The Southport 21′ Round Above Ground Pool – New Installation

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The Southport 21′ Round Above Ground Pool

We are hard at it again and finishing up on the installation of a new Southport 21' Round Above Ground Pool! These above ground pool kits are amazing and provide us the ability to build a new swimming pool at an affordable price. The Southport uses a steel wall construction to provide strength and durability at an affordable price.

We are hard at it again and finishing up on the installation of a new Southport 21′ Round Above Ground Pool! These above ground pool kits are amazing and provide us the ability to build a new swimming pool at an affordable price. The Southport uses a steel wall construction to provide strength and durability for a pool that lasts.

New Above Ground Pool Installation

At Illiana Backyard Fun, we love building new swimming pools for our amazing customers. It’s a time where people are excited at the prospect of moving their family time outdoors, enjoying the season of summer and bringing back the nostalgic memories from childhood. We truly love the swimming pool industry and building new swimming pools is our favorite part of the job!

Here we are seen installing a new Southport 21′ Round Above Ground Pool Kit. The Southport is among a family of above ground pool kits; all of which offer both Steel & Resin construction. Our above ground pools ship with a manufacturers warranty and the hope of fun summer days ahead!

These above ground pool installations are a bit technical but fairly easy to learn and explain. If you’re familiar with Legos or an Erector Set then you’re familiar with how these swimming pools are built. Out of the box, we have a:

  • Steel Wall
  • Metal Upright Kit
  • Top Rail Kit
  • Steel or Resin Kit

All of these “kits” include various parts: bolts, screws, framework and much more. This all connects to build a very sturdy and sound above ground pool kit.

We use sand as the base for our above ground pools. Sand offers a great support base due to its soft texture and ability to allow water to pass through. It's also an excellent protective layer for our vinyl liner - which holds our water.

As you can see from this image, we use sand as the base for our above ground pools. Sand offers a great supportive base due to its soft texture and ability to allow water to pass through. It’s also an excellent protective layer for our vinyl liner – which holds our water.

Setting on Sand & Leveling

As with any Above Ground Pool installation, we need to level our ground and pour our sand. Depending on the size of the pool kit, we have a different amount of risers and bases to set. Other than that, the installation is fairly standardized and involves the following steps:

  • Leveling our foundation
  • Setting our Bottom Rail (shown above as the circular channel)
  • Leveling the Bases for our Uprights (shown above as the black square pads)
  • Installing the Uprights
  • Running the Wall along our Bottom Rail
  • Setting our Top Caps (to hold the wall in place)
  • Hanging our Vinyl Liner
  • Plumbing our Equipment
  • Filling up with your water!

This list is fairly extensive and it certainly has it’s details for each step. However, with an experienced team of installers, such as Illiana Backyard Fun, an Above Ground Pool can be installed in as little as day!

Our Vinyl Liners are designed with a J-Hook attachment. This attachment has a "Bead" or fattened edge that we place into our liner track to hang our vinyl liner. These liners are very sturdy and offer a decent out of expansion once the water is added. This creates a smooth texture around the entire surface of your swimming pool.

Our Vinyl Liners are designed with a J-Hook attachment. This attachment has a “Bead” or fattened edge that we place into our liner track to hang our vinyl liner. These liners are very sturdy and offer a decent out of expansion once the water is added. This creates a smooth texture around the entire surface of your swimming pool.

What is a Steel Pool?

At this point, you may be asking yourself, “What exactly is a steel pool?” It’s a simple as it sounds. Steel is the primary component in these Steel Above Ground Pool Kits, but is not the only element that is present. These pool kits are also comprised of Resin Plastic (for essentially everything except our Wall). Resin is a strong material that is anti-corrosive and allows for light weight during shipment and adds nice coloring.

We currently offer 3 Above Ground Pools as our line up of Illiana Backyard Fun approved pools. If you’d like some more information on the types of pool that we offer, we invite you to view our the Above Ground Pool page of our website.

