Help - my aging father has decided to stop taking care of his pool

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Nov 1, 2013
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Need some advice.

My father (who is in generally poor health and is still "with it" but getting worse) decided to stop taking care of his 15k gallon inground pool. In florida. In the middle of summer.

After 3 months, I returned home to discover that he essentially let the pool turn into a pond. He got tired of trying to clean the cartridge filter, etc, and even gave up his previous ritual of dumping a bag of shock into the pool once a week. At some point, he just turned off the pump. :uhh::uhh::uhh:

No one has used in the pool in years, the finish is destroyed, but at least until a few months ago the water wasn't an actual health hazard.

So my question is, short of filling the pool with sand, and short of paying someone $100+ a month to maintain the pool (which is a tough pill to swallow considering all of the rest of his expenses that I am managing) what is the absolute least I can do to keep the pool at a tolerable-but-unswimmable situation? Let's pretend that I can get it to a less green state over the weekend that I am here.. if I REMOVE the filter entirely, and keep the chlorine levels super high, can I at least keep the algae and mosquitos at bay by running the pump (no filter) on a regular basis?

I realize this is an odd question and I'll be flamed every which direction - but I am at a loss for how to manage this.
 
Maybe drain it and put a safety cover over it? Seems like a safety hazard anyway to have a pool that doesn't get used. He could lose his balance and fall in. And leaving the water in there will bring bugs and other health hazards.
 
Hire a pool company AND sell the house??? Not an immediate solution sorry.

Sounds like your dad needs a much lower maintenance lifestyle. My parents held onto their big family home for waaaay too long until I finally convinced them to sell and move close to me. It took A LOT of convincing and me practically flying back to NY to pack them up but it happened.

Now they are renters in a beautiful new apartment complex (with a common pool, BBQ pits, playgrounds, dog runs, etc), they have zero responsibility for maintaining anything, low monthly expenses and a huge retirement income relative to their expense load. They are happier than pigs in slop and can basically spend 99.9% of their time spoiling their grandkids and going out to dinner & movies all the time. They aren't in the best of physical health either but the lifestyle change dramatically improved their mental health and they are much more active now. It's amazing what a little less "worrying" will do for ones soul....
 
harleysilo said:
How often can you visit to check on the pool? Who would continue to add chlorine? Is this pool screned in?
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The situation was, surprisingly, under control for the last few years and essentially he would dump in shock all the time, and I'd show up every 2-3 months and spend a day getting the pool into ok shape.

He has an older cartridge filter and and barracuda cleaner - where everything really went south is that the plaster surface started to decay, so the barracuda would pick up bits of it and the paper filter would rapidly clog. He's just getting too old to clean the filter on the near-weekly basis it needs.

All of the previous comments are reasonable and yes we are working on the whole "house downsizing" concept, but realistically we're looking at another year or more, just trying to minimize the effort.
 
Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate.

I know this isn't typical in FL, but I think you'd be better off just closing the pool and covering it. SLAM the pool, get it clean and then close it up (with heavy doses of algaecide). If the cover is done right, then the bug factor will be mitigated and the only thing one would need to do is drain the pool of excess rain water as needed. You could even setup/leave a trash pump in the pool to make this easier so that the pool equipment can be shut down.

Then, when the house goes on sale, disclose all the necessary info regarding the pool's physical shape and sell it as-is.

That's what I would do as anything else is going to be another expense loss to deal with.
 
I don't honestly think "closing" the pool is an option - you can't drain a pool here without drilling a hole in the bottom (otherwise they have a nasty habit of popping out of the ground).. And once the pool has SOME water in it.. Well, it's a problem.

My dad just revealed that his grand plan was to let it get as green as it wants, and then "this winter" drain it and "have it painted." I assume this is a terrible idea, I imagine he thinks that for $500 he can have the pool coated with something to stop the surface clogging the filter. did I mention he has a shingle roof which has been half painted? Around here a diamond brite job is in the $4k range, unfortunately he would see that as money thrown away (and it would be mine, anyway) but none of this would actually solve the issue that he has decided upkeep is too much work.
 
How old is the pool? Was it not constructed with a proper hydrostatic valve to relieve ground water pressure? Seems odd to me that an in ground pool in a place with a high water table would not have a hydrostatic valve.

Well painting it will last about a year or two. There is another option called AquaBright which is a flame sprayed thermoset polymer coating that is perfect for plaster pools that need resurfacing and lasts as long as any standard plaster finish. But it isn't cheap...about as much as a replaster job.

I hope you find a solution that works best for you.
 
