Having a swimming pool in your backyard is a wonderful amenity that adds to the comfort of your home. But let’s face it, backyard pools can age badly over the years. Colors can fade and the concrete may have cracks that need fixing. This remodeling guide is for homeowners who want to fix up their swimming pool. It will give your home more value and isn’t going to cost you an arm and a leg in the process.
Change your chlorination system
Most people will be doing the age-old method of adding pool solutions using a standard pool treatment. This is hit or miss since you have to check the Ph of the water continually. In this case, it would be a better idea to switch to an automatic chlorination system. These systems are automatic and regulate the Ph electronically. These regulate the water so you don’t get itchy eyes or green hair with eco-friendly pool chemicals.
Now you won’t need to maintain the correct Ph levels because it will automatically add the additives as it detects changes in the water.
Add an enclosure around your pool for year-round use
There are very simple pool covers that are convenient to install and hang over your pool. Most of these exterior pool covers run along tracks that allow sections to slide down the track. These covered dome-like covers have an entrance door and lock in the heat more efficiently if you have a heated pool. This is ideal for days when the weather isn’t so nice. In the winter, you can conserve the heat inside as well making winter swimming easier.
These types of pool covers are also especially cost-effective and help keep animals and debris out of your pool. Unlike typical pool covers, you can use a robot pool cleaner on days when it’s time to clean the bottom.
Add LED lights and fiber optics to light up your pool
It doesn’t hurt to add new lights if you don’t have pool lights installed already. The newest systems are easy to install and they use LED and fiber optics to make the lighting work. This adds a whole new layer of safety if you like swimming at night. These lights can be programmed to change color and are perfect for friendly evening parties. Another nice touch is that LED lights last for several years and are incredibly bright.
You’ll want to include a dimmer so you can further control the intensity of the lights. These light systems can now be controlled using a smartphone app or regular remote control.
The landscape around your pool
Perhaps it’s also time to upgrade the scenery around your pool with ideas that are fresh and new. Maybe you might want to add some statues or decorations that are fitting to your outdoor backyard oasis. There are pool accessories that include pool chairs and relaxation tables to enjoy day or night activities. The more you add little touches to make your pool area more inviting, the more personal it can become. Here are some cool chic ideas I came across the other day.
Customize the edges of your pool
Usually, the edges of any pool often look bland and boring. The new craze that is being embraced is adding decorative tiles and bricks that give the rim of a pool more of an exotic appearance. Of course, natural stone is very popular as well, making your pool look more luxurious. These new additions can be covered over existing pool rims. You can also consider using wooden decking to make the edges of any pool have more style.
A popular new trend includes adding flat river slabs all around the border of your pool. You can also choose marble and even slate. These are then filled with grout around the edge helping to seal them in place.
Add an electronic auto-fill system
If you own a pool already, you already know the importance of continually topping-off the water level. Perhaps it’s not a bad idea to invest in an automatic auto-fill system that does this for you. These systems will sense when water levels drop and fill the water up to the appropriate level immediately. You can install a system with very little modification and it also hooks up to your current water taps.
These systems don’t require you to completely drain your pool since many of the budget-worthy machines simply sit over the edge of your pool. There is a little sensor-like bobber that starts to refill when it drops below a certain point.
Add built-in seating in parts of your pool
If you’re doing any kind of pool renovation, you might want to consider adding wading areas or built-in seating along the edges. The advantage to this is having two zones in your pool that are friendlier for little kids and older folks. This goes hand in hand with refinishing a pool interior and obviously, you need to drain your pool to do this kind of work. This is perhaps more costly than any of the other options here but is totally worth considering.
If you want to take the time to add a separate grotto, this will allow you to expand your swimming pool accordingly. Just be careful how the new additions are properly sealed and repaired.
Recoat and refinish the interior coating
This step can only happen when you remove all the water from your pool. This is so you can start to prep the old surface to have a new one. If you’ve ever wanted to have a black bottom pool, there are easy-to-install systems that you can do yourself. But you’ll find there are a variety of systems that include aggregated colored glass pebbles. This makes the surface inside your pool appear lively and full of natural color that pops in the sunlight.
This is further impressive if you add LED lighting that also bounces off these highly reflective aggregate beads. You can also install mosaic tiles along the edges of your pool that give a great finishing touch.
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