The primary swimming pools that we offer include the:

We offer these different types of pools based on the structural benefits that each one offers. For more information, we invite you to contact Kristie Cheatum (our owner) so she can provide you with some more in depth information. She can also help you to identify which swimming pool is right for you and your backyard!

You can see one of our crew members here leveling our base for one of our pool uprights. We "shoot our elevation" for each of these riser points to ensure that our pool is completely level once completely built. It's always better to double check your measurements at this point to ensure the pool is level - the water doesn't lie!

You can see one of our crew members here leveling our base for one of our pool uprights. We “shoot our elevation” for each of these riser points to ensure that our pool is completely level once completely built. It’s always better to double check your measurements at this point to ensure the pool is level – the water line doesn’t lie!

The Benefit of an Above Ground Pool

The benefits of purchasing an Above Ground Pool are wide ranging! They are an excellent choice for many home owners due to:

  • Small Backyards
  • Affordable Pricing (these types of pools are often the lowest price compared to Fiberglass, Rockport In-Ground Sport Pools & Gunite Swimming Pools)
  • Lower Maintenance Costs
  • Ability to Transport (if you decide to sell your house and move)

One strong point that we’d like to emphasize here is the lower “Maintenance Cost.” If you’re familiar with pool care, you understand the inherent cost of maintaining your pool chemistry levels. Every swimming pool has different chemical requirements due to the volume of water in your pool.

Swimming Pools with higher water volume require higher chemical dosages (makes sense). Above Ground Pools are excellent because they often range from as little as 7,000 gallons to 15,000 gallons depending on the size you choose.

These smaller bodies of water mean that you will be spending less money each year maintaining the chemistry level of your water. This is more money back in your pocket and a happier backyard experience. Everybody loves swimming pools that are easy to maintain!

We use a Dreamline Filter System for all of our Above Ground Pool installations. This equipment package utilizes a sand filter, 1.5 HP pump and a 110V outlet. This is perfect for any backyard that doesn't want to hire a licensed electrician to install a 220V electrical line (another cost saving measure that these pools offer).

We use a Dreamline Filter System for all of our Above Ground Pool installations. This equipment package utilizes a sand filter, 1.5 HP pump and a 110V outlet. This is perfect for any backyard that doesn’t want to hire a licensed electrician to install a 220V electrical line (another cost saving measure that these pools offer).

We are Your Pool Partners!

Speaking of swimming pool maintenance, if you every come across a problem in your time as a pool owner, please don’t hesitate to call us! We love answering customer questions and it’s one of our goals to become your Pool Partner for all of your backyard needs!

Kristie Cheatum first started this company with the purpose of helping home owners understand how to care for their pool and backyard better. We are a Do It Yourself (DIY) company at heart and we love when home owners are eager to learn about how to care for their backyard oasis!

That being said, we invite you to stop by our store front anytime you would like to ask a question, try a new product or even just spend time talking to Kristie! We are always eager to hear from our customers and online readers; we’d love to hear what you have to think and find ways that we can better service you!

Check Out Our Other Industry Articles!

We Sell Fiberglass Pools!

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Now Selling: Imagine Fiberglass Pools!

Illiana Backyard Fun is proud to announce our offering of 100% American Made Fiberglass Swimming Pools. We offer this premier line as part of our mission to offer everything to complete your backyard experience. Our Fiberglass shells are 100% hand made and manufactured using the finest quality product available!

Illiana Backyard Fun is proud to announce our offering of 100% American Made Fiberglass Swimming Pools. We offer this premier line as part of our mission to offer everything to complete your backyard experience. Our Fiberglass shells are 100% hand made and manufactured using the finest quality product available!

