If you want your pool to be special, you need to find its X-factor. What is going to set your pool apart from others? What is going to make it uniquely yours? By answering those questions, you start to find your pool's x-factor, its je ne sais quoi in other words. Hi my name is Jenna, and I love my pool. I also love the features I have added to make it unique. Elements like my climbing wall with a diving platform and my retro deck furnishings really make it special. I am going to write about all of that and more in this blog. I hope my tips inspire you to have more fun around your pool, and the mum in me has to remind you to be careful as well. Thanks for reading and enjoy.
If you've had a pool for a while, you're no stranger to the usual maintenance tips – maintaining pH and water levels, daily skimming, vacuuming and changing filters, among others. You also know just how tedious it can get, especially if you live a windy area, which translates to more dirt and debris to clean up from your pool. However, these simple tips can help make your work a tad easier, and reduce your pool-cleaning budget a little.
1. Insist on pool-wear
Bathing suits are made from special fabric that is more resistant to chlorine-bleaching and doesn't shed small fibres into the water. It's okay to allow the odd person who came over without their suits to jump in with their underwear, but don't make it a habit. Insist that guests for pool parties carry appropriate swimwear. In larger doses, the dyes from chlorine bleaching and fraying fibres can cause your pool to cloud up. Shocking is a good fix for a cloudy pool, but if you have to do it often, you risk ruining the pool's siding.
2. Make your skimming super-effective
Normal skimmer baskets can remove bigger debris/particles from the pool, but their openings also allow a lot of smaller particles to remain. You can improve this by cutting up a pair of old pantyhose (now you can use those stockings that ran after you wore them once) and wrapping them around the basket. Any fine dirt/sand particles and small fibres and hairs will stay caught, leaving your pool looking deliciously clean. Skimming every day or so can prevent dirt build-up on the pool floor and siding, making cleaning easier.
3. Sodium bicarbonate can replace store-bought alkaline solutions
You probably know sodium bicarbonate as a wonder in-house cleaning ingredient, but did you know that your pool could benefit from it as well? At your weekly pH level inspection or after it has rained heavily, you can use sodium bicarbonate in place of alkaline products to adjust pH. If you're wondering about measurement, use the same amount of sodium bicarbonate as you would the alkaline product, which is often the same stuff anyway. In addition, a paste of sodium bicarbonate with water can be used to clean tiles and prevent algal growth around the grout as well – and all that for just a few cents at your nearest department store/supermarket.
4. Tennis balls can collect oil
From natural body sebum to makeup, sunscreen and body oils, your pool surface can accumulate oil layers pretty fast. You can stick a few tennis balls on the skimmer to absorb the oil, or throw in the balls, move them around and remove with the skimmer a little later.
5. Banish bugs naturally
Bugs are not only annoying to sunbathers and swimmers; they are one more thing to remove from the pool when they die. However, you can naturally control them by planting lemongrass near the pool. Lemongrass is an ancient remedy for bug repulsion, especially mosquitoes, because of the citronella oil it produces. You can control hornets and wasps by creating a decoy nest made of a brown bag stuffed with crumpled up plastic bags. They won't build a nest it they find one, even a fake one, close by.
For more swimming pool care tips, contact a company like Cygnet Pool Supplies & Service Pty Ltd.
Share14 June 2016
