Pooling our Resources

The Pacific Northwest is a terrific place to live, most of the time.  Where we live, in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, we are just minutes from rivers, lakes, parks, forests, farms, and countryside.  We are about an hour from the ocean to the west, or the mountains to the east.  Oh sure, our winters are somewhat wet and gray, but we don’t get much snow here and the summers make it all bearable…not to mention our beautiful autumns.




One thing about the summers here is they are just too darn short.  We have some sporadic nice weather in the spring, but summer doesn’t really “arrive” until the 4th of July.  It lasts until about Labor Day.  It makes absolutely no sense to have a backyard swimming pool in this type of environment.  Taking care of a pool is a year round commitment for, at best, three months of enjoyment in the summer. 

So why the heck did we just re-plaster our pool rather than fill it in?  Darned if I know!!  Just kidding – sorta.  We got bids on re-plastering vs. decommissioning and it was about half the cost to re-plaster.  We hemmed and we hawed, weighed the pros and the cons,  and finally decided that, even with all the cons, we like having a pool.  Our kids all learned to swim in that pool, our grandkids likewise, and I can’t even keep track of all the extended family members and friends who have enjoyed our backyard over the years.  We just couldn’t let it go.  An emotional decision rather than a rational one I am sure, but there it is.

Here’s a few pics and a couple of 30 second videos to show the process. The work was done by Northwest Pool and Spa in Eugene.  If you are a local and need any kind of spa, pool or water feature work done, I highly recommend their work.

This is what it looked like BEFORE:  Lots of staining and wear and tear.


First step was to submerge a hugely noisy pump and drain the pool completely.  It was drained out to the street and yes, it was all legal.  The water is clean.  Adding to the noise on confusion, the city decided to finally come that day and take out our Hawthorne tree (without any notice, of course)!  So they got to play in the water!  The pump was annoying and the draining took several hours.


After the pool was empty, the entire surface got an acid wash to clean and etch the existing plaster.  A base coat of gray cement was applied to the entire surface.


Then the plaster was mixed in a noisy machine.  A big hose went from the machine to the backyard and the material was sprayed onto the surface of the pool.  Two people then troweled the plaster to a smooth surface.  Notice the holes in the bottom of the pool.  Those are drilled to keep the pool from floating while the work is being done.


The filling started the next day.  Pools cannot be left empty or they will float, literally popping out of the ground.  They must be filled quickly, especially if there is water close to the surface like we have here.  The pool holds about 25,000 gallons so I am sure we will not be happy to get the water bill this month.


It took 48 hours of the water going day and night at full blast to get the pool filled.  It has been twelve years since we last drained the pool so we don’t exactly waste a lot of water like this all the time!



So, while we may have made a decision with our hearts rather than with our heads, we are looking forward to having some backyard fun this coming year.  If any of you are in the area and the weather is warm, give us a call.  The pool will most likely be open for visitors.  Bring your own goggles haha!



Remember those nasty steps?  This is much better, don’t you think?