I could also do two different blog posts on owning a pool- one extolling its good points, and one on what a pain it is. Maybe sometime in the future.
We regularly attempt projects that most people pay other people to do. Usually we learn why most people pay someone else to do the work, but in the meantime, we learn a lot and save a bundle. I wonder how our kids will remember weeks like this last one.
We had to drain our pool. The water was so old it wouldn't hold chemicals anymore, which makes for a hassle of a swim season- balancing the water every single time we wanted to use the pool. Most pool owners drain their pools more often than we do (not difficult, since we've never done it) but I can't fathom doing it more often than is totally necessary. Do you know how much water these things take?! Our pool is 12,000 gallons, and that, come to think of it, is the smallest out of anyone we compare notes with. I'm sure there are smaller pools out there, but most are bigger. I would be happy never to have a bigger pool than this one. This project only made that sentiment stronger.
Before beginning- the pool cover got stuck in this almost-open position, so we decided to start draining a day early. Below is most of the worst of the staining the pool had. Since we were draining the water anyway, we decided to do an acid wash. This picture serves as "before." The brown stains come from the minerals in the water. They don't harm anything; they just sit there and look crummy.
Below: starting to drain on day one:
As the water level fell, it was such a novelty to be able to step into the pool without getting wet! Except with temperatures still in the 90s, the water was nice, so there was plenty of getting wet.
Eventually, I let the kids just get into swimming suits. You know what a big deal it is for kids to be able to stand in the deep end- they all got to do it! This was day two. The draining was slower going than we anticipated, partly due to a malfunctioning pump. You can see above how badly stained the pool steps were.
Day three- wading depth. I put a bucket in the deep end to attempt to gauge the draining speed of the pump so we could get an estimate of when it might finish.
End of day three- all gone!
Day four: Paul cleaned up the pool for the acid wash. The kids found the pool a fun hangout for a few minutes, and Paul got artistic with the camera and the Grand Canyon of the Backyard.
Don't be jealous of how we spend our Saturdays.
Paul worked all day and evening, finishing up with the floor of the shallow end. He was a MACHINE. I was little help, and maybe you can tell why from my picture...
Then it was time to fix chipped plaster. This took several evenings and a high tolerance of fine white dust on everything. This was taken a week ago, before we left for the evening of Halloween festivities.
Then it was time to refill. Away we go...
Once we were able to turn both hoses on, the refill was more than twice as fast as the draining. After running the water all through the night, we had this:
By about ten a.m., the pool was full and the equipment was turned on. Since it was still warm outside (in November!) and the pool was much improved after all the hard work, we went in that evening!
Above: The evening we finished up work and started the rest of the fill-up (this initial amount came a few days before the rest while we were still doing repairs). Below: Less than 24 hours later.
This is about as close to side-by side comparison as I can manage.
November 3rd is our new record for the latest swim in the season. Now the pool is closed (covered with a safety cover) for the winter, but it's nice to know that the chlorine will stay in it and we'll have a nicer pool in the spring.
