I have pretty much given up on the idea of fixing this sad excuse of a pool. I have packed all the inlets with that hardening putty which is made to fix underwater leaks and it has not stopped the leaking. I don't really know where else I can try to plug, so the next thing is to rip it all out and start new. Wife and I have been going back and forth and it all boils down to we are both tired of almost having a cool backyard, but not really. The discussion has been very lengthy because it is a lot of money and we both have to be in agreement that it is something we both want to do. Too often, I get painted as the "spender" while Wife gets to be the "saint" that has to give in to Mr. Demanding. I don't really like getting painted into this corner and this weekend I was willing to think outside the box. I suggested to Wife that we just pay to have the pool, concrete and hot tub all ripped out, then maybe next summer we can just buy another hot tub like our first one that comes in its own frame and can sit on top of a concrete pad. I like this idea because it can then be serviced rather easily, specially if we buy something common that uses generic parts like Hayward Pumps that can easily be swapped out. Wife then had to step out of her comfort zone and say that no, she would in fact prefer to have a pool too, so this wouldn't be just a "Me" thing.
We priced both fiberglass and gunite (concrete) pools and they both end up close to $85,000. If the price was below $50,000, I would have done it already, our first pool and hot tub combined and installed was only $11,000 or so. I think we spent another $7,000 for all the concrete that was poured. The prices are what have us hesitating, it is certainly a lot of money but given that we don't really go out, it is a form of entertainment/exercise that would be at our control. I suggested maybe a country club, but I looked at prices today and it is something like $500 initiation fee (not sure of per person or for the family) and then close to $200 a month just for swimming pool rights, this does not include golf or tennis, some of the other activities. This was just a far fetched idea. Another idea Wife suggested was an above ground pool and I don't totally hate that idea, but we had one before we bought this pool and after about two seasons it got rusty around one of the water inlets and one day while the kids were swimming, it just split open and all the water poured into the neighbor's house behind us. I was scared they would have sued us or something, but they never said anything. That kind of scared me to want to buy another one.
So the next thing is to call and find out where we can borrow that kind of money, and I thought it would be easy to just refinance the house, specially with all the new added equity with prices of houses in Austin exploding lately. Everything seemed to be going smoothly when I got hold of Rocket Mortgage, but then the lady told me that in Texas you can't refinance twice in one year, so we will have to wait until the spring if we decide to go this route. There are specific pool loans, and I guess I need to see what kind of interest rates they are offering to maybe go that route. My goal is that by the spring, we will at least have a scheduled day for install before the summer really gets going.
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