Update! We opened the poolhouse back up today, on April 2 (winterized it in November). Pool opens tomorrow, April 3. I'm nervous because we had a little problem last fall...
Want to hear my horror story? PLEASE learn from me. I was leaving town for a girls' trip on a Friday afternoon, first Friday in November. Came home from work in the late morning to finish packing and hit the road. I noticed the pool looked a little low. (I can tell with the cover closed.) Turned on hose thinking I'd turn it off just before I left for the airport.
Guys, as I was driving home on Monday morning, I realized, with horror, that the HOSE WAS STILL ON.
My self-loathing was so bad that I couldn't even post here! My husband and kids were home all weekend. We'd told the pool company we didn't want to close til Mid-November because we wanted to see whether we'd use it, but it had been too chilly for weeks. Husband just thought it had rained and that's why there was water on the cover.
My husband turned the hose off, and I got home about an hour later. The autocover had tripped its circuit breaker because the housing well had been flooded. Started pumping off water, and opened the pool. It looked OK!
But then I saw that there were large flat "bubbles" in the liner in the deep end. They were really hard to see. I tried using the french drain to pump out the water that was causing the liner to float, but I never could get it to work. The pool company came out on Thursday to check things out. I was at work, but they said the liner was fine and not floating at all. Then they closed the pool without me getting to verify that the bubbles were gone. So.... I really hope they were right. I'll find out tomorrow!
LESSON: ALWAYS SET A TIMER BEFORE YOU PUT THE HOSE IN THE POOL. I know, I know, I'm not the first person to say that. I didn't think I'd need one because I was just leaving it on 30 minutes or so. Wrong. So wrong. I feel awful about all that water! (But my water bill was actually better than it was when we were irrigating the new sod...) Hopefully no permanent damage was done. Next year we'll close the pool first of October, I think.
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Other updates:
1. The fastlane suffered some bad corrosion last year before my PB found the right anode. I'm interested to see how it did in the water over the winter....the PB said it would be fine, but Endless Pools says you should remove it for winter... will report. There was a nasty rust stain on one side of the box, over a warning label, and the PB said they'd fix it. I will keep on them.
2. We put sod in FINALLY in late June. It did pretty well all things considered. In process of trying to seed and aerate now, but it's been wet for weeks.
3. The hot tub arrived Memorial Day weekend! They brought the wrong color.
(Remember they brought the wrong color autocover at first, too!) I was SO glad I was there to recognize that it wasn't right before my contractor installed it. They brought back the right one in an hour or so and we got to use the spa for the weekend. The setup for the Caldera salt system is weird, but I liked it in practice. I want to put new water in this weekend, so am going to use my Ahhh-some that I bought last fall. I'm excited.
4. I had the thought in January or so that it is super cool that I get to use my pool this summer and I don't have to build it again! It's been wonderful not having a mud pit in the backyard this winter!
5. Figuring out a final plan for furniture. Haven't settled on anything yet, so I still feel like it's in progress a bit.
6. You know how everyone says to put your lights so they shine away from the house? I told them I wanted that. My PB said that I wouldn't have good light coverage if I put three lights on the same side. So she said put one in middle on the other side. But then the installers put the far-side light in the deep end "so it would light up the swim-out bench." I was told to trust them, that they build a lot of pools. This was Crud. I should have stuck to my guns and said ONLY LIGHTS ON THE HOUSE SIDE OF THE POOL! As it is, I use the lights very little because they attract bugs. But still.
7. Speaking of bugs, we put a Dynatrap mosquito catcher in the backyard, and it worked REALLY well. Will probably buy a second one this year for the front yard but I really hate emptying them! A huge spider took up residence in it. It was kind of cool but also a little nightmarish.
Pictures coming! And the 2020 Pool Opening results....