A field guide to pools, written at the edge of the water.

The wall is the structure of a pool, so it is where the brand matters. Radiant walls are insulated and proudly American-made, from a manufacturer with over 60 years of experience. The warranty is the part people ask about most: it is a lifetime warranty on the wall, it is never prorated, and it is fully transferable.

In plain terms, never prorated means year twenty is covered the same as year one, not at a shrinking fraction of the cost. Fully transferable means the coverage stays with the pool, so a buyer of your house inherits it. If you want the details of each model and shape, they live on the Radiant swimming pools page.

Every pool and spa has a drain, and a drain pulls water. The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, together with the ANSI/APSP-16 2011 standard for anti-entrapment, exists so that pull cannot hold a swimmer in place. Our installations are in full compliance with both.

As trade craft, here is what an anti-entrapment drain cover does. It is shaped and sized so the water is drawn in across a wide area instead of through one flat opening that a body could seal, and its surface leaves nothing for hair or a swimsuit to catch on. That is why an old, cracked or missing cover is worth a phone call, and why drain replacement is one of the repairs Joe handles.

The liner is the vinyl skin between the water and the wall. When one wears out, the shop does liner changes, so the pool does not have to be replaced to get a fresh surface under the water. The same repair list covers skimmer repair and replacement, plumbing line replacement, and equipment maintenance and replacement.

A safety cover is the lid for the season you are not swimming. We install safety covers, and Wisconsin winters make the case for having one that fits the pool properly. Call (608) 783-4477 and describe the pool, and we will tell you what the job takes. The full list sits on the repairs and care page.

Water care comes down to a short list of products. Sanitizers, chlorine-based ones, keep the water clean. Balancers bring the chemistry into range so the sanitizer can work. Algaecides stop growth before it starts. Specialty chemicals handle the odd problems that do not fit the first three. We carry all of them, and the chemicals page has the list.

The fastest way to get it right is to bring a water sample to the counter. We will read it with you, tell you what to add and how much, and explain why. Aldena Pardini put it this way on Google:

We do not offer resurfacing for gunite and concrete pools. If yours is one of those, we would rather tell you now than send you home with a promise we cannot keep.

Pool and hot tub financing is not available yet. We do not print prices on this site, either, because a pool is priced to the yard, the size, the shape and what you build into it. A conversation with Joe and Holly gets you a real number.