Any apocalyptic way to kill nutgrass?

[strantor]

there's always Granular Chlorine, which you can still buy at a pool supply, and many other places.. if it's alive, Chlorine will kill it!.. it destroys DNA, but it's very safe, if common sense is used. it also dissipates in a couple of days in soil..

We were probably typing at the same time. Not sure if you saw my reply. I addressed granular chlorine. Sounds good but I didn't have a chance to try it. I appreciate the suggestion. I would say "maybe next time" but I don't want to ever do this again.

 

[snymat68]

So the pool is up. I layed 150lbs of salt and 50lbs of amdro, then a layer of road fabric, then 4-6" of compacted sand, then another layer of road fabric, then put in the liner. I was out there in my underwear laying the liner as the heavy rains were coming in. By the time I was done, I was flopping around in 2" of water.

Looking good! Nice garden too!

If the grass ever pokes through you could always pour 4" of concrete in the bottom of the pool. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

I also was skeptical about spreading salt under the pool and had the same concerns about it rusting out. The directions sent with the pool explicitly called for salt to spread under it, so if I do experience any rust problems stemming from the salt, it "should" be covered by the 25yr warranty. I also considered a sheet steel bottom but I've already spent more on this than I should have, and compounded by the weather time constraints, I pushed it from my mind. I might regret that.

Well, if the instructions say to use salt, then that's that. :thumbsup:

Good luck. We've had our pool(s) for about 20 years. First one was free (nothing ends up being free) and lasted maybe 14 years. It was probably 20 years old before we got it. I put an extra foot of sand in the bottom to make it only about 32" deep so our kids could touch the bottom at a younger age. When that pool finally rusted out, we purchased a new one, maybe 6 years ago.

It's definitely a luxury item. When we had kids at home, we'd use it 4-5 times a week. Now, with just me and the wife, it's maybe twice a weekend. But you still have to filter it, and clean it, and maintain the chems, etc... if you use it or not. For that matter, it's harder to clean the less you use it. Use stirs up the dirt, and it gets filtered better VS no use and dirt settling.

One of our kids had an allergy to chlorine, and we used baquacil for quite a few years. While it's easier than chlorine, it comes with other headaches. Once the kid outgrew the chlorine reactions, we switched to salt water, got a saltwater chlorine generator, and life has been swell since then. :laughing:

Good luck with your pool and hope you have many years of enjoyment.

 

[kenmac]

Had an in ground pool in the city. When we sold and moved to the country, I really didn't want another pool.
We compromised and went with an above ground.

This above ground seems like it's harder to take care of than the in ground pool was.

For the in ground pool. I would just toss in the polaris cleaner and flip the light switch. Within a couple hrs the pool was clean.
Everyone I talk to about a cleaner for this above ground pool says they really aren't any good ones for above ground.

May have to go back with an in ground

 

[MossRoad]

The main problem I have with an automatic pool cleaner and an above ground pool is that I have to take the ladder out or the vacuum inevitably gets caught in the ladder. I don't like leaving the ladder out, because, it seems if I do, some critters decides to go for a swim, cannot get out, and dies in the pool.

Other than that, the conversion to salt water was the best thing I ever did. I only have to add salt if we get a lot of rain and it gets diluted. I only shock it first thing in spring, last thing in fall before closeup, or if an animal dies in the pool. I do add algaecide regularly, and monitor my PH and hardness once a week.

 

[tjkubota93]

The main problem I have with an automatic pool cleaner and an above ground pool is that I have to take the ladder out or the vacuum inevitably gets caught in the ladder. I don't like leaving the ladder out, because, it seems if I do, some critters decides to go for a swim, cannot get out, and dies in the pool.

Other than that, the conversion to salt water was the best thing I ever did. I only have to add salt if we get a lot of rain and it gets diluted. I only shock it first thing in spring, last thing in fall before closeup, or if an animal dies in the pool. I do add algaecide regularly, and monitor my PH and hardness once a week.

Had to remove the ladder from our in ground or the Polaris would get stuck. All of our squirrels and mice were too stupid or weak to get out anyway. Usually ended up in or near the skimmer.

Salt conversion was the best money I ever spent. Seems like the ph and alkalinity were alot more stable with it too.

My friend swears by his copper/silver ionizer.

 

[MossRoad]

I've been using a cheap Intex unit for about 6 years now. It finally died. I have to look for a new one this year. Still have the winter cover on, saving treefrog tadpoles again.

 

[strantor]

Looking good! Nice garden too!

