Looking Back at 2023

• Matt Parnell
• February 19, 2024
• Building & Grounds

It’s been more than a year since our last update – actually, that’s only partially true. Regardless, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

B&G didn’t post updates as often as we would have liked in 2023. Life is busy, and priorities shift. To make matters worse, we lost all of our website posts at some point last year. We’ve managed to restore everything prior to January 2023, but it seems that a couple of later posts have been lost forever.

Below, we’ll attempt to revisit what was lost and provide updates on never-posted topics.

Water Main Failure

In early April, a water main failure under the parking lot kicked off our pool opening with an unforeseen challenge. Sometime after turning on the water gate valve, we received a voicemail from Livonia DPW; they turned off our water due to a reported leak. Further investigation revealed that we had a significant problem on our hands.

We contacted the city to assist with marking the approximate location of the pipe. Once Miss Dig completed the utility markings, we hired an asphalt cutter and dug up a small portion of the lot.

From there, the project didn’t go exactly as planned. The pipe we expected to be 5 feet deep was closer to 14 feet deep. The city’s markings (perhaps skewed by the depth of the pipe) were nearly 20 feet off. As a result, far more of the parking lot was removed, and a far bigger mess was made.

Eventually, we were able to locate and repair the pipe. The water was turned on, and the hole backfilled. Due to the exceptional depth of the hole, extra time to allow for settling (before the parking lot could be resurfaced) was required.

We fully expect the lot to be repaired this spring (2024) well in advance of opening day.

Dent in the Pipe - 1 of 2

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On the opposite side of the pipe - we found the potential root cause. A substantial dent that could have caused the opposite side to split. We speculate this could have happened upon install (1967), and it's taken years for the split to appear, then worsen to the point where water became visible at the surface.

Capital Projects

A complete list of capital projects is available on the 2023 Improvement Projects page. Here, we’ll focus on some key projects to provide more context and detail.

The document below was presented to the board early in 2023 during planning sessions. We’re including this document to show how much effort the board makes to spend club money wisely.

• We saved about $5,606 in labor and materials by shopping suppliers and performing all labor in-house for the filter sand replacement (more details on this project below).
• We negotiated additional price reductions on the Funbrella canvas (about 15%).
• The concrete replacement cost about $1,300 less than the original estimate.
• Labor was performed in-house wherever possible.

There were also savings in non-capital areas, such as ordering pool chemicals. We saved nearly $1,000 by seeking multiple sources despite an 18% year-over-year increase in our initial chemical quote!

Filter Sand Replacement

We knew sand replacement for the pool filter tanks would be required in 2023. The sand is only “rated” to last 5-10 years, and following the pool renovation (which clogged the sand with plaster dust), it was a necessity. Quoted by a third party, the job would cost nearly seven thousand dollars. We were sure we could do it for much less.

The job involved many hours of manual labor over several days. The sand was removed from the tanks via a custom shop vac and cyclone tank system (thanks, Jason). This was a tedious, messy job. Components were removed and replaced through an impossibly small opening at the top. New sand was hauled and poured into the tanks.

We found the water consistently more clear during the 2023 season than in previous years. The new finer-grade sand is much more effective at keeping our pool water crystal-clear.

Inside the Dirty Filter Tank

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A look inside the dirty filter tank, with leaves and other debris present.