Owning a pool might seem like great fun—and, generally speaking, it is. However, pools also require a lot more maintenance than most people realize. Skimming off leaves, brushing the walls, maintaining the chemicals, and other tasks can really add up, especially when you have to do these tasks at least once a week. While it might be tempting to just let these maintenance requirements slide now and then, you must resist that temptation. Keep reading to learn why these tasks are so important. If your pool’s maintenance is more than you can handle, contact us for pool removal in New Jersey.
Keep Water Clear
Standing water tends to become murky and, to use the professional term, gross. Pools manage to avoid this in 2 ways: by circulating the water through a pump system and by adding certain chemicals to the pool. If even 1 of those things stops, the water will very quickly become more of a murky pond than a nice, clear swimming pool. This is why it’s essential to test your water’s chemical levels at least once a week and add any necessary chemicals to maintain the proper pH and chlorine balance.
Prevent Algae Growth
When you stop maintaining your pool, your water becoming murky is just the beginning of the problems. Those chemicals help to keep algae at bay. If you’ve ever been to a natural pond, you’re familiar with the slick, green algae that grow on rocks. Is that really something that you want growing in your swimming pool? If your chemicals become unbalanced, you’ll quickly see slight algal blooms in your pool. At first, these will brush off without much effort. But if left untreated, your pool will become slick with algae and will be extremely unpleasant to swim in.
Protect Your Health
Clean, clear pool water is safe to swim in. Murky, algae-infested water is not. Any time you swim in a natural pond, you risk ingesting bacteria, fungi, and even parasites that are living in the water. This becomes true of your pool as well when you stop maintaining it and let it become as murky as a natural pond. Do you really want to risk the health of you, your family, and your friends just to skip out on some basic maintenance?
Maintain the Equipment
Clearwater also helps to protect the materials of your pool. Plant growth and pests can cause the building materials of your pool—gunite, fiberglass, or vinyl—to deteriorate. You’ll find yourself needing to patch up and repair your pool much more often when the water isn’t properly maintained. This is also true of the pump system. Assuming that your pool is still getting pumped, even without other maintenance tasks, you’ll be pumping more and more algae and other debris into the system every time it turns on. Eventually, this will cause it to burn out and break down.
Pool Maintenance Isn’t for Everyone
If you bought a house with a pool, and you’ve come to find that the maintenance is more than you can handle, it’s important to know that you’re not stuck with it. You can have the pool removed, plant sod, or place other landscaping features over where the pool once stood. If you’re ready to give up your pool, contact Atlantic Pool Experts for assistance with gunite, vinyl, or fiberglass pool removal in New Jersey.