Doing my first trashout next weekend, which includes draining the inground pool. I have drained my personal, above-ground pool before, but haven't done an inground. I am in Ohio, and I know the procedure is different here than it might be in other parts of the country.
My plan is to drain all the water (out into the storm drain at the curb), clean out leaves and debris, hose/powerwash and stubborn algae, and refill up to _?_ feet, due to the groundwater level. I was also going to throw in some shock for good measure.
There is nothing on the order or on the bid I submitted to secure the cover for safety.

Anything I'm missing?

Thanks.

Hey Don,
How are you? Congrats on your first trashout. In regards to the pool make sure the pool area is secured as well. If there is not one then you need to build a deck over the pool using chicken wire 2 x6. Also have pad locks for the front and the back gates leading to the pool.

OH yes make sure you take plenty of pictures as well with your digital cam. I would do a before, during and after. Ok,hope this helps. This is how we do it in TX.

Bryant
Top Notch REO Propery Preservation

Use caution. If the water table is high the pool liner can lift away from the bottom or in extreme cases can float out of the ground. I've never had any company drain an IG pool.

I am going to be doing this job next weekend -- the access points have been padlocked already (the rekey crew had already finished that one -- I was planning on dropping the water level about 3 feet or so, but had not planned on building a "deck" over the pool. There is a soft cover that has fallen in the pool, that I was going to put back on when I have completed the job. I asked the listing agent about somehow securing the pool itself, in case somebody tripped and fell into the water, but he said he had no notes requesting that the top of the pool be "secure". It seemed like a logical step to me, since the main point of the pre-list work is to remediate any potential risks...

If you completely drain a pool to clean it, then you need to put at least 3 to 4 feet of water back in. You'll need to shock the water and set it up on a mainenance schedule to check the water level, which will evaporate over time, and add more shock to keep it clear.

IMO, if you're going to maintain a pool, go all the way through to startup. Drain, clean, refill, add chemicals, check the pump, and set the timer. Then do [at minimum] a bi-monthly maintenance on it.

There's nothing worse than one vendor doing the cleaning, then another vendor receiving a work order for maintenance and submitting a bid to have it drained & cleaned all over again because no one ever shocked the water after the intial treatment.

One of the side effects of not keeping a pool up is that lots of things can go wrong with the pump when it's out of operation for a long time.

We do pool startups all the time and the benefits far outweigh a simple drain & clean, which can end up being a lot more costly in the long run. Plus, it's nice and clean and operable for potential buyers. To me, it's a great selling point as long as it's being maintained correctly.

Just my .02.

Linda

I would never suggest to fully drain an inground gunite pool. You run too much risk at it popping out or suffering severe cracks depending on the water table. There are parts of the country where you "may" get away with this. This is the problem of asking such a question on a "countrywide" forum. I would highly suggest to contact a local professional pool company. Or, drain down below the skimmer and return lines, blow the lines, add some chemicals and cover. If it needs to be cleaned completely, ask the bank or company you are doing the order for. I would never suggest to clean unless directly given orders too. You DO NOT want the liability. If you do drain it all the way, I would clean and refill as soon as humanly possible. Good luck.

Exactly. I agree with you wholeheartedly.

We've had the unfortunate task of starting up a pool that's been empty for a very long time. Those pools hardly ever look good after cleaning and filling. What they really need is a new surface but it can get really pricey and I haven't had a client order one yet.

Linda

I spoke w/ a local pool specialist. He seemed to think it was best to just drain out a couple feet of water, skim/shock/clean the pool, and blow out the filter and the lines, and leave it just below the lines...

I will most likely also use 2x6's spaced out underneath the cover, in order to ensure safety -- its a fairly small backyard, and somebody horsing around could easily slip in...

Thanks all for the info...