My Above Ground Pool : Most Commonly Asked Questions

Have you ever considered an above ground pool, but perhaps you have held back- fearing it would piss the neighbors off with the whole tacky factor? If that sounds like you, before you read any further, you need to check out my previous post on  how I made my above ground pool look like a classy, inground pool .  See the pool in the photo below? That is actually my above ground pool!

For those of you coming from that post (you can click here to read it ), you probably have some additional questions or concerns( which I totally failed to cover in the previous article….sorry!). Don’t worry, I am rectifying all of that today.

Over the past year, I have had many people reach out to me with additional questions about my pool , so I am going to dish out all the answers…right here….right freakin’ now!

So here it is….

What size is your pool?

My pool is a 15′ x 30′ oval, above ground pool.

What brand did you go with?

We went with a Vectra which we purchased here locally in Chattanooga, Tennessee,  from a place called Tri-State Pools. There was really no particular rhyme or reason as to why we decided on this company. They simply had the most competitive pricing and we had heard through a friend that Tri-State pools was a reputable company.

What kind of liner do you have?

The standard blue liner that came with the pool wasn’t doing it for me (I didn’t think it was pretty), so we paid $200 to upgrade to the premium liner (which is a darker blue color). The liner name listed on the invoice reads “True Hang Bead”. I think it is was totally worth spending a little extra on the liner as it has decorative detailing on it which resembles more of what you would find on an inground pool. After all, the devil is in the details!

How much did your pool cost?

The pool alone was $5000. However, after upgrading the liner, purchasing the steps (which I am not that fond of), and having to pay for installation, our total investment was $7,000. Obviously this did not include the deck we had to have built around the pool (which was a whopping $25,000).

Why didn’t you just get an inground pool?

This entire project, deck plus pool, required a total investment of $32,000. Kind of crazy, huh? But before you judge, you need to read the whole background story here. I promise..the story is both juicy, dramatic and a useful cautionary tale for those of you purchasing a home with an existing pool.  Anyhow…long story short, when we moved in to our fixer upper, there was an existing inground pool, but it wasn’t properly installed….hence this whole fiasco. We loved having a pool (we had lived there for 2 years before uncovering the issues with the original pool). So once we discovered we would have to completely demo the existing inground pool and start from scratch, we got quotes on installing a new inground pool “the proper way”. Because the grade of our yard is insane (we live on a rocky bluff on top off a ridge), the cost of an above ground pool plus the tricky installation would have been at least $60,000. An above ground pool was better than no pool at all….our children would have been devastated.

Do you have any issues/regrets with the pool or deck?

I had one reader ask me if I noticed any wasps nests under the deck, and NO I have not. The only issue I have had is the trim piece we used on the deck to cover the coping on the perimeter of the pool. After the first summer, the wood did warp slightly. We simply nailed it down tighter and it has been fine. The guy who built our deck came out to look at it, and he said that the issue was probably due to the thick width of the board we used. I still don’t regret using the trim pieces  to cover the coping. A little warping still looks wayyyy better than ugly plastic coping.

So there you have it, I am still very happy with my above ground pool and deck. Just the other day I had a friend come over for a pool day and when I told her my pool was above ground, she couldn’t believe it. That totally reaffirms my decisions regarding this entire project.

If you want to see more photos of the pool or deck and get more details on the deck building process, you can click here to read the original post.

Now get out there and design some good vibes!