Bringing You The Very Best

If you’ve been following Illiana Backyard Fun for sometime, then you know we are the pull up your boot straps kind of people. We believe in getting into the backyard, getting our hands dirty and creating some very cool land creative living spaces for our customers. Delivering excellent products is just a part of our business plan. We also believe in getting to know our customers and providing knowledge and expertise for:

Essentially, we want to become your Pool Partners and go with you on your journey of outdoor living. We believe that everyone has the ability to care for their home and maintain their pool chemistry, use high quality filter media, cook out with friends, and much much more.

To add to our list of Illiana Backyard Fun solutions, we are now offering an amazing line of Fiberglass In-Ground Swimming Pools by Imagine Pools! These fiberglass pools are 100% hand made in America and offer a Life Time Warranty on the shell structure!

The Benefits of a Fiberglass Pool

So what prompted us to offer a Fiberglass Pool in conjunction with our renowned Rockwood Sports Pools or Above Ground Pools? There are many benefits that come with a Fiberglass Pool that you may not yet be aware of:

  • Lifetime Structural Warranty
  • Smooth Gel Coat Finish
  • Lower Chemical Maintenance
  • Fast Installation
  • Compatible With All Sanitizer Types

We certainly did our homework before offering a fiberglass line to our customers. We wanted to ensure we selected the very best in manufactured products.

Unlike all other swimming pools, Fiberglass is manufactured in a factory and undergoes rigorous quality inspections before it is approved to ship out. Each Fiberglass shell is produced from a pre-fabricated mold so that each shell is the exact same shape, size and dimensions. When you browse our line of fiberglass pools, you will be shopping for the exact shape and size for your backyard! Now that’s an easy online shopping process!

This Fantasy Model is one of eight choices that you have when you shop the Imagine Fiberglass Pool line. Imagine Pools manufactures only eight different shapes so that they can make each model perfect. They find that utilizing a streamline process of consistent molds allows their staff to emphasize perfection. The result: you receive the very best fiberglass shell available on the market today!

This Fantasy Model is one of eight choices that you have when you shop the Imagine Fiberglass Pool line. Imagine Pools manufactures only eight different shapes so that they can make each model perfect. They find that utilizing a streamline process of consistent molds allows their staff to emphasize perfection. The result: you receive the very best fiberglass shell available on the market today!

A Full Menu of Choices

As stated above, Imagine Pools focuses their efforts on producing 8 brilliant designed pool shapes. These shapes were designed, tested and redesigned until Imagine determined they were perfect for the marketplace. Kristie Cheatum visited the Imagine Pools factory in February 2018 to see for herself what Imagine Pools was all about. Since then, we adopted this product line and are excited to offer it to the residents of Iroquois County and other surrounding areas.

Below is a gallery of the entire Imagine Pools line up. Each pool model has between 3-5 different sizes and 7 different colors.

Not only are these pools shapes uniquely designed and guaranteed to provides hours and days of enjoyment, but they are also built incredibly well! These swimming pools are composed of 7 – 21 layers (depending on the location in the pool) of Fiberglass & Vinyl Esther Resin. The key word here is Vinyl Esther Resin – a blend of Osmosis Resistant Material placed on both the inside and outside of the pool shell.

These swimming pools are manufactured with a manufacturer lifetime warranty on the shell. The Vinyl Esther Resin material is the reason that Imagine is able to offer this amazing warranty! Imagine goes down to the molecular level of how these pools operate once they are in the ground. They remove the molecular affinity for water which means your shell will remain strong, intact and resident to conditions taking place below ground. Pretty amazing stuff!

Our fiberglass pools can be paired with any time of deck (travertine shown above), accessories and water features. This image shows the elegant "Oasis" pool model with an automated pool cover. You can see the gorgeous Ocean Blue gel coat finish, which contrasts nicely with the ivory travertine deck! Simpy beautiful!

Our fiberglass pools can be paired with any time of deck (travertine shown above), accessories and water features. This image shows the elegant “Oasis” pool model with an automated pool cover. You can see the gorgeous Ocean Blue gel coat finish, which contrasts nicely with the ivory travertine deck! Simpy beautiful!

