Summer Blues....

GerardC · Apr 17, 2004

Photo one.

GerardC · Apr 17, 2004

Photo two.

GerardC · Apr 17, 2004

Photo three.

GerardC · Apr 17, 2004

We ended up slicing the other side so we wouldn't get flooded /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. Undecided on what we'll get next, but we are moving the location.

MossRoad · Apr 17, 2004

I feel for you. I'll be putting in my 4th liner in 8 years this spring. 1st year burst by moles in fall. 2nd liner wouldn't go in because the sidewalls were egg shaped, so I took it out and put it in a box in the garage. In the spring, I forgot it was there and I ran into it with the weed eater and destroyed it. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif 2nd year was the third liner. That one lasted 7 years. Three days after we winterized it last fall I noticed the water level dropping. Found 3 long gashes where the liner had failed do to dropping into mole tunnels. We lost all the water in 2-3 days. No way to patch it. This spring I will be re-compacting the soil under the pool and putting in some heavy foam before putting in our 4th liner. Oh, well. At least the kids enjoy the pool enough to justify it. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

By the way, did I mention I have a mole problem before? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Poppa · Apr 17, 2004

I think I need to store this post for a couple of years and bring it out then. My girls are young enough that my wife only TALKS about the pool they are going to need later on. I keep telling her that a bathtub and a ditch was good enough for me growing up and I can't see spending money for a plastic pool here in CO where if the ice don't get you the UV will. She says that is crazy talk.

Mike

jfh230 · Apr 17, 2004

By the way, did I mention I have a mole problem before? 

I discovered the perfect solution. We used to have a mole problem until one day I was in the back yard with our then two year old irish wolfhound. By that age they are pretty much full grown. I was watching my daughter playing with a friend when out of the corner of my eye I spotted our wolfhound flying thru the air. Now at his size a springing leap will cover 10 - 12 feet easy. So I watch him land with his head in the dirt and wondering what the devil he is up to. When I get over to him he's got goop dripping out of his mouth and a very satisfied expression on his face. Look what I did daddy! After prying open his mouth I find the remains of mr. mole who apparently popped his head out of his hole at the wrong time.

Besides being a little gross, I am now concerned with what diseases (including rabies) may now have just entered his stomach. A call to the vet produced a no one has ever asked that before we will have to get back to you. Turns out moles are nutritious and delicious. At least to dogs.

End result was our iw discovered a new game to play and the moles decided it was much healthier in our neighbors yard.

Jack

Cliff_Johns · Apr 17, 2004

( Besides being a little gross, I am now concerned with what diseases (including rabies) may now have just entered his stomach.
)

Giardia (a protozoa found in the poop, used to be called Beaver Feaver because trappers would get it from drinking downstream from beavers who pooped in the streams) possibly, or tape worms if the the mole had fleas. Don't know what other parasites moles get.

Cliff

NoTrespassing · Apr 18, 2004

Our 2 cats and 1 of our dogs hunt the heck out of our property for moles, mice, and shrew. My wife picked up 8 last weekend and there are at least 6 more dead in the yard this weekend. That's just what they leave right near the porch. It's hard to tell how many more are further out in the yard. I never really wanted cats, but my wife had here heart set on them. We had them spayed and they have turned out to be excellent hunters.

Kevin

rockinmywaypa · Apr 18, 2004

Can you give me an idea of what a liner is worth? Say 24 ft dia. I'am asking because I have an old stave silo sitting in the yard that I just thought could be reassembled into a pretty solid pool. The blocks are 30 in. tall so two blocks high could give me about 4ft depth. I could parge the inside too I suppose, any ideas that could help do this cheap if at all.

riptides · Apr 18, 2004

Looks like the perfect time for an inground! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
They have some that look like ponds. Maybe you can bait the family that way! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I gave up on above grounds after three attempts.....

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Taylortractornut · Apr 18, 2004

Our above ground pool has a problem its been here 10 or 11 years, and the areas where it bolts together and the cutouts for the pump and hoses werent prtected i figured they just punched the holes after the thing was galvanized. Well since i pay my rent by welding and fixing thinds Taylor gets this job. I may be on TLC on and engineering show by the way everyone here is looking at the way i have planned to fix it. We will drain it and take th liner out. Ill go get a galvanized sheet of metal and have a friend roll it to the radius of the pool and make it extend about 4 feet past all the cancer. When ill use Millwrights epoxy to epoxy it to the to good metal and then add a few dozen carriage head bolts. It sounds all Rube Goldberg I know but I remeber the hell of putting up the big cumbersome sob in 100 degree temperatures lol. I pokd my finger in a spot on it this morning and saw som liner so im gettin my strategy together now lol. Moles dont like it here because of the dogs, and tractors but they got brothers pool last fall. I just finished a small pad for a customer to pour a slab under his pool. He will use a special mat to lay under it to protect the base then use sand around the edges to make the curved bottoms.

GerardC · Apr 18, 2004

( Looks like the perfect time for an inground! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
They have some that look like ponds. Maybe you can bait the family that way! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I gave up on above grounds after three attempts.....

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

riptides

We thought of a built-in but are worried about the plumbing. We have a lot of clay, rock etc. Repair costs are the big concern as usually the pipes are buried. If we can figure a way around that, built-in is the way we'll go.

How do you like yours?? Anything you really like/dislike??

I don't think we're going to get one this year as we have a lot of excavating and landscaping to do where we want to put our next pool.

By the way, that pool was only 4 years old! Hard to say whether it was poor installation or just inferior materials (a lemon).

StoneHeartFarm · Apr 18, 2004

( This spring I will be re-compacting the soil under the pool and putting in some heavy foam before putting in our 4th liner. )

Glad you guys mentioned that, I hadn't thought of moles as big pool killers.

I'm not sure heavy foam would be enough to keep them out. Lots of critters (like mice), actually like to chew up foam and carry it back to make nests. You might need to lay down some hardware cloth or screen or something first, and then add a layer of foam to cushion the liner from the screen.

Steve

anthonyk · Apr 20, 2004

maybe you could try something like lining the ground with the cheapest brick or flatwork you can find, then laying the liner over it?
don't think the moles can dig through the brick.

anthony

wroughtn_harv · Apr 21, 2004

Along that line of thought why not some used chainlink buried about four inches below the cushion sand? It'll last for darn near ever since it's galvanized. After a couple of toothaches even a mole might decide it ain't worth it.