Our Swimming Pool

We love to swim, that is our kids love to swim. We've made it a priority to always have some way for them to have access to a pool.

While they were small, we would have the little kiddie pools. When they got a bit better at swimming, we bought one of those Costco pools - you know the round pools with the inflated ring around the top. We enjoyed this for a few years. Now it seems that we have out grown that one and so we decided to get something bigger and better. We have lots of room in our back yard, but couldn't afford an in-ground pool. So we decided to purchase an above ground pool.

We were thinking of building a concrete platform to put the pool on so we asked at the pool store which pool we could get that could be installed on concrete.

They checked with the factory and made a recommendation. So we bought the pool and had a concrete pad poured.

The day to install the pool came and we were all looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, the pool design had changed somewhat and the installer said it could not go on concrete. Ugh! We checked with the store and they said it could. Well, the installer called the factory rep, who suggested a few alterations to the installation process. He followed his instructions and finished installing the pool l;ate in the day.

This pool is 30 feet by 15 feet oval by the way, and about 4.5 feet deep.

We started filling the pool. By the next day, it was full with 11,430 gallons of water.

As my wife and I stood next to the pool, we heard a popping noise and suddenly the pool started to expand, it sprung a few leaks and water started louring out the bottom.

Within 15 - 20 minutes, we had 11,430 gallons of water dumped into our back yard! With the help of some very good neighbors, we were able to keep the water from getting into the house.

Needless to say, the alterations recommended by the factory rep caused the structure to fail. Now we had no pool and no warranty - due to the way the pool was installed.

The pool installer was good enough to take responsibility and replace the pool.

It only took 3 - 4 weeks to get the replacement pool in (that's another story).

We'll see if this one can be installed on concrete.

Click here to see more pictures of the pool after it crashed.

Enjoy.

By way of update - the pool has been replaced, but this time, we bolted it to the concrete pad. Our hope is that it won't be going anywhere soon. We've enjoyed it for several weeks now, and hope to be able to enjoy it for many more years!