Comparing Fiberglass to Other Pool Types

In relation to other types of swimming pools, i.e. Gunite (Concrete), In-Ground Vinyl or Above Ground; fiberglass pools are in a class all of their own! These pools shells are unique from their manufacturing standpoint, manufacturer warranty and gel coat finish. There is not another swimming pool on the market that offers a gorgeous and smooth Gel Coat Finish.

The Gel Coat provides an extremely smooth and comfortable wall texture for the swimmer. These walls are gentle on your feet, provide a nice grip and beautiful polish. Not only can you select the shape and size of your fiberglass pool; you can also choose one of 7 gorgeous colors!

Only at Illiana Backyard Fun!

We’ve really enjoyed our new venture with Imagine Pools and know that our customers will too! If you have any questions over the material that we covered in this article, we invite you to contact us for a free estimate, brochures or more product information!

Our mission is always to provide our customers with the best information over any product that we offer! It’s part of our goal to become your Pool Partner for 2018!

If you’d like to contact us, please click this link and give us a call or fill out a contact form! We will get back to you promptly and answer any question you have. Now let’s get to work and prepare your backyard for a summer of enjoyment for you and your loved ones!

Water Purification: Sand Filter Changes

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Water Purification: Sand Filter Changes

Your pool equipment is one of the most important elements of your swimming pool. It is the source and method for water circulation - the key to the purification process. Keeping your swimming pool filter healthy is a key element and our secret for success!

Your pool equipment is one of the most important elements of your swimming pool. It is the source and method for water circulation – the key to the purification process. Keeping your swimming pool filter healthy is a key element and our secret for success!

The Importance of Water Filtration

Riddle of the Day: “What goes round and round, contains an ingredient key to life, and provides happiness and safety at the same time?” Answer: your swimming pool!

All swimming pools operate on the principle of a closed loop system. Once water is initially added to your swimming pool, it is not regularly added. Therefore, we call our swimming pools “closed loop” because we circulate the water in and out of our swimming pool basin.

In order to keep our water happy, healthy and pure – we circulate the water using a pool pump. Our pumps push the water through a series of filtration equipment. Lastly, we apply pool chemistry as a secondary method to sanitize our water.

Key Elements For Water Sanitation

Water must have all of the following properties to remain sanitary & algae free:

  • Movement – water standing still is an invitation for organisms to settle and reproduce
  • Chemistry – proper water balancing ensures our PH (acid & base), Alkalinity and other factors are satisfied
  • Filtration – water is a sponge for all types of elements (good and bad). It’s imperative that water be filtered through a outside medium in order to filter out and capture bad organic material.

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It Starts & Ends With The Filter

If we were to compare our pool equipment to the human body, the pump would be called “the heart” while the filter would be “the liver.”

Like all of our bodies, the liver performs various functions. It operates as a filter to extract and secrete numerous organisms, materials and non-digestible properties that shouldn’t exist in our digestive tracts. The same goes for swimming pool filters.

In fact, the purpose of running all those funky lines of PVC pipe, adding in a pump and applying our control valves is to push all of that water through our filter. This all ties into a principle in the swimming pool industry known as: Water Turn Over. 

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Residential “Water Turn Over” Requirements

In the residential realm, your total pool volume must be turned over in a maximum time frame of 8 hours.

For most Above Ground pools, our water volume ranges from 5,700 Gallons – 22,000 Gallons. This equates to a water turnover rate of 12 GPM (Gallons per Minute) – 46 GPM. Based upon our GPM requirement, we then select our filter size. For most above ground pools, we utilize the Hayward S180T (max of 35 GPM) or Pentair TA60D (max of 60 GPM).

