Renovation, on the quick side

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genespleen

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Jun 3, 2010
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Hi All,

A note to introduce myself: my fiancee and I are moving in a week or so, and the house we bought includes a pool built in 1930 (we're told it was the first built-in pool in our town). The concrete pool is 11' x 28', with a 4' shallow end, and a 7' deep end. As you can see, it hasn't been used in some time, but we're lucky in that all the plumbing lines are fine, tho' the filter and pump are shot.

At the end of May, we drained the pool, and began cleaning it. The pictures show the before and after state of things.

Anyhow, I'm thrilled to have found this forum: the DIY approach, and circumventing exorbitant pricing for "specialized" chemicals, etc., is right where I want to be. I'm looking forward to the help this forum provides.

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Gene, welcome to TFP!

Looks pretty cool! Can you post some more details about your pool (maybe put them in your signature)? We love pictures, especially unusual ones! We'll help you get it going and trouble free!

I think you almost certainly have the oldest pool of anyone here.
 
Hi All,

An updated picture below, but here's some background:

It's a long story, but basically, the outfit that is buying our bank loan demanded that we make the pool habitable before they would approve the loan. They told us this--ahem--two weeks before closing. So, since the end of May, we've been in a rush to get the pool in decent shape. It's frustrating, because we'd like to take our time and do a proper job of things, but the bank's last-minute curve-ball has governed our approach. We decided to drain the pool, order new filter and pump (I learned today that the best guess of last pool use was the 1980s), and see if we could make the walls, etc., in halfway decent shape to hold paint. Yes, I know: plaster would be better, but I could not locate someone to do the job in the calendar we have, on the funds we have available for this....

Late last week, I pressure-washed, scraped, acid-washed and TSP'd the surfaces of the pool. The surface is in rough shape, but the finish we're putting on this week will hopefully last a season or two. This morning, my fiancée and I put a coat of Paralon 2 in Bikini Blue (we used Paralon 2, because the old paint is a rubber-based one). Going back in the morning to put on Coat 2.

I realize our approach isn't ideal, but this will let us get in the house, and decide what we want to do as far as a longer-term plan. Pump and filter arrive this week (150-lb sand filter/.75 HP pump). The house itself is a wonderful property: we've really gotten lucky--at the same time, I can't imagine but that the pool issue has kept some potential buyers at bay.

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Oh, in this shot, you're looking at the "deep" end (c.6 ft). On the other end of the pool (4 ft. deep), there's a neat built-in set of iron rungs and a set of grips that act as a ladder. And the pool came with a set of heavy iron steps that I pulled out in order to refinish. Weird stuff, but cool.

cheers to all,
David
 
@Genespleen, nice job given all you have to work through. What a mess to start with. Much of pool ownership is learning how to calmly problem-solve. Sounds like your bank jumpstarted you on that front! Even if you had to compromise a few things due to the timeline, hopefully you can enjoy it for a season or two, then go back and do everything the way you want and on your timeline. Best of luck!
 

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I guess I should post a follow-up: we've had the pool going nicely for several weeks now. Maintaining a water-balance has been very easy, and last week I took the Borax Plunge, using the prescribed procedure to bring the borax up to 50 ppm. It's a nice little pool, and it feels good to have done something that turned a real negative (the swamp) into a fun retreat.

Now to turn attention to the surrounding pool yard: it was an absolute mess. The people who sold the house to us tell us that for the first month, they didn't even know they *had* a pool, it was so jungly-overgrown. We've cleared out all the brush, and now are working on pulling vines (and vines and vines) from the soil.



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(Say hi to my pet alligator (plastic, fortunately))

Many thanks for all the really helpful advice and encouragement I've gotten here at TFP!

-David
 
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