Swimming Pool Rehab, Remodeling & Renovation Ideas

Thinking of a pool restoration? It may be part of a larger backyard project, or if you haven’t updated your pool in 20 years, it may be time for a standalone pool rehab.

This post is all about your pool design dreams. Here’s some pool renovation ideas, from pool owners just like you, that have planned and pulled off a successful swimming pool remodeling project.

First we’ll look at aboveground pool remodeling ideas, and then dive into some great in-ground pool renovations.

Aboveground Pool Renovation Ideas

Sunken

A partial or full burial of an aboveground pool makes it into an inground pool! If your backyard slopes away from the house, you can bury the front side, and install a wood deck at ground level. Be sure to check with your pool manufacturer to see if your pool model is suitable for contact with the earth.

aboveground-pool-remodeling-ideas - Radiant Pools
Image Credit: Radiant Pools
aboveground pool with wood deck istockphoto
Image Credit: istockphoto

Decked-Out

Nothing is more functional and makes a more beautiful aboveground pool remodel than to add a surrounding pool deck. There are so many ways to deck out an aboveground pool, here’s some ideas.

Crestwood pools pool wood wrap kit
Image Credit: Crestwood Pools
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Image via Pinterest
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Image via Pinterest

Lushly Landscaped

For aboveground pools, a nice rock or mulch border around the pool is a good start. From there, small bushes and perennials can be used to soften the look around the pool walls. Evergreens or hedgerows can be used for privacy around an aboveground pool.

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Image via Pinterest
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Image via Pinterest

Well-Equipped

Some aboveground pools come with a too-small pump and filter unit, designed to run nearly 24/7. Larger pump and filter systems keep the pool cleaner and the water clearer with less run time.

ag pool with sand filter and salt system
Image Credit: Agppro.com

Additional pipes, valves and wall fittings can be added to an aboveground pool, for secondary returns or skimmers, or for a dedicated line for a pool cleaner. Salt systems and mineral purifiers are another popular aboveground pool equipment upgrade. Roof mounted solar panels, or a pool heat pump can be one of the most appreciated pool remodeling projects.

In the pool and around the pool, pool lighting can really improve the night time ambiance around your pool. Add LED multicolor underwater lighting inside the pool, solar fence lights for the fence or down lights on the pool uprights.

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Image via Pinterest

A new pool liner may not be a major pool renovation, but one advantage of the aboveground pool is that a new look can be applied to the pool every few years, without too much effort or expense. Adding floor padding, wall cove and wall padding are nice upgrades, or resurface the pool floor with vermiculite, instead of sand.

In-Ground Pool Renovation Ideas

Resurface

Look at all the surfaces around your pool, starting with the pool deck and coping around the pool edge. Stone, wood, stampcrete are just a few of the options for pool deck refurbishment.

inground pool with paver deck, raised wall and 360 slide
Image via Pinterest

Interior surface choices are endless for concrete pools, with additives for color and light reflection. Smooth pebble surfaces, glass tile and quartz aggregates all add texture and interest to your pool surface.

blue tile pool
Image via istockphoto

In-ground liner pool owners can install their own liners, or hire a local company, and change up the look completely with new shades and patterns. For a larger vinyl pool rehab, replace the pool deck and coping.

beautiful vinyl pool with rock cascade
Image via Pool Doctor of Rhode Island

Modify

Changing the shape of your pool qualifies as a major pool renovation, but some changes such as adding or enlarging walk in steps, or raising the floor to create a shallow water tanning shelf, may be less expensive than you think.

beautiful pool with baja shelf, spa and rock cascade water feature
Image via Pinterest

Adding a spa to the pool is another popular idea. It can be attached to and spilling over into the pool. Now you have double the reasons to get out and enjoy your pool.

Upgrade

Every 20 years or so, you may want to upgrade some items around the pool, starting with the filtration system. VS pumps can save 75 percent in energy costs. Mineral purifiers or salt chlorinators maintain better chemistry. New valves will make management easier. Heat pumps heat in-ground pools for half the cost of gas heaters.

Totally Hayward - Hayward Pool Equipment shown
Image by Hayward Pool Products

Landscape

After 20 years, many backyards become overgrown, especially if they have not been pruned regularly. And there’s probably at least one tree on your property that makes a mess of the pool.

beautifully landscaped inground pool
Image via Pinterest

Re-landscape around the pool, with ornamentals, perennials and evergreens of different colors and sizes. And don’t forget to consider outdoor lighting!

Splash

Adding water features to the pool is one of the most dreamed about pool renovations. From small bubblers and fountains to large cascades or water falls, if you can dream it, it can be built.

Image Credit: istockphoto

Cook

Outdoor kitchens have been all the rage for the last 10 years. A pitmaster’s dream is more than just a BBQ grill, with a full kitchen. This one below has added an outdoor sectional sofa, fireplace and flat-screen TV.

pool with outdoor dining and living area, and marble pool deck
Image via Houzz by Luxapatio, Miami, Fl

Fire

Outdoor fire comes in many forms, from small tiki torches, fire bowls or fire pits, to full size outdoor fireplaces. Adding the element of fire to your aquatic paradise warms the night and really makes the evening glow.

These are just a few ways that you can rehab your swimming pool. The best way to get started is to begin viewing more pictures, and start setting aside money for your next pool remodeling project.

17 thoughts on “Swimming Pool Rehab, Remodeling & Renovation Ideas

  1. Ronnie Snyder

    I have about a 50 year old concrete pool. We are just re painting it. The coping or edging around it is concrete with pebbles in it. What is the most cost effective way to make it more attracttive looking and for it not to be sticky to your bathing suit when sitting on the edge hanging your feet in the water

    • Hi Ronnie, concrete coping stones are typically best cleaned with a pressure washer, or a 50/50 mix of muriatic acid and water. As for the roughness, snagging swim suits, that’s part of the necessary slip-proofing needed, but I suppose you could (laboriously) sand them down with a sanding block (volcanic rock), or a belt sander with a very heavy grit.

