How about an Intro? I bought the TF-100 test kit a year ago so I figured I had registered on this forum, but I guess not since the registration took my e-mail address.
I have a 25000 gallon 18 x 36 vinyl liner pool I inherited when I bought this house 4 years about. When I bought it, the previous owner had neglected the pool quite a bit. It hadn't been opened in at least one year. It had a black plastic tarp over it (at the end of summer) with half the water bags floating in the pool. The previous owner had also removed the automatic pool cover and very poorly cemented over the resulting hole. He also used red concrete paint to hide the aging coping. City building records indicate that the pool was built in 1987.
So, what did I get? A lot of work? The existing pool equipment was junk. Superficially looked OK, but was wore out. It has a bronze impeller pump that couldn't push water down hill. The stainless steel DE filter had pin-holes and several grids needed replacing. Well, I limped along for the end of the first season just to see if I liked pools. We decided we would give it a shot instead of filling it in.
What have I done since I got the thing? Completely replaced the equipment. Hayward 2 speed 1.5 HP pump, Hayward 48 sq ft DE filter, digital intermatic timer for two speed functionality, and Intellichlor SWG. Since the concrete paint on the coping was flaking off, I decided to power wash it off. That worked OK and it did look better, but the mortar is eroding. The first month after that I had lots of grey grit in the pool. That seems to have abated, but I do need to tuck point all the coping. I also installed a loop-loc solid winter cover. Its so much easier than the tarp and water bags and so much safer.
I consider my self an advanced do it yourselfer. I have done a complete kitchen remodel which included massive electrical work, relocating a gas line under a slab, demoing and rebuilding a drop ceiling, tiling a complete floor of the house, etc. I even build all my kitchen cabinets. I can do pretty much anything.
Where I feel I have enough experience to help someone out, I'll certainly post, but on this forum, I'll pretty much be a seeker of knowledge rather than a giver for now.
How about some pictures?
Herea are some pictures shortly after we moved in. We only had the pool open a few days and we were pretty muhc at the end of the season, so it only lasted a month or so before we closed it again. You can see the painted coping brick and how it is flaking. Notice on the diving board end there are mature Cacti growing along the fence. Who puts cacti around a pool? Notice also the illegally built pool house/storage shed. The pool equipment is in the back, behind all your junk. We have since sectioned off the back 6 seet and put in a side door so the equipment now have a room of their own, complete with workbench for chemistry and some shelving. Note also that I put up a fence between the yard and the pool. That is a state requirement since we also run a evening daycare. The fence is 5 feet high, which is 6" higher than the code required fence, but required by the daycare licensing folks. Good thing we checked in advance.
Here is a good picture of the auto-cover fill-in. Pretty crappy. You can't see the vertical face, but its chock full of air bubbles and such. Should be easy to jack hammer out. You can see the brick have been pressure washed and there are areas of damaged mortar.
This is the current nightmare and my reason for registering on the forum. A liner tear. Time for a new liner. Note that I put a patch over this, but it didn't stick to the brown deteriorated edge. The tear stopped getting larger for a week, but has since grown and is about 10 inches long now. Fortunately, only another week left in the season. Then two weeks of vacation and then I can start to deal with this. Notice a nice view of the concreted in autocover hole.
So much for an introductory post.
I have a 25000 gallon 18 x 36 vinyl liner pool I inherited when I bought this house 4 years about. When I bought it, the previous owner had neglected the pool quite a bit. It hadn't been opened in at least one year. It had a black plastic tarp over it (at the end of summer) with half the water bags floating in the pool. The previous owner had also removed the automatic pool cover and very poorly cemented over the resulting hole. He also used red concrete paint to hide the aging coping. City building records indicate that the pool was built in 1987.
So, what did I get? A lot of work? The existing pool equipment was junk. Superficially looked OK, but was wore out. It has a bronze impeller pump that couldn't push water down hill. The stainless steel DE filter had pin-holes and several grids needed replacing. Well, I limped along for the end of the first season just to see if I liked pools. We decided we would give it a shot instead of filling it in.
What have I done since I got the thing? Completely replaced the equipment. Hayward 2 speed 1.5 HP pump, Hayward 48 sq ft DE filter, digital intermatic timer for two speed functionality, and Intellichlor SWG. Since the concrete paint on the coping was flaking off, I decided to power wash it off. That worked OK and it did look better, but the mortar is eroding. The first month after that I had lots of grey grit in the pool. That seems to have abated, but I do need to tuck point all the coping. I also installed a loop-loc solid winter cover. Its so much easier than the tarp and water bags and so much safer.
I consider my self an advanced do it yourselfer. I have done a complete kitchen remodel which included massive electrical work, relocating a gas line under a slab, demoing and rebuilding a drop ceiling, tiling a complete floor of the house, etc. I even build all my kitchen cabinets. I can do pretty much anything.
Where I feel I have enough experience to help someone out, I'll certainly post, but on this forum, I'll pretty much be a seeker of knowledge rather than a giver for now.
How about some pictures?
Herea are some pictures shortly after we moved in. We only had the pool open a few days and we were pretty muhc at the end of the season, so it only lasted a month or so before we closed it again. You can see the painted coping brick and how it is flaking. Notice on the diving board end there are mature Cacti growing along the fence. Who puts cacti around a pool? Notice also the illegally built pool house/storage shed. The pool equipment is in the back, behind all your junk. We have since sectioned off the back 6 seet and put in a side door so the equipment now have a room of their own, complete with workbench for chemistry and some shelving. Note also that I put up a fence between the yard and the pool. That is a state requirement since we also run a evening daycare. The fence is 5 feet high, which is 6" higher than the code required fence, but required by the daycare licensing folks. Good thing we checked in advance.
Here is a good picture of the auto-cover fill-in. Pretty crappy. You can't see the vertical face, but its chock full of air bubbles and such. Should be easy to jack hammer out. You can see the brick have been pressure washed and there are areas of damaged mortar.
This is the current nightmare and my reason for registering on the forum. A liner tear. Time for a new liner. Note that I put a patch over this, but it didn't stick to the brown deteriorated edge. The tear stopped getting larger for a week, but has since grown and is about 10 inches long now. Fortunately, only another week left in the season. Then two weeks of vacation and then I can start to deal with this. Notice a nice view of the concreted in autocover hole.
So much for an introductory post.
