Potential new indoor pool owner

[r7chan]

Thanks PoolDoc. Good points, some of which I hadn't thought of. I will ask more questions next time I view the property again, but in the meantime, here are some pics of the pool room. It's an extension to the back of the house, so the wall between the house and the pool is actually the original exterior wall, which I assume would be just as good as a separate room? When looking at the house from inside the pool room, that wall is all brick. Also, the pump/hvac/etc is in a separate shed outside the pool room in the backyard (the door on the right of the first pic below leads to the shed). And in the pic of the backyard, you can see there's nothing above it (the angled roof is above the brick wall, not above the pool). I know they're crappy pics, but does it seem as though the room was designed well enough? Oh, one more thing, this pool is at least 10 years old, and we were looking for rust but couldn't find any. Of course, we didn't look inside any receptacles, but will next time if he will let me.

[PoolDoc]

It looks very nice . . . and may be fine. But damage to the wiring will usually NOT show till you remove covers. On your pool, you can pop the lens off the lights, open the wiring panel, and remove some wire nuts. If you do two at opposite ends of the pool (try to pick then near both suction and discharge air vents) you should get a good sample. Check panels in the pump room, too. I would also recommend opening the light switch on the house side of the entry door, if there is a switch there.

Also, looking at the photos, I was reminded of another failure mode, and your pool is old enough to be affected. It's CRITICAL when designing indoor pools to EITHER
#1 - Make sure all structural components are moisture resistant, and moderately resistant to salt or chlorine,
OR
#2 - Make sure the insulation is on the COLD side of those components, and that they remain at the same temp as pool room air in winter.

If this is NOT done, what tends to happen is that BOTH water & volatile halogen compounds from fume laden moist air condense on cold structural elements. Few architects and engineers understand this, and over time, this problem can cause structural collapse. I believe the YMCA has had several collapses of this sort, include at least one with fatalities.

So . . . check the structure ABOVE that nice white ceiling. If it's treated wood trusses, that's good, but check the fastener plates.

Ben