If you have a pool, by now you’ve probably figured out why people who live in houses with pools say the next house won’t have one. Maintenance is a day-to-day work in progress. A large work in progress. A lot of work… In progress, always.
One of the pool owner’s least favorite tasks is sweeping down the walls. Miss a few days, and you’re likely to get a fine green coating of algae, especially when the weather’s really warm. An even less beloved job is scrubbing the tilework around the water line.
Here’s a strategy that eliminates brushes, wands, scouring pads, and sweat. Get yourself a squirt nozzle for the garden hose—the small, nonadjustable variety that does nothing but make a hard, sharp needle-like stream. The bigger ones that adjust from a fine spray to a sidewalk-washing squirt don’t work as effectively for this job.
Attach it to the hose and turn the water on full blast. First spray off the tiles. If it’s warm enough to get into the water, drag the hose in with you, and you can actually knock off a light calcium deposit by holding the nozzle a few inches from the tile and slowly working the spray back and forth.
Then you’ll find that lo! You can easily wash the dirt and settled leaves off the steps and seat. And if you hold the nozzle parallel to the pool’s wall and swing the hose back and forth, it will wash all the dust and algae right off the wall.
A hose and spray nozzle work better for this job than a pool brush on a wand, because you can get into curves, run along the joints between the steps and the floor, and wash off the brightwork around underwater lights and ladders, the joints around the outside of water valves, and those gadgets used to hold volleyball nets.
In the summertime, you need to add water to make up for evaporation, and so washing down the walls and tile with a hose and nozzle kills two birds with one stone: you can clean and refill the pool at once. This technique gets the pool walls very, very clean, and instead of being a tedious chore, it’s actually kinda fun.
Caveat: don’t let loose of the hose inside the pool while water is running. The hose and brass nozzle will snake back and forth; if the nozzle strikes the plaster, it could cause damage. And of course, you should never let a child do this unsupervised, even one who swims well.