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Pool owner advice needed

Darren Wright

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
My wife have been looking at various properties, one is a foreclosure that needs a bit of work. This particular home has a pool, which I've never owned before. The pool has grown a good deal of moss over it, and I'm wondering what would be involved in cleaning it up. Would it be best to completely drain it and start fresh? Or to filter and remove the moss?

What other things should I look for to avoid just having a concrete pond off my back porch?

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Wow, I have no advice on how to really handle that, but all I can say is on warm days, it's really nice to have place to take a cool dip.

Ours is just a little above ground, but it really takes the edge off on the warmest days of summer.

That being said, on some of the sites I've visited on pool maintenance, I believe it's possible to clean that up, but it would be a lot of work no matter if you emptied it, or nuked it and filtered it. I know my next door neighbors pool looked like that after they left, but the current owners have it cleaned up and are using it, and I don't think the drained and refilled.
 
Thanks guys, a pool is on my wife's want list, and the property has just about everything we are looking for, just hadn't planned on buying for another 3 months or more since we're still in a lease, but it's cheap enough that we can do the fixing up without having to live in the mess.

Brent Dowell said:
That being said, on some of the sites I've visited on pool maintenance, I believe it's possible to clean that up, but it would be a lot of work no matter if you emptied it, or nuked it and filtered it. I know my next door neighbors pool looked like that after they left, but the current owners have it cleaned up and are using it, and I don't think the drained and refilled.
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I'd be interested in how they did it.

Stuart Ablett said:
Wow, that does look like a lot of work, maybe you should just stock it with fish and get a fishing pole :D
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Ha, well maybe some grass carp would do the job for me, maybe my wife wouldn't mind swimming with them. :D

Don Baer said:
Darren,
I had 2 pools in California and have one here in Arizona. My advise would be to drain the pool, acid wash with muriadic (sp) acid then refill. It is very do able.
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What does the muriatic acid do exactly? The property is old enough that it originally had a well, it may still be functional and an option for refilling to keep costs down.
 
This looks like decent info....

>> LINK <<

.... it does not look that hard, or expensive, a bit of work maybe, but that is good for the diet anyways :D

Watch the two videos as well. :wave:
 
Great find on those videos Stu! Learned quite a bit from them. If we end up getting the house I'll definitely be learning a lot more and asking questions, but that's a great start.

Thanks!
 
Is a Gunite or vinyl liner? I have no experience with concrete pools, they are quite rare here due to the doubled cost over a liner.

If it has a liner, DO NOT drain it. The water holds in the liner in place. Me, I would just stock up on filter media, start with a shock treatment and it will clear up. In two weeks it should look like spring water. It's going to take a good bit of work though!

As for what to look for, I would be checking the plumbing and pumps to make sure they work properly. What type of filter it has, etc. Just make sure what is there and why it looks the way it does. Obviously this one has been left with no chlorine in it at all. Pumps are probably shut off too? If everything worked, I wouldn't be the least bit scared of it. I would be dreading the initial cleaning though!

Let me add one thing. My pool maintenance takes me 15 minutes once or twice a week. A Polaris (brand name) pool cleaner is a wonderful thing!! As long as you don't try to mico-manage the water, there is nothing to it. I had an uncle that tried to check his everyday and worked his but off. Till he finally walked off and left it along for a week. He learned it took time for things to happen and after that he said Sunday mornings he spent an hour piddling around and cleaning and that was it.

Oh yea, find you a good pool shop too. Some will want to sell you chemicals every time you walk in the door. I found a lady that really understands and doesn't just go by the numbers. She understands 'close enough' and "lets wait and see what happens". Previous place wanted to sell me stuff if the numbers were the sightliest bit off.
 
As a pool owner for the past 30 years, I had mine almost that bad one season. First spring after I got a Safety Cover and the pool guys said, "You might want to put Chlorine in each month", he didn't say "Need to" and when I opened I found almost as bad, minus the debris. (Safety cover allow sunlight through and grows green goo)

My best advice is to find a good pool service co. If you do it yourself, you will be spending a lot of time with them getting chemicals, supplies, and advice anyway. I would take a picture to them and ask advice, then ask what they will charge to clean it up.

A well maintained pool is no problem or great expence, but when you let one go, it matches a boat in being a hole in the water you pour money into (in your case a hole in the ground) But once you get it cleaned and if you do regular simple upkeep it is no more than maintaining the lawn.

For DIY Start by skimming off the floating goop and trash. If it is a sand filter. let it rund and watch the pressure, when it goes up, time to back flush. (bone up on filter operation) add chemicals as discribed by your service (bone up on what they do) Get a vacuum, either a robot or hand held, Clean often, More chemicals, then when it is clean but not clear, I would change the sand (a Pain in the posterier) but it will clean up after that (again bone up on the filter) This is why I feel it is cheaper to have a service call and you pay attention to what they do. The next time you will be the resident pool boy.
 
I fully agree with Jeff and Bill.

Be careful this is a boat in disguise. Be sure honey is going to use it to make it worth the cost.

Consider the running cost its real. You guys in the States pay more for electricity than we do up here. This is a fair size motor to pump and circulate the water even on a cycle it adds to the bill and its never ending until you either sell or fill it in. Same with the chemicals.

I had pools in SA most of my adult life.

Make sure to check out if the pump is working and the pipes aint leaking. If there is damage it could be a mess to sort out with what looks like buried pipes.