Filter Media & Micron Levels

There are 3 types of swimming pool filters. Each one inherently removes to a level of “microns” – the degree of microscopic material left in the water in PPM (parts per million) after water passes through the filter. Let’s compare our options:

  • D.E. (diatomaceous earth): 2-3 ppm
  • Cartridge: 5-10 ppm
  • Sand Filters: 20-40 ppm

All sand filters operate by combining Filter Media with Water Flow. As the water is pushed through the filter, it cruises past sand particles that are rough and absorbent. These sand particles remove microscopic particles from the water in order to remove organic material & debris from your swimming pool water.

Summarizing Filtration Fundamentals

Now that we’ve covered all of this educational material – let’s review:

  • Filtration is vital to your pool health
  • Water Turn Over: is the rate (GPM – Gallons per Minute) that water circulates for a complete rotation
  • Filters are rated based upon Microns – the level of microscopic materials per PPM (parts per million) allowed to pass through the filter

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Choosing Our Optimal Filter Media

At this point you may be asking yourself: “if sand filters filter the least amount of microns, then why would you sell them for your above ground pools?” We use Sand Filters for 3 key reasons:

  1. They require less maintenance & are easier to operate
  2. Sand filters are cheaper to install, replace & change out media
  3. They have the longest life span of any filter

In order for us to step up our game with sand filters, we need to do one thing: improve the level of Microns that they filter down to. Long story short – we’ve done it! We have a product called Glass Media by Maytronics that operates as an alternative to silica sand (which has been used for decades).

Glass Media is crazy cool because it gives us a micron level of 2-3 microns and comes with a lifetime guarantee! That’s completely unheard of and it is totally revolutionizing the swimming pool industries and our customers maintenance programs. By converting your swimming pool filter over to a Glass Media program, you have install that product that lasts the lifetime of your filter. Here’s how:

  1. Install the Glass Media (size properly by Coarse & Fine media bags)
  2. Apply the Summer Enhance Enzyme at the beginning and end of each pool season
  3. Maintain proper chemistry levels and get your water tested by a professional pool provider (a.k.a. – Illiana Backyard Fun!)

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Professional Installation Techniques

Without having to say, we completely love this new Glass Media product that hit the market several years ago. Since it’s introduction into the industry, we’ve installed this product on several dozen swimming pools. It does a terrific job of clearing up the water and removing a greater amount of microns than typical sand!

If any of this information was overwhelming or you’re confused over any of this material, we invite you to give us a call! At Illiana Backyard Fun, we want to become your Pool Partner for 2018! We love educating our customers and believe it’s one of our core functions as a company.

Lastly, if you’d like more information on our Glass Media, Sand Filters or any other pool products, please give us a call! We do this for a living and take our profession and customer service very seriously! No pool is too much of a challenge for us. We’d like to get to know yours, provide a diagnosis and get you the best results possible for your Summer of 2018 Fun!

It’s Liner Replacement Season!

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It’s Liner Replacement Season

Now that Spring is coming to a close, the weather is heating up and kids are returning home from school - it's officially Liner Replacement Season! Season is now in full swing and we are hard at working installing new above ground vinyl liners to get these pools open for summer.

Now that Spring is coming to a close, the weather is heating up and kids are returning home from school – it’s officially Liner Replacement Season! Season is now in full swing and we are hard at working installing new above ground vinyl liners to get these pools open for summer.

We’re Hard At Work

Just like hunting season, Vinyl Liners are now in open season and it’s replacing time! This is a common practice in the swimming pool industry. Every Summer we receive calls from home owners who have vinyl liners that are worn out and in need of replacement or repair. The causes for the damage can be wide ranging, but we’ve listed a few common causes below:

  • Rips, tears or holes due to objects, animals, toe nails or grass
  • Seam separation
  • Old liner track fails or no longer hold the liner
  • Chemical Issues that lead to etched, brittle or cracked liners

Regardless of the cause or need for the liner replacement, we are here to support all of our customers! At Illiana Backyard Fun, we work diligently to get your swimming pool open as quickly as possible because we understand that you have family returning home and we want to help!

