New Guy here. Got some questions.

[justintime_3]

Just bought a foreclosure house in central illinois. It has a pool, not sure what kind. It is inground and what looks like concrete walls. No liner. Its pretty cracked from whatt I can see. It is half empty and its like a little lagoon. Algae and all kinds of crap in there. I was told by the neighbors that it leaked and never really worked right as long as they remember. Trying to decide how to bring it back to life. The house has been vacabnt for atleast a year.

1. So my first question is it gets pretty cold here so do I drain it all the way right now and clean it out and fill it back up without replacing the liner to see if it really does leak?

2. Do I drain it and put a liner in it just to be safe and call it good?

3. Do I drain it and work on it next year? The only problem is, I have been doing some research and they say to never leave a pool empty over winter? I do get some colllldddd winters and dont want the walls to cave in.

4.Do I just fill it up right now and clean all the crap out of it with some sort of filter?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

[aylad]

Hi,

Hopefully Pooldoc and some of the others that have some construction-type experience can help with this--I'll try to alert them to look into this thread and see if they can help.

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum!!

[justintime_3]

Why can I not see any of the other forum pages. Is there a minimum post count?

[aylad]

It's a system Ben has set up to help control the spammers. For now, until he completes your registration, you can log out and see the rest of the forum pages. Once the registration is completed, you can see it all without logging out.

Janet

[justintime_3]

Okay Super! Hopefully soon because I have lots of questions that need answered.

[Watermom]

You can ask questions in this section. Once your registration is completed, your thread will be moved into the correct sub-forum based on the content.

[justintime_3]

Ok seeing how I still cannot be admitted to the big kids forum I will ask my questions here. Who has the best deals on liners and what mil should I order?

[PoolDoc]

Wow. All that, and then your question is not one we can likely answer well.

I only know a little:

1. Mil sizes are not closely correlated with quality or durability.

2. Only a few companies are associated with consistent quality. Plastimayd is good, but expensive. Tara is not usually junk.

3. Availability is somewhat regional. You can get a non-regional liner, but it will cost more proportionately.

4. Dropping liners into concrete pools is tricky. You may want to hire it done.

5. Repairing badly cracked concrete pools also takes skill and gear a homeowner will likely lack.

6. But . . . people have done it themselves successfully

If you want more info, post pictures (Photobucket, Picasa, etc.) and wait. Those of us in the pool business will get some relief starting the week after the 4th.

[justintime_3]

Ok seeing how I still cannot be admitted to the big kids forum I will ask my questions here. Who has the best deals on liners and what mil should I order?

Okay that was a little sarcastic. Sorry! Just wanting to get this thing done.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So I got the whole pool uncovered and cleaned out today and it is really not as bad as I had anticipated. I will get pics up shortly. I believe it is a concrete bottom with steel walls. I have a couple places where the plaster is flaking off of the bottom and some of the seams look like a very good posibillity of leaking. I think I am going to go ahead and do a little plaster work as I have done tile work and brick work so I have the basic concept of it down. I will first scrape all of the old stuff off and get to a good starting point. Then do a good epoxy paint job and call it good. Let me know if anyone has any input, constructive or not. Thanks


EDIT by Watermom: 2 posts in queue merged

[BigDave]

Was the pool built as a vinyl liner pool - if so, you should probably find a liner / installer. I know that many vinyl liner pools are built with steel walls and concrete / vermiculite bottoms but I'm not aware of a steel side pool without a liner.

[justintime_3]

Pool was built as a concrete floor and fiberglass or steel sides. Doesnt look to have had a liner ever installed. No vermiculite either. Just concrete bottom.

[BigDave]

Learn something new every day. Thanks!

[justintime_3]

So on to the next question? When I pressure wash the bottom if I try real hard I can get down to the concrete. Should I pressure wash it that hard. I am using a 2000 psi pressure washer. Just wonderingif I am doing more damage by taking it all the way down to concrete. There is about 3-4 layers of paint. Let me know Thanks

[PoolDoc]

I can't give you a direct answer to that -- there's some on-site judgement involved. What I can tell you to keep in mind, is that if you are refinishing, your new surface is only as good as what it's attached to -- and often, old paint is not the best thing for that!