I wanted to say thanks to everyone involved in this site and provide encouragement for others in the same situation by sharing my story. I purchased a house with a pool this year and didn't know the first thing to do. In fact, my last house had a pool and I gave it away for free just to get rid of it. Now that we have kids the pool was a bonus for us. I've never worked on a pool before. A month ago I literally knew nothing about pools. I don't think the previous owners even opened it last year. I took the cover off and was presented with this...
The thought of trying to tackle this was daunting to say the least. None of my family or friends have a pool so they couldn't help. Every store I called said they only open in-ground pools. Eventually a few freelance people called me back (after days of waiting for a return call) but by then I figured I'm the one who has to do the day to day maintenance. It made more sense to learn this myself and maybe I'd save some money in the process.
I bought a kindle book and in the reviews someone mentioned this site and pool school. I was intrigued by the BBB method given that I already had these products in my home! That has to be a good thing. I read pool school over and over as again, for someone who knew nothing about this, it doesn't really make sense the first time through. I found other answers just searching the forum. I didn't even read the book I bought as I kept making progress. Two weeks later I ended up with this...
The photo doesn't do the sparkling justice (and it has improved even more since) but I'm in awe of what I achieved by following the advice here. In fact the hardest part was fixing the leaky pipes which had nothing to do with the BBB method. Dealing w/ PVC was also new to me to but as I've learned anyone can do that as well. If I had time to work on the pool daily I think I could have gotten results even quicker.
So, thanks again everyone! I'm a believer. I hope this helps others. My advice would be to get a test kit and follow the pool school religiously. Reread it over and over again to really understand it. Realize that it doesn't happen overnight. Small progress IS progress. All my questions to rid the swap were already answered by others on here (this my first post
). What a resource!!! I still have a lot to learn but my family can enjoy the pool in the meantime. Thanks!!!
The thought of trying to tackle this was daunting to say the least. None of my family or friends have a pool so they couldn't help. Every store I called said they only open in-ground pools. Eventually a few freelance people called me back (after days of waiting for a return call) but by then I figured I'm the one who has to do the day to day maintenance. It made more sense to learn this myself and maybe I'd save some money in the process.
I bought a kindle book and in the reviews someone mentioned this site and pool school. I was intrigued by the BBB method given that I already had these products in my home! That has to be a good thing. I read pool school over and over as again, for someone who knew nothing about this, it doesn't really make sense the first time through. I found other answers just searching the forum. I didn't even read the book I bought as I kept making progress. Two weeks later I ended up with this...
The photo doesn't do the sparkling justice (and it has improved even more since) but I'm in awe of what I achieved by following the advice here. In fact the hardest part was fixing the leaky pipes which had nothing to do with the BBB method. Dealing w/ PVC was also new to me to but as I've learned anyone can do that as well. If I had time to work on the pool daily I think I could have gotten results even quicker.
So, thanks again everyone! I'm a believer. I hope this helps others. My advice would be to get a test kit and follow the pool school religiously. Reread it over and over again to really understand it. Realize that it doesn't happen overnight. Small progress IS progress. All my questions to rid the swap were already answered by others on here (this my first post
). What a resource!!! I still have a lot to learn but my family can enjoy the pool in the meantime. Thanks!!!
Welcome to TFP!!! 
Great job! Having just cleared a swamp myself, I know how good it feels to look at clear water