Hello everyone,
I have been lurking around this fine establishment for a while now, and decided that in appreciation of all the help and useful info I've found here, I will bless all of TFP.com with my official presence, involvement and membership! Ha!
My family and I bough a house in northern Illinois last year which conveniently had an existing L shaped ~26000 gallon vinyl pool, which was in a really bad shape. Wasn't covered for the winter, dozens of frogs and full of water bugs. Also it was late June and pool hasn't been open yet. I did not notice any skimmer gizmos and was really questioning the integrity of the whole setup seeing how it was winterized the year before. I did schedule a pool inspection with a local pool contractor before closing on the house, but we didn't have much time and almost all local pool guys were too busy to even pick up the phone, the guy who came out didn't really give me too much details or advise other than "it looks fine", and focused more on trying to sell me new equipment, while I was still not sure weather or not to purchase this house in the first place.
The real estate market was really chaotic the last few years, which we first took advantage of when selling our newly remodeled house in northwest suburban Chicago, it was getting a bit small for our growing family and we decided if we're going to sell it anytime soon, then was the time. It sold in one day after 45 showing, for 50k over asking price. We didn't expect it to go that good, and we now were "homeless" and looking for a house in a market where a bidding war was unavoidable unless we started looking a bit further away from the city. We ended up with a decent size house about 40 minutes north-west of Chicago, it was being sold by a couple going trough a divorce, the sale required courts involvement and approval, which probably scared a lot of potential buyers off. We got it for 20K under asking price while all other house prices around us regardless of condition or shape were going up day by day. The house was solid, build in 1993, but neglected for the last few years probably as a result of the divorce. To this day I keep finding surprises that came with the house. I am pretty handy... worked in multiple trades for few years and on construction sites since I was 16, I own a pretty decent assortment of tools, so wasn't too worried about getting everything in order sooner or later. I now have an office job as an estimator/ project manager for an electrical company meaning more time to fix things up. With the money we have made when "trading" houses, we were able to get new hardwood floors done, all windows replaced and update appliances.
But, staying on track with the pool topic, after the purchase was completed, I did my research to help me choose and install new equipment, I looked mostly on YouTube and here. All of old equipment was junk, the old heater caught on fire and melted the SWG cell and filter, pump was ok but I replaced it anyway. I ran all new plumbing and valves from ground level up. After I was done, I got a pool contractor to come in and clean out the pool with a "garbage pump" as it was full of everything from old pool toys, lawn furniture, branches, leaves, pine cones, frogs and water boatman bugs. To my surprise, I was able to get crystal clean water within few days, and it styed pristine all of last year without any input really, other than cleaning the skimmer baskets every day and dropping a robot in for a stroll. I didn't have to add anything, I assume thanks to the SWG... and since my water was perfect I didn't really test it too often, as I didn't know about the chemical parameters then as much as I do now. Before and after pictures from last year are at the end of the post.
Having a pool was great , and luckily no leaks or unforeseen damage, I guess the gamble paid off in a way. The deck will need to be replaced in a year or two, and diving board needs replacement after I finished it off with a glorious cannon ball. After a great remainder of the last season I decided to close the pool by myself, which went well. The mistake I have made is to open the pool mid May... which was too late to avoid green water and algae, but after two days of SLAM the water is already looking tempting. I got a Taylor test kit, muriatic acid, CYA and chlorine jugs plus a bunch of tips and directions on TFP. Thanks again for all the help, and I'm looking forward to staying active on here.
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I have been lurking around this fine establishment for a while now, and decided that in appreciation of all the help and useful info I've found here, I will bless all of TFP.com with my official presence, involvement and membership! Ha!
My family and I bough a house in northern Illinois last year which conveniently had an existing L shaped ~26000 gallon vinyl pool, which was in a really bad shape. Wasn't covered for the winter, dozens of frogs and full of water bugs. Also it was late June and pool hasn't been open yet. I did not notice any skimmer gizmos and was really questioning the integrity of the whole setup seeing how it was winterized the year before. I did schedule a pool inspection with a local pool contractor before closing on the house, but we didn't have much time and almost all local pool guys were too busy to even pick up the phone, the guy who came out didn't really give me too much details or advise other than "it looks fine", and focused more on trying to sell me new equipment, while I was still not sure weather or not to purchase this house in the first place.
The real estate market was really chaotic the last few years, which we first took advantage of when selling our newly remodeled house in northwest suburban Chicago, it was getting a bit small for our growing family and we decided if we're going to sell it anytime soon, then was the time. It sold in one day after 45 showing, for 50k over asking price. We didn't expect it to go that good, and we now were "homeless" and looking for a house in a market where a bidding war was unavoidable unless we started looking a bit further away from the city. We ended up with a decent size house about 40 minutes north-west of Chicago, it was being sold by a couple going trough a divorce, the sale required courts involvement and approval, which probably scared a lot of potential buyers off. We got it for 20K under asking price while all other house prices around us regardless of condition or shape were going up day by day. The house was solid, build in 1993, but neglected for the last few years probably as a result of the divorce. To this day I keep finding surprises that came with the house. I am pretty handy... worked in multiple trades for few years and on construction sites since I was 16, I own a pretty decent assortment of tools, so wasn't too worried about getting everything in order sooner or later. I now have an office job as an estimator/ project manager for an electrical company meaning more time to fix things up. With the money we have made when "trading" houses, we were able to get new hardwood floors done, all windows replaced and update appliances.
But, staying on track with the pool topic, after the purchase was completed, I did my research to help me choose and install new equipment, I looked mostly on YouTube and here. All of old equipment was junk, the old heater caught on fire and melted the SWG cell and filter, pump was ok but I replaced it anyway. I ran all new plumbing and valves from ground level up. After I was done, I got a pool contractor to come in and clean out the pool with a "garbage pump" as it was full of everything from old pool toys, lawn furniture, branches, leaves, pine cones, frogs and water boatman bugs. To my surprise, I was able to get crystal clean water within few days, and it styed pristine all of last year without any input really, other than cleaning the skimmer baskets every day and dropping a robot in for a stroll. I didn't have to add anything, I assume thanks to the SWG... and since my water was perfect I didn't really test it too often, as I didn't know about the chemical parameters then as much as I do now. Before and after pictures from last year are at the end of the post.
Having a pool was great , and luckily no leaks or unforeseen damage, I guess the gamble paid off in a way. The deck will need to be replaced in a year or two, and diving board needs replacement after I finished it off with a glorious cannon ball. After a great remainder of the last season I decided to close the pool by myself, which went well. The mistake I have made is to open the pool mid May... which was too late to avoid green water and algae, but after two days of SLAM the water is already looking tempting. I got a Taylor test kit, muriatic acid, CYA and chlorine jugs plus a bunch of tips and directions on TFP. Thanks again for all the help, and I'm looking forward to staying active on here.
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Congrats on the new home/pool. Enjoy your swimming season. 
