Pool owners know the basics of pool maintenance: skimming, changing filters, and maintaining proper pH levels. What if there were a few ways to save you time with maintaining your pool? There are several little tricks you can do to make things a bit easier for you. Here are a few DIY maintenance hacks for your swimming pool that you can use to keep your pool clean and bug-free.
Clean Pool Tiles with Baking Soda
If you want to keep your entire swimming pool clean for a longer period of time, the area around your pool is very important. The tile surrounding your swimming pool needs to be cleaned to prevent debris from accumulating and eventually falling into your pool. This can be done by simply mixing some baking soda with a bit of water to create a paste. You can use this paste, along with a brush or sponge, to clean the pool tiles. Baking soda is harmless to both you and the water in your pool. Baking soda can also help with pH level maintenance. Just 16 ounces of baking soda is equal to many of the alkalinity products available for pools. Baking soda can increase your swimming pool’s alkalinity, which will increase its pH levels at a significantly lower cost.
Use Lemongrass & Dryer Sheets to Keep Away Bugs
When you’re swimming, you probably don’t want anything to disrupt you. This is why you should use this trick to get keep wasps, bees, and other insects away from your pool. Dryer sheets help keep wasps away, while lemongrass is good for getting rid of annoying mosquitoes. You could even hang dryer sheets more decoratively if you don’t want just a bunch of dryer sheets just thrown around your pool. Lemongrass contains citronella, which mosquitoes and other insects hate.
Vacuum Your Pool
Many in-ground pools contain drains on the bottom to draw water into a filter system, keeping the pool cleaner for a longer period of time. However, some in-ground pools, as well as above-ground pools, don’t have this feature. This means you might have to clean your pool manually. Instead of this built-in vacuum, you use a manual vacuum instead to help rid your swimming pool of any cloudiness to the water. There are several guides available online on how to correctly vacuum your swimming pool manually.
Use Tennis Balls as Skimmers
Residue from synthetic or natural oils can be left behind in the swimming pool’s water from sunscreen, lotions, or hair products used by swimmers. These oils can eventually lead to dirt collection around the walls of your pool. To prevent such a situation, place a few new tennis balls into the water or skimmer of your pool. Let them float through your pool freely, and they’ll absorb the oils for you, after which you remove them from the pool. The walls of your swimming pool will stay clean for a longer period, and you won’t have any oils in your water.
Check out this blog to learn more about pool remodeling tips and tricks. Authentic Plaster & Tile is Dallas and Houston’s most trusted provider of pool remodeling and renovation services. Give us a call today!
