New Pool Owner

[kimkats]

Brian, what kind of person would she call to have it fixed? Is this something they can fix on their own? How would they fix it?

THANKS for coming here and helping out. I KNEW you would love this pool! It is so neat!

Kim

 

[bdavis466]

Unfortunately it's going to be hard to tell the extent of the damage until a good amount of demo has taken place.

The best bet would be to contact a couple pool remodeling contractors to get their take. It looks like a replaster is likely in order as well as new tile and even decking since it is cantilevered and not a more traditional type of coping.

I fear that a simple DIY type fix may only end up being a temporary cosmetic band-aid without fixing the underlying issue.

Is the pool losing water?

 

[bdavis466]

From a few of the pictures it looks like the tile was placed over the bottom section of the coping that's flush with the pool shell. Is that the case?

How big is the gap at the largest point?

Does the speration wrap the entire pool? The island?

I'd like to build a bridge with a sheer descent on each side that flows into the pool.

 

[JamesW]

Definitely could use a full renovation. Remove all plaster and tile and redo. That's major and would be expensive.

Looks like copper and iron staining in addition to several types of algae, including possibly black algae.

The crack is from the deck moving horizontally and vertically.

Is the pool holding water?

 

[JessicaL7]

I'm just trying to figure out how to do a bridge---------AND---------steps! Nice pool.

Me too! Not sure what they were thinking when they didn't include at least one of them in the plans.[emoji23] Thank you!


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[JessicaL7]

At TFP, our purpose is to teach you to manage your own pool. That will involve reading and learning a lot from this website but we will all help and answer all questions.

My first suggestion would be to clean all the debris from the pool.

Let us know if you can post those results and we'll go from there.

Your other issues are easily addressed if you take them singly but to try to fix everything simultaneously may be VERY frustrating.

Yes, I agree.. thank you!


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[JessicaL7]

SWEET! That is awesome news. Now you get to play with your pool. Get few things that will float. I used ping pong balls. Put them in the pool at different points of the pool and watch them.

What you are looking for is the water going in a circular movement around the pool.

Did you know you can move the eyeballs inside the returns? They rotate up, down, and all around. This will help you tweak the water movement around the pool. This will help you get chlorine in that area on the back side of the island.

How are you adding chlorine?

Wait, lets back up a step. I have a couple of links for you to read over. I am going to start off small and go from there.

TFPC for Beginners

The first couple of post are the best.

This link shows you what we use in our pools. SO much cheaper than the pool store. It is the same stuff but does not have the word POOL on it so..........

Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

Kim

We have adjusted all the returns after we had a professional come out and do a "pool school" for us when we first moved in since we didn't know where to begin. We haven't tried the floating technique through and that really makes sense. We are currently using pool chemicals but that was mainly because the previous owner bought/left us a ton of supplies, so that's what we are used to. Plus we don't have a kit. The previous owner did leave one on the gazebo bench but it looked like it was in bad shape and was missing pieces..


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[JessicaL7]

I don't think the bond beam is damaged. It looks as if your decking has lifted so you will need to find the source of the upward pressure. Check the surrounding areas to see if they are over saturated with water from irrigation and/or rain. Tree roots can also do a great deal of damage.

It also appears that a proper expansion joint was not put in place between the top of the bond beam and the coping which is the likely cause for the cracks and missing tiles.

That really is a beautiful pool that deserves rehab. I would love to get my hands on it!

Thank you for the information.. that all makes perfect sense. Many of the pieces of decking have cracks and the deck at the deep end actually seems like it is angling upwards a little bit. I would love to rehab this pool asap, but I just don't think it's something we will be able to afford right now. I think it would look amazing redone and I even looked at the link to your website and those pools are beautiful. I love the finish of the aquaBRIGHT. How much is that vs regular plaster? It looks amazing.. so beautiful.


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[JessicaL7]

Unfortunately it's going to be hard to tell the extent of the damage until a good amount of demo has taken place.

The best bet would be to contact a couple pool remodeling contractors to get their take. It looks like a replaster is likely in order as well as new tile and even decking since it is cantilevered and not a more traditional type of coping.

