How to Build Your Own Home Swimming Pool or Spa - INTRODUCTION

Building Your Own Home Swimming Pool or Spa

INTRODUCTION

A swimming pool is one of the classic signs of the easy life.  From the theme song of the Beverly Hillbillies to the closing scene of F.Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", swimming pools are associated with the rich, the leisurely, and the easy-going in life.

Which is why it's terrible when we learn, after we've spent a great deal of money and time selecting and build a swimming pool, that that's no easy way to get an easy life.  Maintaining a swimming pool can be a massive amount of work, one that makes even the best of us sometimes throw up our hands and say "What was I even thinking, digging this hole in my backyard and filling it up with expensive water?"

In this blog, we'll talk about swimming pools.  We'll talk about the different kinds of swimming pools available and how each is installed.  We'll talk about the maintenance issues associated with each and what we need to do about different pools in different climates.  And we'll talk about a few horror stories, not to frighten you so much as to make you aware that when the worst happens, you still have options, even if they are expensive.

As the modern poets say: the simple life is not so simple.  The easy life isn't always easy.  But with a firm grasp on some of these principles of year-round pool maintenance, you'll find it much easier than you otherwise would, and you'll have that much more time to enjoy the fruits of all your long efforts and labors.

Next chapter:

1 THE TYPES OF POOLS
FIBERGLASS POOLS
CONCRETE POOLS
VINYL POOLS
ABOVE-GROUND POOLS
WHICH POOL IS RIGHT?

2 HOW POOLS WORK
DRAINS
SKIMMERS
PUMP SYSTEMS
FILTRATION SYSTEMS
RETURN VALVES
OTHER NEEDED FIXTURES
BELLS AND WHISTLES

3 WATER QUALITY
CHLORINE POOLS
SALINE POOLS
ALTERNATIVE WATER DISINFECTING METHODS

4 TIPS FOR INSTALLATION
TIP #1: DON'T INSTALL YOUR POOL YOURSELF

5 REGULAR MAINTENANCE
FILTER MAINTENANCE AND BACKWASHING
WATER QUALITY
SUMMARY: REGULAR MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE

6 SPA MAINTENANCE

7 WINTERIZING AND WEATHER

8 LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE: THE HORROR STORIES
"POPPING OUT"
VINYL TEARS
IT'S NOT ALL THAT HORRIFYING