How much to put in a lap lane in your backyard

The 16-yard 1-lane money pit in my backyard was $40K almost 10 years ago. $10K of that was so I could have a buried propane tank and gas lines to heat the attached spa since my neighborhood has no gas service and electrically heating the pool/spa is really expensive. It costs about $10/hour to run the heater so I only run it to use the spa and if we get temps a lot below freezing (as well as running the pumps 24/7 to prevent them from icing up and bursting.) I also had to have electric, phone, and cable lines moved. Some had to be hand-dug. Probably $3K for all that. The builder told me that the perimeter of the pool was the way they ballparked the cost estimates. Not the square/cubic feet. So an L shape pool would cost about the same as a rectangular pool with the same base and height dimensions. The pool bottom is cheaper than the walls, which are more heavily-reinforced. If you don't take good care of the pool it can be quite expensive replacing busted filter parts and buying extra chemicals to kill algae. I finally gave up and hired a pool dude. All the chemicals I was dumping in during sporadic tiger team efforts were pretty harsh on the plaster finish. Electricity to run the pump adds to the cost too, and if the pool gets out of control you end up running the pumps longer during the cleanup stages. It also uses more water and DE to backwash the filters a few extra times during rehab. My pool is not long enough to be great exercise (yet) but it's OK for drills and would be PERFECT for teaching private/semi-private swim lessons to new swimmers -- if I found myself otherwise unemployed with the time to do that. I also had it fitted with deck anchors for water volleyball posts (just galvanized fence posts cut in half) and it works fine for its primary use just floating and relaxing or having something calming to look at while enjoying weekend morning coffee. Probably when I am elderly it will be plenty long enough for me to lap swim in. It was as big as I could fit into my tiny little backyard. By keeping it shallow I didn't have to get the bedrock blasted out (I think that adds $1K) like my neighbors did. The pool only increased the property market value about $5K so it would be very painful financially if I needed to sell the house. The loans were 2nd mortgages and interest is tax-deductible. I had a few tense moments at work regarding transfers where I would need to sell the house in a sour market, so I am feeling very pinned down. On the positive side, it is nice enjoying those late-night "dips" thanks to one neighbor who is legally blind and having good landscaping and fences blocking the view from other neighbors (who don't spend any time outdoors anyhow). :D Would I do it again ? The jury's out.

The 16-yard 1-lane money pit in my backyard was $40K almost 10 years ago. $10K of that was so I could have a buried propane tank and gas lines to heat the attached spa since my neighborhood has no gas service and electrically heating the pool/spa is really expensive. It costs about $10/hour to run the heater so I only run it to use the spa and if we get temps a lot below freezing (as well as running the pumps 24/7 to prevent them from icing up and bursting.) I also had to have electric, phone, and cable lines moved. Some had to be hand-dug. Probably $3K for all that. The builder told me that the perimeter of the pool was the way they ballparked the cost estimates. Not the square/cubic feet. So an L shape pool would cost about the same as a rectangular pool with the same base and height dimensions. The pool bottom is cheaper than the walls, which are more heavily-reinforced. If you don't take good care of the pool it can be quite expensive replacing busted filter parts and buying extra chemicals to kill algae. I finally gave up and hired a pool dude. All the chemicals I was dumping in during sporadic tiger team efforts were pretty harsh on the plaster finish. Electricity to run the pump adds to the cost too, and if the pool gets out of control you end up running the pumps longer during the cleanup stages. It also uses more water and DE to backwash the filters a few extra times during rehab. My pool is not long enough to be great exercise (yet) but it's OK for drills and would be PERFECT for teaching private/semi-private swim lessons to new swimmers -- if I found myself otherwise unemployed with the time to do that. I also had it fitted with deck anchors for water volleyball posts (just galvanized fence posts cut in half) and it works fine for its primary use just floating and relaxing or having something calming to look at while enjoying weekend morning coffee. Probably when I am elderly it will be plenty long enough for me to lap swim in. It was as big as I could fit into my tiny little backyard. By keeping it shallow I didn't have to get the bedrock blasted out (I think that adds $1K) like my neighbors did. The pool only increased the property market value about $5K so it would be very painful financially if I needed to sell the house. The loans were 2nd mortgages and interest is tax-deductible. I had a few tense moments at work regarding transfers where I would need to sell the house in a sour market, so I am feeling very pinned down. On the positive side, it is nice enjoying those late-night "dips" thanks to one neighbor who is legally blind and having good landscaping and fences blocking the view from other neighbors (who don't spend any time outdoors anyhow). :D Would I do it again ? The jury's out.