The Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Officers Club 50-yard pool repair project has been completed.
In early May during an annual opening inspection and cleaning, water leakage was discovered below the white coat surface, or the protective coating, of the pool floor. After a week and a half of chipping the coating and replacing deck tiles, the 50-yard pool reopened June 11. The multi-purpose pool has been closed since pool operations commenced Memorial Day weekend.
The recently-completed work at the pool complex was the first major maintenance venture at club pools in close to a quarter of a century.
"This was some maintenance work that was required to be done. Pools are notoriously expensive to maintain. This cost us over $50,000 to repair," Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Specialist Todd Hopkins explained. "Over sixty percent of the white coat needed to be chipped out, which means they [pool repairmen] had to go down to the cement surface and plaster it back in. There's new tile all the way around the pool. What we basically did is rebuild the bottom of the pool."
Hopkins wanted Families of active-duty personnel, retirees and servicemembers to know that if the problems were not addressed, serious pump and structure malfunctions could have occurred to the 50-yard pool, which is used for swimming lessons, swim team practices, adult lap swims and open swimming.
"Water was seeping under the white coat and it was bubbling up. The pressure [from leaking water] can eventually cause the white coat to explode out," he said. "[The repairs] took about seven to ten days to do -- the chipping and replacing everything and more plastering."
Hopkins said that an average life of a well-used pool floor is from five to 10 years depending on maintenance and weather conditions.
With all four pools fully operational, the O club aquatic staff is already preparing for a large schedule of special events. The first of a series of four free Dive-in Movies is scheduled for June 22 at 9 p.m. That premiere movie night will feature the film "The Great Outdoors." Other pool-side movie evening dates are July 6 ("Madagascar 3"), July 27 ("Summer Rental") and Aug. 17 ("Ice Age: Continental Drift"). All Dive-in Movie nights are scheduled for Saturdays.
FMWR will also say goodbye to the 2013 pool season by hosting more than 100 dogs for the annual Doggie Dip, which will be held Sept. 7. Hopkins noted that the pool and MWR office are already receiving inquiries about the pooch-friendly swim.
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