Swimming Pool Season Unofficially Starts Memorial Day Weekend: Is Your Pool Ready?

Pool season may have already started in many regions where temperatures have soared in recent weeks, but for areas that experience four seasons, there's a rite of spring known as "opening the pool for summer," or something like that. The last time many pool owners experienced that heavenly whiff of chlorine was seven or eight months ago, when they winterized the pool. Winterizing can be quite an ordeal for a do-it-yourselfer, or a costly experience if you enlist a pool service.

Consider opening your pool to be the opposite of winterizing -- summerizing. It starts with cleaning up the pool area and cover and ends with a nice, cool dip in crystal-clear water. In between are several important steps, for which you'll need to invest at least a few days, depending on the condition of the pool and how well you packed it up last year. If you were one of those kids who cleaned his/her room in a hurry by stuffing everything under the bed and shoving stuff into corners of closets, then your "summerizing" job might take a few extra days than the norm. Sorry, that's just the way life is.

Tackle the task, or you'll be the beastly poolmaster when your children ask for a mere dip in the pool or the ill-prepared host when friends show up for an impromptu barbecue and a refreshing swim in your swamp. And don't forget to relax during your days off.

Photo by Lisa Hallett Taylor