Green Pools

​There is absolutely no reason for your pool to ever go green if it is looked after and maintained properly.  There are several reasons why Algae can take hold in a pool but all can be avoided with the correct water management and maintenance routines being adhered to.
Green pools are not due to the “green” coming out of the olive leaves that have fallen into the pool, or the “Olive Pollen” falling into the pool when the trees flower, they are down to poor maintenance or lack of understanding by whoever is managing the pool.
However, if a pool does go green then it is important to address the situation as quickly as possible to prevent it getting worse and therefore more time being needed to get it back to normal again. Most green pools can be brought back to perfect condition within 3 or 4 days (or quicker depending on how green it is) with the correct treatment and filtration. There really should not be a reason to change the pool water unless you need your pool crystal clear the same day so if someone is recommending a water change then get a second opinion first. With the price of water here it could save you several hundred euros.
As we have said before, prevention is better than cure. With the correct regular maintenance your pool should never go green in the first place so if this is a problem you keep having with your maintenance company then it could be time for a change.

Winter pool visits

When we first started out we found that quite a few property owners were being told that they needed to replace the water in their pools at the beginning of every season, especially if it was green when the pool company opened the pool in the spring.

 

That certainly shouldn’t be the case, especially if the pool water is correctly balanced at the time of closing the pool then there is no reason for it to be green when it is opened. Even if it is green it only needs three or four days to get it back to clear so there is no need to change the water. When we open a pool we want to be certain it is ready for you to dive straight in without any remedial work having to be done.

To ensure this is the case we visit the pool on a regular basis (free of charge) throughout the closed season to check the cover is still in place and to check the water chemistry is still correct and adjusted if required. By doing this we don’t get any nasty surprises when we open the pool, there is no extra work that needs to be done before your season starts, no extra costs to the owner and we can move straight into the weekly maintenance routine.

​As they say, prevention is better than cure. 

Chlorine………….

For many years Chlorine has been the standard type of of sanitisation used for swimming pools across the world. While chlorine is safe when used correctly there has been a drive to find a way of keeping pools clean and safe without having to use it simply because when dosed incorrectly it can be hazardous and there are links to chlorine and asthma and skin irritation.
Salt water pools are a favourite way of reducing chlorine usage but the pool still has chlorine in the water which has come from the salt molecule when it broken into Sodium and chlorine as part of the sanitisation process.
However, there are other forms of sanitisation such as Ultraviolet light, Ozone, Hydrogen peroxide and copper amongst others that can be used to eliminate the use of chlorine completely.
If you are interested in removing chlorine from your pool and would like more information then please feel free to contact us.

Property check

The last thing any home owner wants to hear is that part of their property has not got the proper planning authorisation in place but unfortunately this happens a lot more frequently than it should and results in a multitude of problems.
We generally find out there are issues with a property when the owners contact us to carry out some work for them and we need to check the property details out with the commune or apply for planning permission. It is at this point that anything irregular must be sorted out before any further work can be applied for or started and obviously causes long delays and can even affect the new work application.
​Our latest experience of this was when a client decided to sell their property and during the process it was found that among other things, two rooms were illegal and the sale has fallen through and there could be a claim for compensation by the buyers.
If you don’t have all the documentation to your property and would like to have it checked out then let us know and Giuseppe will be more than happy to check through everything for you free of charge.

Planning permissions

It is extremely important that before starting any work on your property that you have the required planning permission in place. We have lost count of the number of times that we have gone to a planning department for a client only to find that work they have had done previously has not got the correct permission and is therefore illegal. In many of the cases this was not accidental, it was or not that the geometra has made a small mistake or had forgotten to do something. Most of them are where the geometra hasn’t bothered to present the project to the commune or has presented the project but not had it approved and then gone ahead and completed the project with no planning at all. It is essential that you have all the documented planning permission checked before you allow any work to begin. If you are presented with this document then this is not planning permission. It is only a receipt from the commune to say that they have received details of a project, nothing more than that. If your project requires full planning permission then this document is not enough and you should always check exactly what is required to ensure your project is legal.