If you’re worried about the extensiveness of your liner damage and would like some replacement information, just give us a call! We have been replacing these liner systems for years and have teams and products in place to swap out your liner easily and painlessly.

You can see our beloved owner, Christie, hard at work installing a brand new 18' Round Above Ground Liner. Because these pools come in standard sizes, we use liner replacement kits (typically on-hand or from our local distributor) to replace your liner. Just select your pattern from our list of material selections and you're on your way to brand new pool for Summer!

You can see our beloved owner, Kristie, hard at work installing a brand new 18′ Round Above Ground Liner. Because these pools come in standard sizes, we use liner replacement kits (typically on-hand or from our local distributor) to replace your liner. Just select your pattern from our list of material selections and you’re on your way to brand new pool for Summer!

The Importance of Liner Care

As you may be able to tell from the list of issues we highlighted above, Vinyl Liners are a very important aspect of your swimming pool that requires the proper care. These liner systems operate as a membrane that separates water (what we swim in) from the outside elements around your pool.

Depending on if you have an above ground pool or in-ground vinyl pool, your style of liner will vary slightly in style and construction but the main purpose is the same. It retains water and must stay strong and soft for comfort and flexibility.

Vinyl is a unique substance that allows for slight amounts of stretching and abuse over time. It’s the reason why Above Ground and In-Ground Vinyl Swimming Pools are so popular. They are fairly easy to maintain and generally forgiving. So what are the best ways to keep up with your liner to ensure good health and a long lifespan?

  • Proper Chemical Balancing
  • Regular Brushing (with a soft nylon brush)
  • Removing foreign objects from swimming pool when not in use, i.e.:
    • Branches
    • Leaves
    • Toys
    • Ladders
    • *Essentially any object that can puncture or tear the liner due to sharp edges or rough texture
  • Removing weeds from around and below the swimming pool
  • Checking for signs of rusting or corrosion along pool walls, risers or liner tracks

Some Examples of Liner Damage

Steps For Proper Vinyl Liner Management

As a precautionary measure when you come across questions about liner care, we invite you to contact us! We love educating our home owners; it’s truly one of our passions and reason why we love this job! Kristie Cheatum originally started this company out of her desire to help the customers in her local Iroquois County.

That being said, we’ve got lots of tips and tricks to make liner care easier and simpler for our customers. From regular chemical maintenance to brushing and object removal, liner care can be an easy and fun part of pool ownership.

Proper Chemical Balancing – Liner Care 101

EZ Pool is our favorite chemical of choice because of it’s application method and how simple it makes pool chemistry for home owners. It uses a proprietary blend of chemicals to create a easy to understand one-a-week treatment method. Based on the size of your pool (we can help you identify dosage levels) you can add your designated number of scoops to maintain the following chemical levels:

  • Algae Prevention
  • Oxidizer (for shocking)
  • PH Balance
  • Water Softener
  • Scale Inhibitor
  • CH Balance (Calcium Hardness)
  • TA Balance (Total Alkalinity)
  • Water Clarity

When we say this chemical is EZ to use, we mean it! By adding your defined number of scoops to your pool each week, you can maintain the chemistry levels that we listed above. Of course, if you have some specific issues that need a little bit more horse power, we’ve got some additional specialty chemicals in our retail store. Just stop by and let us know what you’d like answers on and we’ll provide you with all the information you’d like to know!

Selecting The Right Style Bead

Lastly, we’ll give you one last tidbit of information about our vinyl liners. For those who have little to no knowledge of these materials, we use what is know as a J-Hook or Beaded Liner. It’s essentially the same thing and it uses a liner track to hand the liner along the edge of your pool wall.

The liner track does a great job of securing your liner and holding it in place while you swim and enjoy time outdoors. This is a much more efficient method of securing your vinyl liner versus the old method of the overlap liner.

