Above Ground Pool?? - Oak Park,IL

In Oak Park not worth it due to midwest weather. Much cheaper and convenient to use a pool at a place.

Tons of work, pools! And sadly lots of kid drownings despite precautions.

We have one, eventually we will put in an in ground but for what we need it is perfect. We have an intex metal frame. I like it because you can put it in yourself. Not everyone does it right though. I have a lot of people go oh that looks so nice but it took my two weekends to level the ground put up the retaining wall, all that. That was three years ago.

The best thing we did was buy a sand filter. Those cartridge filters that comes with the intex suck and make it hard to keep the chemicals correct and we had quite a few algae blooms. With the sand filter, perfect water.
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Just throwing this out there, our water bill goes up about 40 bucks when we fill it, another 20 for fills all summer if we don't get rain, a thermal cover another 30 bucks, chemicals about 80 bucks and you can winterize an intex and keep it up all year they just won't support you on it. We winterized ours last winter, piece of cake!
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Reading more answers, a lot of work? I don't think so but then I am a tech head so I know there is always a machine to do my work. The upgraded filter can run and automatic vacuum, our bug cost 140 dollars but that sucker cleans the bottom of the pool while I am at work.

Swear to ya I spend maybe five minutes a week maintaining that pool.

We have had our Intex pool for 2 years. It has a ring around the top that you blow up. I think it is 42" tall. It came with a vacuum. We upgraded to a better filter system and bought a nicer leaf skimmer at a pool store.

To give you an idea of the upkeep, here is what I do. We use the floating chlorine holder and fill it about every 3 days with the 1 inch tablets. I add algaecide every 3-5 days or after it has had a lot of use. I put in baking soda once a week, too. We haven't had issues with algae but I test it pretty often. I vacuum it 2-3 times a week because it is near some trees.

It is a lot of work but I don't mind doing it because it gets the kids out of the house on hot summer days. Our kids are 10 and 7 and they still have fun playing and splashing in it. It isn't as nice as the big public pools but is so much better than the slip n slide and sprinkler that my kids had to use to cool off before we got the pool.

lovelovelove ours!
i'd love even more to have an in-ground, but finances don't permit.
it's a lot of work. (not for me, but for the pool boy with whom i sleep.) but not overwhelmingly so. every now and then my beloved pool boy says wistfully 'maybe we should just get a hot tub' to which i reply 'if that means "in addition to the pool" i'm right there with you.'
i brush and vacuum it about once a week, and he keeps up with chemicals and working on the pool pump when it needs it. we've also had to replace the liner, and patch it fairly frequently (less so now that our boys have moved out and aren't doing things like pole vaulting in it....grrrrrr.)
but the use and pleasure we (i) get out of it are well worth the work.
khairete
S.

If your yard is fenced in, do it!
If you don't mind purchasing the pool, the deck, and the fencing, do it!
We had an above ground and loved it.
We moved here and put in an inground pool and we love it!
I don't consider my pool a lot of work. I put chemicals in a couple times a week, I skim the bug du jour off the top when necessary. I haven't had to vacuum it yet this year. I do have a company open and close it every year because I don't want any issues with it.
If you want a pool, get one!
Do get the biggest pool that will fit. Kids get bigger... Their friends get bigger... I still don't know how that happens, but that's a topic for another day.
Enjoy your pool!

We have friends with an above ground pool. It is nice if it is hot and you just need to cool off, but I find we get bored pretty quick. It isn't deep enough to dive, not shallow enough to run around in and not really big enough to swim. We would rather go to the public pool with a deep end, shallow end, diving board, slide and swimming lanes. They spend a lot of time at home in the summer because they spend so much money filling and heating the pool they want to get their money's worth.

ETA: Our friends are cheap and they never heat it up enough, so it is pretty uncomfortable!

a ton of upkeep, but if you're up for it, that's great.

You might want to start with one of those Intex pools, which are much cheaper of an investment cost wise and labor wise (as far as installing and landscaping around it, versus just setting it up each season)

ETA: Our home came with an above-ground pool. We used it the first summer, part of the 2nd, and then got so busy with life we didn't have time to maintain it. I listed it on Freecycle one day (5 years ago) and within hours some scrap metal salvage people were at my house disassembling it. We then had a big void in our yard, of sand and river rock, for a few years until we finally had the money to have the area cleared, leveled, filled with dirt, and sodded. We will NEVER again buy a home with an above-ground pool. Huge turnoff for many buyers.

My house came with an inground pool and I grew up always having a pool, even in Massachusetts where our weather is probably similar to yours (maybe 10 swimmable weeks a year). It's a lot of work but totally worth it, IMO. We're on day 5 of a heat wave and can't imagine dealing with this without the kids being able to just head outside and cool off. If this pool didn't come with the house we would have bought and installed an above-ground. Get a cheap Intex pool and see how you like it. If you use it a lot, you can decide whether or not to invest in a more permanent above-ground. I love above-ground pools that have an attached porch area.

We have a nice 24 foot metal framed pool. It is not a cheap intex one, but one we got from a pool store with a proper pump and filter. It is about 4.5 foot deep. OMG, we swim every day for 2 hours, with the heat here in TX it is the only exercise my kids get. It is so worth it!

I grew up with an above ground pool and loved it as a kid. We have had an above ground pool for the last 10 years and it has always gotten a lot of use. My son has always loved the water so it's been great. Now I have my daughter too and she's would live in the pool if we'd let her.

One difference between what we grew up with and what we have now is instead of testing the water several times a day, adding stuff to raise the numbers and then adding stuff to lower the numbers (yes that is what the pool people told us to do and my aunt wouldn't let us in if the numbers were showing to be where they should be) we don't treat the pool every day. There is no need to add extra chemicals every day. All that does is waste money, cause extra work, and delay getting in the pool. After opening the pool each season, we treat it weekly unless their is a problem. It's less work, more fun, less expensive, and our pool guy is right on board with that (even though doing it the other way would mean we'd buy more chemicals from him).

My suggestions to you would be:
1. Run from any place that pushes too many chemicals on you because if/when you have any issue you want to know that the experts aren't just trying to make a sale but rather helping you get your pool right.
2. Put up the biggest pool you can comfortably fit in your yard. This was a suggestion from someone we did not buy our pool from but his rationale was that no one ever said they "wished they'd gotten a smaller pool" but plenty of people have said the reverse. Also, your kids aren't getting smaller, they are growing and so are their friends.
3. Enjoy!

Look at the laws in your area... Some places require pools over a certain depth be fenced in, or other safety precautions.

We are planning to get one when we can afford it. :)

We had one for several years, but that was down in Texas where it could be used for 5-6 months of the year.

Yes, it was a lot of work to keep the chemicals balanced, but it was great fun for the kids.

The house came with the pool... we didn't have it installed.

We Live In The Midwest, Costs To Think Of Does Your City Require A Permit To Install?Fill? Added Insurance? Chemicals? Maintenance? Need Fencing? Cost To Fill And Maintain Water Level, Added Electrical Costs. The WoRk Vs. Cost Vs. Enjoyment. Compare It To Cost Of A Membership To A Place That Has A Pool Both Year Round And Seasonal. Our Weather Is A crapshoot At Best. We Can HavE A March Of 80S Then A April Of Snowstorms. Have Fun Either way.