The OLDEST pool ?

[atomicdog]

Who has the oldest pool? My pool was built in 1955. It is 55 years old and still going. It has been re-plastered twice and painted twice. The underground plumbing failed years ago, so my plumbing is above ground. I was in the middle of re-plumbing for the third time when I found this awesome forum. Pools have come a long way since mine was built. When it was built all plumbing had to be below the water level, so my original pump and filter were in a 2 foot pit. There were no skimmers or cleaners, just a center drain.

My Re-plumbing project will feature, a new energy saving pump, cartridge filter from sand filter and SWG.

Inground, 20000 gal, freeform diving pool

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

Welcome to TFP!

 

[zea3]

Any pictures?

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome! Yes, sure would like to see some pictures of that pool. That sounds interesting.

 

[Lana537]

For a while after we bought our house, we thought the pool was built in the mid 50s, but we now have reasons to think it is from the mid 1960s, so you have the oldest pool so far. Our pool is built like a fortress; I bet yours is as formidable.

That must have been something--a pool with no skimmers! Are you in California or Arizona or someplace with few trees that skimming was never an issue?

Good luck with your improvements and upgrades. We would love to see photos!

Lana

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

 

[Davegvg]

Wow 55 years you got me by a decade and a half.

40 Years old. Mid century Modern West LA house.

Ever wonder what 4 decades of pouring chlorine around the rim of a pool with dark colored plaster does?



1 re-plaster
One equipment move/relocate-
All new equipment replacing the JUNK the original owner bought.

Added solar
Replaced Gas line & meter
Brutally expensive, but worth it in retrospect.

Nothing like owning something so long you've replaced all the components multiple times.







Uncle Dave

 

[Davegvg]

A few more

 

[Panther]

Wow, Ours is approximatley 35 years old and I thought that was OLD. Sand bottom/vinyl IG. I have been here 15 of those years and replaced the liner once.

 

[geekgranny]

Davegvg, enjoy seeing your "new" pool. Lana537 and atomicdog, how about pictures, please, please.

Ours will be 30 next year; a young thing by some standards. :lol: We've been here going on 24 of those years. Replastered once, 14 years ago, great job as it might last quite a few years longer, new "over-sized" DE filter and VF pump a few months ago. Worked our way up from Jandy pressure Energy Sweep (no booster but dedicated line thank goodness), Ray Vac, then Polaris 280. Pad under deck so old stainless steel filter still looked pristine and no UV damage to other things. Push pull valve refurbed many times but our grit finally did it in. I could no longer get it opened to put in new O rings. One pipe break at elbow under concrete decking on deep end, about 15 years ago, where there is a 12 ft drop off . Built too close to house and we are on three acres so I think really stupid decision as there are only about 6 ft between side steps in shallow end to outside wall of house. Built too close to an 150 year old Oak tree that tree doctor said caused its demise. I took out diving board first year here giving more room on deck at deep end.

Just determined last week that what I thought was Kool Decking is actually stamped concrete. No wonder it is in such great shape, not one dent or gouge in it. My friend's Real 22 year old Kool Deck has been delaminating for a few years. Saw the repair, not finished, today. She is not happy with spot repairs but can't afford to do the whole thing. She said several people were shocked that it is in as good shape as it is.

I really admire people who go through the "trauma" of putting in a new IG pool. Although I've learned so much here at TFP and now know what I would want if I were putting in a new pool I don't know if I could handle it these days. So I'm glad it was here when we moved in.

gg=alice

 

[poolgirl22]

Mine is by no means the oldest pool, but it is quite old. And, it's an above ground.
We are redoing our deck so when I was picking up some trash I snapped a couple shots..I'm amazed at the condition of the pool walls as well as the deck frame. It's like new under there...as opposed to the splitting rotten stuff we're pulling off the top...

This is approximately 23-24 year old AG doughboy. Installed 1987ish and decking around the same time.

 

[Davegvg]

Poolgirl- pretty amazing the effect of UV on wood.

Looks like your are getting quite a bit of value out of that doughboy!


GG- boy are right on about the disruption part. The lady I bough the house from had it in the 50's, remodelled in 1970 and her husband was an architect- an insane one. These guys took every shortcut imaginable, the cheapest least effective way to do absolutely everything. Ive spent over 200K now improving the property

All the pool gear was originally right up against a walkway next to the house. Not only did this take up most of the little yard space left, you had to listen to it and move around every-time you went to the yard.

There was an amazing snowball effect of expense that occurred when the pool gear was in the right location.

