Keeping Your Pool Gorgeous

Have you recently installed a pool or moved into a home with a pool? Is this the first time that you've owned a pool? If you've never owned a pool before, you may not realize that there are some things that you need to do at the end of summer in order to make sure that your pool will still be usable when next spring arrives. Although an in-ground pool may seem permanent, there are a number of different maintenance tasks that your pool will need in order to continue to be functional. Here are some of the most important things to do or to have done:

Cleaning: A pool should have a good cleaning performed on it at least once a year. Although you should be doing pool cleaning on a more regular basis, this isn't always sufficient to ensure that your pool remains in good condition. For most people, pool cleaning simply means removing the dead leaves and other debris floating on the top of the water while letting the filtration system get the rest. Eventually, this can harm both the pool and the filtration system due to the amount of solid material that can accumulate. In the autumn, more frequent cleanings are needed in order to get rid of all of the debris that falls into the pool. Once the leaves have stopped falling, you should have a professional come in to give the pool a more thorough cleaning and to check the lining over for potential damage.

Change chemicals: Your local pool company will have different mixtures of pool chemicals for the summer and winter months. While this might seem like a ploy to get more money from you, using the right chemicals is essential to keeping a healthy pool. Depending on where you live, the winter chemicals may do things like helping to lower the freezing point of the water so that your pool doesn't get damaged by the outward pressure of the ice. Of course, if you happen to live somewhere deep freezes are common, you may want to completely drain the pool instead of simply switching chemicals. Your pool company can help you to make the right decision.

Cover pool: Whether your pool actually freezes over or not, nobody wants to have to go out in the middle of winter for an impromptu pool cleaning. Even in the winter months, various debris can still get into your pool if a good cover isn't being used. If your pool doesn't have a permanent cover installed, you can use water tubes to secure the cover and prevent anything from entering the pool until you remove everything again in the spring or early summer.