What a mess we now have in our side yard. This shows some of the concrete removed and the PVC pipes that we used to replace the damaged pipe.
The next step in getting the pool operational was to check the lines running from the equipment to the pool and back. My husband started digging close to the equipment first. It soon became apparent that the lines running from the skimmer to the pump were compromised. The pool had not been winterized properly and the lines had frozen and cracked. What a job this was!
Yikes! Busted pipes
At first my husband was hopeful that the lines would be okay after a short distance, but it soon became clear that was not the case. He started cutting concrete with his circular saw, but soon realized he would have to cut too much concrete for that to be a feasible plan of action. He rented a machine at Home Depot for 2 days to cut the rest of the concrete, that along with buying a couple of concrete saw blades. The blades were about $60 each and the equipment rental was about $200 for the 2 days. The first machine he rented had to be returned before he even used it. My husband was not a happy camper about that. It’s a 35 minute drive each way from our house to Home Depot.
 Walk behind concrete saw |
 One of the 2 saw blades we purchased for the walk behind saw. |
After the concrete was removed, there was a lot of digging to be done to get to the old pipe. The old pipe was removed and new pipe was put back in its place.
 You can see the concrete cuts here. Part of the concrete has also been removed. |
 Most of the concrete has been removed here. |
After the plumbing connections had cured, the pump was started and water began to circulate. By the next day the water had begun to clear up. Now we are adding chemicals to get the water balanced.
Our goal is to get the pool ready for next summer. There is still a lot to be done to accomplish that goal, such as pouring new concrete to replace what was removed to fix the broken pipes. We are considering stamping the concrete when we get to that step. We had that done on our pool deck in Texas and we really liked it. Actually we did it on our front walkway too. We used a clay color there to coordinate with our brick, but I think gray would be a better choice here.
Stamped concrete at our previous house in Texas
There is still a leak in the pool itself that will have to be resolved. We will probably wait on checking that out until next spring.Yesterday I purchased chemicals to winterize the pool and I still need to purchase a cover. More on that later.
Previous pool posts:
myarkansashouse 