Jennifer and Tresw, Thanks a lot for your advice. In fact, we swam today in the pool, yeaaaahhhH! Well, not really swimming, because the water was cold, about 60F and because I let the garden hose running in fresh water for an hour to lift up the level, but as a side effect it got even colder... But the clarity is now great. It is amazing comparing to a week ago, when was a swamp... What a miracle. I got the 4 way test kit, as suggested by TRESW and the readings were not that bad. Chlorine was really really low 0.4-0.6, but Ph was just right 7.6 and TA was 80 ppm (could have been 70 ppm, but with the background coloring I could not really say). The leaks are really big issue though. I broke the cement around the skimmer and now I can see the top plastic of the feeding tunnel (about 3-4 inches deep down), and it has about 0.5 inches water. What is even more worrisome is that the water is about 2" above the pool level, which means that the walls are all filled up with water all the way to the concrete deck and it is overflowing from any crack the water can get through. Also, the lines around the concrete deck are wet, as I dug about an inch deep around and now water started amassing around. And this is on the other side of the pool... I am having a serious leakage, that is for sure. I will rent these days a power hammer from Home depot and I intend to break to pieces the deck. The problem is I have not decided what to do with the debris yet. Any suggestions? As for the dead animal, I am no longer worried. I cleaned, and shocked, and cleaned, and shocked and now I believe there is nothing left from it... I hope. I certainly will avoid any contact of the water with my mouth for the next month or so, but overall I think I am over this now :) Thanks for all support and advice. If something else comes out, please shoot. I am ready to make some pics and post them online for discussion. Best, Lubo

Jetlane, We just went through the stamping nightmare. Even though our contract said we required expansion joints/saw cuts (I was willing to do anything to keep from having cracks), our builder did not put them in. When we reminded them they never 'got to it'. Within the first week we had over 30 cracks. We then did a lot of research. Because we were able to prove the rebar was improperly placed (not the contracted 16" and left on ground rather than suspended) we were able to get a new deck installed. Whew. Take pictures of everything - before, after and especially during. Here is what we found after calling recommended stampers. You need to do the saw cuts around 2 hours after pouring - at the latest early the next morning after a pour. Not later the next day, not a week later. Also when stamping it is important to have the concrete be just right - not too wet or dry. We were told the original job was done when the concrete was too dry. We thought about going the PVC deck joint route but heard too much about the strips eventually cracking. Our concrete guys had a special saw (like an edger) that did straight saw cuts. Make sure they use a new sharp blade. Our cuts are somewhat ragged. Where they used the manual smaller saw the cuts are much sharper. We ended up with three cracks - one running near the expansion joint from the skimmer - but we at least feel we did what we could to limit cracks. We learned after the fact that we should have gotten our own concrete people. We found we had a couple really highly recommended stampers here locally but were already committed to use the ones our pool builder contracted. Another lesson. Listen to recommendations - pros and cons. All it takes is one negative comment to raise a red flag. Don't ignore it and think it wouldn't happen to you. Hope this helps.

You don't have drains in the decking? Sometimes called deco drains (strips of plastic tubes with slots in the top). Assuming there are no drains, prop the screen door open (I assume you have one) and use a large squeegie to push the water out the open door. -Gorilla

Stamped concrete can only work on newly poured concrete. When the concrete is "green", close to cure, the powder color is added and then stamped on the fresh concrete to create an impression. Personally, I'm not crazy about it as to me it looks to fake. Your best bet to save money, is to paint the surface with a deck coating. Kelly Technical coatings has a line of deck coatings that have a variety of color choices. It's easy to apply and is water based. This will spruce up your patio nicely for an inexpensive cost. We did this for a customer a few years ago. It came out nice and it was inexpensive. You may have to re-coat every 2-3 years. It's lot cheaper than a new pour. Plus the cost to remove the existing, yard repair, etc... For the new section, you could integrate the natural stone as a border. As long as your new pour is separate from the old, you will not have any cracking. Even a 1/2" break is sufficient.