When you buy a house with a pool, you can plan for many fun days beside it. From lounging around on hot days with the family to entertaining friends, a pool can be a great addition to any home–so long as it’s properly maintained.
Many people romanticize having a pool without considering the work that has to go into its upkeep. Pools require a regular, rotating schedule of upkeeps to make sure that they are kept clean, that the chemical levels in the water are correct, and that the structure is well-maintained.
If all of this is making you think that it would be easier to just fill in your pool, think again. With a bit of planning and elbow grease, you too can easily maintain your pool so that it can be enjoyed for many years to come.
Here are nine pool maintenance tips for beginners and professionals alike:
- Skim it and scrub it
We weren’t kidding when we said you would need a bit of elbow grease to keep your pool maintained! Skimming and scrubbing is a crucial part of pool upkeep. Daily, skim the leaves and any debris that fall onto the surface of the pool. If you have a bit of money to spend, you can invest in a pool scrubbing robot–kind of like a water Roomba.
You also need to scrub the pool, but luckily that doesn’t need to happen quite as often. Look for any grubby spots and banish them with a scrub brush. If you have a particularly nasty spot that won’t come loose, soak an old sock in chlorine and sit it on top of the spot for a couple of hours before you try scrubbing again.
- Clean your filter basket
The pool’s filter acts as its kidneys, filtering out leaves, dirt and even things the kids have dropped. To keep the filter working its best, clean it out at least once a month. You can do this by turning off the filter, removing the filter cap, and taking out the filter basket to clean it.
You should also take this time to clean the pipes that use your filter’s system. You can do this by having your filter set to “backwash” and clean out the leaf basket. Then, turn on the pipe and run it until the water comes out clear.
- Keep a close eye on the chemical levels
The chemicals added to your pool are its lifeblood. Without a carefully balanced chemical composition, your pool could irritate people’s skin and eyes, or go to slime overnight. This is why it’s so important to check your pool’s chemical levels at least once a week. To test your water, all you’ll need is to fill a pool testing kit with pool water, add the solution to the testing kit, and then compare the color it turns to the colors provided on the chart.
Adjust accordingly from there. To avoid the daily hassles of checking the chemical level of your pool, you can go beyond the traditional pool chemicals with salt water systems.
- Find a way to absorb excess oil
Even if you warn your guests to shower before entering the pool, it’s a safe bet that most won’t (especially the kids) and that also if they do, there’s still oily residue that can be left behind from swimmers. This can be anything from hair products, to sunscreen, to the natural oils on a person’s skin. This can create an oily sheen on the water that can cause gunk buildup along your pool’s walls and in the filter. To safely and efficiently remove these oils, add a tennis ball to the pool. The tennis ball will absorb the excess oils and help keep your pool clean—just make sure not toss it in when the dog is watching.
- Shocking isn’t just for public pools
Shocking a pool is a fun term that refers to the process of dramatically increasing the levels of chlorine in your pool for a short amount of time to kill the bacteria. Many personal pool owners don’t think shocking is for family pools, however, if you have an event coming up and you know your pool is going to be on display, and it’s looking a bit murky, shocking could be just the thing to bring it back to its crystal clear state.
- Watch your water levels
Like your chemical levels, the water levels in your pool are equally important. It’s normal for the water in your pool to fluctuate after heavy rainstorms or long, hot days. Ideally, you want your pool’s water level to be halfway up the skimmer. If you have too little, toss a garden hose in there to help fill it.
If you’ve recently had a lot of rain, you’ll have to drain off some of the water. You can rent a submersible pump to drain off the water.
- Keep your pool deck clean
If you have a pool deck surrounding your swimming pool, keeping it clean will help keep the area around your pool safe and keep your pool cleaner as well. Power washing the deck to prevent slippery patches or discoloration is a good way to make sure no one is liable to fall. It also helps prevent dirt and debris from making their way into your pool.
Making your pool a welcoming space is also essential. While this won’t affect your pool’s overall “health,” it will encourage you and your guests to spend more time around the pool, which is why you got it in the first place, right? Learn more about pool deck ideas that will help make your pool area welcoming and entertaining.
- Learn how to winterize your pool properly
Taking care of your pool in the summer is essential, but if you want a functioning pool to come back to the following summer, then you need to learn how to winterize.
Winterizing your pool makes sure that you won’t pull the cover off in the summer only to find it leaking or stocked with bacteria. Before you shut it down in fall, check your chemical levels, blow excess water out of the lines, and get a good pool cover.
- Get your annual checkup
Even if you’re pretty comfortable with caring for your pool, having an expert come in once a year to check the mechanical equipment, heating systems, and filters is vital. Keep a checklist of the things you do to maintain the pool that you can share with them to let them know what steps you take. While it might seem like a waste of money, this is preventative care that could save you thousands down the road.
4 Responses
I appreciate that the basic swimming pool leak detection before winter can help you maintain the pool until summer. I like that you followed it up with contacting the expert once a year to check for damages, I will need this before winter. It doesn’t hurt to look at clogs from the filters and mechanical equipment for some time.
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ITS VERY HELP FUL AND VERY INFORMATIVE POST.THANK YOU.
Thanks for reminding me to skim any kind of debris that would fall on our pool. The main reason why no one uses it is that we never try to clean or maintain it in the past. Since my kids are showing interest in swimming, I guess it would be better to hire professionals for pool maintenance services.