I fear that a simple DIY type fix may only end up being a temporary cosmetic band-aid without fixing the underlying issue.

Is the pool losing water?

That's my fear as well.. the pool seems to maintain the water level we keep it at, but we do add water somewhat regularly, so maybe that's not normal..? I just assumed it was evaporation because it's typically pretty hot here and we always keep the water below the crack line. My husband does most of the maintenance. We have 3 kids under 5 yrs old (oldest has autism) so I don't get much time to work with the pool.


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[bdavis466]

I love the finish of the aquaBRIGHT. How much is that vs regular plaster?

If the existing plaster is in good enough shape to be coated then it ends up being competitive with replastering. It gets very expensive if the pool needs to be replastered and then coated since you are basically paying for two finishes.

Sorry to be vague but I don't want to mislead anyone. Pool plaster in my area is less than half the cost as it is in other areas of the country.

I had a good friend that moved to The Woodlands several years ago to build custom homes. I am always blown away at how beautiful of an area that is and all of the amazing houses. I made the mistake of showing my wife a couple homes and now all she talks about is packing up and moving.

 

[JessicaL7]

From a few of the pictures it looks like the tile was placed over the bottom section of the coping that's flush with the pool shell. Is that the case?

How big is the gap at the largest point?

Does the speration wrap the entire pool? The island?

I'd like to build a bridge with a sheer descent on each side that flows into the pool.

I'm honestly not sure on the coping. I'm just not familiar enough to know what I'm looking at.

As far as the gap, I would say most of the areas where it is cracked (which I would guesstimate as 75%+ is..) is maybe 1/8" or so.. BUT, their are areas where the gap is as much as maybe a 1/2" (I would need to measure for accuracy, but that's my guess).

The separation runs nearly the entire pool with a few spots randomly without cracking. The island has the same crack as well.

That bridge sounds amazing! I never would've thought to do something like that.


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[JessicaL7]

If the existing plaster is in good enough shape to be coated then it ends up being competitive with replastering. It gets very expensive if the pool needs to be replastered and then coated since you are basically paying for two finishes.

Sorry to be vague but I don't want to mislead anyone. Pool plaster in my area is less than half the cost as it is in other areas of the country.

I had a good friend that moved to The Woodlands several years ago to build custom homes. I am always blown away at how beautiful of an area that is and all of the amazing houses. I made the mistake of showing my wife a couple homes and now all she talks about is packing up and moving.

Lol I can't say I blame her! I must say, it is a great place to live! Everything is at your front door almost and it's clean, safe, great schools/opportunity, and low cost of living. Mind you, our house is not on the "fancy" side (1981 ranch style fixer upper!), but we like doing projects together and will spend years getting our home where we want it I'm sure[emoji28]. Honestly, we're just thankful to have what we have! (Although I do wish we had extra cash to redo this pool! [emoji23])

I didn't realize the aquaBRIGHT had to have a good plaster under it. That would be pricey[emoji21] I'm sure it's beautiful though and worth it if you have the $$!


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[bdavis466]

The plaster doesn't have to be perfect, it just can't be delaminated and crumbling. The trouble is most people don't choose to redo their pool while their plaster is still in good shape, they wait until the pool is nearly self destructing before they take action.

AquaBright is an awesome product but it's biggest downfall is how reliant it is on the condition of the surface below it and the expense there can be if it needs to be brought up to par.

I've always paid close attention to the pool projects in The Woodlands. Please keep us posted on your options and how you choose to proceed. Good luck!

 

[kimkats]

So for right now I say do this:

-get a good test kit. This alone will save your hubby time and money once we get the water dialed in.

-get a few area pool repair guys out to look at the cracks. Share with us what they say. Make sure they can see the kids so they might swing the low ball price LOL

-Look around your area for your best source for liquid chlorine (pool store) or bleach (Target or Walmart). It should be easy to get as you do not want to have to make a special trip for it.

3 kids under 5?? and the older with autism? to you on an hourly bases! I teach Kindergarten with 20 kids in my class so know your pain but I get to send mine home at the end of the day LOL

Good of you for having pool school to help learn the equipment. Now you have TFP to really dial it!

Kim