The warm weather is here and it’s time to get your pool ready for use. Pool Scouts of Chattanooga owner Sonya St. Cin said that now is the time to uncover your pool to avoid the growth of algae and bacteria.
“When the weather starts to get and stay above 60 degrees, you're going to be at risk to start getting algae blooms,” she said. “That’s going to cost you a whole lot more to fix than if you got it balanced right off the start.”
She said if you didn’t uncover your pool in March, you should uncover it now.
“Hopefully they've had it covered for the winter,” she said. “In that case, you also probably will have to put the plugs back in your equipment and take the plugs out of the pool itself and get the water running again. Get all the equipment tested out and make sure it works fine before you do anything else.”
If you’re not sure what steps to take call Pool Scout of Chattanooga and let her team of pool experts do the work for you.
St. Cin said she moved to Chattanooga 30 years ago and as a single female she found it difficult to find somebody that would show up to service her pool as scheduled.
“So, I learned how to do it, most of it myself, including changing the sand and the filters and things like that,” she said. “I really think that there was a lack of good, professional, dependable pool services in our area. That's why I started the business, and I think it's paying off because we're making our customers happy.”
When she decided to move on from her prior career, she got additional training on pool maintenance.
She started Pool Scouts of Chattanooga two years ago and said business has been steady.
“I've got my technicians certified for commercial pools and everything as well,” she said. “Education is really important to me, and I don't send my guys out until I'm sure they can do everything correctly.”
Her team is trained in residential and commercial pool maintenance, service and repairs. They make sure the pool is properly sanitized, the water is PH balanced, properly chlorinated and much more.
“On a typical service visit, we'll electronically test the water, we check all the skimmer baskets, we open up the filter baskets, clean all that out. We apply any chemicals that are needed to get it to what we call an LSI balance, which keeps the pool water where you want it to be. We sweep everything. We vacuum the debris from the bottom of the pool on every visit. We even blow off the pool decking.”
St. Cin said her company serves all of Hamilton County, Ringgold, Rossville and parts of North Georgia.
She recommends pool owners get their pool maintained weekly.
“And then all the homeowners have to do is just watch the water levels or watch for any excessive debris in the baskets,” she said.
She said failing to keep your pool properly maintained can get costly.
“A lot of people the only thing they do is the sanitizer and then their PH is really off, which affects your pumps and other equipment,” she said. “You start to get corrosion buildup from the PH being off. We've got people that showed us completely rusted out pump systems because they weren't taking care of the water.”
She said pumps can cost $1,000 or more to replace.
St. Cin said she likes to build a one-on-one relationship with her clients and prefers to make appointments by phone.
“It's a call, but we also do have texting available if they are texters,” she said. “We like it when our customers call us because we like to get to know them and what they want for their pool as well.”
She is proud that her company is female-owned and operated, which she said is somewhat an anomaly in the pool industry.
“Being a single female…I want those females to know that they've got somebody dependable that can come out and do anything,” she said. “And we say we’re going to do something, we will do it on time, on schedule and professionally.”
Call Pool Scouts of Chattanooga and get your pool ready for swim season.
Pool Scouts of Chattanooga
- (423) 275-6864
- poolscouts.com/chattanooga/