Pool Update

It looks like we have solved the leaking pool issue. It has only taken us 7 years to get to this point! After my last post in the summer of 2016, we were unable to use the pool due to water loss.

We found a product online that seemed to be just what we needed. The company is Sani-Tred. They have a complete line of waterproofing products that were a perfect solution for our leaky pool problem. They also have wonderful customer phone support. I can not say enough good things about this company. We looked into so many possible solutions over the years, including adding a liner ($18,000 quote from a local pool company), resurfacing, for around $14,000, with no guarantees the pool would hold water, and we even considered just having it filled in.

My husband has been tireless in his efforts to mitigate the problems. Last summer he prepped the pool for crack repairs using Sani-Tred products, which took hours of hard work. The required prep work was often a bit of trial and error as my husband looked for ways to remove the old pool paint, which was a necessary step before new products could be applied. He tried his pressure washer and even rented a more powerful pressure washer, without much luck.

After a lot of online research , we finally found a product, Fusion Plus Pool Primer, that could be applied over the old chlorinated rubber pool paint, meaning we didn’t have to completely remove the old layers of paint. This allowed us to apply fresh Epoxy pool paint after the Sani-Tred products were used to seal the pool.

He used a grinder to remove the paint around all the cracks, as well as to remove what had been previously applied to seal the cracks. This was necessary to allow the Sani-Tred products to bind with the concrete. After we sealed the pool with the Sani-Tred products, we used an epoxy paint, Olympic Zeron, in white. This provided a one-coat finish.

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My husband built a cover for the pool before we started painting it. We didn’t want to risk wind blowing dirt and leaves onto the fresh paint. It was also to protect it from the sun and to provide cover in case of a rain shower. He used PVC pipes, twine, and a tarp.

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Last fall we filled the pool up to just under the skimmer, so it didn’t have to be winterized. After all, we hadn’t used it since 2016 and it had been winterized then. We kept it covered and hoped for the best, meaning we hoped it would still have water come spring. It did, and we have finished filling it.

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We have purchased a pool vacuum, this Residential Advanced Suction Side Automatic Pool Cleaner and this Cyclonic Leaf Catcher for Suction Side Pool Cleaners. We have also purchased a solar cover and reel.

There are still projects to be completed. We are considering removing the slide and the diving board. We also need to repair the concrete around the pool, especially where it had to be cut out to fix the underground plumbing. Right now we are just looking forward to some quality pool time this summer.

Swimming!

My husband enjoying the fruits of his labor!

We have finally been able to get the pool to hold water again. It is still losing a small amount of water, but the improvement is dramatic. We were finally able to start swimming on July 4th. It is wonderful!

This pool is bigger than our previous pool and much older too. It uses a different filter system. Our pool in Texas used a DE filter and this one uses sand. We think we might like sand better. In Texas we had a Polaris to vacuum the pool automatically, an automatic chlorinator, an automatic pool water leveler, and a pool pump timer. We don’t have those things for our pool here. We have purchased the pump timer, but it isn’t hooked up yet.

New pool timer box.

Those are additions we didn’t want to make until we could actually get it to hold water. That is rather important after all. I think we might actually have our old chlorinator. We replaced it when we were preparing to sell our Texas home so there wouldn’t be any problems when we were  away in Arkansas. My husband kept it because he thought it could be fixed to use here. Who knows where it is after the move though. I guess our next decision is whether to use the cheaper pool cover from last year or to go ahead and spring for a proper cover when we get ready to close the pool this fall. I’m leaning towards a proper cover, but that will mean we need to add the hooks into the concrete to attach the cover to. Right now it’s just nice to be able to swim again! Hope your summer is fun filled.

Just relaxing!

 

 

Here We Go Again

Well, we are back at it trying to resolve the pool problems from last year. We did a lot of work on the pool last summer, but never got to swim in it because it still lost a significant amount of water. In other words, we still had a leak.

My husband used a grinder to make a groove in each crack not filled last summer.

They were all surface cracks, meaning they didn’t go all the way through the concrete, until the last one. My husband stopped grinding and said, “This is it!” He feels pretty confident that this one is the problem.

He used hydraulic cement to fill each groove.

We ordered some epoxy from Amazon that we will use to caulk around all the underwater openings and at the seams where the stainless steel meets the concrete. Once we have done those repairs we will start filling it up again. It needs to be repainted, but that’s for another year, after the leaks are fixed. I really hope we get to swim in the pool this summer! I’ll add an update once we fill it. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

The Pool is Closed

It’s a little sad that we did so much work on the pool this summer, but never got to swim in it. It is officially closed. The lines were blown free of water. The winterizing chemicals were added, and a cover and leaf net were put over the pool. I’ll be looking forward to using it next summer.

More Pool Improvements

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.

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Previous pool posts:

New Pool Pump

Pool Is Filled… Sort Of

Pool Update

Pool or Pond?

New Pool Pump

We replaced the pump

We are continuing  work on the pool. We changed out the old pump with the new one we ordered through Amazon. The old one had a leak that we believe was caused by improper winterizing practices of the previous owners.

Old pump

New pump

There were no unions on any of the lines, so my husband installed them when he installed the new pump. This will make any future repairs/maintenance easier because it won’t be necessary to cut the pipes.

Equipment without unions

Unions added

Union

We changed the sand in the filter

It turns out that the unions were put to use sooner than we expected. There was still air in the line so we decided to go ahead and change out the sand in the filter, since we had no idea how long it had been in there. I had to go to 2 different stores to get the correct sand. Apparently some of the sand labeled pool sand at some stores isn’t what the filter manufacturer recommends which is No. 20 Silica Sand. When you get down to the fine print they were not the correct particle size (0.45-0.55mm). Theirs was particle size (0.85-0.425 mm).

Pool sand

We watched a SwimUniversity video on YouTube to get pointers. It is a pretty straightforward job though.

• Remove the multi-port valve
•  Drain the tank.
• Use a shop vac to get the old sand out.
• Rinse out the tank.
• Fill tank halfway with water
• Add new sand
• Replace multi-port valve

You have to cover the center pipe to the multi-port valve so sand won’t get in it. You also have to make sure you keep it in the center as you fill it since you won’t be able to move it once you get the sand in it.

Vacuuming out sand

Our pool saga will continue in a future post.

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Previous pool posts:

Pool Is Filled… Sort Of

Pool Update

Pool or Pond?

Pool Update

My husband and son pressure washed the pool today and then removed the last bit of water by means of a 5 gallon bucket and a wet vac. Previous pool photo

Using a wet vac to get the last bit of water out.

Pool is empty. Ready to start filling.

Pool has just started being filled.

Now we will have to fill the pool to determine if the crack is fixed. If it holds water, then we will be moving on to check to see if the pool equipment is operational. Keeping our fingers crossed!

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Other pool posts:

Pool or Pond? posted 6/27/15

Pool Is Filled…Sort Of – posted 8/5/15