This whole job started with a simple task, replace the light bulb in the pool. I figured this should be simple and dropped into the water. A quick check and there was one flat head screw that seemed like the obvious choice. There were also 12 other screws that concerned me. I considered the possibility that perhaps the single screw held the cover on the enclosure and that the 12 screws held it to the wall.

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Draining a pool is easy. You have a pump that is designed to move water and when set properly, it sends it to drain. Surrounding the pool is a concrete sidewalk. This is pretty standard for many pools and as long as you never want to remove it, isn’t a problem. Read the rest of this entry »

The wheel couldn’t quite reach the deepest sections of the concrete pad, but it got close. Once that was done, I started into concrete removal. The right tool here is a jack hammer. This tool is quite expensive though and I didn’t feel like spending even more money at the rental place. Looking back, I completely under-estimated the strength of the concrete pad. Read the rest of this entry »

Once the concrete was removed it was time to dig down behind the pool. On the bright side, you know exactly how far down you have to dig and any water there was draining out through the leak that had allowed it all to get in making the ground quite dry.

I hadn’t thought to much about it until I started digging and it was the easiest dirt that I had ever dug through. After they dig out the pool are to install it, they back fill with this sand/gravel/dirt mixture that doesn’t stick together like clay. That made it incredibly easy to dig out and reach the enclosure. Read the rest of this entry »

This had to be one of the coolest things I have done in a long time, both literally and figuratively. It was the mid June and it was starting to be warmer during the days down here. Nothing like August, but enough that it was noticeable.

I started out by running water into the pool from the closest hose. After a few minutes, I checked one of the other houses and still had a good deal of pressure. I ran that hose out to the pool area as well and then a third from another area in the yard. With three hoses running full out, the pressure in the house was significantly decreased. Read the rest of this entry »