Natural disasters can impact every part of your home, including your pool. Although your pool may not be your first priority after a natural disaster, you should take it seriously and consider it as part of your general cleanup.
Understanding the potential damage that your pool might have experienced during a natural disaster can help you prepare for properly restoring your pool or deciding on pool renovation after a disaster. After we talk about the different types of damage, we will talk about how to approach restoring your pool.
Contamination is one of the most common types of damage to your pool, and one that can have serious health effects. Whenever flood water enters your pool, it can bring contamination from numerous sources. There may be toxic chemicals, raw sewage, dead animals, and more in your pool after a major flood. This could lead to serious health hazards and damage to your pool and pool equipment. There may even be chemicals in the water that may react dangerously with pool chemicals.
If your pool was contaminated with flood water, consult with local authorities and consider having a professional handle the cleanup.
Disasters can damage your pool equipment. Major disasters can damage pool equipment by washing it away, shorting out electrical circuits, clogging filters, or overwhelming pumps.
Test equipment carefully as you start to restore your pool. Some damaged equipment can be dangerous. Other equipment may be damaged if you don’t take proper precautions as you start it up.
When flood waters sweep through an area, they can dramatically transform the land. All your carefully designed landscaping can be distorted, damaged, or even destroyed. In some cases, much of your landscaping might end up in the pool itself, in your neighbor’s pool, or much further down the slope.
Whenever anything goes into your pool that’s not intended for the pool, such as large rocks, fencing, lawn furniture, and more, there’s the potential for damage to the pool liner. Scratched plaster, cracked tiles, and torn vinyl are all potential risks.
When the landscape around the pool is distorted by a natural disaster, there’s always a risk that the pool structure could be damaged, too. Depending on the material, it might crack or bend, which might need to be repaired.
Perhaps the worst thing that can happen with a natural disaster is that the pool might lift out of the ground. A swimming pool can keep water out as well as in, and if there’s more water in the ground around the pool than in it, the pool will lift up like a boat floating on a lake.
When this happens, the pool can be seriously damaged, and the ground can change not just around the pool, but under it as well. This may result in a pool needing to be completely torn out and replaced. Before a new pool is poured, the entire hole may need to be dug out again.
After a natural disaster, you might consider taking steps to restore your pool. If you are considering handling this process yourself, here are the steps you might follow. However, always approach the process with caution, and if there’s anything you can’t handle safely, contact pool renovation professionals to handle it. Depending on your policy, professional pool restoration may even be covered by insurance.
Start by taking a careful walk around your pool. Carefully assess the state of the pool. Make sure your footing is firm at every step, because damage could be hidden under the ground, and it could lead the pool to collapse.
Don’t touch contaminated pool water, and if flood water entered your pool, consult with local authorities about what might be in the water.
Do what you can to remove the largest visible debris in your pool. Do this manually with your pool skimmer and other unpowered tools first. Your pool vacuum is likely to be damaged if you try to use it during the initial stages.
If you can’t see to the bottom of your pool, probe the entire depth to determine if there is major debris under the surface.
Once you’ve gotten all the large debris out of your pool, inspect the pool equipment itself. Use caution when approaching the electrical equipment, as it might be shorted out, which can lead to shocks or more serious injury.
If the electrical wiring all seems intact and the equipment is in good condition, you can start turning it on briefly to assess the process. Watch your pool filters, as these are liable to get clogged, which can damage your pumps.
As you’ve gotten your pool equipment working, you will want to cycle the water in the pool, eventually leading to a complete changeout. However, you don’t want to simply drain your pool, as there may still be significant water saturation around the pool and lightening it too much can cause it to float.
As the pool water begins to clear, look for large debris that you might have missed when probing. Remember: some chemicals in flood water might react dangerously with pool chemicals, so don’t just try to shock the flood waters with massive chemical additions. Wait until you’ve removed most of the flood water and/or had the pool water professionally tested.
With contaminants removed from the pool, it’s time to achieve a healthy water chemistry. This may be as difficult as opening the pool at the beginning of the season, so approach it patiently, test frequently, and don’t re-enter your pool until you’re sure it’s safe.
As the pool water clarifies, you will get a better view of damage inside the pool. However, it’s worthwhile performing a thorough final inspection of your pool. This should be more than visual – you should inspect the lining by touch with either your hands or feet to feel for damage that you might not be able to see.
When a natural disaster damages your pool, it might be a good time to perform the pool renovation you’ve been considering. If your landscaping or deck was damaged, why just put the old stuff back in? If your pool equipment was damaged, consider upgrading your functionality or changing to a different system like going to salt water.
In some cases, the renovation might not be any more expensive than restoration.
If your pool was contaminated or damaged by a disaster in Atlanta, let Allen Pool help you get your pool back in shape. Since 1972, Allen Pool has been helping people in Atlanta get the maximum enjoyment out of their pools with the minimum effort. We’ve seen what natural disasters can do to pools, and we’ve helped many people get their pools swim-ready after some of the worst events in recent years.
To learn how Allen Pool can help you get your pool back in shape after a natural disaster, please contact us today.
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