Commercial Pool Resurfacing in Lewisville, Texas

Semi-public pools under the City Code

Lewisville's code sorts pools three ways. A private pool belongs to a single-family home or duplex, a public pool is open to the general public, and a semi-public pool is privately owned and open only to a defined group, such as motel guests, apartment residents or club members. Nobody may run a public or semi-public pool without a City permit, which names a manager of operations who lives or works on the premises and holds a current certificate from a training course. The fee is due by March 1 each year, and City-owned and private pools are exempt.

The City's Health Services division inspects the public pools and spas run by apartment complexes and hotels, mostly in the summer months, and also inspects after a complaint.

Water and surfaces the code sets for every pool

For public, private and semi-public pools alike, the code wants a pH between 7.2 and 8.2, water clear enough to see the main drain from outside the pool, at least one part per million of chlorine where chlorine is used and no algae, with walls, floors and equipment kept clean and sanitary at all times.

A pool left empty

The owner of a private or semi-public pool that isn't being maintained must drain it and then fill it with dirt or sand or cover it securely, and the code presumes that a pool left drained for 60 days is no longer maintained. That date is worth keeping in view when a resurfacing schedule is set.

Closing an apartment or hotel pool for a new surface

Texas rules for a public pool shut for renovation keep users and other unauthorized people out of the pool yard and put a closed sign on the entry gates, and a shut pool may not smell or become a breeding site for insects. A gate may be propped open only while the owner's contractor is present doing work that reasonably needs it open. Apartment owners and property owners associations must also check their pool-yard fences, gates and self-closing, self-latching hardware no less than every 31 days, and that duty can't be waived; the enclosure stays at least 48 inches high.

Drought stages and the refill

Under Lewisville's emergency water management plan, Stage 1, Water Watch, is a set of mandatory year-round restrictions aimed at a 5% cut in water use per person per day. Stage 2, Water Emergency, can be triggered once the reservoirs tied to Dallas Water Utilities are more than 50% depleted, and its restricted uses may include draining a swimming pool and then refilling it, so check the stage before a drain date is fixed. A public pool stays closed until the water level is back inside the range its rim, gutter or skimmer system is designed to run at.

Hallford Prairie to Lewisville Lake

The families of John King and his son Augustus, from Missouri, became the first settlers of Hallford Prairie in 1844. Basdeal W. Lewis bought the Hallford properties in 1853 and established Lewisville, which got its post office that year, and by 1867 the first cotton gin in Denton County stood there. The Dallas and Wichita Railway arrived in 1881; the town reached 815 people and incorporated in 1925, and it has been a home-rule city since 1962. In August 1969 the three-day Texas International Pop Festival, with Janis Joplin and B. B. King, drew 120,000 people.

The Corps of Engineers began the present dam in 1948, started impounding water on November 1, 1954, and finished the 125-foot-high, 33,000-foot-long dam in 1955. On October 28, 1957, the breaching of the old Garza Dam joined the older Lake Dallas to it, making a lake 13 miles long with a 183-mile shoreline that the Corps runs for flood control, local water supply and recreation.

Steps in a commercial resurfacing

1. 01

   Measure the interior

   Walls and floor are measured together, because that interior area, not the water’s surface, is what a commercial finish is priced on.

2. 02

   Ask the City

   Lewisville says whether the work needs a building permit and how the closure bears on the pool’s operating permit.

3. 03

   Close the pool yard

   Users are kept out, the gates carry a closed sign, and the enclosure checks keep their 31-day rhythm.

4. 04

   Prepare the shell

   Hollow or delaminated plaster is sounded out and cut away, and drain covers are checked for cracks, damage or an expired design life while the pool is empty.

5. 05

   Apply and fill

   The finish goes on, then the fill runs straight through, because a pause in it can leave a discolored ring, the National Plasterers Council says.

6. 06

   Balance and reopen

   Once the pool reopens, its water must meet the City’s pH and chlorine rules.