Check out the filter, you might only need new sand in it thats no biggie if its a sand filter.

There are also chlorinators that make life much easier on the cost and management of the pool water.

Consider how long a season you are going to get relative to use. In Canada its pretty short by what i was used to (my neighbor has a pool not the NN the good guy other side). He has gas heating to extend the season.

My observations were first year lots of use total novelty. Ever since then use has decresed. Got the shock of his life on the running costs especially when his wife left the heater running. Mistakes happen.

Pool service is the way to go but adds to the monthly bill for ever. The thing is they do this all the time so its not a learning curve for them.

BTW up here if you look at it from resale point of view it dont add a great deal of value to the property. Equivalent money spent on kitchen or bathroom would provide way better return.

Also on the resale side it narrows down or opens up the numbers of buyers depending on your belief. I personally dont believe everybody wants a pool.

I would not worry about the state of the water in this one that is fixable look more to check out the weir and get the pump to run before you buy even if you have to connect it to a generator assuming the electricity to the property is cut off.

Remember small kids and safety you might have to incurr some cost for fencing if you have any likelyhood of that event.

Would have a pool again if the property allowed it and i could see my way through the costs but at this stage of my life i think i would rather put the extra into a retiremet saving and swim in a local lake or public facility or even the neighbors pool.:D
 
All good points Jeff, Bill, and Rob...I appreciate the advice. My wife has talked about a pool for years now and uses the one at our town home frequently.

I'll be touring the inside of the home tomorrow to see what surprises it holds. From the outside I only see one true structural issue and we'll be changing that part of the house anyway eliminating it. Will check the ceilings for signs of leakage, outer walls for termite damage and dry rot. My concerns are that the previous homeowner allowed the dirt to be built up on the brick. From what I've seen in the past, the mortar will act as a wick and allow moisture into the interior walls causing dry rot and allow termites to get in. I suspect this is why the home is priced so low, that and a few other minor issues I've seen.

The only garage on the property is detached, sinking on one corner, and houses the pool equipment. If the building is salvageable, I'll moved over a few feet on a new foundation and build an adjoining shed to house the pool equipment keeping the chlorine and chems out of the garage.

The best part is that the house sits off to one side of the property leaving a great spot for my future shop. ;)
 
darren if your looking at this being the last stop before home then i would look into the shop aspect more than the pool.. in our area they are NOT real good resale factors either and we get some warm weather..if you want a bigger shop build it now while the finances are there ,,because they can change in a hurry these days no matter who you are or who you know:):thumb:
 
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larry merlau said:
darren if your looking at this being the last stop before home then i would look into the shop aspect more than the pool.. in our area they are real good resale factors either and we get some warm weather..if you want a bigger shop build it now while the finances are there ,,because they can change in a hurry these days no matter who you are or who you know:):thumb:
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Larry...I like your way of thinking...just have to convince the better half to build the shop now...we'll see. ;)
 
Darren Wright said:
My wife have been looking at various properties, one is a foreclosure that needs a bit of work. This particular home has a pool, which I've never owned before. The pool has grown a good deal of moss over it, and I'm wondering what would be involved in cleaning it up. Would it be best to completely drain it and start fresh? Or to filter and remove the moss?

What other things should I look for to avoid just having a concrete pond off my back porch?
Click to expand...

Hey Darren,
Good looking pool... my wife and I bought a house near Lake Houston back in '96 or '97... the pool was black and full of pine needles, trash from the kids around the neighborhood, I found pipe, a calculator, 2 or 3 hats, a couple of chairs, the globes off the outside lights and several other things I've forgotten.... I scooped most of the trash out, and tried to get most of the pine needles out, then rented a pump to try and filter them out, but it kept getting clogged up with needles, so I finally went to a pool store and talked to them... they told me to put 40 pounds of shock in the pool... 20 pounds first, let it work a few hours, then add the other 20 lbs... that pool boiled like a cauldron for about 12 hours, then the next morning it was clear enough to see the bottom.... I only had to add what water I had pumped out trying to filter out the pine needles.

Oh yeah, if you use the Muratic acid ... be careful with it.... the fumes can get pretty potent... my pool was stained about a foot around the edge.... after I got the water cleaned and before I refilled it, I took a sponge mop and mopped the sides of the pool where the pine needles stained the fiberglass... my pool was a fiberglass - in ground pool.
 
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Well, The house was much bigger inside than it looked. As I suspected, there was some major termite activity going in those walls. Three places I dug outside I found them, someone had pulled a piece of paneling off and they had mud trails all the way to the ceiling across the entire stud space.

Was pretty mildewy inside and the sill plates were rotting here and there as well. All of this because they decided to bury the first course of bricks all the way around the house for aesthetics. :huh: :dunno: :( Also had some poor workmanship too...like kitchen tile that was butted right up to the french doors on the back, the doors themselves...not the sill, doors swung inwards. :huh:

I suspect that someone will still buy it as they had multiple bids already and they'll get a pretty good deal, but what a lot of work.

BTW...the pump for the pool was missing.
 
Darren,

Looks like you were right to let it go! ;)

Here's an idea... instead of buying a house with a pool and putting in a shop, buy one that already has a shop building, and put in a pool! Might be a durned sight cheaper! :dunno:

And besides, that way the better half will get exactly the pool she wants! :thumb:

Thanks,

Bill
 
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