First Ever Pool - Above ground bestway 4.2m slice of heaven

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laceygirl

laceygirl

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Dec 31, 2013
1,270
Canberra Australia
G'day all, :)

This pool of mine, has been so much awesome... :) It arrived two days before Christmas, right in the middle of a heatwave... :) We were living at a different house and I didn't have anywhere to put it, but in my double garage.... The main reason being, no backyard, and very little front yard :mad: ... I have a son who is slightly autistic and swimming is excellent therapy, so we were getting a pool regardless... :) I ordered it off ebay, for an absolute steal.... It was the kids Christmas present, so when it was three days away from Christmas and it still hadn't arrived I started to get a little nervous... It finally arrived, and here's the first pic...

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3808/12580283153_23b0b999cb_z.jpg

Wish I knew how to post pics embedded into the post... I used to do it years ago on another forum just by typing a short code... :-( And we were able to make albums and use the image code.... Guess I'm getting old... :)

Australia has ridiculously strict pool fencing laws, so it was either put it in my garage, or not have it... The great thing was, you couldn't access my pool without house keys...It made it very difficult for the kids to get into the pool without getting an adult first... Great security....

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2857/12580163365_b834031ae3_z.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2876/12580162125_c50ced3a1c_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3817/12580275613_c46b6a034a_z.jpg

Righto.... Then we found a house, that was a little more suitable and we had to move 10 days into the new year in searing heat....

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3787/12580205595_d239281b02_z.jpg

So here it is set, up..... See that bloody big tree in the background??? Yeah well it had to go.... I've already decided we are getting a bigger pool for next Christmas, so I will be pulling this one down in about one month :-(

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/12580804084_8e93ce41a2_z.jpg

The tree was dropping pollen and leaves into my pool and I wasn't happy with that, so out it came......

I am going to landscape around the new pool and I will be adding more posts each time I do something new... Stay posted... :)
 
What a great Christmas present for the kids (and parents!)

You can paste pictures from Flickr by going to your picture, clicking the "share" button in Flickr (it's a little square with an arrow flying out of it) and choosing BBCode and picture size (I usually do medium). It will give you the encoding to cut and paste into this forum.
 
Finally got the coding worked out... :) Thanks for the advice guys.... We only have about 3 or 4 weeks left of hot weather where I live here in Australia, so I'm trying to extend the swim season a little bit, by using solar.... This is my super ghetto solar system.... I have plans this winter to get 300 metres of poly tube and construct some sturdy solar collectors complete with hinged plexiglass to go on my roof, I am also upgrading my filter and pump for the spring, and this is when my solar heater will come together.... So without spending a single cent, and using only what I had laying around in my garage, I came up with this little makeshift beauty.... :)


IMG_1201 by tiffnoy, on Flickr

I have two little water pumps in one end of the pool, to push water through the 4 garden hoses and back into the pool... The easiest solar set up there is... I'm using both radiant and solar, the pavement the hoses rest on, gets bloody hot and holds the heat beautifully, so I'm getting great hot water.... Its set to a digital timer that can accommodate 20 on and off settings and I run it from 11.00am till 5.00pm... It comes on every 10 minutes sometimes 20 minutes as I've run out of timer settings....lol.... I will be sad to pull the pool down....

Till next time...
Laceygirl....
 
Now I know how to use the code, I'll post more pics.... :)

Here's the pools backstory.... My hubby and I have an Autistic son, Samson... He's the most beautiful kid in the world, and the best therapy for him is swimming, so we knew we needed a pool..... Australia has the strictest pool fencing laws in the world, so we had to be really careful.... I had no backyard and no front yard with fencing so we decided to put in the double garage.... The garage has internal access and can be locked by deadbolt with keys... So we cleaned out the shed....

Two days before Christmas and the pool finally arrives...


IMG_0824 by tiffnoy, on Flickr


IMG_0825 by tiffnoy, on Flickr


IMG_0829 by tiffnoy, on Flickr

The kids couldn't wait....


IMG_0868 by tiffnoy, on Flickr

After a few days, and being a pool newbie, the water started to look like this....


IMG_1259 by tiffnoy, on Flickr
This is how I found your site...lol.... I took control of my pool early... I used pool shop stuff for about a fortnight.... Never again... :)

After learning how to fix it, my pool now looks like this all the time....


IMG_1271 by tiffnoy, on Flickr
 
Little bit sad today... Its Autumn here in Australia now and the temperature is slowly dropping so I made the decision to pull the pool down today.... :-(


IMG_1208 by tiffnoy, on Flickr

On the upside, I now get to dig it all up, and lay some super thick artificial turf to prepare for the coming summer....which is about 8 months away :-(

Thanks for looking... :)
Laceygirl...
 
Ya gotta love a bargain... I've bought a new pool for us for next summer.... I couldn't leave it there as it was less than half price... :) This one is 18 foot long and 52 inches deep... :) Now to sell my smaller pool to family or friends... :) I bought an Intex pool this time as they seem to be deeper than the bestway... When we finally buy our house, I'll put an in-ground swimming pool in.... I plan on making it out of a huge section of concrete pipe... :) But that's for the future...
 