I can't imagine why anyone would flame you, and if they did, shame on them. You are in a difficult situation and your dad can't help that he is unable to take care of the pool.

My biggest concerns are mosquitoes (Zika!) and other critters, and your dad perhaps falling and getting injured. Honestly, even though you are already dealing with his expenses, having someone come by to do the bare minimum might be worth it, at least until you can look at maybe selling the place and getting him into a more suitable living situation.
 

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JoyfulNoise said:
How old is the pool? Was it not constructed with a proper hydrostatic valve to relieve ground water pressure? Seems odd to me that an in ground pool in a place with a high water table would not have a hydrostatic valve.

Well painting it will last about a year or two. There is another option called AquaBright which is a flame sprayed thermoset polymer coating that is perfect for plaster pools that need resurfacing and lasts as long as any standard plaster finish. But it isn't cheap...about as much as a replaster job.
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I've lived in Florida most of my life and as far as I know, hydrostati valves just weren't a thing when most of these pools were built. (Not sure if they are today) standard operating procedure on the handful of pools I've seen resurfaced (including my own) is day 1 drain, day 2 drill 3" hole in bottom. Regardless - even drained the pool would have a couple feet of water in it which probably doesn't help.

My fear with a "painted" solution is that it could add additional cost to the inevitable resurface down the road. I assume today a good quarter of the pool surface would have to be chopped up, but if painted surely the whole thing would have to be chipped or sandblasted away before a real surface applied?
 
I'm not a plaster expert but, from what I've seen, there's no partial resurface jobs. They come in, chip out all the old plaster until they get down to the gunite, repair and prep the gunite surface and then replaster. So, painted or not, that entire pool surface is being chipped out.

Bummer about the hydrostatic valve...
 
Hopefully some plaster experts will chime in here, I have a vinyl liner pool so have no first hand plaster experience. I can however tell you the general feeling around here is that painting a pool is a short term bandaid fix. While you will not get your money back for new pool equipment and new pool finish at time of sale of the house in a year or two, if you do spend $4,000 or so now doing a replaster or other coating job, as well as add a larger cartridge filter and an SWG (these two together should run about $1,250 and may be a DIY project if you have the skills and time) , you may make selling the house easier, and you may get some of your money back if you get the right buyer. Remember while according to real estate people pools generally don't add value to a home, a pool in desperate need of renovation may detract from potential buyers that can't get additional financing for the fixer upper items around the house.

Ike

p.s. if the polymer coating option is available I would probably go that way just to avoid the detailed testing and care required for the first month of a plaster start up (regular acid additions, regular chlorine since you can't use an SWG in the start up process, daily brushing, etc.)
 
I'm guessing due to location you don't already have a ratchet-strap-style winter safety cover? Buying one is not especially cheap, but if you had one, treating it like a forclosure pool (complete with mosquito spray, dunks, or mosquito fish) and covering would otherwise be your cheapest option. A solid cover pretty much completely eliminates the smell...until you have to lift the cover ;) (I know this first and from buying a foreclosure ;) )

However, if your Dad otherwise enjoys his property, perhaps it would be worth the expense to consider a deckover closure that would semi-permanently convert the pool into storage space yet leave the pool footprint in place for eventual recovery at some future point. Here's a link: Deckover Pool Retirement - Home

Its likely more than a plaster job, but it doesn't sound like a plaster job is going to necessarily reduce the problems over caretaking difficulties.

I guess one way to discuss a large expense like this with your dad is to compare it to a single month in an assisted living facility...the expense might offset a single month or two, but allows him to safely continue to live in his home a bit longer.
 
Drain the pool, drill a few 3" holes, and throw a sump pump in the deep end. These pumps have floats so they run when the water level rises and shut off when the level falls. Any ground water and/or rain will get pumped out and the risk of the pool floating should be minimized.

Regardless of the maintenance methods, taking care of a pool requires constant attention that you do not need on your plate. Letting it turn into a swamp is a terrible idea.

Sell the house and get your dad somewhere that the only thing he needs to worry about is what he's going to do that day.
 
bdavis466 said:
Drain the pool, drill a few 3" holes, and throw a sump pump in the deep end. These pumps have floats so they run when the water level rises and shut off when the level falls. Any ground water and/or rain will get pumped out and the risk of the pool floating should be minimized.

Regardless of the maintenance methods, taking care of a pool requires constant attention that you do not need on your plate. Letting it turn into a swamp is a terrible idea.

Sell the house and get your dad somewhere that the only thing he needs to worry about is what he's going to do that day.
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+1

Great advice!!
 
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