The overlap liners are going out of style and it’s not just because of looks. You can always identify this style of liner due to the ugly blue sections of liner handing over the side of the pool. The main reason that we don’t like to install overlapping liners is because they can get pinched or are difficult to remove if you have a raised deck. In the event of a liner swap, if you’ve got an overlapping liner with a raised deck, it’s likely that you will have to remove sections of deck to get to the liner.

Old liners in need of repair typically have the same appearance. They are easy to diagnose and it's typically a matter of time until the liner tears that you'll need a replacement. If you have a similar looking above ground liner, we invite you to give us a call! It's better to replace the liner and enjoy your summer than to deal with an old liner all summer long.

Old liners in need of repair typically have the same appearance. They are easy to diagnose and it’s typically a matter of time until the liner tears that you’ll need a replacement. If you have a similar looking above ground liner, we invite you to give us a call! It’s better to replace the liner and enjoy your summer than to deal with an old liner all summer long.

Trust Illiana Backyard Fun

We don’t like complicated installs and your wallet doesn’t either. It’s reasons like this that we invite you to contact for advice or schedule us for an install. We know what works and what doesn’t and we’re here to provide you with the very best in customer service and products for your home! It’s what makes us unique and passionate about what we do for our customers!

We’re Here To Become Your 2018 Pool Partners!

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 Summer 2018 Pool Openings

At Illiana Backyard Fun, we believe that pool ownership should be a delight for every home owner. Your swimming pool is your escape from reality and the place where many great memories are made. Our mission is to help each home owner find that sense of happiness in their home by partnering with each customer.

At Illiana Backyard Fun, we believe that pool ownership should be a delight for every home owner. Your swimming pool is your escape from reality and the place where many great memories are made. Our mission is to help each home owner find that sense of happiness in their home by partnering with every customer to become their Pool Partner.

Preparing Your Backyard For Summer Time

Summer 2018 is right around the corner. As we speak, the schools of Iroquois County will be releasing their eager and energetic children for summer vacation on May 29 2018. Parents, that means we’ve got to get our swimming pools cleaned up in order to give these fun and crazy kids a place to release that summer energy.

The swimming pool has long been a haven of summer fun and the same can be said for your own home. We all love creating memories with our loved ones in our backyards. Grilling, sharing meals, playing games, swimming and connecting are all sacred elements of the American Dream. Our homes and backyards are the places where we all want to connect as a community during the summer.

Our Wide Range of Services

At Illiana Backyard Fun, our mission is to help you create these areas of fun. We like to think of it as creating your own Backyard Oasis! We specialize in swimming pools and a whole lot more! In fact, we’re continually adding new products to our service line; all for the purpose of expanding our backyard lifestyle. Our products and services now include:

  • A Retail Store located on 800 East Walnut Watseka, IL that sells the following items:
    • Above Ground, Semi In-Ground & Fully In-Ground Pools
    • Spas
    • Chemicals
    • Maintenance Kits & Equipment
    • Filtration Equipment
    • Pool & Spa Accessories
    • Primo Grills (Charcoal Grills)
    • Patio Furniture & Pergolas
    • Outside Yard Decor
    • Inside Wall Art
    • Flags
    • Household Decor
    • So much more…
  • A Service & New Construction Team that includes the following services & products:
Our company begin in 2004 as a dream to service a community and elevate the level of fun in our customers homes. Since our humble beginning, we have built our our retail, service & new construction side of our business. Our key to growth: developing trust with our customers and treating each one with the same level of high end service! We love what we do and it's apparent to see when you visit our beautiful retail store!

Our company began in 2004 as a dream to service a community and elevate the level of fun in our customers homes. Since our humble beginning, we have consistently seen increases in the size of the retail, service & new construction side of our business. Our key to growth: developing trust with our customers and treating each one with the same level of high-end service! We love what we do and it’s apparent to see when you visit our beautiful retail store!

