FOUNTAINS & SWIMMING POOLS - 1
Swimming Pools
wimming pools are like substantial fortunes,
practically
everyone would like one and few obtain
them. In the case of the
swimming pool, the problem is practically
always one of cost. Com-
pared to other things which homeowners
can build or have built to
enhance the recreation facilities of
their properties, swimming pools
are extraordinarily expensive. A few
lucky persons have succeeded
in building pools of fair, if not generous,
size for $3000 or less, but
not many homeowners are, or can hope
to be, so fortunate. Prices
of family-sized pools vary greatly. The
variations are related not only
to the region in which the pools are
built but also to what is in-
cluded with the pool. A simple pool which
must be filled with the
garden hose and which is drained into
a near-by ditch or creek may
cost one sum; whereas another pool built
in the same community but
equipped with accessories such as a bath
house, provision for filter-
ing, sterilizing and re-circulating the
water, and with a more elaborate
drainage system can cost several times
as much. There is no such
thing as a standard price. As this book
is being written, two con-
tracting firms are offering to build
pools in the northeastern states
at guaranteed prices. One is offering
a 20 ft. by 40 ft. concrete pool
with diving board, ladder, drains, gutters,
etc., for $8300. The
other is offering a 16 ft. by 30 ft.
pool without accessories for $4775.
Even the higher-priced of these two pools
would be considered too
small by many swimmers, and, of course,
neither price includes
much extra equipment. Some of the accessories
which have been installed in conjunction
with private swimming pools are strictly
in the nature of luxuries.
They include such equipment as heating
systems for the water,
elaborate lighting systems, elaborate
buildings which contain not
only lockers and dressing rooms but also
bars, recreation rooms,
kitchens, etc. On the other hand, some
accessories are essential
equipment. For example, some of the prices
quoted by contractors
cover the excavation work and the bare
pool, but a water supply of
some sort and a drain must both be constructed
before the pool can
be used. Few owners of pools wish to
get along without a diving
board, yet the minimum prices advertised
often do not include this
piece of equipment. In a considerable
number of communities water
from the municipal system costs so much
that a pool which is emp-
tied, cleaned, and refilled half a dozen
times in a season can use up
two or three hundred dollars' worth of
water. In some regions
where water supplies run short in the
middle of the summer filling
the pool might be forbidden. In such
localities, the water must be
filtered, sterilized, and re-circulated.
Another accessory which may
be required by law is a filter through
which the drain water is passed
before it is discharged into a stream
or other drainage system. Ac-
cessories such as these can add considerable
amounts to the cost of
a swimming pool.
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