Category: Villa Mantua

Late last summer our pool developed a terminal problem which it signaled when its water level started to drop rather quickly. Sensing a real problem we did all sorts of diagnostics with dyes, etc. At first we suspected a possible tear or seam failure but not finding anything obvious, we suspected the plumbing. We replaced the pool light (it needed it anyhow) and checked the underground wiring conduit for a leak. But no luck, the water level continued to drop. After a while (since we were constantly filling it with cold well water) the water became just too cold to get in to to hunt for leaks, so we let it go and stopped adding water. When the level finally stabilized, it had dropped below all of the inlet/outlet fixtures except for the main drain, and the shallow end was completely dry. With no holes visible either the drain was leaking (our worst fear and most expensive fix) or the liner had simply failed with thousands of tiny leaks which we would never find. Given that the liner was replaced in 1998, with its 14 year life span this vinyl liner was just about due for replacement anyway and owed us nothing. We hoped that replacement would do the trick so we let it go and threw the cover on for the winter. This spring we contacted our pool company (Budd’s Pools in Deptford, NJ) and picked out a new liner. Continue reading “Pool Time!”

It’s the middle of April, the trees are in bloom and the grass is growing again. Spring at Villa Mantua is on the rise. This summer I hope to get a few, long overdue projects done. Last year the pool developed a leak and that means it time for a new liner. I never really cared for one that we put in in ’98. It looked fine in the small sample but not as convincing in the ground. But given the 15 year lifespan that a vinyl liner has, it hardly seemed worth changing it before now. This time we gave it a lot more thought. We poured over the sample pictures and had pretty much settled on one until we went down to the pool store. Once there we took the full samples outside and tried to imagine them. But they didn’t seem to live up to the expectations. In the end we kept coming back to one of their display pools and after a lot of consideration decided that we really liked one that they had installed with a rock waterfall. Continue reading “Summer am a ‘comin in… pool time!”