Return to the Southern Gardening Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
Posted by gardengoddess2 z7b NC (My Page) on Tue, Feb 24, 04 at 9:09
| I am helping a friend who recently bought a house with a large, inground, but leaky swimming pool. She has decided to fill in the pool and create a shrub and perennial garden in the space. I'd love to hear dos and don'ts from anyone who has tried this at home. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| WHHOOOAAAA!!! How big is the pool?? That is alot of dirt. Why doesn't she just get the leak fixed and use the pool?? Maybe a couple of tons of small rock like the pebble kind in driveways added first might help the cost of the dirt loads. Then add fill sand and then some nice topsoil/compost. By the time you add your plants and around 4 inches of mulch, should be nice. How deep is the pool and is there a concrete apron around it?? She could always open a skateboard park and charge $2 per person to skateboard. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| As you can guess, I'm collecting successful pool conversion ideas. Keep me posted if you find out any thing in this category. The two ideas i've heard so far are: (1) converting pool to a rose garden, or 92) building a deck over it. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Depends on how leaky the pool is? After filling up with soil, will it be wet,dry, or a bog area. After that, maybe we can help? |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| If the pool in question is a non-liner type (cement, gunite, fiberglass etc.) it is vitally important that you open up the bottom somehow after draining the pool or the hydrostatic pressure from underneath the pool will lift it up out of the ground. Also the filled in area would never drain well and would be a quick-sand like environment. When I have our cement pool removed this spring, I am going to have the bottom jackhammered up to provide the necessary drainage. |
Here is a link that might be useful: My Website (look in new house pictures for pics of pool)
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Phil, I think this is a better link to your pictures. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Phil's page
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
My friend did this and they knocked holes in the sides and in the bottom of their pool and they hired someone to come in on their property and get the soil from their property and haul it to the pool instead of paying them for the soil. I think she said it took 21 large dump truck loads to fill it up. They then let it settle all winter and they just got finished planting it. Her pool was fenced in so she made it look like a courtyard. They left the concrete edge that was all the way around it and they divided the pool area up and planted grass in the curved corners and did some beds in each corner and then the grass. They have little bricks for edging around it. I will try and remember to take my camera over there and get a couple pics of it when I can. Right now I am carless because my daughters car blew a head gasket and she is using my car to go to work.
But anyway they just divided the pool area up and she did a four teired fountain like mine in the center of it and they have stepping stones going up to the fountain on all sides. It's a very formal look. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Ok I got some pics this evening of her converted pool....Hopefully I can upload one here and then I have a link below if I can't upload one here. Oh well, I see I can't upload one here. So click on the link below.... |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of converted pool
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
Gardnpondr,
That looks really great!
Thank you for sharing the pictures. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| I don't know what NC soil is like, but here in OK we have lots of clay, especially down at pool depth. Maintaining the correct elevation and not having it all settle down is hte key from my perspective. Good Luck! |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Thank you esh_ga for correcting my link, I don't know how that happened. We are letting the ground settle for a while before we lay down topsoil and plant grass. I was surprised at how easy it was for the man to do the work. He said when it is done, you will never be able to tell there had been a pool in the yard. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pool demolition page
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Phil, thanks for sharing those pictures. Very interesting to watch the demolition progress. Was that wee one a little forlorn as she watched the demo? I take it there was a reason to get rid of the pool (leaky?)? I know my husband threatens to fill ours in from time to time .... |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| She really didn't care, even though it looks as if she is sad in the pictures. We go to the community pool often where there are lots of other little ones, so she doesn't mind. The pool was 36 years old and the pipes were leaky, the paint was all coming off, the coping was shot, the concrete was looking kind of ugly and we didn't like having it with the little one around. Even in the off season it was dangerous because we it did not have one of those 'trampoline' style safety covers, just a big old tarp which filled up with water on top; a death trap for toddlers. The first thing the guy next door said was, 'Let me know how much it costs, I am thinking about doing the same thing to mine'. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Hello everyone, here are some updated pictures of our former pool area. The grass was planted on Saturday, July 26 and is starting to come up already. http://home.comcast.net/%7Ephil.detweiler/PoolDemolition3/index.html |
Here is a link that might be useful: latest pictures of removed pool
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Phil, that baby girl didn't look so happy to see her pool filled in. But, maybe she's the reason you filled it in. More precious than a pool. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| The little one didn't care at all. I think she picked up on how worried we were about her drowning in it that she was glad to see it go as well (she is only 3, so she has a limited understanding of these things). Our 12 year old didn't care to much either as she likes to go to the community pool and hang out with her friends. The people on both sides of us have pools, and I have seen only one of them use their pool once, on July 4th when they had a picnic. Removing this thing was on of the better decisions I have made (for me, I am sure others love their pools). I noticed I put "July 26" when I meant "June 26" in my last post. It has been 3 weeks now since we planted the grass, and it really is hard to imagine there was a big old cement monster in the back yard a month or so ago. The included link is for pictures taken this morning (July 17th). |
Here is a link that might be useful: Latest pics of removed pool
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| I have been getting hundreds of hits on my website, and many of you have emailed me for more information, so I added a page that hopefully answers some of the most commonly asked questions. If there is other information you would like, please still feel free to email me and I will do my best to answer your specific questions. I enjoy receiving your emails and I am very glad to be able to provide help for so many people out there. |
Here is a link that might be useful: New information page on my pool removal website
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| I'm sorry, my website with the swimming pool removal pictures is temporarily unavailable. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Hi everyone, This is my first post here. It looks like a great forum!!
Phil, can you send me the url to view your "used to be swimming pool"?
