We have just completed refurbishing the indoor swimming pool at Bearidise! The pool has been in continuous service since January 1993 and the old liner was showing signs of needing replacement. Here are the steps that we went through to refurbish the pool!

Drain pool, remove about 100 stainless steel 10-32 screws, and remove all the benches and brackets. Disconnect the hydraulic motor lines and feed through the wall fittings

Insulation had to be removed from 7 sections of the pool to access the through-wall fittings. The 2 jet sections had about 10 pieces each

The map for how to put the insulation back in place for the 3 sections shown on the previous picture! It's a jigsaw puzzle. The two panels with the jets were even more elaborate

There were no unions on the inlets so the PVC tubing had to be cut. Fittings were surprisingly hard to find; multiple trips to Ace and Lowes were needed

Hydraulic turbine is removed with Justin's help!

Justin removed the old skimmer! Thanks Justin!

Removing old liner. It was so brittle it was sharp

Fold up the old liner for trash disposal

Getting the safety gear on for the mess! The vent fan ran continuously during the refurbishment

A wire cone brush and drill did 90% of the cleanup. Every part of every panel needed zinc oxides removed

The tough rust and oxides required a sanding disk on the drill which made quick work of some tricky spots

Vacuuming up the oxides and particularly the wires from the wire cone

Removing all the caulk from around the pool ...

Did I say how annoying removing the caulk was?

Careful preparation rewards one with an excellent surface to receive paint

Painting the walls with a special galvanize friendly primer that I could only find at O.W. Houts in State College

Caulk all around the pool liner hanger, then use brown caulk for under the coping. Just as well the clock is out of view

Final vacuuming of the foam floor. Note that the liner bottom has been discarded after serving as a drop cloth

The foam corners are caulked for replacement. Two tubes of caulk were used in the refurbishment

New liner positioned at front of pool. Note that I am about to install the liner with the through-wall fittings not in place!

I still haven't figured out that the through-wall fittings at the other end have to be installed!

Oh .... I have to install the through-wall fittings first! Duh! Unhang part of the liner and install 4 fittings

Liner is now well hung. Begin filling

Now we have to start dealing with the plumbing issues ...

The union and the threaded nipple with the blue gunk on it was only available from Ace, the elbow only from Lowes

The stainless supports had corrosion problems; I ground down the corrosion and filled it in with silicone

This evil white stuff was from filling the pool from the water heater; I had to siphon it out with a garden hose

Installing the through-wall bezels and gaskets; this is the inlet bezel. All stainless now installed

The jets were the most difficult part of the refurbishment. Thanks Jason!

The last through-wall fitting is the skimmer with its new union!

Skimmer all nice and beautiful! It has a cover over the screws now

Careful work rewards us with a beautiful pool ready to serve for another 14 years!

The first Bear in the pool!

Things go better with Bears! Enjoy guys!