Dear Glenleigh Homeowners and Residents

For the past several years the Glenleigh HOA Board of Directors has been tackling a huge problem, an aging swimming pool. Being an asset to the value of our homes and the main and most used recreational feature in the Glenleigh Commons area, this became a priority item. I will summarize where we are and how we got here.

Bob Bush and Les Hubl, Glenleigh homeowners and volunteers heading the Pool and Commons Maintenance activities for the Board, have been working and up keeping the pool for the last decade. They made the Board aware of much needed costly repairs that were rapidly coming our way. In response to their recommendations, the Board asked Bob Bush and Lily Gomez, Glenleigh MRC member and volunteer, to investigate the maintenance problems and physical condition of the pool and to make a presentation about same to the Board. Following their presentation, the Board asked them to secure bids for this repair project.

As more professionals came to evaluate our pool, it became very obvious that problems were bigger than expected. It also was becoming obvious that the longer we waited to make these repairs, the more costly they would become.

A list of problems and repair items was prepared and three companies bid on the pool project during Spring 2006. These were Brown’s Pools, Tuxedo Pools, and Aquarama. All bids proposed repair of the following:

• Concrete decking expansion joints remove and repair
• Coping concrete fractures and broken plastic coping expansion joints
• Broken pool tiles
• Broken pool skimmers
• Pool lights unsecured
• Hand railings loose
• Pools surface pitting and wearing down
• Pool water filling spicket sticking up from concrete (out of code- safety problem)
• Filter sand replacement ( 3 pool filters)
• Baby pool surface pitting
• Baby pool leak
• Baby pool coping repairs

Consideration of related Commons Property maintenance and repair issues included:

• Repair solid shade area columns and supports
• Repair arbor shade areas
• Repair pool decking
• Repair or replace pool furniture (chairs, tables, umbrellas, lounges)
• Consider expanding the shade area at the deep end of the pool

Once repairs started, this project would be permitted by Cobb County and the pool would have to meet current County building codes.

The shade areas would have to be repaired first to allow for the pool decking to be repaired when the pool project was undertaken. Steve Reed from HHI, Inc repaired those before the pool closed at a cost of $3,600.00. This repair included changing out all the columns of the shade shed (making them in the same style of the arbor columns), replacing the fascia boards, repairing the ceiling of the shed, replacing the shade cloth on the arbors, repairing the arbor beams and columns and painting all structures. The deep end shade structure proposed proved to be unaffordable at this time and was dropped to accommodate the more emergent issues of pool repairs.

Three bids for the pool project were received. These ranged in cost from $39,580 (Aquarama) to $47,600 (Tuxedo Pools). These bid estimates did not include costs for any unforeseen problems with the pool’s lining, which would have to be further evaluated once the water was drained from the pool. A proposal to place $40,000 aside for pool repairs was voted and approved by Homeowners in the May 2006 meeting.

After comparing all bids, the Glenleigh Board selected Aquarama Pools and signed a contract with that firm in June 2006 for work to start in October 2006 after closing the pool for the 2006 season.

I have put together a short narrative and pictures that I will try to update every 10 days. David Wyatt, Glenleigh HOA webmaster, will upload these to the Glenleigh website: www.glenleigh.com where you may click on “Pool updates and project pictures” for more information as this project develops.

Thank you,
Lily Gomez