Quote:
Originally Posted by laceylady
We have decided to add a concrete in ground pool to our home in Sanibel. We have never had a pool and know very little about them. We got a few quotes, read everything I could find on TOTV and decided to contract with T&D. We have a meeting scheduled to go over their drawing, etc.
What questions do we need to ask? I can choose tile colors and such, just fine, but what about the other parts of the pool? My neighbor is having a lot of cracks in the concrete (not a T&D pool) and told me to ask about the warranty on that, but what else? This is a big expense and we don't want to pay for what we don't need. Thanks for your help.
The pool will be heated with a heat pump at this point- per T&D's recommendation.
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Make sure the placement of the pool light will not cast shadows on the walls. Consider an LED light. Very pricey but I believe worth the cost. Multi color, splash and light show modes make for very nice mood lighting in the evening.
Consider pavers as they look a lot cleaner without having to hose the deck down every few days. Unfortunately T&D will charge extra for pavers, my company the price was the same, concrete deck or pavers, same price.
Consider solar as your primary heating source. About $2000 cheaper than a heat pump and no monthly heating cost. Granted the winter months are chilly at 77 to 81 degrees but if you have a hot tub spa connected to the pool, you can actually get the tub up to temp, 95 with solar only, takes a few hours. We use gas heat to get it up to temp at night or quickly in the day time.
I don't use a thermal blanket for the pool or spa as I don't like the looks of it or the work associated with placing it on and off daily. Using it will increase water temp but as I said no cost to let it leak out so I'd rather look at water than a blue cover.
Forget the variable speed pump, the extra cost of this pump is not worth it. T&D will tell you that by code they have to at least install a two speed pump. Never, never use the low speed, it's worthless. You need to circulate 4 to 5 volumes of pool water a day to keep it clean. The energy required for that is a fixed cost. low speed would be a 24 hour a day event, high speed 6 to 8 hours a day.
T&D will install Haywood equipment. I prefer Jandy (Zodiac) equipment, personal preference, but I don't think that is an option with T&D, you can ask. Both are good though.
Consider floor sweeper jetting. I had it installed to allow warm water to enter the pool from the bottom (better thermal efficiency) but found that it absolutely cleans the floor, I hardly ever vacuum.
If your a fan of shutting your house water off when you vacation, and your getting an auto fill/drain system for the pool, consider tapping the water feed ahead of the house shut off so you can isolate the house water but still have a feed to your fill system.
Don't be fooled by thinking a salt water pool is a no chlorine pool. What you save with a salt pool by not having to use chlorine on a monthly basis will be eaten up by the cost (hundreds of dollars) to replace the chlorine salt cell when it goes bad and needs replacement. I use 1 ounce of chlorine a day average, costs about $8 a month. I also have an ozonator that helps reduce the chlorine load.
The previous post mentioned electrical, breakers etc. One thing I'll say for T&D is they appear to be a turnkey operation. They will take care of everything from what I've heard from neighbors who used them. As I said, I used a different company.
Hope this helps.