I am debating whether or not to fill ours in or to try and find the leak (gunite and 20 years old). It also needs to be resurfaced. I am seriously thinking about filling it in but I am afraid when I go to sell the house, people might be turned off by the fact that there is a pool carcass out back.
It used to get a lot of use. The last couple of years, it's been mainly an expensive pain with little to no use.
If anyone else has photos of what they have done with their yard since removing or filling in a pool, I'd love to see them.
Thanks in advance o:) |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| The site is back up again! http://home.comcast.net/~phil.detweiler/PoolDemolition.html I will try to add some pictures from today as the most recent ones are now several months old. Our pool was 37 years old and in need of the same type of repairs you described. It would have cost several times more to fix it up than to get rid of it. Phil |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pool demolition website
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| One note on filling the pool, concrete is very alkaline in nature, if you have any plants which prefer an acidic soil they will not be happy unless you monitor/adjust the soil PH. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| I have an inground pool that my husband and I are thinking of eliminating. It has a lot of decking around it that was painted instead of stained. The paint is chipping and getting into the pool. The maintenance is too much work, he doesn't use it at all. I was dreaming of a waterfall and water garden and a stone patio, possibly sunken, with a fire pit. Then lots of plants to soften the area. Right now it is blue pool, deck, ugly blue slide, and 6 ft. board fence. It totally blocks off the rest of the yard. Will try to get a picture to post. Welcome any ideas... NN |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Hi Nancy. It sounds as if you have a real clunker of a pool on your hands. Is the pool a concrete one like ours was, or is it a liner type which I presume would be much easier to get rid of. I would love to see pictures of the area if you have any. You may be able to actually incorporate some elements of the existing pool into your new design which, by your description, sounds far more appealing to me than a swimming pool anyday! Good luck! Phil |
Here is a link that might be useful: Removal of our pool
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
When I was small we moved into a house that had a sunken barbeque -- the lot was sloped. My dad ran a concrete block company, so my parents used damaged blocks to fill the pit most of the way, then covered with some kind of plastic (I think the modern fabrics would be much better) and filled the rest with dirt. Then it was level with the back yard, and they planted grass and flowers and a few bushes.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is maybe you could get seconds from a block company to economize if you don't need depth of soil for things like trees.
K. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Those are good suggestions from Carolinakate. When our ingroud pool was removed, the only material actually brought onto the site was the topsoil needed to plant grass. Surprisingly after knocking off the top two feet or so of the pool wall, and leveling off the surrounding area, nothing had to be taken away, and nothing (other than a few inches of topsoil) had to brought in. I suppose each case is different. Just be sure if you leave a pool shell in the ground to provide for proper drainage out the bottom, or it will fill up with water and become a big marsh. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pool removal pictures
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
I see that no one has posted anything here for a while but I hope someone will see this and reply. I want to fill a large (180 cubic yds) in-ground pool. I have read the information about opening up the bottom to allow for drainage, is there a certain amount that should be opened up? Also how long (approx) does it take the ground to settle and do we need different soil types in layers aside from a top layer of good top soil. How many inches of top soil would you suggest. We intend to do the work ourselves.
Anyone who has done this, how long did it take and apporox how much did it cost? Any information would be great. |
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| I don't know about filling it in, but if anyone is interested in having a pond instead of a pool, here's a site for that type of conversion. Annie |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pool to Pond Conversion
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
My husband and I removed our 16x 32 ft. inground swimming pool ourselves and saved $$$$. It tookd us a couple of summers of hard work (off and on) but, it was well worth it. Ours was a drop liner so we removed the liner and cut the metal box (holding the liner) apart with a torch. I got all of the 110+ yards of clean fill that we needed to fill it in free. Then we used the broken cement from the pool patio to make raised garden beds. Now we have gorgeous gardens to admire instead of an old swimming pool. Here's some picture of our gardens.
 
|
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Pool Demolition is an involved thing... we do pool demo's almost every day. There are a lot of regulations, rules, and inspections that go with pool demo's. Here in PA it can be frustrating, but the paperwork needs to be done, along with applications for permits, inspections etc.. Then when it comes time to demo, that can be quite involved... I have seen concrete up to 24 inches thick! We use excavators with hydraulic breakers on them, and it is difficult to break with them sometimes. My only advise to someone considering getting a pool demolished is call a professional demolition company. We only work in PA, but there are a lot of companies out there. |
Here is a link that might be useful: 360 Excavating Company
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| Instead of converting a swimming pool why not try to leave it as it is, and use a pool paint. Maybe you could use Davis Paint. |
Here is a link that might be useful: davis
RE: Swimming Pool Conversion
| | |
| I totally agree with marc_360excavatingco from the above post. Check out some of the pictures on their website and you will see how involved removing a cement swimming pool really is. While I don't have any first hand knowledge of this company personally (although it looks as if they are located somewhat close to me in Pennsylvania), they certainly appear to be well prepared to do the job. From talking to contractors when we did this a few years ago, it became apparent that a few of these guys were ready to take on the job but didn't seem to really have a good grasp on the scope of the work and all of the possible implications. Some of the really old (from the 50s & 60s) pools used exponentially more concrete than would be used for a similar project if built today. It would seem that a company like 360 Excavating and Demolition Company (from the marc above) is at fully aware of what it takes to complete the job. My fear was getting somebody who would take a down-payment, start the work, and then not know how to (or be able to) properly finish off the job. I suspect it is even more difficult to get someone to come in and fix another guy's mess. I also wanted to let people know that my page describing our experience with removing an inground pool has moved to a new server. The new page is at: http://phildetweiler.net/poolremoval/index.html |
Here is a link that might be useful: Story of our pool removal experience
|
|
|
|
