Funny how swimming pools suddenly became a big part of my life.
Aside from recently getting a job requiring that I write on nearly every conceivable facet of the pool and spa industry, I’ve spent the past several weekends rehabilitating a 40-year-old pool that has sat mostly empty for the better part of a decade.
I moved from the chilly climes of the Oregon Coast to California’s searing hot San Fernando Valley two years ago. My wife filled the pool in her backyard as a “welcome home” present for me. I jumped in with all the cannonball force I could muster.
The pool’s renewed purpose was short lived. We didn’t have the know-how or resources to properly maintain it, so after crawling out looking like Swamp Thing one too many times, we drained it.
Again, it sat empty and forlorn, nothing more than a concrete hole collecting scummy rainwater.
However, several months ago my father-in-law and I decided to restore the pool to her former glory. After watching hours of how-to videos on YouTube, we bought all the necessary equipment, rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
We did everything right. At least I hope we did. We scrubbed it with TSP, acid washed it, scrubbed it again with TSP, power washed it and coated it with primer and two layers of Olympic Zeron epoxy.
Aside from several “artistic” dribbles of paint on the deck, it looks good – or at least not bad for a couple of do-it-yourselfers.
There’s still some work left to do – a pool lamp to fix and about 100 missing tiles to replace along the inside perimeter. But all this has given me an appreciation for an industry I now have the privilege of covering. This is chemistry. This is engineering. This is design.
This is hard work!
I look forward to writing about it.
