So I currently live in an apartment. It's a decent sized apartment, so I can very easily move furniture around and have a decent sized inflatable pool in a corner of the main area, and have a fun messy session there.
The problem is disposal afterwards. This is why I usually use my slightly cramped bathtub or shower stall, as it means easy clean up. But sometimes I'd like the room. However, even with plastic lining in the pool, at my average of 3 gallons of gunge per bucket, we're talking over 70 pounds of fluid after only 3 buckets worth. That's not easy to move, or throw out. And getting the pool near enough the bathtub to dispose that way is also a massive headache.
I was wondering if there's suggestions on other options for easy disposal in this type of living situation. I was just debating getting a Wet/Dry Vac, but I've never purchased or used one before, so I'm unsure if gunge is too much for some of them to handle, or which ones are the best value. Or if there is a better option.
It might be an idea, when you're done and showered to scoop as much gunge as possible into the buckets, and pour it away. Yeah, it's not exactly quick, but at least you'll be able to move the pool a lot easier.
Wet/dry vacs are pretty awful for wam - I've tried 2
One had 5 litre capacity, - just means you're emptying it even more often than a 10 litre bucket
One had 10 litre capacity, again same as a bucket, don't know why I bothered... and then you have to clean the vac as well, and it can get pretty determined to suck up your pool sometimes too.
It was ok on a hard floor, but I still prefer a pool and the method below.
Better to put some decent tarp down lining your route to the bathroom, and scoop leftovers by hand into a bucket (or with a dustpan, just be careful of sharp corners if you want to completely clean and save the pool) and then transport the buckets on your lined route.
By not using the bath you can also get yourself clean or clean ish first and it's safer with more space. Vastly my preference.
Here's my method/process
1. Tarp as much as needed with lots of space.
2. Have an extra bucket of clean, HOT slightly soapy water and cleaning stuff, brush, cloths etc ready and near the pool - it doesn't need to be a full bucket, about 5 litres will do it (hot so that it's still warm when you come to clean with it later)
3. Wam fun in the pool
4. When finished, while still messy yourself, scoop leftovers into buckets and place them outside the pool onto some of your tarp space
5. Put the clean water into the pool, scrub around with scrubbing brush, then scoop all that water out too and put it on the tarp
6. Keep pool inflated still. Clean the sides of a pool with a cloth and some of the water or some spray (and possibly a scrub daddy or scrubbing brush depending on what mess you used)
7. Go get yourself clean in the bathroom and put on some comfy clothes
8. Empty your buckets/flush away and run some water to clean the buckets in the bath - leave them to soak a little if needed
9. Spray pool with antibacterial cleaner and give it a final polish
10. Dry pool really carefully with kitchen paper and leave it inflated to fully dry if possible
11. Throw away or clean, dry and store the tarps depending which kind you used.
I know that seems like a lot of work but wet/dry vacs are even more of a crappy faff and using the bath is really limiting, so I far prefer my way above with a pool.
And I think it's quite fun if you're prepared in advance to do it that way.
Edit to add... or if you're throwing the pool away, then just scoop out enough that you can lift it easily once it's bagged up.
Loads of cleaning advice for specific mess types on my spotless sploshing blog too listed in my sites below
CandyCustard said: Wet/dry vacs are pretty awful for wam - I've tried 2
One had 5 litre capacity, - just means you're emptying it even more often than a 10 litre bucket
One had 10 litre capacity, again same as a bucket, don't know why I bothered... and then you have to clean the vac as well, and it can get pretty determined to suck up your pool sometimes too.
It was ok on a hard floor, but I still prefer a pool and the method below.
Better to put some decent tarp down lining your route to the bathroom, and scoop leftovers by hand into a bucket (or with a dustpan, just be careful of sharp corners if you want to completely clean and save the pool) and then transport the buckets on your lined route.
By not using the bath you can also get yourself clean or clean ish first and it's safer with more space. Vastly my preference.
