Opening after Katrina

[aylad]

I think if it were my pool in your situation, I would strongly consider changing out the sand in the filter once you get the pool cleaned up. Normally sand doesn't really need to be changed, but my personal experiences with the stuff that was in the floodwaters down there lead me to believe that you need to be rid of all of it to truly get your pool clean.

I agree with the others...rake out what you can, bleach it, maintaining 10-15 ppm all the time, and vaccuum and brush as the water clears so you can get to as much of the debris as possible. Use a drop-based test kit for testing, so you have accurate numbers to work with.

Good luck!!

Janet

[KurtV]

cygnus,
My question was tongue in cheek; I'm from there too.

[cygnusecks]

cygnus,
My question was tongue in cheek; I'm from there too.

Sorry kurtv, I was wondering about that :-) I don't know enough of your posts to know when you're serious or not, without clues like winking smileys..

[Daggit]

I figured that KurtV's question wasn't serious. Mandeville is close enough that the date is firmly fixed in everyone's mind. How many trees did you lose, Kurt? ;->

Thanks for the feed back. One suggestion that closely parellels my thinking is to set up filtration that is independent of the existing sand filter. Since that system is really a polishing filter, and not designed to take out large amounts of large things, I'd like to try to set up some coarser filtration.

I'm thinking about either a largish (4000 gph) bilge pump or a 2" gasoline powered rental pump feeding a temporary mesh, coarse sand, or even plate-and-frame filter. Anyone have any experience with, or heard of anyone using, something like that?

As for staining, the house sale disclosure said that the pool needed replastering, so I figure that it will get handled soon anyway. Oh, and I understand that the borax is to increase pH...I figured that by the time I had 50 or so cumulative gallons of bleach in the pool, I'd need some pH adjustment. I hadn't actually run the calculations to see how much would be needed, though.

Either way, when the time comes, if anyone's interested I can post progress reports.

[aylad]

I'll be looking for updates. I'm also really curious about what your beginning pH is....

Janet

[divnkd101]

As for staining, the house sale disclosure said that the pool needed replastering, so I figure that it will get handled soon anyway. Oh, and I understand that the borax is to increase pH...I figured that by the time I had 50 or so cumulative gallons of bleach in the pool, I'd need some pH adjustment. I hadn't actually run the calculations to see how much would be needed, though.

It may be too late to ask this queston but just curious. If you plan to replaster almost immediately, why not drain the pool, drill you 4-5 vent holes (bottom of pool) and high pressure wash the inside. I understand the low water table but your vent holes should help prevent your pool from floating. That should drastically cut down on your expenses and perhaps upgrade to an aggregate pool finish..

[PopcornGirl]

I am also in SE Louisiana (Prairieville/Gonzales area) and I am wondering how everything went with this...?

Did you get everything fixed up? Which route did you go and how does it look now? If you're still around, it would be great to have an update!

[KurtV]

Sorry kurtv, I was wondering about that :-) I don't know enough of your posts to know when you're serious or not, without clues like winking smileys..

cyg,
The same thing happens to me in person. Not only can't I write clearly, but my oral sarcasm is sometimes misinterpreted as well.

dag,
Since you're going to have to drain the pool to replaster anyway, I think you should consider just draining and replastering immediately. What's to be gained by cleaning up the water only to drain it for the replastering?

As aylad said, there'll be much interest in following your project.

I lost more trees than I cared to count (north of twenty) but none were on the house or in the pool.

[Daggit]

Since you're going to have to drain the pool to replaster anyway, I think you should consider just draining and replastering immediately. What's to be gained by cleaning up the water only to drain it for the replastering?

Ah, excellent point that I hadn't seriously considered. I guess that the re-plaster guys might have a plan for how to avoid the "floated pool syndrome" and get all the debris out. Perhaps I should call someone and get an estimate and a plan.

[Sully]

Your biggest problem, No power! Until your able to get power to the pump, via shore power or a generator, the only thing you could start to do is remove the debris.

Even having it replastered.......your a step ahead, but back to the no power problem.

But, if you want to try the "trash pump & garbage cans homemade filter system", it can be done, but gets expensive gas wise. It will not make the pool perfect, but could make it clear enough for a quick swim. If you decide to go this route, your going to need 3 garbage cans, window screen, pea gravel, filter sand( I used play sand), pvc,vinyl tubing, pvc cement, clamps and some imagination to rig up your filter. After, Hurricane Frances in 04, after the 3rd day without power, I rigged up my homemade system it wasn't pretty and the pool wasn't crystal clear, but good enough for a swim. By the 14th day power was back on....until Hurricane Jeanne knock us out for 9 days.

But I'll go step by step on what I did to rig it up.