1. Spa Booster pump too far for decent pressure needed to build a new pad and add bigger booster motor ($$)
2. Natural gas to far,and pressure to low for 400Kbtu heater.
Need to rerun line from street at bigger meter and re attatch (5K total)

3. Run 220 another 100 feet ($$)
plus all new gear
plus solar
plus new plaster & tile

Uncle Dave

It took a crew over 2 months (well if they'd done continuous work it would have been 4 weeks) but of course it started raining for weeks in so Cal for the first time in 5000 years - the day I started the job.

 

[Durk]

Our first pool was built in 1946 and was in continuous operation until we sold the land it was on in 2003. It was built out of 5/8" WWII surplus marine battle steel from cut up LST's (Landing Ship, Tank) by the Koven Steel Company of Newark, NJ. It had to be torn up to allow access to a ten home development, otherwise it would still be in operation today.

It wintered empty, sitting about 4" high at the deep end after the first winter and needed rust spotting every spring. EPA regs really watered down the red primer and Ramuc stopped making the Type S (Steel) paint for pools in the 90's. Never a leak or a crack, although all the plumbing had to be swapped for black poly in the 60's. Main drain valve was a solid brass 8" Navy surplus steam valve with a 12' extension to operate it. 40,000 gallons would gravity drain in about an hour. We had a dedicated Artesian well and could fill it in 18 hours. We went through two double cast iron sand filters and one single stainless sand filter in the 47 years we had it (going back to before I was born).

The first twenty years was Cal-Hypo only, no CYA, no pH correction, no stinkin' test kit even.

 

[duraleigh]

I'm pretty sure this was on the old PF, but a guy in PA had a pool on a big estate that was over 70,000 gallons and lined around the perimeter with native rock. The interesting thing is it was fed by a mountain stream and the water simply exited via another pipe back to the stream.

If I remember, there may not even have been a pump. I think I helped him figure a way to cut in a new skimmer through that rock. That pool had to be built in the 30's and was potentially a beautiful pool. He stopped posting before he ever got it done but I remember several pics.

 

[Lana537]

Wow Dave,
That is an interesting story. I would love to see an old pool like that one in PA. Can you imagine?

There must be some pretty old pools out there around our country.

Have any of you ever been to the Tonga Room in the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco? There is this famous tiki bar with a "lagoon" in the middle of this huge main floor room, decorated like the South Seas. Tropical drinks galore, musicians on a bandstand that floats out into the middle of this jungle of a lagoon.

On the way to the ladies room, I see in the hotel hallway some old photographs of what the hotel looked like "back in the day". The lagoon in the Tonga Room was the indoor swimming pool of this luxury hotel. If I ever find the link I will try to include it; I'm not very good at that sort of thing.

As for our 45-year old pool, once the patio work is finished, which may still be a little while, I will post some photos of the whole renovation. The back yard is still a train wreck; we badly need to do landscaping and cleaning. In a month or so we're hoping it will be all pretty again.

Lana

 

[jule]

Our pool is young compared to some here and one of the several reasons for buying our place in 1982. Have no idea how long the pool had been in place. Previous owner may have told us but I don't recall. We've replaced the liner twice, extended the cement surround, and fenced it in. We're on our second motor and replaced a two foot section of pipe to one of the jets. Still running the original Harmsco cartridge filter system. Our current liner is only 11 years old, but the sand under it has shifted making the bottom lumpy in some spots. I've read that it's easier to replace the liner than trying to work with the old one when that happens, so am hoping next year to work that in.

'Uncle Dave', I like the rock edging you have on your pool. We have a very old fiberglass slide that doesn't get used anymore. I've been looking at some type of waterfall setup to put in it's place. - If I can talk my better half into it.
If I didn't know better, I'd guess your "architect" built our house as well. lol! The previous owner of our house did the same - short cutting. We were young, naive, first home buyers without magnifiers in our pockets. lol! Probabyl would've bought it anyway. Lots of improvements and dollars later is a better place and home we love. 28 years this Memorial weekend - and I'll be celebrating by my nice sparkly pool!

 

[rabbet]

Dave S. wrote:
"I'm pretty sure this was on the old PF, but a guy in PA had a pool on a big estate that was over 70,000 gallons and lined around the perimeter with native rock. The interesting thing is it was fed by a mountain stream and the water simply exited via another pipe back to the stream."

I just discovered this thread, which is now over 4 years old. My concrete pool was built in 1950 by my grandmother and originally was also fed by a brook and had no filter. Over time a filter system was added. It's still going. There are still no skimmers, just a main drain at the deep end and an inlet at the shallow end. It has been repainted numerous times and cracks (some very deep) have been repaired. It has square corners and seams on the floor and that is where the algae starts if there's a problem. Do you know if it would be possible to cover the seams and round the corners in the process of resurfacing?

 

[swimcmp]

Rabbit look up www.ecosmartepoxysystem.com they are out of Florida and have a fiberglass mat/epoxy resin system that you could do some repairs with to prevent algae growth in rough areas