It's Saturday morning. You wake up to have your morning coffee, and recharge your soul from a draining work week. Just as you sit down and sip your coffee you look out your back window to find your pool is full of leaves. Now, instead of your relaxing morning, it's out to the shed to get the net and spend the next hour cleaning the pool, or perhaps you bury your head in the sand and save the task for another day.... a day, that turns into weeks. Next thing you know your pool looks more like an item on the menu at Split Pea Andersen's, and just to think it all started from that one day of not cleaning out the pool.
Pool life doesn't have to feel like a chore. Yes, there will be days that debris gets in the pool, but with a little planning you can make those days infrequent. Below I've listed the biggest factors that make maintaining a pool a nightmare.
Trees
Probably the most obvious culprit are trees, specifically deciduous trees (trees that shed their leaves in the winter). In our area the most common examples are Ficus, Eucalyptus, Olive, and Pepper Trees. In general the fuller the tree looks in the summer, the worse your pool is going to look in the winter. Simply what goes up, must come down.
Evergreen Trees, can be just as bad due to the strength of the pine needles which don't break down quickly and are just the right size to clog up plumbing.
In a perfect world trees are not in the same backyard as a pool. If you do plant a tree next to a pool use the rule of thumb, that the trunk of the tree should be as far away from the waters edge as the tree is expected to be tall. So for a 30' tall tree it should be 30' away from the pool. If possible placing the tree downwind of the pool will help keep the leaves from building up in the pool as well. Lastly, having a tree trimming service come in and selectively groom the tree is always a option.
Grass
While not the worst thing to have near the pool, grass clippings can be a huge pain to net out of a pool, and weed whackers love to throw them EVERYWHERE. Lawns placed too close to the pool edge can also cause more critters to go into the pool, especially earth worms after a rainy day. Remember those? Grass issues are resolved by maintaining a 3' perimeter pool deck all the way around the pool.
Dirt / Woody Ground Cover
Often times a pool is put in and the landscaping is put down later on. On a windy day dirt is kicked up, and thrown into the pool. Small bark or coconut fibers are just as bad. These types of ground coverings can be worse than leaves because the only way to get dirt out of a pool is to pull out the trusty vacuum. Of course there are times when landscape projects need to be done but in general try to keep bare loose dirt to a minimum.
Does the Perfect Pool Exist?
Rarely can you remove all of the variables that it takes to make a pool clean all the time. But if you want to have large trees, a lawn right up to the pool edge and a dog that digs like El Chapo, then maybe an automatic pool cover is the way to go. It's almost a full proof way to keep things out.
There is Hope!
With our service team these worries can be a thing of the past. Get the instant enjoyment of just enjoying the pool and let go of the stress of maintaining it. We offer packages for every budget. Check out our services page: https://www.pureaquaticsolutions.com/what-we-service to find out more about the services we offer.
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