12 North Shore Towers Courier n January 2017 BIG DIG Repairs and renovation begin on outdoor pool BY STEPHEN VRATTOS Photos by Sal Castro and John Virga One of the jewels of North Shore Towers is the Country Club’s indoor pool, which was polished and given new luster this past summer. Detailing continues in 2017, with beautification and enhancement to the showcase vaulted ceiling and application of nonslip surface to the surrounding floor, among others. But the result achieved by the hard work of the GAP (Gym/Aerobics/Pool) Committee, Country Club and co-op management took this gem to new heights. This fall, the same team of visionaries began tackling another jewel in the co-op’s crown: the outdoor pool. This time, however, there are more than simply aesthetic enhancements to be undertaken; there are also some major construction ones. Like the North Shore Towers herself, the pool is more than forty years old, and unlike her indoor counterpart, the outdoor pool has spent those four decades, exposed to the severe winters and dramatic temperature changes inherent in this part of the country, as well as the continual wear-and-tear of a beloved seasonal recreational area. According to NST Chief Engineer Sal Castro, the only repairs ever made happened in 1992, when the steel piping of the outdoor pool was replaced with PVC piping. It became apparent this past summer that it was time for additional repairs. One didn’t need an engineering degree to notice the striking changes in water levels of the upper and lower pools from one moment to the next and the outdoor pool was forced to shut down at times. An exploratory leak-testing inspection to determine the feasibility of easier, less extensive, repairs, on the outdoor pool resulted in the realization that Indoor pool overlooks its outdoor counterpart major repairs were required before it could be reopened for the 2017 season. “Now 24 years later, the piping was tested after a loss of water and found to have begun leaking at some of the solvent weld joints,” Castro explained. “It will be replaced again. There were also leaks found at the skimmer box connection to the pool wall, and damage and wear to the marble dust surface. So it was decided that the best course of action was to do all these repairs simultaneously for the longest lasting repair solution.” With repairs to the outdoor pool inevitable, it only made sense to make additional improvements, aesthetics ones and those which have been suggested by residents the past few years. But first: construction. Construction began in earnest this fall with the engineer’s design of the new filtration system being approved by the Board of Health and ordering of materials and equipment. According to Castro, demolition of the equipment in the pump room and saw-cutting of the deck was completed by the end of the first week of December, followed by the removal of concrete and old leaking pipes, and the installation of new skimmers, drains and pipes around the perimeter of the pool and back to the pump room. “These pipes will be tested and approved before backfilling the excavation outside, before the end of December. The rest of the winter can then be spent inside building the new pumping/ filter station,” Castro explained. Come March, Castro expects to begin the refurbishment of the pool surface, repairing any hollows or voids, and sealing it with a new white Marble Dust finish, as well as the installation of the new tiling and coping, the rounded overhang that girds the rim of the pool. New concrete for the deck will then be poured and the perimeter concrete surface of the outer-lying areas will be pressure washed, before the pool is filled and the new surface treated. Besides combatting the wear and tear that naturally occurs over forty years of exposure to the harsh elements of the northeast, any renovation or construction upgrades, The calm before the storm 12 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ December 2016
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