July 2013
We purchased this house in July 2013. It needed a whole renovation, which I will later post pictures of all the before and afters. Here was the pool the day the day we closed.
Green=Not Good!!
We had no idea how hard it was to take care of a pool. This was July 2013. We finally got it cleared up after months of shocking it. By that time it was time to close it. Just our luck. :)
After doing lots of research online I finally talked Charlie and Dad into refinishing the pool. Of course we thought it would be a couple of weeks project turned into almost 3 months. Whoopsie! This pool was built in the late 70's so we believe. It has a concrete bottom and fiberglass sides which is very unusual. It is also a massive one at that, about 50' x 25'. Most pools in this area are fiberglass, gunite, or liner pools and half this size. I came across a blog from someone out west that had this same kind of pool. He basically broke it down step by step what he did.
First thing we did was sell the slide on Craiglist. I know I'm such a party pooper but it was not in good shape and we have had enough accidents at this place! And those handles by the stairs!! Was that handicap accessible? Who knows what that was. Gah! And that blue color. We will not even go there!
April 2014
 |
| My Charlie working hard :) |
 |
| My Dad sanding away. |
 |
| Charlie sanding and sanding for hours and hours... |
 |
| Dad sanding and sanding for hours and hours.... |
Charlie first started by pressure washing the whole thing. Charlie & Dad then began the dreadful sanding. We were definitely worried about the pool floating up out of the ground if a heavy rain came, but luckily nothing happened. This whole process took about a month to do. Since they were only able to work on it after work and on the weekends.
Here's the little smurf one day after sanding.
There was blue dust everywhere, it looked like a smurf massacre! After all that was complete they had to re pour the stairs and caulk every seam in the pool. We also replaced the skimmer, jets and drain covers because they were painted the dreadful blue as well. I spent hours doing research on what color to paint it. Who knew different color bottoms would reflect such different colors? I chose a light gray and just hoped for the best. We ended up ordering a brand that Sherwin Williams ordered for us. It was an epoxy paint so it came with a color and a hardener that you mix right before you paint. The amount of research I spent trying to get the perfect color and the perfect price was insane. For 70$ a gallon you probably would do the same! We always have a tight budget so I always try to find the best deal. Online this paint was 160$ a gallon. How Sherwin Williams sold it to me for that price is beyond me!This paint says it will last about 7 years.
 |
| Finished painting! |
 |
| Fill it up! |
The concrete had so many cracks in it and the drains did not drain because of the way the concrete was poured. Good thing I know someone who knows how to fix that. We decided to do the Kool-Deck finish on top of the old concrete. It makes the concrete not as hot and covered the cracks pretty good so far. Every picture I looked at online had some type of rock border around the pool. I am really glad we did this now because I think it really makes it stand out.
 |
| Border in progress |
 |
| Border before it was washed |
 |
| Kool-Deck in progress |
 |
| Kool-Deck in progress |
It looks kind of like a flagstone tile. He then shot the Kool Deck material on it. After it dries you then paint the surface. I chose an off white. We started with 10 gallons. And guess what? We were about 2 sq ft off. Ahh so the paint that was originally put on it came from the Kool Deck company and takes about 10 days to get here so we just went back to Sherwin Williams and bought some water based outdoor paint. Of course everything can't go smooth with every project. ha ha I laugh now, but at the time not so funny. After it was painted and sealed then it was pool party time for real!!!!!
 |
| Finished Product |
Here is the finished project. I decided to not go with an hand rail on the stairs as well. I really love how it turned out. We are not really sure how much someone would have charged to do this job, but Charlie says he would have charged at least $10,000 in labor. ha ha. Even though we never knew how long and costly this project would be, it was so worth it in the long run. I always wanted a pool and little Wyatt is getting used to the water as well. :)
July 2013
 |
| July 2014 |
Thankful for Charlie and Dad!
No comments:
Post a Comment