  2. Hi, You seem to know so much! I feel so lost. I just bought a house with a pool, a very old pool and thought we used it for the summer I suspect it needs new plumbing and doesn’t even have a drain at the bottom, only filter on the side. I want to basically start over and make this pool safe and pretty. It’s basically a concrete whole in the ground. What is the word for re-doing an entire pool and what is the average cost?

    • Hi Maria, an entire re-do is normally called a ‘major’ pool renovation. For the average size pool, tile and coping stones around the top perimeter, will cost $5-7K. Replacing the pool plaster adds another $5-7K – both price ranges will vary in materials chosen, from basic to bling!, and can even be more costly, with luxury materials. Adding new plumbing and new drain or low water suction lines, or another skimmer, could be another $8-10K. So for about $20K, you could get it done, more or less. Lots of variables like distance, access, decking and other considerations I am blind to… Contact a few pool builders or service/repair companies in your area for ideas and quotes.

  3. I’m in upstate NY and am purchasing a foreclosure so information regarding the 800 sqft pool is unavailable. Based on aerial pictures, it looks like the last time it was in use was around 2009. Having the pool redone would be magnificent, but it’s not necessary. In general, what would be the cost difference between a complete redo vs. a proper abandonment? (Miraculously, it’s still holding water though when peeking through a hole in the cover near the stairs, the liner is “baggy”, for lack of a better term)

    • Davy Merino

      HI Jennifer, to properly abandon the pool, the floor and walls are broken up, and then like 25 trucks full of dirt roll-up to fill the pool, according to the inspectors instructions. Probable cost is $8000-$12000. Cost to redo a vinyl liner pool, plus new cover, filters, miscellaneous other replacement items… about $8000-$12000 – 🙂 sorry, give or take a few thousand dollars, they are probably about the same cost. Unless there are unseen damage to pool walls, or pipes – but I wouldn’t necessarily expect that – you’ll have to pull off the cover and inspect everything to do a real dollar to dollar comparison.

  4. Hi, I have a cement pool in a home I bought. I have a young toddler and worry about no steps. I also have to replace a 40 year old deck (pool is 50 years old, cement). If I have a contractor there already replacing a deck with cement, how much extra would it cost approx to modify and add steps in the shallow?

    • Davy Merino

      Hi Blake, adding steps to 50 yr old pools is something that can be done. You could add them across the entire shallow end, or place a half wedding-cake step in the center, or a 1/4 wedding-cake step in the corner, or both corners. The job entails cutting into the pool wall and floor a bit, so that the steps can be ‘tied-in’ to the pool, with rebar and hydraulic cement poured into forms. After the concrete cures (30 days), it can be plastered over, best to do the entire pool too, if you want it to match. Cost? Oof… it depends on size and your regional pricing practices, but I would guess $10K, if you were also plastering the pool, perhaps $12K. The steps themselves, maybe that’s just a $4K job, or more depending on size – you could also build out a shallow play area, aka tanning shelf, or benches alongside the step section. Alternatively, there are ‘drop-in’ steps like the Curve Step that can be used in inground pools. Large resin plastic steps are around $500, with adjustable feet for sloping floors, and ballasts for weight. These are removed in winter.

  5. We have a in ground play pool, it started have cracks and bumps on the bottom of the pool, can we install a liner instead of replaster it?

    • Davy Merino

      hi Kien, possibly, but a rough surface beneath could damage the liner. In any case, a liner may not last that long, installed this way, but would get you thru a season or two sure… Depends on the size, shape and characteristics of the pool, as to how difficult or successful a liner may be in your pool. If small and shallow and very rectangular, it’s easier to do. Not commonly done, however.

  6. We are replacing our pool deck and coping on our 10 year old inground vinyl liner pool. It has 7′ wide walk in steps that have a higher edge than the coping. Could the top edge of the steps be cut off in order to have stone coping continuous around the pool? Replacing the steps would be too expensive.

    • Hi Dana, I understand, you have the white ABS plastic walk-in steps, but you want to place stone around the steps, continuous, like the rest of the pool. Sure, anything is possible. I would imagine that the steps could be shaved down with a 7″ grinder, but also the pool deck has to come out in that area too, where it meets the step. It can be cut with a 12″ chop saw, and broken up and filled with gravel. You’ll want an expansion joint between the deck and the stone, around the steps, and elsewhere around the pool, so an expanding deck doesn’t knock the stones loose. Any good stone mason or inground pool contractor could handle it, and make it look natural, I would think.

  7. I want to use two above ground round pools to make one large figure eight pool. Is this possible? If so, how do I join the liners?

    • Hi Kim – are you serious? That is one I’ve never thought of – but I like the idea! But, you’ll have to have a good method to join the walls together, and for the liner, if you had a handheld lap welder for vinyl, (or even a tabletop version) I suppose you could cut the liner very exactly, and heat weld the seam together, into a ‘lap weld’. Not something I’ve ever done, but should be possible.

  8. Hiroshi Mathys

    We have a pool in the back yard and it has a crack in it. We are looking to remodel the pool.

    • Davy Merino

      Hi Hiroshi, Cracks in a gunite pool can be repaired, but the repair is often noticeable, unless covered over with a new plaster coat. For cracks that are stable, they can be filled with concrete and covered in plaster. For cracks that may have potential to move again and recrack, injected epoxy is often used, or large staples can be used (seriously) to join both sides of the crack, and prevent some movement. In both cases, the pool is also replastered after the repair. Let me know if you have further questions.

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