Guide
Natural swimming pool vs chlorine pool
When we priced a regular pool for our yard, the quotes came back between $150,000 and $200,000. We built a natural pool ourselves for about $12,000. Cost was only part of why we chose it.
Side by side
| Natural pool | Chlorine pool | |
|---|---|---|
| Build cost, DIY | about $15,000 to $90,000 | rarely a DIY project |
| Build cost, hired | about $95,000 and up in our designer | our quotes were $150,000 to $200,000 |
| Chemicals | none; beneficial bacteria about $83 a year in ours | chlorine, acid, shock, testing |
| Power | one variable-speed pump, about $45 a month in ours | pump, often a heater |
| Weekly work | empty the skimmer | test and balance water, brush, vacuum |
| Winter | stays a pond; ours is swum year round | closed, covered, drained down |
| Wildlife | frogs, dragonflies, birds | none, by design |
What it's like to swim in
The water is soft. There's no chlorine smell on your kids' skin and no red eyes. It looks like a mountain lake, with plants at the far end and a pebble bottom you can see near the edges. It isn't sterile. It's alive, and it's clean because that life is in balance.
The trade-offs
A natural pool is not a blue box. Expect a few honest differences:
- The first year is messy. Bacteria take a full summer to colonize. Water clarity gets much better by the second summer.
- You'll see plants and some algae on rocks. A little string algae on rocks is normal. Net it out.
- More space. About half the water surface is plants, so the pool takes more yard than a chlorine pool with the same swim area.
- Testing is different. Instead of chlorine levels, you periodically test the water for bacteria like E. coli.
Upkeep
Our routine is short. Empty the skimmer once a week. Net out whatever settles on the bottom once or twice a month, more often in the fall. Cut the plants back in October. That's it.
Try it on your own yard
Sketch a natural pool in the designer and see what it costs to build it yourself or with help, or browse 70 finished designs.
See what yours would cost. Sketch it on your own yard and get every way to build it.
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