Our friends at swimuniversity.com posted this great article about how a swimming pool affects the value of a home. 

Does Owning a Pool or Hot Tub Increase The Value of Your Home?

When researching the answer for this article, I spoke to a few real estate agents and residential property appraisers in South Jersey. And from my many conversations, the unanimous answer I received was, "depends."

Great article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on this increasingly-popular alternative to traditional wood decking:

Have you ever considered composite decking but disregarded the idea because you felt like you didn't know enough about it? Maybe you've wondered how composite decking is made? Or what kinds of materials make up composite decking?

Although composite decking is not new, lack of familiarity with the product may lead you to be confused when making a decision about the type of product you should choose for your deck. To make this decision-making process easier, it often helps to go back to the basics.

So what is composite decking anyway?

Check out this great article about Ozone and Ozonators by Kaisa Williams, Swimuniversity.com:

Ozone is a strong natural oxidizer which breaks down chemicals and bodily fluids, including:

soap

deodorant

hair spray

cologne

makeup

perfume

body lotion

hand cream

sun tan lotion

saliva and urine

When used in conjunction with your regular sanitizer, ozone helps kill pathogenic bacteria, germs, and viruses, as well as oxidizing organic contaminants. This leads to dramatically better water quality than you would have with just chlorine or bromine alone.