Pool Renovation Blog

[spartan]

Guys,

a few weeks back I posted here looking for some wisdom/advice/guidance on having a pool renovation. I got no replies, so I'm assuming that none of the regular contributors have been through the process.

So as I was keen to have my pool 'made over', I thought I might record the progress and some observations along the way in the event that other people are considering having their pools touched up.

I now have detailed plans, quotes, and before photos. The work is about to commence, so I was considering uploading some of the information for the edification of all.



Background.

We moved into our 45sq home, and 1.5 acres on the Brisbane northside about 3 years ago. Its a big house that was in need of some TLC. Over the last 3 years we have done up just about every room. This left the patio and the pool looking like sore thumbs.

The pool. It is about 20 years old, pebblecrete in the worst golden orange, with rolled over coping. It has rocks stuck to the edges and has a number of fine cracks around the coping and some at the bottom of the pool. (see next post for photos).

When we arrived, it had an old sleep deck directly laid on the ground, that was very loose and dangerous, so we put some new concrete pavers down. Unfortunately, they didn't cut the mustard, as a nearby retaining wall leaking significantly undermined the level and lay of the pavers.

We felt that given the expense we had gone to with the inside of the house and the soon to be expensive patio makeover we needed to take the pool from a basic pool to one that was:

• Safer
• More pleasing on the eye.
• More practical.
• More formal and looked liked it belonged.

The first hurdle was establishing our wants and needs list.....

[spartan]

This is the start point or our existing pool.....

[Bodgy]

Look forward to this. I have the same dilemma. Personally I'd rather fill the bloody thing in and make a putting green, but there is opposition to that from those who neither pay the bills not clean the bloody thing.

My enquiries showed that real estate salesmen and used car dealers have strong competition in the pool industry.

[spartan]

The boss and I visited a few display pool locations, looked at a lot of pools in magazines and web sites, and then got a real estate agent to have a look at the house and then comment on the pool - mainly what it lacked in comparison to other houses with similar size and decors.

From this consultation process we worked out that we wanted....

• To get rid of the pebblecrete coping....we wanted it tiled/paved to the edge and for the whole area to be flush with no step ups into the pool.
• We spyed a good tile/paver that was attractive and didn't requireing sealing - called Himilayan Quartz, including a path to the patio and steps about 35 sqm - note that this area is about 10 sqm less than the currently paved area.
• To avoid paving problems we wanted it laid directly on to the cement slab.
• The old pebblecrete was in an average condition, with some minor surface cracks and an ever increasing amount of pebbles appearing in the skimmer box - we wanted a smoother, flasher looking pebblecrete - so we specified meditarian (sp??) blue.
• The old timber retaining wall had to go - so a rendered block retaining wall was specified for the 16.5 lm.
• We wanted a focal feature - so we specified a feature wall inclusive of water feature - about 3m long and about 1.2-2m high.
• The fencing that we had is probably not legal, so it had to go. We specified 40lm of 1800 3 rail timber fence for the back part of the fence...and 18 lm and gate of powerder coated aluminium for the front part of the fence.
• About 36 lm of 'mowing strips' for the area above the retaining wall.
• Soil, plants, grass for landscaping.
• A couple of timber screens for an aircon unit and for the filter.
• A timber bench, about 3m long that could double as hose storage.
• A new self cleaning chlorinator to be mated with out existing pump and sand filter.
• A 1000L spa built into one of the corners of the pool.....

[spartan]

Armed with some basic information about the cost of building, archicentre type information I went about coming up with an educated guess about how much it would cost.....

After a little over an hour measuring and comparing i came to a total of about $38000.....

This was the first set back....we thought wow you could a new pool for that the boss exclaimed....

So we then started asking for quotes...we had a pool builder in mind, one that had a reputation for being good but expensive....we had drawn heavily from a number of their display pools....

After contacting 5 pool companies we were pretty disappointed....

A couple were not interested...'sorry we don't do that...only new pools....too many unknowns and they are costly'....A couple said they could do parts of it...'we can resurface the pebblecrete'....

Only one came back and said...'we can do basically anything...and we are looking for a couple of new renovations'.....it just happened to be the company that we had been interested in using in the first place....

So we arranged a quote.....

Mean while we looked high and low for someone who had had a pool reno.....a couple of web sites and some anecdotal evidence that it would cost at least as much as a new pool if not more.....hmmmm:eek:

[spartan]

I prepared as part of the specification...a diagram of the pool and marked on it the desired changes...the intent was that each and every pool company would be quoting on the same spec. This would allow for an apples for apples comparison....

didn't quite work out that way as I indicated above...but here is my diagram....warning I'm not an artist...

