Foreclosure pool!

[Flener]

My wife and I purchased a foreclosure in May of 2013 that had sat empty for 2 years. Like anything that has sat for that long the yard was overgrown, and everything needed attention. The bank had paid a company to put a cover over the 20 x 40 inground pool and with all the things on my todo list (plumbing, laying 1200 sq ft of hardwood, redo 3 bathrooms, remodel the kitchen, paint every wall and de mold the basement, the list goes on) I have never even lifted the cover other than to see that there is nasty water in it, the metal ridge at the top where it meets the decking is rusted out, the water lever is even with the bottom of the skimmer, and I pecked on the plaster in a few spots, some of it sounded hollow which tells me it's delaminates in some spots. There is not any tile at the top, I goes from plaster, to some metal, to the concrete decking. I am going to have a lot of different questions but here are my main ones.
1.) I assume since the water is staying level with the bottom of the skimmer and my pump sits below that level, the pool is somewhat stable, it is probably leaking between the pump and the skimmer. What is my best bet to track that down?
2.) I know with the delamination I will have to chisel out the lose stuff and fill that with plaster level. I have looked at several resurfacing options, I have worked with fiberglass extensively, and I like the idea of doing a fiberglass liner, any thoughts and has anyone here done this?
3.) The rusted metal..... What to do?
4.) Is there anyone on this forum that lives in Kentucky who want to come help me get my pool running? I will pay you with beer and all the costco hotdogs you can eat while your here!
Thank you in advance for your help!

[PoolDoc]

I would HIGHLY recommend that you leave it covered till you have lots of time and $5,000 ready to dedicate to the pool rehab.

The fact that it's still mostly full suggests that it may well be practical to re-hab rather than fill in. But the rest of it sounds like you've got a LOT of serious work ahead of you.

More than that, if you want help, you need to post pictures. You can do so using Flickr, Picasa, Google Drive, Webshots and simply linking to the photo.

Good luck!

[Flener]

I will upload pictures shortly. I know it will not be cheap to get it up and running, and if I can make that happen for $5,000 dollars it will be less than what I was expecting to spend. As far as lining it with fiberglass, does anyone here have any experience with that? Also the rusted metal strip, what is the purpose of that and where would you buy the stuff to replace it?

[PoolDoc]

I'm not going to try to figure out what the bits you're describing are, without pictures. I'd just be guessing, and wasting both your time and mine.

Regarding fiberglass: it can be done. I *think* it can be done well, but that's not what happened in the cases I saw. Since I haven't done the work myself, I don't know if the problem was bad materials, bad workmanship . . . or if it's just a case of a bad method of repair.

You have to remember that water WILL get between the new FG and the old plaster, and that tends to cause problems. If you succeed in bonding the FG to the old plaster, you *still* won't have a sound surface, since you have plaster delamination.

Pretty much *any* method of repair that doesn't involve getting down to sound and tight concrete or plaster is a PATCH, not a repair. I would not be surprised at all that there is someone -- either DIYer or tradesman -- who has done successful repairs with FG, but I haven't seen an account of it, or a 'how-to'.

One other point to consider: I've never seen a field applied gel-coat look anything like factory gel-coat. This is cosmetic, rather than structural, so it's up to you whether that's an issue or not. Again, my guess is that someone with the right methods and persistence could improve that, but it's not what I've seen happen.

[CarlD]

Is there anyone on this forum .... who wants to come help me get my pool running? I will pay you with beer and all the costco hotdogs you can eat while your here!

I'm on my way!

(Just kidding...but it's a great offer! :) )

[Flener]

When I originally posted here I thought my inground pool was a plaster pool. When we bought the foreclosure last year I peaked under the cover and saw how nasty the water was and I had left it alone because more important projects prevailed, when I pulled back the cover this weekend I discovered metal wall panels and a concrete floor. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. Any tips or things I should look for while I'm making my todo list? Also I have started scooping out the leaves, the water lever is at the jets not at the bottom of the skimmer like I previously thought. And there is a skimmer at the shallow end and the deep end on opposing sides. Is there a way to clean the water up before it is fixed?
Also is there a way to post pictures to here from my iphone?

[PoolDoc]

Email pictures to poolforum@gmail.com

(merged threads -- no need for 2 threads on the same topic from one poster; that's just confusing.)