Hi All -
My wife and I bought our first house this past fall, and its been an adventure in DIY to say the least. The previous owner had not opened the pool in nine years, so we knew there would be a few issues with it. Some time after the home inspection but before delivery, the liner finally gave up, and the water level drained to the hopper. Over the long winter, we had 36" of snowfall, which put enormous tension on the spring cover, and busted the brick coping off and into the pool.
The pool was built in 1982 according to the c/o. The walls appears to be poured cement and in good shape. I don't know if the floor is simply sand or vermiculite. The beams appear to be pressure treated 2x6 wood. the liner track is screwed to the 2x6 on the vertical 2" face. The coping is regular red brick set in about 3/4" of mortar with wire mesh. The plumbing appears to be in sound condition. The skimmer and return winter plugs are still tightly screwed in just as they have been for the last 9 years.
I'm on an extremely tight budget, but would love to get this pool up and running again this year. I know it will be cheaper to rehab it now, than to replace it completely in a few years.
My plan is as follows:
1. break up and remove brick coping, and first few courses of brick surrounding the pool.
2. pump out and remove liner, including whatever dead things might be in there.
3. remove 2x6 beam from the cement walls
4. replace with pressure treated 2x8 (if it will fit over the poured cement walls)
5. screw down new liner track to the top of the 2x8 beams
6. mortar bullnose or flat nosed pavers (home depot or lowes)
7. replace wall foam with 1/4"
8. install new liner, all gaskets and faceplates.
9. replace filter components as necessary.
A couple of questions I have are:
1. Do I need to use special pavers for poor coping? (Cl. resistant?)
2. What kind of mortar should I use? I have read references to type-s as well as thinset like flexbond (which ain't cheap).
3. Should I bed wire mesh under the coping pavers again? Is it tied to the wooden beam with screws or staples at all?
4. The stairs do not appear to be cracked, but they do seem quite flimsey standing on them. Should I replace them, or try and back fill them?
5. The liner track comes to a 90" corner with no radius. I don't see any foam corner pieces in there. Does the liner come to a sharp corner once the pool is filled?
Any suggestions you guys might have for me on my journey?
Here are a couple pictures of the disaster in question. Enjoy!
My wife and I bought our first house this past fall, and its been an adventure in DIY to say the least. The previous owner had not opened the pool in nine years, so we knew there would be a few issues with it. Some time after the home inspection but before delivery, the liner finally gave up, and the water level drained to the hopper. Over the long winter, we had 36" of snowfall, which put enormous tension on the spring cover, and busted the brick coping off and into the pool.
The pool was built in 1982 according to the c/o. The walls appears to be poured cement and in good shape. I don't know if the floor is simply sand or vermiculite. The beams appear to be pressure treated 2x6 wood. the liner track is screwed to the 2x6 on the vertical 2" face. The coping is regular red brick set in about 3/4" of mortar with wire mesh. The plumbing appears to be in sound condition. The skimmer and return winter plugs are still tightly screwed in just as they have been for the last 9 years.
I'm on an extremely tight budget, but would love to get this pool up and running again this year. I know it will be cheaper to rehab it now, than to replace it completely in a few years.
My plan is as follows:
1. break up and remove brick coping, and first few courses of brick surrounding the pool.
2. pump out and remove liner, including whatever dead things might be in there.
3. remove 2x6 beam from the cement walls
4. replace with pressure treated 2x8 (if it will fit over the poured cement walls)
5. screw down new liner track to the top of the 2x8 beams
6. mortar bullnose or flat nosed pavers (home depot or lowes)
7. replace wall foam with 1/4"
8. install new liner, all gaskets and faceplates.
9. replace filter components as necessary.
A couple of questions I have are:
1. Do I need to use special pavers for poor coping? (Cl. resistant?)
2. What kind of mortar should I use? I have read references to type-s as well as thinset like flexbond (which ain't cheap).
3. Should I bed wire mesh under the coping pavers again? Is it tied to the wooden beam with screws or staples at all?
4. The stairs do not appear to be cracked, but they do seem quite flimsey standing on them. Should I replace them, or try and back fill them?
5. The liner track comes to a 90" corner with no radius. I don't see any foam corner pieces in there. Does the liner come to a sharp corner once the pool is filled?
Any suggestions you guys might have for me on my journey?
Here are a couple pictures of the disaster in question. Enjoy!
