Landscaping - Swimming pool removal?

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Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2006
Posts
4,620
Just wondering if anyone here has had experience with digging out, and filling in an old swimming pool?

We've purchased a property which has a pool which is in a state of disrepair, and we'd like to remove it to have a lawn garden instead.

The pool is surrounded by a boundary wall and patio slabs, so will take a lot of work to get it removed, levelled, fenced in to be turned in to a garden - anyone have any idea in regards to how long it would take to get this work done, and the costs involved in doing so? I envisage doing a lot of the manual labour myself with a sledgehammer and concrete breaker if costs of using heavy machinery is prohibitive.

Picture of the setup below

https://www.livingroom.gg/property_media/1502/48805/CRIFFELEXTERNALS72DPI-3.jpg
https://www.livingroom.gg/property_media/1502/48803/CRIFFELEXTERNALS72DPI-5.jpg
https://www.livingroom.gg/property_media/1502/48807/CRIFFELEXTERNALS72DPI-1.jpg
 
We would have of course preferred there to not be a pool, but nothing suitable came up in our search where as this house ticked all the boxes, with that pool/lack of garden being the exception :p

I'll have help in doing it, I'm owed plenty of manual labour from friends I've helped in the past - I think getting a digger and truck will be our best option for the pool and levelling the ground, but I can't imagine the wall and patio removal will be too onerous for a team of 6 of us over a few days!
 
I think the cheapest option would be

1 - Pull up all the existing slabs as they seem pretty roper anyway
2 - Smash them up to fill in the swimming pool along with any free hardcore you can find.
3 - Throw soil on top of the existing concrete base under the slabs
4 - Build retaining walls to then keep the paths at the current level to use the gate


It's a shame as that area looks fairly neglected and could look alright with a bit of work to get it back to former glory.

Otherwise have you considered artificial turf just whacked down with some underlay ontop of the slabs?
 
Bunka said:
It's probably easier to get the pool fixed than to try and fill it in!
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This, was watching a garden makeover program a few weeks ago ,they had a pool and didn't know what to do with it as it would have cost £60k to get it ripped out and leveled off :eek:
 
yep something that size is going to cost more to take out than put in .. and it's not a case of just filling the pool water would need some way of draining out the bottom ..
15-20k would get it looking good again .. new filter system cover and a really good clean up round it ..
 
BigBoy said:
This, was watching a garden makeover program a few weeks ago ,they had a pool and didn't know what to do with it as it would have cost £60k to get it ripped out and leveled off :eek:
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Any idea what show that may have been? May be worth a look.

The problem is the property doesn't have a garden, if we keep the pool so the pool has to go, also can't be assed with pool maintenence and other costs.

I'm happy doing the leg work of the wall, paving slabs and will pump the pool out myself (connected to main drains, it'll go in to that). It'll be breaking the pool bed, digging it out, filling and levelling which we need doing by a contractor. I guess I'll start shopping round!
 
This it was something like make your garden great again on channel4. Where they have two designers face off and the property owner gets to choose.
 
I can’t imagine it would cost £60k to remove, that’s a crazy amount of money for what is effectively just a concrete pond. I doubt the walls are even that thick, yes pools are heavy but the load is spread over a large area.

I’d pressure wash those slabs and someone will come and take them off your hands and possibly even pay. As for the pool, a breaker will get through it, dump all the excess rubble/foundation not needed to fill in the hole on the drive and hire a grab lorry to come and take it away.
 
£60K lol, hire a Kango breaker to break up swimming pool base to allow for drainage. Break all the slabs up and throw inside, kango the edge down to 2ft below ground height and fill with 10 ton of limestone chatter depending on depth, cover with 5 ton top soil. £2000 tops.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I can’t imagine it would cost £60k to remove, that’s a crazy amount of money for what is effectively just a concrete pond. I doubt the walls are even that thick, yes pools are heavy but the load is spread over a large area.

I’d pressure wash those slabs and someone will come and take them off your hands and possibly even pay. As for the pool, a breaker will get through it, dump all the excess rubble/foundation not needed to fill in the hole on the drive and hire a grab lorry to come and take it away.
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zuludawn said:
£60K lol, hire a Kango breaker to break up swimming pool base to allow for drainage. Break all the slabs up and throw inside, kango the edge down to 2ft below ground height and fill with 10 ton of limestone chatter depending on depth, cover with 5 ton top soil. £2000 tops.
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Don't make me laugh, you have obviously never had to do any of the above.

I removed three ponds (yes ponds not swimming pools). I had to pull up 44tons of rubble and that was only half way 3ft In to the depth of the ponds. I left 4x that much rubble under my garden (under a large patio) and covered the rest in 10ton of topsoil, should have been 20 ton because it drains far too quickly.

I did the work myself it took me 4months with a high performance hilti breaker and a wheel barrow, 4x grab hire wagons at 11 tons each set me back £3000.

Depending on location and access, availability of people to get shot of the waste, a company to dispose of the waste and knowing what's under the patio you can increase the numbers between 10-20x.
 
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BigBoy said:
Don't make me laugh, you have obviously never had to do any of the above.

I removed three ponds (yes ponds not swimming pools). I had to pull up 44tons of rubble and that was only half way 3ft In to the depth of the ponds. I left 4x that much rubble under my garden (under a large patio) and covered the rest in 10ton of topsoil, should have been 20 ton because it drains far too quickly.

I did the work myself it took me 4months with a high performance hilti breaker and a wheel barrow, 4x grab hire wagons at 11 tons each set me back £3000.

Depending on location and access, availability of people to get shot of the waste, a company to dispose of the waste and knowing what's under the patio you can increase the numbers between 10-20x.
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Actually I have, I used to build ponds in concrete for a living, big ones :)
 
BigBoy said:
Building them and removing them are two completely different sides to the same coin.

Waste disposal costs have gone through the roof in recent years.
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This I know though recent works, but we are looking at filling it in not taking anything away. With good drainage everything there could be used as infill then top dress, from pics I see nothing that needs removing. Like someone mentioned advertising the flags even for free, that would take care of them.
 
Rather than digging it out, have you considered explosives to shatter the walls and floor of the pool? Obviously you’ll need a professional. If the pool is made out of concrete then perhaps liberal use of sulphates will ease your task as they eat concrete.
 
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