Pool Startup

Initial look of the pool... usually a nasty load of water in the deep end and all kinds of leaves laying around in the shallow end.

Step 1: Clean all the leaves out of shallow end and drain the pool... look at the drain pool post. (~1/2 day)

Step 2: Pressure wash the heck out of everything. (~1 day)

You will probably have to make one initial deep cleaning pass in the pool and then hit up the settling tank and deep well. After chipping out all the cracks in the pool and refilling the cracks you will have to of course do a clean sweeping pressure wash for it to be prepared for paint.

Step 3: Begin painting Deep Well and Settling Tank first... (~1 day)

because you shouldn't have to do any crack repair... just pressure wash them both well and you should be good to go. We have painted this blue or white in the past... either way it looks good. This year we painted it white... it required ___ gallons to paint 1 coat in both the deep well and settling tank. We ordered ___ gallons so should have some white left over.

Remember... when painting the deep well it is absolutely imperative that you have fans down there blowing air up and out. While doing all the painting it is very important to take breaks every 15 minutes or so to get some fresh air... and this is absolutely essential when painting the smaller areas (deep well and settling tank).

Step 4: Chipping out the Pool (~ 1/2 day)

This usually entails walking through the pool with a hammer for a day chipping out any cracks where the previous year's repairs have grown weak. Look for hollow sounding spots and paint that is chipping off from the sun beating down on it. In this picture most all of the cracks have been filled in (note the crack on the right below the basketball hoop) but you can tell that the back wall had a good majority of last year's paint chipped off as it was cracking off terribly.

Step 5: Crack Repair (~ 1 day + 1/2 day to pressure wash)

Clean the cracks thoroughly and then repair with whatever product you are going to use. Things used previously that haven't seemed to have worked too well... sure-wall, tar w/ duct tape over it, and last year we tried "Dynamite" pool patch. Last year we stuck with the "Dynamite" pool patch and Hydraulic Cement, which seems to have worked much better than the "Dynamite" product.

This year we did our repairs with three different products. We again used Hydraulic Cement because of it's success last year, though it cures pretty much instantaneously thus making it a pain in the butt to smooth out well. We also got a product from Taryn at Charlotte Pool Supply called "Epoxybond Pool Putty" which we hope will work very well (picture).

While at the Home Depot we noticed a crack filler type epoxy, "Sikadur Crack Fix" (picture), that would fit in a caulk gun that we thought might be worth trying and we are hoping that this might be the solution to the problems of the smaller cracks near the beginning of the deep end where the water seems to leach out the most. This product ran $15 a tube but covered more ground than we thought it would with the small cracks... and at an almost water like consistancy it seeped through extraordinarily well to hopefully seal the cracks.

Step 6: Paint the pool BLUE (~1 day per coat)

After getting all the cracks filled and all of the paint chips and debri pressure washed and swept out it is time to paint the pool. This year we purchased 40 gallons of blue paint and found that it took roughly 17 gallons to do 1 coat. We did 2 coats this year though 1 coat does a seemingly stout job... 2 coats probably doesn't hurt though. Just paint the whole things blue and then come back and redo the racing lanes and numbers.

P.S. It can get extraordinarily hot in the pool so be sure to drink lots of fluids, wear sun glasses and sun screen, and take frequent breaks. Be careful in the deep end as it can get really slippery on the slope.

Step 7: Black Paint - Racing lanes and numbers. (~1/2 day)

The racing lanes had a little ledge where the black paint sat atop the blue so you should be able to get them retaped fairly simply. The stencils should be easily found and spray paint usually works the best with them... a good stout epoxy spray seems to work well enough, and it doesn't hurt to go back later with a small brush to go over them with the rubberized pool paint.

Do not forget to paint the drain in the deep end and to redo the "No Shoes" pool deck signs and to do a couple of "No Diving" stencils along the sides in the shallow end. The numbers can also be used as a good gauge for your where you want your water level to be.. so try to drop the tops of them down to 4-6 inches below the rim.

Last year we did the sides of the ledge of the pool black to distinguish where the rise is and that seems to look well so it would be a good idea to keep that going. This year we didn't have to purchase any new black paint because we had 5 gallons left over from last year. So far it has only taken less than 3 gallons to do all of the black painting so 3 or 4 gallons seems to be enough to do the racing lanes and stencils with the black.

Jeremy also got the idea to do "Cave Drawings" in the deep end to match the summer's tribal theme... and idea with some merit that could be capitalized on next year if the theme has been decided yet.

Step 8: Add Water (~ 1 week either way)

Strategy #1 = Fill the pool completely with lake water and then flock the whole thing for a day or two and vacuum it and add chemicals and then repeat until clean.

Strategy #2 = Add tanks of treated water ran through the filters over the course of a week or so while running some garden hoses periodically to help fill it up with clean water.

Finished product... the only thing yet to be done is to repaint the lifeguard chairs and to make sure the cracks on the cement pool deck are filled and and not edgy.