Installing a new pool security cover
2016, Oct. 07 - By Ross Bryson
Finished cover the evening Hurricane Matthew hit the Carolinas, perfect timing.
Backstory: I have a 6 month old little girl who will be walking before it is time to open our pool. The cover that came with the house was not very safe and was at pretty much at the end of its life expectancy. We shopped around for pool covers at our local pool supply stores and it was looking like we were going to be spending around $2,500. This was quickly turning into a project for next winter...
Old pool cover in the snow.
Above you can see the old pool cover. Sorry I don't have a better picture, it was kind of ugly and not worth pictures. You will notice even with the snow on top it is kind of dangerous. Also, if a human or animal were to accidently fall onto it, it would begin to tangle and make getting out even harder.
Here's the sweet deal I got on the pool cover from VM Innovations.
The first cover I bought was from Amazon.com and the merchant was VMInnovations, but you really need to read the answer section because the cover is actually 12" bigger than the specs listed. I thought it was funnny that the length, width, and stairs matched my pool almost exactly and stupidly ordered the wrong size.
Luckily, VMInnovations has fantastic support and shipped us the new cover almost immediatly. It arrived in a couple days, and again I can't brag enough on their customer support.
Removing the diving board turned into a longer issue than I had hoped. But only 15 seconds to remove the last bolt.
The new safety cover still over-lapped the the diving board. I'm pretty sure the board hasn't been inspected in 17 years, so I figured it wasn't a bad idea to take down for the winter anyway. It was only 6 bolts to remove, though one needed a little 'motivation'.
"Don't force it, just use a bigger hammer."
My power drill would have never made it through this job, borrowed a neighbor's hammer drill which cut the time down to 15 minutes a hole... 15 x 28 ... crap, 7 hours of drilling?! Bought a rotary hammer drill. Bam! 2.5 minutes a hole! Still a pain in the ass but much more manageable.
One down, 27 more to go.
Spent the better part of the day with a chalk line tool, measuring tape, perminant marker, and now to begin punching holes in my concrete. This picture was pre new drill, 27 more to go!
Oooo... Shiny
Not much to say here, but this is what the cover looks like fresh out of the box. I suggest getting a frend to help get it in place. If you get water on top of it (it's ok because the cover is permeable), but IT WILL SLOW YOU DOWN.
AND Done! 3 minutes after the last point was anchored, it started raining. Time for a beer!
This job came out pretty good. Myself and two dogs have tested its strength and so far it holds up really well.