Swimming Pool Removal?

[Indianamom2]

Okay, here's the deal. We bought our house 5 years ago. It came with a large deck attached to the house and surrounding a partially dug-in swimming pool.

It is not a concrete inground pool. About 2-3 feet of this pool is above the ground and maybe 2 feet dug in, but when you walk out of the house onto the deck, you are even with the top of the pool, if that makes sense. (This pool is a Kayak brand pool, if that helps.)

We almost never use the pool. It is about 15 years old and the decking all around needs to be replaced. Personally, we'd rather just get rid of the pool all together and then rebuild a smaller deck, but I have no idea how much it will cost to remove this pool.

At worst, the pool is a fiberglass shell (12x24, so not huge). At best, it is just the vinyl liner surrounded by plastic and shored up with wooden walls. We just don't know for sure until we get into the removal.

Anybody every removed a pool? Approx. what did it cost? We need to do something, and if we were to move in a year or two, the deck will HAVE to be replaced, one way or the other and with the age of the pool, plus the liability, I think it would be easier to sell without the pool. We live in Northern Indiana and maybe use the pool 2 times a year, so the cost of maintenance is not worth it.

Anyone have any experience with pool removal?

Thanks,
Christina

[ha98ed14]

We are house hunting and we DO NOT want a pool. Needless to say, in SoCal, many houses have pools, so we have looked at some. Our realtor used to be a pool contractor and he told us 8-10K to have it taken out here. Not sure how much where you are. Maybe you can call a pool contractor and ask who takes them out? Maybe they have referrals and you can get an estimate. HTH.

[geochick]

I'd call a contractor too. Many of them are looking for work right now, and they'd have access to a back-hoe.

How handy are you? You could probably do a lot of the demolition work yourself, then call a 1-800-Got-junk to come and haul it away.

[Indianamom2]

In response to how handy...not very much at all...plus I'm currently 24 weeks pregnant and have a 4.5 year old. Doing it ourselves is not going to happen...but it did make me laugh to think of how incompetent we would be!

Dh is an attorney who works long hours and isn't particularly handy either. We'd be in WAY over our heads!

Christina

[niccig]

Originally Posted by Indianamom2

In response to how handy...not very much at all...plus I'm currently 24 weeks pregnant and have a 4.5 year old. Doing it ourselves is not going to happen...but it did make me laugh to think of how incompetent we would be!

Dh is an attorney who works long hours and isn't particularly handy either. We'd be in WAY over our heads!

Christina

Call and get some quotes. Also factor in landscaping the area once the pool is gone...

[DebbieJ]

I would put an ad on Craigslist and put the pool up for sale with teh requirement that the buyer come disassemble it.

[o_mom]

I saw a good web page on this when we were house hunting. We did not want a pool - no way, no how. My parents have one and between the never ending worry about the kids, the cost and upkeep, I wanted no part of it. A couple houses we looked at had pools, so I was researching (we didn't end up getting them, so I never got to deal with it personally). This was the site - cost about $3700 with some DIY, but that was a poured concrete pool and deck - what you have should be much cheaper. http://home.comcast.net/~phil.detwei...emolition.html

I would pay a handyman or pool contractor to come do a bit of work to take a peek and see what exactly you are dealing with. If it is just a vinyl liner w/ steel walls, you may be in good shape. The vinyl is easy to get rid of, the steel can be sold (metal prices are high now) and the rest is filling the smallish hole. Pool contractors are always looking to get rid of dirt when they put one in, so if you can wait until they have a job, you can get the fill for free/cheap. Sell the pump and equipment on CL or eBay to offset the cost. Check with your city/county as well as far as what permits are needed and what kind of fill you need to do depending on the depth below grade.

[Indianamom2]

Thanks ladies. We are having some siding replaced on our house in the next couple days and we also talked to the contractor about the deck/pool...I just have no idea what to expect, so I thought I'd ask those who might have been there/done that.

I am certain that we are not dealing with concrete, which would be much more expensive...but beyond that, it's hard to know what's going to be involved.

Christina

[Globetrotter]

We did this a long time ago. I can't remember what type of pool it was, but they had to remove the water, then drill holes into the bottom (so it wouldn't overflow when it rained!) and then they removed a few feet of it all around the edges and filled it with soil. We allowed the soil to settle for several months before planting grass. The pool removal itself was around $8-10K, so now I would think it's gone up somewhat. This is in California and everything seems to cost more here, unfortunately.

Make sure you hire someone who knows what they are doing, especially since you sound like us (dh also works a lot and never has the time or knowledge to do these types of projects). I think it's important to get a permit because the next buyer will need reassurance that it was done correctly. We haven't had any problems!

[ThreeofUs]

We took a pool out of my brother's place - just like you said. Getting the pool out was no problem, we did it and it was easy with directions from the manufacturer and on the net; filling the dirt back in was what cost money.