"THE
BLACK HOLE"
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The Black Hole
is no more. After seven years the time came to fill it in. |
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| Like many other
husbands and dads, there was a time when my wife and kids were always on
me about building a swimming pool. How great life would be if only
we had a swimming pool. For years I resisted the pressure to put in
a "real pool." I did, like other people, I tried a couple
of the above ground ones and we all know the problems associated with
these types of pools. I just could not bring myself to spend that
much money on a "real pool." Not to mention the fact
when it's there, it's there forever.
My oldest son used to visit a friend of his out in the Paw-Paw Plains community. He would come home and talk about their "home-made" swimming pool. One day I had him explain to me what he was talking about, a "home-made" swimming pool. After hearing about this pool, I went to take a look at it and found that this was the answer to my pool problems. Now, the black hole is not the most beautiful thing to look at - but it is a large hole full of water which constitutes a swimming pool. The black hole is simply a big hole dug in the ground with a plastic lining. It has a pump and filter system, skimmer, and works just like a real pool. As long as you keep chlorine in the "bobber" it stays crystal clean. We generally have it opened from late June until after Labor Day. The best thing about this pool is someday when we get tired of it, I'll just simply fill in the hole and plant grass. No long term commitment. I started out with a large hole approximately 20' X 35'. It's about 7' feet deep on the deep end and about 3' deep on the shallow end. I lined the hole with old carpet scraps so it would be nice and smooth. Then I cover the hole with a roll of 40'X100' 6 mil black plastic. Fill it up with water, turn on the pump and filter, and swim. Cost of pool: $75 to dig hole; used pump and filter, $150; various plumbing supplies, $50; wooden fence around pool, $300; wooden walk boards around pool, free (scrap lumber from hardware); roll of plastic, $100 (1 per year); chlorine, $100 (per year); water, $50 (per year); cost of electricity to run pump per month, about $60. So you see, this is one cheap way to have a pool. |
(Click on picture for larger view)
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| After seven years the black hole is no more. The kids have grown up and weren't using the pool very much any more so it was time to fill it in. It was the perfect pool. |
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