And Now For The Rest of The Story....

Really got summer on the brain...and since it -17 degree windchill out right now...no better time!  Yes...that's cold..for April.  But this is the great white North...and we are surrounded by water...so it takes a while for seasons to catch up.  There was a light dusting of snow over night...seems winter never wants to end.

We've really had very little snow here this year....but winds & cold temps are in abundance.  We discovered in early January our pool sustained damage.

You can see in this photo...the wall has buckled...

And more damage in another area....

Close up of the separation and breakage..

Of course this all promoted a call to the pool company...in January.  But that is okay...we want to get our name on the list for repair when weather permits.  We sent the photos to the company owner...he suspects a small pin hole in the liner (too small for the eye to see) allowed water to seep under the liner..then when temps went below freezing...water expanded...and voila....damage from ice.

We stopped by the pool shop a few weeks back to order a new pool liner (as we will definitely be needing that)...not a great photo...but this is the one we chose.  There are only samples in a book to pick from...but they did have a larger sample of this pretty one.  The life span of a pool liner is estimated to be 5 years...so we thought having ours for 9 years before replacing was pretty great.  The sun and pool chemicals are hard on liners too...we use chlorine rather than salt.  The reason most folks use salt rather than chlorine is the salt is easier on sensitive skin...home pools don't require copius amounts of chlorine required in public pools...and we barely notice any chlorine smells or skin issues.

People ask why go with an above ground and not an in ground pool?  The answer is quite simple...in ground pools are ridiculously expensive here!!  Not like we didn't research it to death.  There are numerous "extra" expenses to having a pool.  We could have gone the cheap route...and installed a plastic fence on the top rail (legal requirement requires a 6 ft fence around a pool)..but in my opinion..it looks tacky.  The total dollar amount to build the deck and walls around the pool was upwards of $15,000....the price of the pool was the most economical part!!  We also needed two sets of steps...one from the pool deck...and the other set from the small deck needed to be replaced.  Imagine the cost if we had to hire the construction out?  Thank heavens hubby can swing a hammer!!

There are other expenses as well...besides pool chemicals, toys & floats...a solar blanket cover and the roller to make it easier to roll on and off.    And a pool vacuum...cause doing it manually got old...real fast.  We do plan to replace the pool ladder with a set of steps for easier access this year as well.

Right now there is currently frozen water still in the pool...although we drain it down substantially in the fall.  Not sure if it will be more cost effective to have a tanker come re-fill it or do it ourselves (our water is metered here...we pay for what we use).

Once the weather warms up and the ground thaws...repairs can begin!!