If the grass ever pokes through you could always pour 4" of concrete in the bottom of the pool. :laughing:

Thanks for the compliments on the pool and the garden! I was feeling pretty good about them too. **** this meteorology "science!" If the weather advisory had said anything at all about gale force winds or half-ashed wanna-be tornadoes, I would have waited to install the pool. The garden and pool are both damaged now. Not ready to call either of them "ruined" until damage has been fully assessed, but we just had winds come through here that I estimate were no less than 40-50mph. I couldn't stand up in them. Had to abandon my pool rescue effort and hunch-walk/crawl back to the safety of the house and just watch through the window as mother earth had her way with my investments. I don't know if it was a tornado or not. Winds lasted about 10 minutes. I thought it was just straight-line winds but lots of neighbors are saying they saw a tornado. I didn't, and I was outside in it. But to be fair I couldn't see much more than the spray of a fire hydrant in my face and I was panicking as the wind was forcing the breath right out of my lungs. I wasn't gazing up at the sky. Many around me lost large trees but I didn't. We got 4" of rain in about 30 minutes. Everything in the garden over 6" tall is now listing somewhere between 45 and 90 degrees to starboard. The steel wall of the pool was lifted up out of the track, bent at unnatural angles, and dunked into the water in the middle. I am optimistic about salvaging it, if I can just get it back into the track now that sand has been laid inside.

 

[MossRoad]

Not to sound defeatist, but around here, most pools come with free installation, or you can hire it out for a few hundred bucks. It doesn't include the land prep, but the setup perfectly round, and getting the liner in just right so there're no wrinkles can be kinda hard. It's well worth the money, or so I've been told.

I've done it three time myself. No help. I used many steel fence posts pounded in a couple feet to hold it up while I unrolled it and got it in the track. I basically followed the instructions that came with the pool, adding the fence posts for extra "hands" and pulling them out once it was all up and in place.

When you go to put it all back together again, be sure to check that it is still round. We had moles undermine ours and blew it out at the bottom. I bought a new liner and when attempting to put it in, found that the pool track and sidewall were not round by about 6", being too long on the north south axis and too narrow on the east west axis. Had to take out the liner and start over.

 

[strantor]

Not to sound defeatist, but around here, most pools come with free installation, or you can hire it out for a few hundred bucks. It doesn't include the land prep, but the setup perfectly round, and getting the liner in just right so there're no wrinkles can be kinda hard. It's well worth the money, or so I've been told.

I've done it three time myself. No help. I used many steel fence posts pounded in a couple feet to hold it up while I unrolled it and got it in the track. I basically followed the instructions that came with the pool, adding the fence posts for extra "hands" and pulling them out once it was all up and in place.

When you go to put it all back together again, be sure to check that it is still round. We had moles undermine ours and blew it out at the bottom. I bought a new liner and when attempting to put it in, found that the pool track and sidewall were not round by about 6", being too long on the north south axis and too narrow on the east west axis. Had to take out the liner and start over.

I bought this from Leslie Pools and inquired about installation. They said it wasn't included. I got bids on pool installation and they ranged between $1,250 and $1,600. So I opted to do it myself. I did something similar as you described. I didn't use t-posts, I used 18" landscaping staples pounded 17" into the ground several feet away, with strings tied up to the top. 16 of them at equal intervals around the circumference. It was enough to keep it upright in regular mild winds, but this storm didn't seem to notice. It snapped the strings along one whole side of the pool.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I'm glad y'all are OK. sorry about your garden and stuff getting torn up. Especially the garden.

 

[s219]

Thanks for the compliments on the pool and the garden! I was feeling pretty good about them too. **** this meteorology "science!" If the weather advisory had said anything at all about gale force winds or half-ashed wanna-be tornadoes, I would have waited to install the pool. The garden and pool are both damaged now. Not ready to call either of them "ruined" until damage has been fully assessed, but we just had winds come through here that I estimate were no less than 40-50mph. I couldn't stand up in them. Had to abandon my pool rescue effort and hunch-walk/crawl back to the safety of the house and just watch through the window as mother earth had her way with my investments. I don't know if it was a tornado or not. Winds lasted about 10 minutes. I thought it was just straight-line winds but lots of neighbors are saying they saw a tornado. I didn't, and I was outside in it. But to be fair I couldn't see much more than the spray of a fire hydrant in my face and I was panicking as the wind was forcing the breath right out of my lungs. I wasn't gazing up at the sky. Many around me lost large trees but I didn't. We got 4" of rain in about 30 minutes. Everything in the garden over 6" tall is now listing somewhere between 45 and 90 degrees to starboard. The steel wall of the pool was lifted up out of the track, bent at unnatural angles, and dunked into the water in the middle. I am optimistic about salvaging it, if I can just get it back into the track now that sand has been laid inside.