Congrats on the new pool Lacey! Sorry to hear your season is coming to a close but ours is about to start! :mrgreen: We are all getting very excited here in the States! lol
 
I bet you are Casey... :) Its been pretty cold in the states from what we've seen on the news, so you deserve some heat.... :) I don't mind winter coming, as it gives me time to build my huge solar collectors, and put the through the wall skimmer on to my pool and I can start the landscaping... :) Hopefully next year, I'll get about 5 months out of my swim season..... :) Have a great summer... :)
 

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Wow... So impressed today... I managed to get the new pool for a freakin' steal.... $580.00.... HUGE BARGAIN.... It comes with everything, I'll be replacing the filter and cartridge to a bigger and better one, it even comes with a volleyball kit... :) I've saved heaps on freight charges, as a friend is going to pick it up for me, its five hours away....


My new pool by tiffnoy, on Flickr

I plan on installing a through the wall skimmer before I fill it, as I think we'll be sticking with this sized pool for a while, its 10cm deeper than our last pool.. :) Its about 17500 litres so I am going to have to get a water truck in to fill it..... Where I live, water restrictions are a serious issue and they track water usage passionately...... We also have the strictest pool fencing laws in the world.... Even though my pool is surrounded by a 7 foot colourbond fence, with lock, its not enough as far as the local government are concerned....:-( I may have to look at temporary fencing...

Anyway till the pool arrives and I start building and landscaping, I'll be back then...

Laceygirl... :)
 
Well we started digging up the "grass" if you could call it that, yesterday, and we have to remove some pavers in the process, so we were digging away when we came across this....


IMG_1210 by tiffnoy, on Flickr

We dug a little further and realised it was a concrete lip to hold the pavers in place, so we had to break that, and haul it out of there....


IMG_1212 by tiffnoy, on Flickr

We're just about to get into it again this morning... I've got six months to get my site level, covered in bluemetal dust and artificial turf laid... :) I'll post more progress pics along the way.... The most interesting part about this is, I am landscaping a rental and the owner is all for it... :) I'm not spending a lot of money, I'm just trying to stop mud from being tracked into the house....

More later, wish the pics were more interesting..... Just using this thread as a marker for our accomplishments....

Laceygirl....
 
Sold the little pool today... A nice lady is coming to pick it up tomorrow...It was my first pool and I will be sad to see it go... :-( I can't believe I managed to sell it for $350 . I only paid $425... :) Progress is going slowly on the front yard, things will kick into high gear once we go and pick up the new pool next week.... So I'll post pics as we go.... Still to do... Remove the rest of the grass, level the dirt, order my Bluemetal dust level some more, lay my fake turf and then assemble the pool... I'll be building my solar collectors in the winter so I'll be sure to post pics of those too... :) I reckon I'll be opening the pool in October this year... :) Ready for the Aussie summer...
 
Well the little pool is being officially sold today, but its not without hiccups... The lady is buying it as a Christmas present for her kids and unfortunately she's got one of the kids home sick today, so she can't come and pick it up, but she is coming to inspect the pool and leave a deposit... Meanwhile its raining here today, so I don't think we'll be doing too much digging.... Apart from the fact that hubby and I are not feeling 100%... At least we've got 6 hours kid free, both are at school, so I think we might head back to bed after a shower....See if we can manage to do some this afternoon... The clouds are breaking up over the mountains so the rain might be clearing...

The Moutains by tiffnoy, on Flickr

I'm not in that much of a hurry to get stuff done, but I know the rain will be coming in the next few months and that just means mud... :-( So I am sort of hurrying to get the turf down...... Super slow progress..... Our nearly six year old autistic son knows how to open the locked gate thanks to his ten year old brother showing him last week, so we spent a great deal of time chasing Samson as he was trying to escape... :-( Looks like we have to upgrade to a padlock and key :-(

So here's a pic of my dirt.....lol....

Slow Progress :-( by tiffnoy, on Flickr

More later....
Laceygirl.....
 
Well the little pool just left with its new owner... I even threw in my test kit :) She's gonna need it.... I'm about to send her links to this website also, so she can learn how to look after her pool properly.... I'm a little sad, as it was the best little pool... Now I can't wait for the new one to arrive.... It will be here this time next week.... :)
 
Feeling a little better this afternoon, so we went out to measure and re measure, as this pool is only just going to fit in our yard.... We have one problem, and its the bane of my existence at the moment....

This diagonal piece of fence... It takes away so much space.... :-(


I hate this fence by tiffnoy, on Flickr

This photo was taken from the outside... Horrible fence really....So I've had a revelation..... I'm going to remove one side of the fence and square it up.... Now in the gap that is left (its about 4 foot), I'm going to make something quite decorative, but strong to slot in there.... These have to be temporary fixes, as I do not own the house but the landlord is giving me free reign to go at it, so any major change, has to be undo-able..

Here's a view from the inside.... It really pisses me off.....

This section has to be moved... by tiffnoy, on Flickr

See how much space its eating???? Its going to be a tight squeeze so this is my main concern.... My solution has to be child safe, and virtually unmoveable until we decide to move.... I'm thinking a few layers of lattice with shade cloth glued between the layers and framed up, will make a nice air flow... :) It will be that same horrible beige colour the fence is.... :-(

More pics when I actually do something exciting... :)

Laceygirl...
 

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