually subtract about two percent from your home’s value, according to the National Center for Real Estate Research. So if you’re going to do it, do it right.

Once you’ve decided that the pool is the right place to put your hard-earned home improvement money, be sure also to do your homework on what it will cost to maintain. If you’re going to forego the extra chores on your to-do list, hiring a maintenance company can run close to $2,000 a year. Check whether the addition will change your homeowners’ insurance rates as well. And don’t forget the utility bills from running the filter, a hot tub can cost $25 to $50 each time you heat it.

But remember: life is short. If you are careful to build a pool for your own tastes and enjoyment, simply take pleasure in it and let the maintenance and resale chips fall where they may. Take the plunge this fall; plan a pool for next summer.