How much to put in a lap lane in your backyard

About 15 years ago a guy here put in the following: 1) A 1-lane 25-yard lap pool, half indoors and half outdoors. A glass garage door separates the indoor from the outdoor; he raises the door when he wants to swim. In the winter he raises it just enough to be able to recover his arms without hitting it. 2) A normal-sized, in-ground backyard pool, EXCEPT that it is 12 feet deep. This is because it is situated next to the 2nd-floor deck, to allow for diving off the deck railing. 3) A small, in-ground hot tub. I believe the cost for all of this, 15 years ago, was about $90,000.

A 20 x 40 gunite is the typical backyard pool in our area. Contractors allow as a rule of thumb...$10,000 per ten feet on the length if it's a gunite pool with nice coping details. (Example...a 50 foot pool...$50K...a 60 foot pool...$60K...etc.) If the lap pool is narrow...(12 feet wide)...it's probably a good guestimate that a 12' x 75' would fall into the range of a 20' x 40' cost. In other words roughly $40k. Which includes the equipment, coping and tile along the water line. To lower the cost, you could always go with a vinyl liner rather than gunite. It would keep the numbers way down. Again prices will vary around the country, all depending on where you live, and what kind of quality you're looking for.

I haven't yet investigated costs, but my dream is to build a 3 lane x 25 meter pool in my backyard. In my wild fantasy, Myrtha pool constructs it. I'll be getting quotes later this year as I think this is a multi-year savings project for me. Based upon what I know of building play pools in Arizona, though, I think the $70k to $100K range would be right for a 2 or 3 lane, 25 yard or so pool by a traditional pool company. Bells and whistles like heating/cooling systems, automated covers, real lane lines, starting blocks, would be more. Then, of course, if you go that far, you gotta consider the underwater tracking camera, touchpads and scoreboard. :) Dream big. I'd do the same. I'd also build stadium seating and hire extras to cheer me on during workouts.

I've got a 20 yard straight pool in my backyard that is about 2 lanes wide. We built it about 13 years ago. It has an automatic cover and heater. It is an inground pool with a deck, but has a vinyal liner(not concrete). I think we paid around $30,000 at the time. Since then the automatic cover had to be replaced($4000 on special), and we,ve replaced 2 pumps. ($600 each w/a friend doing it). I wish I would have made it a full 25 yards long. I was afraid it would look outrageous; it would have been fine and wouldn't have cost much more. It can get a little wavy when you swim but nothing terrible. I would like to get a couple wave eating lane lines and it would probably cut that down alot. It has been a fun pool to have. It was great when the kids were young because I could go out and swim after they went to bed! I don't workout in it much now since I've joined Nasti's but my son and one of my daughters have started doing laps semi-regularly. Maintenence is fairly easy but chemicals can get expensive.

I think the cheapest solution is an Endless Pool. I know some people who have an in-ground pool fitted with one of these "pool treadmill" devices (don't know which manufacturer). They like it quite a bit. And it does take a lot less space and water than a full-length pool big enough to work out in would take.

That is my dream too. I know the problem of finding pools you can train laps. My brother has a hotel in South America with an outside pool. I know that you really have to clean the pool a lot. He cleans it every day and you need to know how much chlorine and aluminum you need to use and vacuum it every day. It isn't cheap to maintain it either.

On the backyard lane line, Barbie Benton, a former ex-girlfriend, has a two lanes indoors at your home in Aspen. He got dumped by Hefner and found another rich guy to marry her. I saw it on the Morons Next Door show. It was two seperate pools but not sure how long it was. that is a truly remarkable paragraph!!! :applaud::applaud::applaud::applaud::applaud:

I think everyone's comments are right on. The minimum cost of even a relatively small inground pool (say 32' by 16') is going to be $20-$30k depending on the area of the country you live in. I agree that a one lane pool is going to have too much turbulence probably even with lane lines. Perhaps, you might be able to get a 25 yard pool with two lanes where you could put lane lines in and get a big turbulence reduction for somewhere around $70-$90k (if you are lucky). I have no idea what flow-over gutters cost by probably quite a bit of added cost. I think ever swimmer has probably thought it would be nice to a lap pool in their back yard. I think there was an article in one of the swim magazines about a doctor in Orlando, Florida that has a lap pool in their back yard - maybe someone know him and he can give you some ideas if you are serious about it. My dad/uncle used to own a pool construction company before they passed away so I kind of grew up building pools. My dad built a one lane lap pool for someone once (about 20 yards long if I remember correctly) and I tried it out and it sucked. The person that built it wasn't very fast and she loved it because she didn't create much of a wave coming off the walls or when she swam. I would imagine that a lap pool probably wouldn't add much value to a home either and might be a disadvantage when selling (unless you sell to another swimmer). Tim

I think the cheapest solution is an Endless Pool, and that will run about $15k. I was seriously considering one until my wife convinced me that we just needed to move closer to civilization (aka her work and a USMS team). Some nice benefits: - It takes up a little more space than a hottub, and installation is similar. - It can be installed indoors if you have the space - It is installed in a day - Uses a lot less water than a in ground lap pool - It is much cheaper than even the cheapest in ground pool Drawbacks - no flip turns - You set your pace, than swim. Although you can vary your pace some, you won't be able to go from moderate to sprint - cheaper than an in ground pool is still not cheap. Check out their website, get the video, go try one out. I did find another brand who makes something similar in a fiberglass shell format (Endless Pools is (or was) a lined steel box that is built onsite), and one of their options is a hot tub plus flume. The demo options and customer testimonials were pretty sparse compared to Endless Pools, but the overall cost should be about the same. I think the shell ran about $10k, so I guess total would be similar to the Endless Pool. Endless Pool will send you a price list as will this other company (don't remember who they are). Just contact them through their website. Endless Pools will probably have a bunch of offers this Fall as they go into slow season. The base price stayed the same (when I was paying attention), and the offers were things like free installation, free retractable cover, deeper pool and longer pool. All this knowledge is at least 6 years old now, so hopefully it is still fairly accurate.

Looks like they start at over $20k now. www.endlesspools.com/.../what_pricelist.html