I've been through a couple weather related defeats on projects, and maybe it's a mental thing, but I felt a lot better after I admitted defeat and accepted it was going to take time and/or money to fix it. That of course came after hours of ranting and raving. Sometimes stuff like this can break your heart, and it's even worse if you had been clever with time/money to make the project happen in the first place. Weather/nature doesn't offer any respect sometimes.

Maybe a combination of gentle rinse and a powerful wet shop vac can help you clear sand out of the track. That would probably be my approach, and start with the vac first to see how much it can do.

 

[strantor]

I'm glad y'all are OK. sorry about your garden and stuff getting torn up. Especially the garden.

Thank you. I see you're in Giddings; small world. I'll be in Giddings at the end of this month to help a friend with some cows.

 

[strantor]

I've been through a couple weather related defeats on projects, and maybe it's a mental thing, but I felt a lot better after I admitted defeat and accepted it was going to take time and/or money to fix it. That of course came after hours of ranting and raving. Sometimes stuff like this can break your heart, and it's even worse if you had been clever with time/money to make the project happen in the first place. Weather/nature doesn't offer any respect sometimes.

Maybe a combination of gentle rinse and a powerful wet shop vac can help you clear sand out of the track. That would probably be my approach, and start with the vac first to see how much it can do.

Thank you for the encouragement. I was able to salvage the pool. There are no wrinkles in the liner bottom; I made sure of that as it was filling with rain water the other day. All the wrinkles are in the steel wall, painfully conspicuous and all along the side most visible from the direction everyone will be looking at it. The pool will wear these battle scars with pride.

When I referred to sand having been laid, I wasn't even considering sand being in the groove of the track to be much of a problem. It was, I painstakingly dug it out with a nail. I was thinking of the 4+ inches sand, with the new weight of water on top of it and no wall to contain it, pushing the track outward and creating a circle larger than the circle of the pool wall. And the difficulty of shrinking the track circle back into spec with sand behind it and water on top of the sand. That also proved to be a real problem. The track moved outward along 1/4 of the circumference of the circle, by 2" at the worst part. I was afraid it would be impossible to fix. I envisioned a scenario where everything I try to do just causes a disturbance which forces more sand down and outward, pushing the track even farther from the intended position.

But it wasn't impossible, just difficult. Tools were thrown, curses were uttered, children and yard birds were frightened. I gave up more than once but kept coming back. One little bit at a time, I excavated dirt and sand by fingers, and gingerly shoved the track back under the steel wall. Pulling the wall back down into the track was difficult as well, as it wanted to buckle everywhere there was a wrinkle.

Eventually got it all back together. And then picked up where I left off with the assembly. Now with the uprights and top rails installed, and another 12" of water in it, I'm hopeful that it's "safe" now and can't be further molested by wind.

The garden seems to be recovering better than expected as well. Several of the plants are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, starting to point skyward again. Others are adapting to the supine position. Some are obviously done though.

 

[AWSubie]

Can’t wait to see the deck!

 

[MossRoad]

Looking better! :thumbsup:

Did you put blocks under each vertical?

 

[strantor]

Can’t wait to see the deck!

How did you know? Haha.
I wanted the deck on the side facing the house. My wife wanted it on the far side. Now that this damage is so obvious from the house I think she will agree with me. The deck would hide it.

Looking better! :thumbsup:

Did you put blocks under each vertical?

No. I watched some videos on pool installation while shopping for pools. Some showed using blocks, others didn't. One websites I read, said that putting blocks under the uprights is a common cause of liners getting ripped. I downloaded the pool assembly instructions while waiting on pool deliver and it said to use blocks, so I had the blocks waiting when the pool arrived. The instructions in the box were different than what I had downloaded. They made no mention of blocks. So I didn't use the blocks I had bought. Until I had to excavate the supporting dirt under a section of track to get it pushed back where it was supposed to go after the high winds. I didn't think shoving mud under the track would be sufficient, so I shoved blocks under that section of track. But none under the uprights.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

glad you got it fixed.

Glad your garden is coming back.

 

[radios1]

if I had seen your post earlier, I would have suggested using a shop vac to get the sand out of the tracks.. I use a shop vac to get dirt away from roots I want to cut, and also it works wonders getting crushed concrete out of the way, you certainly can't put a shovel in that, but the shop vac does the trick.. I'm glad you got everything fixed, but you know Texas can get some really nasty storms..

 

[AWSubie]

”How did you know? Haha.
I wanted the deck on the side facing the house. My wife wanted it on the far side. Now that this damage is so obvious from the house I think she will agree with me. The deck would hide it.”

I know because after one season of climbing up and over a ladder my wife made an “executive decision “ that “we” needed a deck.