How we got started

Puglia Pools actually started 9 years ago when I needed someone to maintain my own pool and quickly realised that the majority of existing companies or individuals did not care about my pool as much as I did, they didn’t understand water chemistry and were completely unreliable by not turning up for scheduled cleans, or they billed for visits they hadn’t made and then made up excuses when the pool was less than perfect. After speaking to several other English owners I found that this was a problem common to all of them and it soon became obvious that if I wanted my pool to be looked after properly then I would need to do it myself.
Swimming pools are not complicated or difficult to understand but they do need to be regularly cleaned and maintained with an amount of TLC. They cannot be ignored, not visited, and not checked if you want them to stay in perfect condition – it’s as simple as that. It is also really important to understand what the various different water parameters are, how they can be maintained and what effect they have on the condition of the pool’s water. Getting this right is as important as making sure the filter is running as 8 out of 10 pool problems are a result of poor water chemistry and not mechanical issues.
It wasn’t long before I was not only maintaining my own pool but also seven other pools belonging to English property owners in and around Alberobello.
Once I got started it quickly became obvious that there were several reoccurring issues common amongst foreign owners which made it clear that there was a gap in the market place for a reliable, genuine, honest and professional company who understands what is important to their customer’s and from there Puglia Pools (or Puglia Pools & Gardens as it was first called) was formed.    
We are not a big company and we don’t have a huge warehouse, offices or fleets of vehicles etc. However, we do understand swimming pools, the importance of customer service with good communication and, most of all, we care about your pool and property as much as you do.
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Controllable air conditioning systems

One of the problems of having air conditioning in your property is that your guests very often leave the running when they are not in the room or worse still leave the windows and doors open while the the system is on thereby substantially increasing your electricity bills.
We are now installing systems that automatically turn off when no movement is detected in the room within a predetermined amount of time and will stop the unit functioning if any of the doors or windows are left open. The manufacturers of the system claim that these features reduce the cost of running the air conditioning by up to 80%.
We can also retrofit a unit to pre installed systems so there is no problem if you already have air conditioning and would to benefit from these cost savings.
Another advantage of these systems is that the temperature can be programmed and  PIN protected to further reduce excessive use of the system.
Please contact us for further information.

Thank you so much Craig

One of our clients has sold his holiday home here in Puglia and he sent the new owners a recommendation for our services. I don’t think they can come much better than this. Thank you so much.

 Dear Prospective Client,

This is easiest and most passionate recommendation I have ever written for a service provider in my life. My ex-wife and I moved to Puglia, Selva di Fasano, in March of 2016 with our four dogs to experience a different life. Besides our homes we also purchased a home to rent in Ostuni. Almost within days of moving here we realized things would not be as easy as we thought; navigating a very different way of doing things, frustrating Italian bureaucracy and just not knowing people. We had always visited more urban areas and areas where there was a greater ease with foreigners. Puglia has a natural beauty, an authenticity and the people are very friendly but for people moving from a major city, in our case Los Angeles, it was a shock. We were lost in many ways.

Then one day this cheerful man with an English accent rang on my door. It was Graham Bayne. He introduced himself and we started chatting. It turned out he’d been here 7 years and had, along with his business partner Chris, started a company to service pools, Puglia Pools. But as we chatted it turned out he could connect us to other services and oversee them to completion. I cannot begin to cover the physical and emotional help Graham has been to us, going way outside expectations. He helped us find doctors, veterinarians, get a classic car registered and insured and more, and none of these here is easy. If I had to summarize in points why Graham Bayne is a critical person to use if you live in the Fasano, Ostuni, Martina Franca area it would be:

  • He knows the ropes. The ins and outs of what needs to get done and how to get it done.
  • If he cannot do something he helps find someone who can. He has integrity.
  • Always gave us a fair price and if we got a charge from a supplier that was too high he’d help us get it adjusted.
  • When a crisis happened, like no water or gas, Graham was on the case to help get it fixed, just to be helpful.
  • He knows Italian but is English. This is much more helpful than an Italian who knows English – why? Because he understands the sensibilities of people who are used to American, British and northern European ways of living.
  • Graham is not just a service but offers guidance and is there from beginning to end
  • Finally, he is a really friendly, genuine person – something that is so important when you are in a country, an area and amongst people who are very different to anything you’ve experienced.

I can recommend Graham Bayne with 100% conviction. He is a real find.

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Asbestos removal

When buying a property here it is not unusual for it to have out buildings and sheds that have a roof made from asbestos. If it is necessary to remove this asbestos then it must be done correctly and this will involve using a company that is licensed to remove the product from your property. Unfortunately this means that there a few companies who are charging an extortionate amount for this service and we have heard of one company from Martina Franca who is charging €6000 to remove 4 sheets. It does not need to be this expensive and there are licensed companies who will only charge €1200 for this service so if you feel you are being overcharged then get in touch and we will let you have their details.

Solar Panel Installations and pool maintenance in Ostuni

More and more holiday makers are asking for heated pools especially if they are coming here during the cooler months of the season. The most cost effective heating systems available are the pool solar panels. These systems utilise the pools existing pump to pass the water through the panels where it is heated by the sun before returning to the pool. Once the system has been installed there are no running costs at all, just a change to the programmed filter times and a computer controlled valve will close the panels on the days when they not required. The panels can be mounted on a steel frame, on top of wooden pergolas or even just placed on the ground. We have installed several of these systems and are currently working on a large installation near Ostuni. If anyone in the is interested in a solar panel system or our pool services in Ostuni or the surrounding area and would like to see the system then please contact us.