Our Pool and Gazebo

In July 2005 we bought an inflatable 4 foot deep pool by about 18 feet diameter. We put it up by inflating the tube around the top, putting it on what we thought was level ground, and filled it with water. However we didn't realise the ground was uneven! What happened was the water pushed one side of the pool over, so that the pool was filled and it was only about 2 foot deep on one side with lots of pool to spare on the other. We emptied the pool, moved the pool a few feet and tried filling it again this time successfully.

We took the pool down in Sept last year and stored it away carefully. We also kept the location of where it was in mind, not cutting the grass there so that we could see the ring where the pool had been. We didn't want to go through the same problems that we had encountered last year.

This year we decided on a new location for the pool, but again we were not sure if the ground was level enough to work for us putting the pool there. So we still kept the old location in mind should this new location not work.

Sunday June 11th we got the pool out, put the groundsheet down ont he ground and the pool on top of it. We chose what we thought was a level location. We inflated the tube that goes around the top of the pool and begun filling it with water. Luckily we chose well the first time and the pool filled successfully with the water being evenly distributed. We congratulated oursleves!

We then got out the gazebo. It is ten foot wide on all four sides and has metal bars that needed bolting together before being bolted to the uprights. The gazebo was heavy to work with and was definately a two person job. It took several hours to put up. We pegged it down. We felt we had done the job well and we used the gazebo in the evenings twice watching the deer cross the newly grassed field. We liked the location of it, which was ont he west side of the pool, with the picnic table between the pool and the gazebo.

Wind Storm

Friday June 16th 2006.

At just after 3-30pm, while we were awaiting the visit of our friends for the evening, we had a sudden wind storm. One minute no wind, the next a lot! My husband went out the back door for something. I saw the lid of the wooden bin that houses our dustbin and recyclables get lifted up by the wind, still on its hinges so it didn't fly away. Then I heard my husband say "there goes our gazebo!" I looked and saw our gazebo moving along the ground near the greenhouse, on the east side of the swimming pool! By this time my husband was out with rope and he began lashing the gazebo down so it could go nowhere. At that point our visitors arrived! My husband finsihed lashing the gazebo down and came inside, knowing that there was nothing else to be done, but to wait for the wind to abate.

After our visitors had left, at about 9pm, we went to see what the damage was to the pool, the gazebo and anywhere else that might have been affected.

We were lucky. No animals, no people, no cars, and no buildings had been damaged. The only damage that had been done was to the pool and the gazebo. The pool had a leak in it on one side and the cover of the pool had been split near the middle. The gazebo that we could not lift easily between us had been lifted by the wind and dropped again. The bars had been buckled and broken and a tear or two in the tent top of the gazebo but surprisingly there was not a tear in the mosquito netting.

Saturday June 17th 2006.

The pool is emptied of water except for about three inches. We dry it off where it needs patching and put a patch there, popping a white plastic garden chair in the pool to keep the patch dry.

Meanwhile we go shopping for tent guy ropes and stakes!

We come back and move the gazebo to a different position, but not far from where it had landed as it is heavy! and difficult to manoever!

My husband spent time fixing it, putting the metal poles together so that they will stay up and give the gazebo support. The square middle bit of the canvas we put as best we can as the poles are broken and bent.

The gazebo does not look perfect but it is useable!

June 27th 2006 and the water temperature is 26 degrees C!!

June 29th 2006 my first swim in the pool! Lovely!!

July 7th 2006. The pool is used most days for a swim and got used a lot over the Canada Day long weekend by everyone! The water is warm and often the tubes (inner tyres) are in the pool which means we get lots of fun splashing around or floating on the tubes.

Click on the image to make it bigger (It will open in a new window)

July 22 2006 at 8-30pm and the pool temperature was 29C and the air temperature was 30C in the shade!

July 23 2006 at 2-30pm and the air temperature was 40C and the pool temperature 30C

Aug 21 2006 the pool water temperature has been around the 20 degree C mark for over a week now. The air temperature was up to 32 C yesterday and the pool about 24C.

Pool maintenance

Pool maintenance is very simple. The water here is so good that when we first put in the water we have nothing to do to it (though when you first put it up the instructions tell you to shock the pool to put chlorine into it. We don't need to do that.)

We have a floating device that holds chlorine tablets. I fill that up with about 7 tablets and leave it to float and do it's job.

I have strips (Spa and pool test strips) that I use to test the water.. it tests the bromine level, the pH level, and the alkalinity. The strips tell you how your pool is doing. If it needs treatment then do what is necessary to get the levels right! I can't say what this treatment is as we have never had to do anything!!!

Once a day we plug in to the electrics so that we can put the filter unit on. We do that for an hour or so each day.

We also have a net that we use to skim off any bugs etc that land on the pool.

We have an attachment for a hose so that you can "vacuum" the bottom of the pond and get out debris. This works by putting water into the pool through the line which creates a vacuum so it sucks up the debris and collects it in a mesh bag.

The pool gets covered each night with the plastic cover that came with it.

When the pool likes like the sides are going green (with algae) or the water gets cloudy, then we "shock" the pool by disolving the chlorine from the packet of shock treatment in warm water and addign that to the pool. We have done that twice this year.

Last year when we took the pool down the sides were dirty. In retrospect I should have "shocked" the pool first. That way I would not have had to clean them by hand!

Putting up and taking down

Once you have level ground then the pool is easy to put up. It takes about half a day depending on how quickly the pol fills with water.

Taking down the pool is simple too. We usually help the water out of the pool by letting it out of the big holes that hold the hoses for the filter unit as well as through the small drainage hole at the base of the pool. It takes us about half a day to empty and fold the pool up for storage.

Sept 10 2006

The temperature in the pool has been under 20 degrees C for a few weeks now and the pool has had little use. I think we get used to having lovely warm water to swim in, and althoguh we are still having some hot days getting up to 30C, we haven't made as much use of the pool as we did in June.

So a few days ago I shocked the pool to clean it before we take it down.

Today we let the water out of the pool, let the pool dry, folded it up and put it away for the winter. This year we managed to pack it up smaller so that it fitted through a doorway. last year we didn't manage that and we had to put it in the workshop, getting it in through the big double doorway that is for use by a vehicle!!!

We dried the tarpauline that goes under the pool. This was full of dried grass roots that had woven their way through the tarp. It was impossible to get rid of the majority of them! It too is folded away and stored.

The cover to the pool was hung up to dry and then folded and stored away.

June 2007

We started putting up the swimming pool on Sunday 3 June 2007 after a week of lovely weather. The first attempt in the exact same spot as last year did not work out well. One side was on ground that was higher than the rest so the pool did not fill up with water evenly. We let the pool down.

Monday 4 June. We let out the water, and moved the pool to “level” ground. We filled the pool. It wasn’t level. We drained it yet again,and moved it. We filled it up. It still wasn’tlevel. We drained it again.

Tuesday 5 June. We moved the pool. We filled up the pool. It wasn’t level. We drained it. We moved it. We started to fill it up and noticed that last year’s hole was once again exposed and leaking. We went out and bought a repair kit to mend the side of the pool.

Wednesday 6 June. We mended the leak and left it to seal over the day.

Thursday 7 June. We filled up the pool. The leak held. The pool was level! GREAT!! Success at long last!!! Now all we need is good warm weather to be able to start using it. The water after filling it was only 8C!! Far too cold for use!