Indoor Inground Swimming Pool

webbmeister · Jun 16, 2002

Anybody ever install one? During new construction? Sorry/Glad you did it? Gotchas? More pain than pleasure? Costly? More or less than an outdoor inground pool?

DavidInNH · Jun 16, 2002

I almost installed an endless pool this year. I ended up buying a tractor instead /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif. I like to swim laps, so unless I win the lottery and can afford to build a 25 meter indoor lap pool, this seems like my best choice.

-david

webbmeister · Jun 16, 2002

If you're asking me, I say you made the right choice. If you asked the CFO, that would be a different answer altogether. She priced and endless pool. $17K! Yikes!

DavidInNH · Jun 16, 2002

$17K was the cheap part. Enclosing the lower patio was the expensive part. I'll end up doing it in the next few years, but I think I'll do the excavating now that I have Ellie Mae. I'm hoping wroughtn_harv will post a tutorial on how to build your own endless pool. Maybe I can drive the pool's propellor from the tractor's PTO /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

beenthere · Jun 16, 2002

If enclosing (building) an indoor pool, careful consideration needs to be given to the amount of moisture that evaporates from the water in the pool and causes high moisture conditions, which are very tough on any wood in the room or in the walls. Moisture inside, cold outside, condensation on and in the walls will cause mold, bacteria, and wood decay. Paint peeling off outside siding and wet insulation, etc. are some more headaches.

I tried to plan one in my new home of 35 years ago, and could not swing it mostly because of cost, but also because I couldn't figure a way to get around the high moisture problems. Probably the best thing that could have happened to that idea. However, the basement floor in the 16' x 40' rec room is still ready to be carved out for its installation. Hmmmm? Haven't thought about that for awhile, until you mentioned it.

chim · Jun 17, 2002

Beenthere, one of the fellas at work went ahead with one about 25 years ago. He ran into the problems you describe. Just last year we finished a project at a police academy, which included a pool dehumidification unit. The pool, which they preferred to call a Training Tank so it wouldn't sound too recreational, had been a problem since the place was built back in the 1960's. The unit is big expensive air handler that has heating and cooling capabilities. It usually does both at the same time (can you say expensive to operate?) in order to control humidity. Pool water is circulated to accept some of the (otherwise) waste heat. It has fresh air and exhaust built into it. With the chlorine in the water and atmosphere there are concerns over life expectancy for some equipment...........chim

Mosey · Jun 17, 2002

What is an "endless pool"?

DavidInNH · Jun 17, 2002

<font color=blue>What is an "endless pool"?</font color=blue>
It is a pool designed to swim laps in or with the optional deep end, you can do water arobics. It has a propeller that provides a constant speed current that you swim agains. Think of it as a treadmill for swimmers.
See <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.endlesspools.com/index.html>Endless Pools</A> for details.

-david

webbmeister · Jun 17, 2002

Did some research on humidity control. $12,000 plus install plus pool, plus excavation = no pool.

spencer200 · Jun 17, 2002

go with one of those new vinyl four season glass patio rooms on a tile floor.. I just put one in stays toasty warm even in the winter. with a small heater. the room is 24x32.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 17, 2002

I didn't believe the storys about pool humidity doing damage till I saw a tar buggy and roofer fall thru the roof of the school pool 8 years ago.
That was the brilliant rehab project where they decided to reroof the pool over 2" gypsum plank instead of replacing the roof deck. Needless to say, they then redecked the roof, and still don't have any humidity control in the pool.
If I was going to do it, I would just erect a soft plastic greenhouse over the pool. That would sure confuse the assessor, they can't tax us for ag buildings. I'd also have a fire pump connected to the pool, and claim the whole thing was a fire safety system.

webbmeister · Jun 18, 2002

Franz:

Surely you don't mean for me to attempt to get by on taxes, do you? Heavens, we all have to do our respective and collective parts to be sure the country can fund our entitlement programs and ensure the limitless supply of pork for our politicians! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Anonymous Poster · Jun 18, 2002

Mind us asking how pricey that enclosure was?

Wingnut · Jun 18, 2002

32' x 16' indoor inground pool ... in extension to the house. Extension is completely solid wood planking walls and ceiling ... no rot, no mold, no mildew. Floor is tile, pool is standard lined pool.
No chlorine ... went with bromine in pool and hot tub.
One end (closest to house, has plank (deck style) floor over concrete with (about 12 x 24) with wet bar and fireplace.
As I said, no water damage ... actually, some of the floor planks have shrunk more than I'd have imagined ... and the building/pool is now about 10 years old. Ceiling is "cathedral" with 2 skylights.
Slight leak ... need to top it up again ... lost about 500-700 gals in the past 8 months ... but haven't found the time to locate that pinhole.
To keep the humidity down ... and this certainly appears to work ... the pool is covered with a solar cover except when we use it. Keeps the heat in and the humidity down.
Regrets ... well ... we really don't use it enough to justify the pool being there ... and propane heating costs are atrocious ... but heck, it's only money and I'd just buy more attachments is I didn't have the pool!

kevinro · Jun 30, 2002

I recently installed a 56'x14' pool inside my house. It is in its own 'wing', and includes a Lifebreath HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) to keep the humidity down. A few things I learned:

1) The most important thing to install on an INDOOR pool is a water proof cover. This drastically reduces the amount of moisture in the air. This allows you to use an HRV dehumidifier, rather than a compressor type. The cost difference both in installation and operation is very substantial.

2) The interior of your pool room should be made from fairly weather proof materials. We used a lot of stone and cedar. The walls were painted with a fairly thick coat of enamel paint plus a water resistant primer.

3) Pools can be rather expensive to heat.

4) There is always the big question of going with a gunite (sprayed concrete) or fiberglass. The size of our pool eliminated the fiberglass. The largest lap pool we could find was 38'x12' in fiberglass. Also, replacing the fiberglass pool in an indoor installation isn't feasible.

We really enjoy our pool, and are quite happy that we put one in. I have attached a picture of our pool room so you can have a look at what we did. The pool and equipment came out to about $50k. The building was part of the new house, but wasn't very cheap mostly because of the skylights and windows we selected. It is quite nice.

Kevin

kevinro · Jun 30, 2002

Forgot to mention that we also installed a hot tub in one end of the pool. It was in the previous picture. The hot tub and the pool share the same water.

The picture in this attachment has the pool cover closed.

webbmeister · Jun 30, 2002

Kevin:

That is stunningly beautiful. Pam and I have decided against the pool because of initial and ongoing cost. Let me say again, though, that your pool room is magnificent!

Jim