The Ingredients for Success

As you can tell, we have a long laundry list of products and services that we offer. The reason for explaining and writing it all out is simple. We want to develop the trust of every customer in our service area.

We’ve been at this for a long time and every time that someone asks how we’ve grown and built such a wonderful company, our answer is always the same. We work diligently to value every customer interaction and always strive to provide outstanding customer service to each client.

There are a lot of transaction oriented pool companies out there, but that is not us. Not in the slightest. We place a huge emphasis on educating our customers how to take care of their swimming pools. From explaining the importance of proper pool chemistry down to the basics of hydro-dynamics; our mission is to help you understand how to care for your own pool.

Kristie Cheatum, our amazing owner, visits every job site and works with her crews in the field. She also manages our beautiful retail store. Needless to say, she is a busy woman. Rightfully so! She likes to work all avenues of the business so that she has personal experience with every task and keeps her team elevated to a superior service level. It's how we function so strongly as a team and the reason more people are choosing Illiana Backyard Fun for their homes!

Kristie Cheatum, our amazing owner, visits every job site and works with her crews in the field. She also manages our beautiful retail store. Needless to say, she is a busy woman. Rightfully so! She likes to work all avenues of the business so that she has personal experience with every task. This also keeps her team elevated to a superior service level. It’s how we function so strongly as a team and the reason more people are choosing Illiana Backyard Fun for their homes!

Selecting a Partner You Can Trust

That being said, we partner with you on all of the tough stuff in pool ownership. From fixing damaged equipment, installing new vinyl liner replacements, leveling your soil prior to an above ground installation, to so much more. Our list of services is nearly limitless just like our desire to serve our clients.

Over the years, we’ve developed some incredibly strong partnerships with our local suppliers and like-minded swimming pool companies. By working collaboratively with others in our industry, we’ve expanded our wealth of knowledge into other areas that we may have never experienced. Likewise, we partner with other newer companies to assist them with areas where we are considered the experts. It’s all part of our initiative to grow the swimming pool industry as a whole and elevate the service level for the residents Iroquois county!

Keeping us in mind for your Spring/Summer 2018 Pool Opening, we can provide you with all the information you need to make some very informed decisions regarding your swimming pool. Don’t just run down to your local Walmart and purchase a bucket of tablets and shock this Spring. Wouldn’t you like to understand how your pool chemistry really functions and the proper way to balance it? That’s what we’re here for! This season, we’d like to invite you to select us as your Pool Partners that you can trust!

Our team is seen here installing a new vinyl liner on an above ground pool. We work hard to ensure you have the right information from beginning to end. For example, did you know it's better to have a beaded liner instead of an overlap liner? This ensures that if you build a deck around your pool that you don't pinch the liner and it's easier to service & replace later on!

Our team is seen here installing a new vinyl liner on an above ground pool. We work hard to ensure you have the right information from beginning to end. For example, did you know it’s better to have a beaded liner instead of an overlap liner? This ensures that if you build a deck around your pool that you don’t pinch the liner and it’s easier to service & replace later on!

We Believe In Education

Keeping to our mission of free and accessible education, we are here to answer any questions you might have about how to care for your swimming pool or spa. Believe us, we know that these systems can be a little complicated with a large learning curve. But that’s why we’re here!

Our goal this swimming pool season is to develop even more wonderful customer relationships. We want to show Iroquois County that pool ownership can be a very and awesome privilege. Once you understand how to care for your swimming pool the right way, you can move away from stress and frustration into the fun zone. After all, isn’t our backyard supposed to be the fun part of our homes? For us, it surely is and we’d like to help you explore some new concepts of backyard living this summer!

Aside from swimming pool maintenance, if you’d like some free information on backyard renovations, swimming pool & spa installations, grills or even outdoor accessories – give us a call! We’d love to meet you and can’t wait to hear what you’ve got in store for your Summer 2018!