Is It Better to Renovate an Old Pool or Replace It?
Unfortunately, some old pools will just be too far gone to be effectively restored to swimmable shape. This becomes truer the longer your old pool has sat unused and unmaintained. If your new home includes a pool you simply can’t justify paying thousands of dollars to restore, you’ll be faced with two serious choices:
If you never planned to use a backyard pool in the first place, it’s an easy choice. However, many homeowners don’t want to abandon the dream of a backyard oasis — they just can’t justify renovating an old pool when it simply doesn’t suit their needs.
If your existing old pool is the wrong shape, size, depth, or material, or it includes too many (or too few) costly fixtures, it may make more sense to replace the whole thing.
The best way to determine whether you’re better off renovating or replacing your old pool is to answer a few simple questions:
- Would the current pool suit your needs once it’s renovated?
- Would it cost significantly less to renovate your pool than replace it?
- How important is the “perfect pool” to your dreams of homeownership?
Many new homeowners with old pools simply don’t like their existing pool enough to justify keeping it, regardless of the cost savings renovation might offer over replacement. If that’s the case, you may want to start planning a new pool project.
How much does it cost to replace an old pool?
Replacing an old pool can cost nearly as much as installing a new pool, which is essentially what you’ll be doing if you decide to rip the old one out and start from scratch.
The nice thing about replacing an old pool is that its costs tend to not be that different than the cost to install a brand new pool in a yard that’s never had one before.
Your pool pros will need to dig up the old pool and get rid of it, but there would’ve been a lot of digging involved in a new pool project, too.
On average, it costs between $50,000 and $70,000 to replace an old concrete pool with a new fiberglass pool. This cost can vary, as can the cost of any pool project, based on the size of the dig, the complexity of the project, and any add-ons you may want installed with your new fiberglass pool.
Replacing an old vinyl liner pool with a fiberglass pool can cost about $50,000 to $65,000. In both cases, this is either in line with or slightly more expensive than simply installing a new pool in an unmodified yard.
However, anyone who’s spent any time in construction can tell you that it can often cost more to renovate a disused property than it might cost to build a new one from the ground up. The same is true with pools.
If you’ve got an old pool in your backyard, and you’re not sure what your best course of action might be, please reach out to a local pool pro.
Whether renovating or replacing, it’s highly recommended you consult a professional — there are simply too many factors in play for us to ever recommend someone without extensive pool-building experience attempt to renovate or replace their own pools.
Got any questions about pool renovations that haven’t been answered here? Please ask us in the comments. We’re happy to help pool owners make the most of their pools, no matter what condition they might be in!
At Nachman Pool, we manufacture world-class fiberglass pools for customers across Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. If you’re shopping around for a fiberglass pool, feel free to take a look at our models