Your need for those items can depend upon what your local soil conditions are. If your soil is nice and sandy a floor pad may not be necessary. I would advise using it with clay or harder dirt or if you have lots of trees/shrubbery nearby. If you have nut grass it is mandatory.
Foam cove molding is nice to use since a sand/dirt/handmade cove can wash out or fall down as time goes by. The foam one will hold up forever and will prevent liner blowout.
Wall foam is a nice option to help ensure any rust bubbles or wall defects don’t sit next to the liner and cause a puncture. Even aluminum-walled pools can have sharp, pimply oxidation of the metal. Wall foam will keep your liner protected from any issues that crop up over the years.
Great info that google doesn’t provide!!! I’m sure as heck happy you don’t charge per post!!! Much appreciation. Looks like we need the trifecta. Luckily we do this once right, and we’ll be good for 12-15 years…
This maybe a stupid question…My pool already has a ‘bead receiver,’ right??? It’s that light blue stuff…I don’t need new one, right? You can tell this is my first rodeo…
You are correct on the bead receiver - you probably do not need a new one as long as it is still reasonably tight. Though the Esther Williams beads are pretty big, the bead receivers can stretch over the years and allow the bead to slip out. \
You can use a wire brush on the areas of the pool panels that have the paint loss and prime them with a primer meant for aluminum and then a top coat of colored spray paint. Let it dry for as long as possible before reinstalling the liner.
Yeah, gotta take a pic for you…the one part where the liner is off the track…i noticed the metal is bent…i can’t tell if it’s the wall channel or bead receiver…I’ll take a pic…
I just hope the bottoms of my slats are not corroded from being in the dirt to the point where the holes are huge…fingers are crossed, will post a pic this afternoon after work…
So Rich…got our first estimate…since this is my first rodeo…
What you think a ballpark figure to:
Replace slats (and other minor repairs that could be discovered [e.g. fix bead receiver]
Replace liner (including adding sand, smoothing it all out, etc, etc)
Change the skimmer/return jet assembly
I don’t think either of those are correct for the bead receiver. One is a stabilizer and the other is a bead receiver for a rolled steel wall.
I’m sorry to say that I would not have a clue as to the cost of completing that work - I would not even have a good guess. You may want to post that question on troublefreepool.com - you’ll probably get a better estimate from their members and, possibly, even a recommendation for a service tech in your area. Otherwise, search Google or Yelp for highly rated pool technicians and get a few estimates.
That looks better!!! I would still recommend at least a couple of estimates just so you are comfortable with the price that you get charged. Genuine professionals are happy to give estimates.
So came back from vacation…chlorine was at 1.4 ppm…walls were a little green…brought it to 12ppm…scrubbed and brush…ph was out of whack…brought it down with muriatic…then had to add a little alkalinity, because that was a little low, but it’s looking pristine now…so much easier taking care of it daily…i think next time, i’ll just ask to neighbor to just do it nightly…coming on wednesday night (he did a gallon), but this was too close to comfort…lesson learned…under control now…
Yikes! You may want to do the overnight chlorine loss test again to be sure any algae is completely gone. Don’t worry - it should be a much quicker process this time!
Pool yearns for daily chlorine…next vacay, will ask neighbor MWF…instead of just one day…
This first season was a great learning experience…I think things will be a lot smoother next season. We got A LOT more use of the pool than I anticipated this summer. We were in it everyday since it opened except when we were on vacation obviously.
Hopefully, the ‘rebuild’ will go to the plan with new liner, skimmer, and slat walls…If that can go to plan, I really feel like the major maintenance will be done for 10-15 years.
I don’t think I could ever live without a pool now…especially a quality above ground swimming pool. for safe measures, did another OCLT …7.2 last night and 7.0 this morning. We’re back to status quo, but our summer is dwindling with school in full swing next week, but we had a great run!!!
Starting to contemplate a pool heater to extend the season both ways…but that’s much further down the road…
Sad day…it is closed…still a noob…didn’t realize…you have to add the “winterized” package before the Pool Closer comes over.
Luckily, we’re draining and replacing liner, skimmer, and walls…
Got quote 2K and 1.6K for the above…
Already looking forward to next summer…contemplating a heat pump…but would need another outlet…feel like the electrical outlet being added would be expensive…
Thanks for all the help this season!!! Much appreciated!!!
That is sad, but I’m glad to know that you and your friends and family enjoyed the pool this year. Pool maintenance really isn’t bad at all, once you get the hang of it!
For future reference - check out our guide on How Long Does It Take to Heat a Pool? to help choose a properly-sized heater. Solar blankets are helpful to help keep the heat in the pool that a heater (or the sun) generates.