[Ironwood]

Hi There Spartan,
we are in a similar situation as you are, our pool is a painted concrete pool. when we originally bought this place, the pool had been recently painted (clorinated rubber paint). after about 12 months it had deteriated badly, after seeking advise from a local paint shop, they told us the previous owners obviously didnt prepare the concrete properly before applying the new paint. we were told if we did it properly we would get 5 years out of it before it needed a recoat. so off we went, bought the paint and accessories, and proceeded to prepare the pool as directed. this turned into a mamoth job, but we thought it would be all worth it. so after about 2 weeks we had it ready to fill back up. after 6 months the first sign of deteriation was visable, now after 12 months, its almost as bad as the original job. :mad: .
we asked some people in the pool industry about what they thought, once we relised that it wasnt going to last, and were told that paint had gone out years ago, and to do the job properly we would need to resurface the pool with pebble crete, or spend a bit more and do it with glass beads.
for us to do a lot of the prep work, and to put the new coping on after they do the job, we were quoted around $11000.
we will get a couple more quotes and probably look at doing the job next winter. so I will be following your thread with interest

[spartan]

So a week later our main company came back to us with our quote.....

Now there is an interesting back story here. The designer really wanted to know what our budget was. Now normally, I'd say get stuffed...but my poking around and personal cost estimates made me think that there was some value in playing a hand here.

The designers view was that he could come back with a quote that was way out of the ball park and that their margins were pretty well fixed, not a lot of room to negotiate. So if he costed everything and came back 20K over the budget then he would have to go back to the drawing board....

So we settled on a budget figure of 40K. So you think he came back and said we can do the job for 40K right?
Wrong.

He came back a week later saying I had to significantly cut back in order to get near your budget...for 45K he could address most of our requirements but not all.

After I came too, I asked for a price breakdown so I could get a feel for where all the costs were.....

Preparation and cao - square up coping -$800
Machined Himilayan Quartz - 500mm Bullnose -$1878
Pebblelining of pool - Med Blue - $6500
Installation of coping $2193
Handover of pool /chemicals/salt/cleaner - $650
Machine work - removing sleepers, digging footings, levelling - $1500
Block feature wall $1872
Plumbing for feature wall $350
Mowing strips - $100
33 sqm Him Quartz on new concrete slab $6534
Two concrete pumps $1200
Slab prep $600
Cartage of all materials to site (onsite) $1000
Block rendered retaining wall 13.2 sqm $6814
Footings for retaining wall 15lm $1650
Him Quartz bullnose steps 4.8 lm $1056
New saltwater chlorinator $1655
1.8m High, 3 Rail timber fence 39.6 Lm $3484
Alum pool fence 18 lm and 1 gate $2541....
Insurance $704

...

[pedro the swift]

Renovate a pool??
No thanks, I am currently in th eprocess of getting mine out and filled in. Been thinking about it for a while.
Doesnt get a lot of use and just costs time and money to maintain. Isuggest to all that are thinking a getting a pool forget it, but if you must (for the children, you know) get an above ground pool so it can be sold or replaced with a nice spa for the adults when kids lose interest in a pool.

[Farm boy]

Hi there spartan
Our pool came with the house and the painted concrete surface needs redoing next winter (it turns milky when you rub it) the wife works for a plastic company and the manager said they have lined pools in plastic i thought about this also pebbling the interier but a pool shop technician reckons its better to repaint the concrete and the wife complains that i never use it
give me my shed anyday

[spartan]

Our pool gets heaps of use, we have kids who spend a lot of time in the pool, and we frequently have it as the centre piece of our outdoor entertaining.

Farm boy....I wouldn't put too much credence behind what pool shop technicians have to say...speak to a licenced pool builder...

Thus far the renovation is going well...photos to follow....

They have jack hammered the entire surface of the pool ready for the new lining....

Footings for the new retaining wall have been dug and the concrete and rebarb have been completed. I've been pretty impressed with the process. There seems to be a lot of labour involved in a pool renovation. Much more than I'd have thought. It defintely seems simplier to install a new pool...

[Ironwood]

but a pool shop technician reckons its better to repaint the concrete

Farmboy , I have gone down that road, and regreted it. Talk to anyone who builds or renovates pools and paint has gone out years ago.

[Farm boy]

thanks iron wood
so what is the better option apart from filling it in
greg

[Ironwood]

so what is the better option apart from filling it in
greg

Well I suppose filling it in is an option . But if you still want a pool (like I do), then from the advice I have been able to get by talking to a lot of people, it seems that pebblecrete is the preferable option, (my wife has found some other alternatives on the internet, but unless you live in a major city, then they are not available to you).

We took the advice of a paintshop proprietor, and repainted our pool last year. It took us about 2 weeks of fairly hard work, repairs to concrete and preparation, must have been close to $1000 worth of products to do the job, a small fortune in chemicals to get the water right again. Now 12 months later it looks the same as it did before we did the job.

From advice from pool builders (who also renovate), if the pebblecrete is done properly then you are looking at 20 to 25 years of life

We definitely dont want to have to empty our pool on a regular basis for repainting

[Farm boy]

From advice from pool builders (who also renovate), if the pebblecrete is done properly then you are looking at 20 to 25 years of life
We definitely dont want to have to empty our pool on a regular basis for repainting[/quote]

i agree they are a bottomless pit of money, new chlorinater this year and a few pipe replacements.
like i told the wife this morning i dont want to paint a pool every 5 years
so the pebble crete sonds heaps better
thanks for that
greg