Latest from Pools by Bradley - Pools By Bradley

Pool Friendly Plants

You have the pool of your dreams, but now it’s time to think about the landscape around your pool. Enhancing your pool area with plants and flowers adds depth and color to the landscape and can also provide privacy, shade and wind protection. You may already have your favorite plants in mind, however, they may not be the best choice when grown around or near a chlorinated or saltwater pool. Plants that are “pool-friendly” need to be able to survive and thrive in semi-to-full sunlight, be wind tolerant (due to the typical exposed nature of pool decks), as well as be able to hold up to the occasional chlorine or salt exposure from splashing. Regardless of your pools design (free form, geometric, lap or infinity), you want to choose the right plants, trees and shrubs for your outdoor pool area, saving you money, time and effort in the long run. Determining your Landscape Design Before starting your garden, you want to have a well thought out design plan. There are many options to do this yourself, such as website research, books or gardening courses; or you can hire a professional. If you choose to hire a landscaping company to plan out your outdoor space, make sure you do your research and make sure they’re licensed and recommended. Remember, you are protecting your investment! Here are some things to consider when designing your landscape: Personal Taste. Do you like a formal or informal setting? Do you prefer simple, clean lines or Read the full article...

Choosing a Licensed Pool Maintenance Company

After Pools by Bradley helps you build the pool of your dreams, it’s extremely important to protect your investment by properly taking care of your pool. You can to do this on your own, or hire a pool servicing company. Choosing a pool servicing company to take care of and maintain your pool seems like it would be an easy decision. Daily, we see numerous advertisements or flyers in our mailboxes for a variety of different pool service companies and they all send the same message: hiring a professional pool company is important and their company is the best. However, this advertising can be very misleading as some companies claim to be the best for weekly service and repairs when they are not actually licensed to do so. Many companies only hold a CPO certificate but not a contractors license (which is required to fix or repair pools in Florida) leaving homeowners at risk for hiring unlicensed workers to take care of and service their pools. Here is what you need to know before choosing a pool service and maintenance company: Certificate vs License Certificate: Currently Florida law allows a company that holds an occupational tax certificate to to clean and chemically treat a residential pool. A state license is not required. These companies holding this certificate cannot legally fix or replace plumbing and equipment, nor repair, remodel or build. All they are allowed to do is clean and adjust chemicals; however, a lot of them don’t follow this rule. Read the full article...

Heavy Rains Can Throw Off Pool Chemistry

Here in Florida, rainy season has begun and it almost seems like it’s never going to end! Has it ever been this rainy as well as cloudy for this long in Central Florida? With all of this rain coming down on us, Mother Nature is also throwing a wrench at maintaining our pools and/or spas. While regular maintenance of our pools makes sure our water is safe and clean, rain is definitely an aspect of nature you should be concerned about when it comes to your outdoor water features. It is a fact that our pools and spas chemistry can be affected by rain in many ways – both good and bad. Rainfall’s Effect on Water Chemistry If you’re in charge of maintaining your pool, you know that water chemistry is extremely important. If the correct chemical levels are not maintained, the pool may become unsafe and you won’t be able to use it (the thought! *gasp*). Some rain may be acidic, therefore affecting both the alkaline levels and the pH of your pool water. When heavy rains fall that have a pH balance of about 5.0, it can lower the pH balance of your pool – which should stay at a balance of between of 7.4 to 7.6. On the flip side, there are benefits to heavy rain fall, such as the dilution of chemicals that you cannot treat with other chemicals (such as stabilizer and calcium). Unfortunately, we, nor Mother Nature, can pick and choose which chemicals will Read the full article...

May is National Water Safety Month

Did you know that May is National Water Safety Month? As the warmer weather is upon us, more and more people will be looking to dive in and enjoy their swimming pools to cool off so there’s no better time to celebrate National Water Safety Month than May! From home pools and spas, to water parks and resorts, to public swimming and water recreation facilities, everyone should be enjoying the refreshing water – but being “safety aware” is the best way to celebrate and enjoy! Some Steadfast Rules to Always Follow When Enjoying Your Swimming Pool: ALWAYS Supervise Children Children should never be allowed to swim unsupervised by adults anywhere. MedlinePlus (Health Information from the National Library of Medicine) reports that drownings can happen quickly and silently in as little as 2 inches of water. The CDC reports that most accidental drownings of children ages 1 to 4 occur in residential pools and most of those victims were reported being seen within the home less than five minutes prior while in the care of at least one parent. Adults who are supervising children should remain alert, vigilant and never turn away or get distracted, not even for a moment. Do Not Swim During Thunderstorms Never swim during a thunderstorm. Exit the water immediately when you hear thunder. Lightning often strikes water and water conducts electricity. If you swim and lightning strikes, you are risking serious injury or death. Avoid Diving Headfirst Do not dive headfirst into shallow or murky water, or Read the full article...

Pools by Bradley New Web site is Now Live

Our New Website Is Live!

Everyone here at Pools By Bradley is pleased to announce that our newly redesigned web site has been published and is now live! The previous design, although showing the visitor the extremely fun nature of our company culture, did not reflect the extremely unique and custom design capabilities that we are able to offer Central Florida homeowners. We do our very best here to create “one of a kind” pools for every one of our clients, pools that are individually designed for their home and unique to each home owner’s lifestyle. Our New Blog Now that we have the ability to create blog posts, we encourage you to check back regularly to see updates on our pools being built, tips and suggestions for both building and maintaining a new pool, plus what’s happening with our company! As always, feel free to contact us online now or call us Monday through Thursday from 8AM to 5PM & Friday from 8AM to 4PM, at (407) 323-7946. We would also love it if you like us on Facebook! To all of our wonderful clients and customers – Thanks again for choosing us to build your pool! To all of our future customers – Thank you for your interest in our company and we look forward to helping you build the pool of your dreams!