Remove the slide and clean it the best you can. Find a local body shop or if you know someone who is in autobody work they can re glass it easily amd cheaper than new
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- Thread starter raidermanz
- Start date
EzriJax
Bronze Supporter
Hi! I just wanted to wish you luck. I too bought a house that had a “derelict” pool this summer and had no idea where to start, and had every pool builder in the area laugh at me, avoid my calls, tell me to fill it in, or just never show up/return my call. Save for one....but then he disappeared.
I have a vermiculite bottom and polymer sides. There was a piece of a liner hanging on for dear life and a swamp in the deep end. I saw your photos and it made me have flash backs, lol.
Look familiar?
Ours had been sitting for a few years. Luckily, the lines had been winterized, so we didn’t need to replace the plumbing, but if you read through my first ever post here, you’ll see everything else is shot. Our PB fixed the crumbling and damaged vermiculite, replaced some coping, and then SEVERAL weeks later put in our new liner. 4 water trucks later it finally looked like a pool.
However, it only looks
like a pool. It doesn’t actually operate like one tho! Pump, filter, patio, Polaris system, etc..all broken. We are shopping for a new pump/filter. Our patio will get poured any day now. We junked the Polaris and used the ports for LED lights.
Its been a long summer, and fall, and I am going out everyday to test the water, remove leaves, and “manually” circulate the water (just in time for Halloween, I’m out there like a witch stirring a 34k gal cauldron) while I wait for a new safety cover to come in. Ours is a “free form” custom shape so it’ll be a few weeks before we get it.
And hey! Like you, I also have a slide (I found mine in the woods behind our barn) that looks like it’s seen better days and will need to be refinished.
Anyway, the folks here have been great. I haven’t been made to feel like an idiot because I know NOTHING about pools, water chemistry, pumps, filters, etc. I’ve learned a lot. You’ve come to the right place!
Hang in there, brace yourself to spend some $$ (liners, etc, aren’t cheap), and read read read all you can. I for one am rooting for you! Next year we will both be enjoying our beautiful “new” pools, and all these growing pains will be a distant memory.
I have a vermiculite bottom and polymer sides. There was a piece of a liner hanging on for dear life and a swamp in the deep end. I saw your photos and it made me have flash backs, lol.
Look familiar?
Ours had been sitting for a few years. Luckily, the lines had been winterized, so we didn’t need to replace the plumbing, but if you read through my first ever post here, you’ll see everything else is shot. Our PB fixed the crumbling and damaged vermiculite, replaced some coping, and then SEVERAL weeks later put in our new liner. 4 water trucks later it finally looked like a pool.
However, it only looks
like a pool. It doesn’t actually operate like one tho! Pump, filter, patio, Polaris system, etc..all broken. We are shopping for a new pump/filter. Our patio will get poured any day now. We junked the Polaris and used the ports for LED lights.Its been a long summer, and fall, and I am going out everyday to test the water, remove leaves, and “manually” circulate the water (just in time for Halloween, I’m out there like a witch stirring a 34k gal cauldron) while I wait for a new safety cover to come in. Ours is a “free form” custom shape so it’ll be a few weeks before we get it.
And hey! Like you, I also have a slide (I found mine in the woods behind our barn) that looks like it’s seen better days and will need to be refinished.
Anyway, the folks here have been great. I haven’t been made to feel like an idiot because I know NOTHING about pools, water chemistry, pumps, filters, etc. I’ve learned a lot. You’ve come to the right place!
Hang in there, brace yourself to spend some $$ (liners, etc, aren’t cheap), and read read read all you can. I for one am rooting for you! Next year we will both be enjoying our beautiful “new” pools, and all these growing pains will be a distant memory.
I think making it into a liner pool is the best idea here. Please keep this thread going with pictures and details along the way...please??? This problem comes up often enough that it would be helpful to see it thru to completion.
Maddie
Maddie
EzriJax
Bronze Supporter
I think making it into a liner pool is the best idea here. Please keep this thread going with pictures and details along the way...please??? This problem comes up often enough that it would be helpful to see it thru to completion.
Maddie
FWIW, I think a liner is a great idea. My opinion being worth as much as I know of course (which is almost nothing!) Just make sure you look at them in person, (as in, in a pool) or, at least, the samples. I found the catalogue and “visualizer” on the manufacturer’s website to be only good enough to narrow it down. We had no opportunity to view in person because we were in the thick of Covid (it was mid-July.)
Also, maybe have a “plan B“ liner pattern in mind. Midway thru production of our liner they ran out of material. We had to choose to wait 2-3 more weeks (after already waiting 4 weeks) or pick something else. We chose a plan b and, to be safe, a plan c.
Without any notification, we ended up with our “plan c” pattern/color. I have no idea if it was due to lack of availability, or straight up miscommunication, but, being as desperate as we were, we just rolled with it. As I told the PB...at this point, if it was Spongebob Squarepants print with a Patrick border, I’d take it, lol. It would at least provide comedic value, and a great story, for the next decade.
I have also been in touch with a company called Natare who makes 60mil pvc liners which are supposed to last 20 - 25 years, but the price tag of 20K is a bit steep right now. Basic vinyl liner to see how much we really use the pool, we are in a cooler climate, and then may pull the trigger on the permanent solution. Hopefully new liner installed, new heater, and chlorinator $7K-$9K. Getting someone to call you back is the issue at this point. I will try to keep updating. Thanks for the responses.
EzriJax
Bronze Supporter
Man, I hear you on the callback issue. We signed a P&S on our house in March and we immediately started calling around about getting the pool looked at, so we could reserve enough funds from the sale of our house to fix it. It was the start of the Covid craziness so we got nowhere. No one answered the phone, and if they did, it was just to say they were closed. As businesses started opening in May (and it being the beginning of swim season in NE) I tried again, and everyone was too busy with openings to give me the time of day. By July, when we closed on the property, folks said it was too late in the season, they were too busy...or they just didn’t answer the phone.
It’s now October, and there is only one place around still willing to talk “pool” and their hours are limited. They are responsive, and helpful, but sheesh it’s been a lonely journey until now.
Just keep calling. Also, try Thumbtack if you haven’t already. Some pros I find are more responsive through that app than if you call them directly. There may not be any pool pros on there in your area, but it doesn’t hurt to look.
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