The Haines Pool reopened after a monthlong closure in June.
While it was closed — due to an 11-month budget — staff used the time to give the building something of a facelift and tackle some years-long maintenance projects.
Pool manager Jae McDermaid said the biggest project by far was ripping out all of the old, soaking-wet, insulation in the roof.
“The regular pink fluff, it was basically like pink goo up there,” she said. “It was gross.”
Before the overhaul, she said she would have to climb up a ladder and crawl on hands and knees along beams and plug in a pump and drain a giant drip pan that goes underneath the ventilation duct.
“It was causing so much condensation that it was then overflowing and dripping down through the sheetrock into the entryway. So basically people would walk in right there at the double doors and insulation was just coming down, and water,” she said.
It fixes a longtime issue. McDermaid, who has been working at the pool for four years, said the wet roof has been a problem since she was a kid.
Once the old insulation was pulled out; they replaced it with spray foam insulation. They also replaced all of the stained ceiling tiles as well.
Another big project was the replacement of the pool filter, which must be done every five years.
“It’s a big giant tank filled with sand,” McDermaid said. “It’s basically what sifts through skin cells and hair and all the fun stuff we don’t want in the pool.”
McDermaid said they took a large Shop-Vac, stuck it into the filter and blew all of the sand into the parking lot, then swept it into the woods. They filled the tank with new sand.
They also upgraded the pool tarp which helps keep utility bills low.
“I had them basically make a hybrid reel for it because it was really hard to get it on and off of the pool without getting it all bunched up. So they basically welded two reels together to make it longer,” McDermaid said.
Now that the pool has re-opened, a new summer schedule has been released. It has open swim and lap swims scheduled every day except Tuesday and Thursday. That’s because McDermaid is planning those as teaching days. Beginning in August, she said she’s going to have all of the lifeguards trained to be water safety instructors and they’ll launch the summer swim program.
“Everything from parent-child aquatics to adult fitness swimming,” McDermaid said. “Full spectrum, babies to adults.”