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Backyardpools
Can be joy, nightmare,
financial albatross
By FRANK MACOMBER
Copley News Service
The backyard swimming
pool can be a joy, a delight. Or
it can be a constant midday
nightmare and a financial al
batross.
A check of law enforcement
officials, reliable pool con
struction and maintenance
firms and pool owners or oper
ators all filters down to this
conclusion:
Tread carefully if you decide
to join the pool-side set. If you
acquire a reliable contractor
and read all the fine print care
fully, chances are you will get a
good pool, a wonderful place
for children and adults as well
to gather for healthy exercise.
If you make the wrong
TB yM" Griffin Daily News 9
Magazine
OOPS AND UP—Back yard pools are safer when children
are taught to save themselves. Here little Jason Smith is
moves, you probably will re
gret the day the other members
of your family talked you into
digging up the backyard in the
first place.
Residential pools have such a
price range, depending on the
region of the country, the con
tractor, the size, shape and ma
terials, that cost estimates usu
ally are confusing. However,
pool builders say it is less ex
pensive to build a pool while the
house is under construction
than to decide later you wanted
it all the time. Building later
adds about a third to the cost of
pool construction.
Some contractors will build
you a pool for $2,500 to $3,000, if
the soil is not too rocky. Or the
project can run from $5,000 to
$7,500, depending on what the
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Saturday, July 8, 1972
homeowner wants in the way of
tile or brick work, whether the
pool is to be heated or un
heated, etc.
The average-size home pool
holds 17,000 gallons of water, is
8 1 6 feet deep at one end and
about 3% feet at the shallow
end, about 36 by 18 feet and can
be shaped like anything from a
kidney to a rectangle. Enter
tainer Liberace had one built in
the shape of a giant grand pi
ano.
Os course, you could turn the
contractor loose and get a luxu
ry pool for up to $20,000, with all
the trimmings, tiled decks, div
ing boards, etc. The water is no
wetter in those pools, however,
than in the $2,500 to $5,000 pool.
A heated pool, of course, is
desirable, for it gives swim-
learning the technique of climbing out all by himself.
mers a year-round activity in
most parts of the country. But a
heating system costs up to S4OO
or more extra and can run from
S2O to S3O a month to operate if
used constantly.
A black plastic pool cover is
the next best way to retain so
lar heat in the water, but this is
cumbersome and can be costly,
too.
Many owners say they get
enough pleasure from their
pools without a heater or cover.
More important than a heat
ing system is the filter system
and the owner’s chemical
treatment of the water once the
pool is ready. In the summer,
when the pool is used the most,
the filter should operate at
least for two eight-hour periods
during every 24. Constant
movement of the water through
a filter keeps it clean, cuts
down algae probability and
stagnation. In the winter, an
eight-hour daily filter run usu
ally is sufficient.
The filter, however, is only as
efficient as the action of two
chemicals on the water — chlo
rine and muriatic acid. They
purify the water and combat
algae, which shows up on the
pool bottom and sides in black
patches if it is not chased away
by the chemicals.
Some pool owners fall into
the trap of overdosing with
chemicals. This can give the
water strange hues, and depos
it a blue-green powder on the
bottom and sides.
Too much acid in the water
(Continued on Page 2.)