Hello all, just hit me its been 2 years since I finished my rehab job and filled the pool!
It took a couple years of working on and off with it. Just wanted to share what ive learned since because this site was my bible back then.
1. Chlorine is king. There are a lot of products that claim you can can use them with little to no chlorine. Ive found that cost wise, nothing really beats it or works as well as it. I buy the 35lb tablet bucket from lowes and it lasts over 3 months. But you have to make sure your water is balanced. For months I kept pouring 25$ bottles of phosphate remover only to have to problem come back again in 2 weeks. Well turned out my CYA was through the roof.I drained about 1/3 of the water and have been clear and clean ever since.
2. The pool store is there to make money. I was pretty ignorant of pool chemistry when I started. Well turns out cya tests top out at 100ppm. I was never once told that or that I was even on the high side (I was at 100 ppm). Nope, just keep buying this phosphate remover! But the funniest thing I was ever told is that I shouldn't but the arm and hammer baking soda from walmart. But instead get their special pool baking soda because it was more potent. ps they will only call it sodium bicarb because it sound more expensive lol.
3. Get a variable speed pump if you can. I didnt run the pump for about a month when it was cold just to see the difference on my bill. Didnt make much of one at all.
4. If you are rehabbing a pool on a budget and are in desperate need of refinishing, paint is actually a pretty good deal. But know what you are getting. My whole project from start to finish probably cost less than 3000. But I did a lot myself. You can see from these pics I replaced a lot of plaster using 2 parts sand, and 1 part portland cement mixed with acrylic bonding additive and nothing else, not even water. Worked fantastically and is holding up now. But the pool was spotted after that and needed a new finish. The absolute cheapest route I could go was the zissner paint from home depot. It worked great at first and made the pool look like it had never been a sand pit. I was incredibly pleased for the first year but after that first year it started to cloud up some and bubble a bit. The pool had previously been painted with something else so despite extensive prep work it still bubbled a bit. Also the deep blue turned into baby blue after a year nut has remained the same since. Still im not really complaining. It cost 300 dollars to paint and Im still enjoying it. But cloudy water will always become an issue with any paint.
So ya. Cant wait to get some real hot days here soon. We've had some but the water is still a bit cold for my liking. I would like to paint the deck around the pool eventually as well and will probably do that when the pool gets painted or resurfaced again in the future. So if you find yourself in a position like mine and are a pool person just know it can be done and not every project will necessarily run you as much as a home addition. Mine was a lot of work but was 100 percent worth it. I still try to use it at least once a week.
Ps I had an old account but had to make a new one because my old email address was deleted.
Here it is 2 years later
It took a couple years of working on and off with it. Just wanted to share what ive learned since because this site was my bible back then.
1. Chlorine is king. There are a lot of products that claim you can can use them with little to no chlorine. Ive found that cost wise, nothing really beats it or works as well as it. I buy the 35lb tablet bucket from lowes and it lasts over 3 months. But you have to make sure your water is balanced. For months I kept pouring 25$ bottles of phosphate remover only to have to problem come back again in 2 weeks. Well turned out my CYA was through the roof.I drained about 1/3 of the water and have been clear and clean ever since.
2. The pool store is there to make money. I was pretty ignorant of pool chemistry when I started. Well turns out cya tests top out at 100ppm. I was never once told that or that I was even on the high side (I was at 100 ppm). Nope, just keep buying this phosphate remover! But the funniest thing I was ever told is that I shouldn't but the arm and hammer baking soda from walmart. But instead get their special pool baking soda because it was more potent. ps they will only call it sodium bicarb because it sound more expensive lol.
3. Get a variable speed pump if you can. I didnt run the pump for about a month when it was cold just to see the difference on my bill. Didnt make much of one at all.
4. If you are rehabbing a pool on a budget and are in desperate need of refinishing, paint is actually a pretty good deal. But know what you are getting. My whole project from start to finish probably cost less than 3000. But I did a lot myself. You can see from these pics I replaced a lot of plaster using 2 parts sand, and 1 part portland cement mixed with acrylic bonding additive and nothing else, not even water. Worked fantastically and is holding up now. But the pool was spotted after that and needed a new finish. The absolute cheapest route I could go was the zissner paint from home depot. It worked great at first and made the pool look like it had never been a sand pit. I was incredibly pleased for the first year but after that first year it started to cloud up some and bubble a bit. The pool had previously been painted with something else so despite extensive prep work it still bubbled a bit. Also the deep blue turned into baby blue after a year nut has remained the same since. Still im not really complaining. It cost 300 dollars to paint and Im still enjoying it. But cloudy water will always become an issue with any paint.
So ya. Cant wait to get some real hot days here soon. We've had some but the water is still a bit cold for my liking. I would like to paint the deck around the pool eventually as well and will probably do that when the pool gets painted or resurfaced again in the future. So if you find yourself in a position like mine and are a pool person just know it can be done and not every project will necessarily run you as much as a home addition. Mine was a lot of work but was 100 percent worth it. I still try to use it at least once a week.
Ps I had an old account but had to make a new one because my old email address was deleted.
Here it is 2 years later
Thanks for sharing your experience, and it's great to formally have you on the forum. 
