Mothballing a swimming pool (2023 Update)

A sh*tload of mothballs?

I would guess... security, insurance, maintenance to prevent stagnant water accumulation (mosquitos), salaries for the (tenured) life guards and more...

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar
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keep mostly full of water so it doesnt float and destroy itself, they do actually raise right out of the ground. now chlorinate and circulate the water so it doesnt get stagnant and buggy, now add lnite sec urity lighting, guards, cut grass, maintain buildings, pay utility bills.

its all very costly, espically if you want to use it again.

if re use isnt part of plan just jackhammer big hole in bottom so water cant accumulate, fill the now junk pool with fill ...........

still need minimal maintence on buildings unless you tear them down, and stuff like cutting grass, and security so it doesnt become a druggie hangout etc

Reply to
bob haller

In some places like California there are very stringent code requirements for filling in pools. It's a *very* expensive proposition.

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

Depends on local soil conditions and how the pool was built. Town I grew up in had a huge late 1940s outdoor municipal pool, like Olympic size 12 lane, plus a T with a dive area. They emptied it every year. But the concrete was thick and heavily rebarred, and on that end of town, there was a thick layer of gravel about 10-12 feet down under everything. (as a wee lad, I saw LOTS of basements go in, less than a mile from there.) Water table spikes were not a problem around there. A mile the other direction, however, they just had a century flood, last summer.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

Exactly. Probably $50 to empty it, and $49,950 for insurance in case someone falls in.

Reply to
Bob

During WWII I believe there were a number of ships or barges built out of concrete.

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Darwin at work.

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Gary Player. |

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Closing the pool, especially given the stated economics, sounds like a foolish move to me. I once was president of a condo association and we had a former board member who wanted to do the same thing with the association pool which served 120 units. At the time, about 15 years ago, it cost us about $16K a season to run it, which included a lifeguard. Even though I personally rarely used the pool, my thougth was that the $130 a year out of my pocket was small compared to the potential loss in resale value. I could only imagine telling a prospective buyer that we have a pool, but it's closed because we can't afford to run it. Plus, I'm not sure it's legal or would survive a court challenge. Unit owners bought their units with rights to the ammenities and I'm not sure you can just take a major one away.

In this case, I would expect that they would save a lot more than going from $100K down to $50K by closing the pool. However, using the 50K savings, I'd divide that by the number of homes served. Since this is supposed to be a municipality, it would seem likely that it comes out to a small amount per home. Instead of closing it, perhaps a better solution would be to charge a seasonal fee for those that actual use it to offset some or all of the cost.

Reply to
trader4

I'm the original poster. Thanks to all who responded!

Communities around here are struggling to balance their budgets. That's what closing the pool is about. My home town said our pool costs $600K/year and chose to keep it open; closed our budget deficit by laying off 20% of our police officers and cutting back remaining city employees to 35 hour weeks.

I don't use the pool, but I'm considering digging a moat around my house.

Reply to
Bryce

Yeah, we looked at filling in the pool in the house we bought, and would have cost about $12,000. We opted to keep it, and resurface it, even though that cost more, not to mention the electricity for the pump.

Reply to
SMS

I would cover the pool. Looploc can make a cover that big. You will still have to run the pump for a few hours a day to keep the algae at bay. That would mean you would have to treat the pool with chems and clean the filter from time to time.

If you do not treat the water it will turn into a mess and would raise the costs to open it next year. I have seen many pools "put to sleep" and the result is not good. the PH level of untreated water tends to pit the plaster and the algae roots embed deep into the pores of the plaster making it a pain to remove. You can not leave a pool empty. If you have a high water table it can float out of the ground like a boat ( they made boats out of concrete in WWII that took supplies across the Atlantic FYI) . Pool plaster is designed to remain wet and takes a few years to fully set.When plastering a pool as soon as the last trowel of plaster is put on a pool they fill the pool asap. leaving a pool empty can cause the plaster to come off the pool too. For more info visit the worlds first online community for pool owners

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McMorrow.

Reply to
pool guy

Really, what kind of revenue does the pool take in. Is it a loser? I doubt if the economy will effect the use of the pool that much. If anything people tend to use things like this more during bad economic times. Instead of taking vacations or going to the movies they go to the pool.

Jimmie

Reply to
JIMMIE

Don't know where you are but down here you drain a pool it may float out of the ground depending on the water table.

Reply to
Tom

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