Here's my method/process
1. Tarp as much as needed with lots of space.
2. Have an extra bucket of clean, HOT slightly soapy water and cleaning stuff, brush, cloths etc ready and near the pool - it doesn't need to be a full bucket, about 5 litres will do it (hot so that it's still warm when you come to clean with it later)
3. Wam fun in the pool
4. When finished, while still messy yourself, scoop leftovers into buckets and place them outside the pool onto some of your tarp space
5. Put the clean water into the pool, scrub around with scrubbing brush, then scoop all that water out too and put it on the tarp
6. Keep pool inflated still. Clean the sides of a pool with a cloth and some of the water or some spray (and possibly a scrub daddy or scrubbing brush depending on what mess you used)
7. Go get yourself clean in the bathroom and put on some comfy clothes
8. Empty your buckets/flush away and run some water to clean the buckets in the bath - leave them to soak a little if needed
9. Spray pool with antibacterial cleaner and give it a final polish
10. Dry pool really carefully with kitchen paper and leave it inflated to fully dry if possible
11. Throw away or clean, dry and store the tarps depending which kind you used.
I know that seems like a lot of work but wet/dry vacs are even more of a crappy faff and using the bath is really limiting, so I far prefer my way above with a pool.
And I think it's quite fun if you're prepared in advance to do it that way.
Edit to add... or if you're throwing the pool away, then just scoop out enough that you can lift it easily once it's bagged up.
Loads of cleaning advice for specific mess types on my spotless sploshing blog too listed in my sites below
I usually mess in hotel rooms (and the odd airbnb)- being able to pull an efficient and thorough cleanup is all a part of the game.
I personally don't plastic line the pool- it's something else to get tangled up in and/or stuck to you in all the mess. Pools can take the mess just fine.
Plastic/tarp the walls and ceiling around your playspace, and the route to your shower. You may wish to hang a dustsheet from the ceiling to curtain off your messy area from the rest of your apartment- trust me the splatter gets EVERYWHERE.
My cleanup is pretty much as Candy said- use a jug/dustpan/hands to scoop and scrape as much mess out of the pool and into buckets. About 1/3 to 1/2 fill each bucket, top off with water and swish your hand through it to break the mess into suspended/free floating lumps. This can be flushed down the toilet without issue. The toilet is your best friend for cleanup- it's used to dealing with all your shit.
Once you've scraped all the loose mess off- dump some warm water into the pool, add a generous splash of soap, get in and start scrubbing. This is a rough clean- get the worst of it off. You'll find all the fresh/wet mess breaks loose and floats free with just a little wiping/scrubbing. Any dried on stuff is more of a pain- splash some soapy water on it first and come back to it.
Scoop the water out into buckets and dump down the toilet. Add in a load of fresh soapy water and jump in again. This is your main clean- get the remaining patches of mess. Once done, empty the pool again.
Next step is a rinse- just use warm water. Cleans all the soap off your pool. Empty the pool out for good, set 2 buckets of warm water aside one with soap. Flip the pool over and detail check the edges- wipe and rinse.
Finally towel dry the pool, then leave it out to air dry at least overnight before folding it away. With deflating the pool, you can use a hairpin or cotter pin to keep the valves open, then use a hoover to suck the air out if your pump isn't reversible. Fully taking the air out allows your pool to fold fully flat.
It sounds like a lot of work (a few hours) but it's worth it. Saving the pool means I could invest in a much bigger, deeper pool (has an inflatable padded bottom to boot)- it cost me about £65 up front, about 3-4x more than the super cheap pools I used to use once.
Feel free to dig through my post history too- this isn't my first cleanup thread and there's probably extra tips and tricks hidden back there.
Thanks everyone for your comments! I'll be taking that advice from CandyCustard and screen_name into consideration for my future plans.
My reasoning on the potential usage of the wet/dry vac was that using one with a decent size, it would be easier or quicker to suck it up into the container and catch a lot more than scooping and wiping down. It is true that I'd be having to clean it afterwards, but only the one time after everything is complete.
The wet/dry vacs I was originally looking at were about 6 gallons (~20-23 litres) in size, which is more than one of my buckets. Some were even bigger!
I'll also consider going back to not tarping the pools. That was also an attempt at a hopefully quick cleanup process, as I usually use disposable (but a little more durable than the cheapest) plastic tarps for these scenes.
I've done plenty of cleaning before so I know it's always going to be a lengthy process, but I guess I'm looking for any methods of preparing or cleaning that speed up some portion of the process and try to have such things handy. I just also find that trying to find every last bit of slime in every little crevice of a pool can be tediously exhausting. So anything to help with either of those would help me out.