Lots (of work) going on at Carson City Aquatic Facility

Carson City’s Aquatic Facility is closed, but there’s still a lot going on inside until the pool reopens on Jan. 22.

A team from Tahoe Pool & Spa Construction has been working since November to chip away at the indoor Olympic-size pool, which they’re now starting to re-plaster.

“We’re re-plastering the walls, the floor, the gutters. We’re re-plastering the entire thing,” said Dan Earp, recreation superintendent, Parks, Recreation & Open Space. “It should be done every 15 years and it has been at least 20 years since ours was done.”

The expansion joint in the middle of the pool, which allows the pool to move rather than crack in the event of an earthquake, is being replaced also, all part of a $330,333 contract the city awarded to the company in October.

The lockers rooms, too, are being overhauled. The concrete floors were redone with circle cuts, similar to the McFadden Plaza fountain, which is done to prevent slipping. The lockers are being replaced with fewer but bigger lockers. The showers in the women’s locker are being retiled, and all the partitions between toilets and some of the toilets replaced. Much of the work is being done by independent contractors but Public Works staff is pitching in, too.

And the Parks & Rec staff is repainting the entire facility’s interior walls, from the lobby and weight room near the entrance to the natatorium — the pool area — once the dust settles from the pool work.

The bathrooms in the therapy pool area are being retiled and repainted, and signage throughout the facility updated.

In the meantime, the Carson Tigersharks are practicing in the outdoor pool. The pool is heated and was drained and refilled after the Carson Animal Services Initiative’s Pooch Plunge in September, which usually marks the end of the outdoor pool season.

Users of the pool with punch cards for admission have been able to use their cards at the Multi-Purpose Athletic Center.

The $555,000 project is the start of a complete rehab of the facility that will take years. Future phases, said Earp, will include redoing the floor throughout the facility, replacing the skylight in the lobby, and re-plastering the therapy and tot pools.