If you’re looking to improve the value of your home in Covington, one of the most important things you can do is maintain your swimming pool. A pool is an investment. And like any investment, you want to keep it functioning for as long as possible. The good news is that it’s easy to keep your pool clean and safe with a pool cleaning service. The bad news is that if you don’t do it properly, your pool could become unsanitary and unsafe.

Let your maintenance schedule slip, or put off cleaning your pool for a while, you can run into trouble. A swimming pool can be a breeding ground for algae, bugs, and small animals. If you stop maintaining your pool you will quickly find that your pool has turned into a lagoon. Once you’ve gotten that far, it can be costly and time consuming to bring it back.

Another reason to maintain your pool is for the longevity of the pool itself. If you let your maintenance slip and don’t take proper care of your pool, you could be cutting its life in half or even to one quarter of its expected lifespan.

Different parts of your pool require different amounts of care. Here is a list of some common types of pool maintenance and why they are so important to the health and longevity of your pool.

Water Balance

This can be the most confusing part of pool maintenance for the average homeowner. The water in a swimming pool needs to maintain a constant balance of chemicals to keep the water clean and safe to swim in. You don’t have to be a chemist to do it yourself, but buying a quality water testing kit and learning how to use it is one of the best things you can do for your pool. Everyone is familiar with chlorine in a pool. It keeps the water clean, safe, and clear. Unbalanced pH is what makes your eyes a little sore if you open them up underwater too long. And it’s what turned your hair a little green as child after a whole summer in the pool.

But chlorine is only one of the chemicals you will need to keep track of to keep your water balanced. The most important balancing job is to keep as close to a neutral pH balance as possible. Ideally, a pool should hover around a 7.4 pH level, since that is the pH of your eyes and mucous membranes. At that pH level you will feel almost no irritation from even hours of pool use.

Maintaining a constant pH is a balancing act between a number of different chemicals as well as the effects of nature and the weather. Direct sunlight can cause chlorine to dissipate more quickly, requiring more regular chlorine treatments. If it rains, your pool’s pH could drop (due to the acidity in most rain today). The reactions of various chemicals in the water, in your pool liner, and in the chemicals you add to the water can all affect pH.

If you don’t think you have the time or the skills to regularly check and balance your pool water, it’s absolutely necessary to hire a trustworthy pool cleaning service to do it for you. If you don’t do it yourself or get someone else to do it, your pool will quickly become a murky health hazard unfit for swimming or any other use. Don’t let that happen to your pool.

 

Maintaining Your Pool Hardware

Besides keeping your water clean and balanced, there are plenty of pieces of hardware and machinery that need more or less upkeep to ensure that they are working and last as long as possible. Like any mechanical devices, pool equipment undergoes a variety of stresses and will eventually need to be repaired or replaced. But you can extend the useful life of your equipment just by performing regular maintenance, BEFORE it becomes a problem.

You pools filter is one of the most important pieces of pool equipment. It helps to keep your pool water clean and free of debris and small particles. But it’s important to keep your filter and all of its connected parts in good working order. Otherwise, your water quality can suffer and you could be infor more extensive and expensive damage.

One important part of keeping your filter working is keeping out large debris. You pool filter is meant to deal with small articles, not large debris like fallen leaves and branches. Make it a daily habit to spend a few minutes skimming your pool for large debris. Another option is an automatic skimmer, though that itself requires some maintenance. Make sure that your filter basket is working to keep larger object out of your filter. Always make sure the pump on your filter is working, too. A weak or broken pool filter pump can leave you with dirty water.

Keep Your Pool and Deck Clean

This seems like an obvious thing to do, but many pool owners overlook it. Your swimming pool has lots of human gunk dissolved in it. Sweat, hair gel, sunscreen, deodorant, and anything else people have on their bodies all ends up in your pool water. All of these chemicals can leave a thin film on your pool liner. If left untreated, you could build up layers of filth that are hard to clean and eat away at your pool liner. Taking the time to wipe down your pool liner on a regular basis will extend the life of your pool.

Keeping your deck clean is another no-brainer that people still forget about. You may spend time every day skimming your pool for leaves, twigs, and other debris. You also check and empty your filter basket and your skimmer. But if you are not sweeping clear your pool deck on a regular basis, you are just inviting more junk into your pool. Sweep your deck. It will save you time in the end.

It’s also important to clean your pool tiles on a regular basis. Just like your pool’s liner, the tiles can build up a film of yucky slime, made up of human leftovers and maybe a little bit of algae. Regularly wiping down your pool’s tiles will keep them from building up hard, dried on layers of dirt. It will also save you from damage to the grout, which could end up costing you a lot to repair.

Pool maintenance is very important to the life of your pool. If you don’t have the time for it, make sure that you get a reputable and experienced pool cleaning service to do it for you. They will be able to provide you with quality pool maintenance that will keep your pool in top condition all year round.

 

QUESTIONS? CALL US!