Landscaping - Swimming pool removal?

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Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2006
Posts
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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!
 
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!
 
Semple said:
Is this even in the UK? Weather almost looks too good for it to be.
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I'm located in Guernsey, Channel Islands - would make it tricky for @zuludawn to do the removal I'm sure, but also means the weather is "too good" for the UK ;)

I'll liaise locally to see whether infilling is allowed with drainage holes being added, or whether complete removal is our only option.
 
I guess waiting until we're moved in, and have a list of quotes, is our only option at the moment!

The rolling decking cover does sound like the most appealing option to myself at the moment, on the assumption it can be loaded with sun loungers and a parasol - shouldn't be too much additional weight! We could be looking at a rather hefty sum of money for that though, especially when coupled with refurbishing the pool. We would need it to be pet safe so that they can't get under the cover, but can walk over it - this would also make it child safe in the future too.

I just want to make sure we have enough garden, and the outdoor area isn't dominated by a pool and stone.
 
Well at least we know the pool holds water, as it's full of ***** right now! Once pumped out we'll know more about what needs doing.

However, in other news, the survey of the property has come back valuing it at less than our offer - we need to renegotiate the amount of land, the price, or both. This could work in our favour, but could result in the sale falling through if the bank won't lend against it.
 
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watercooledman said:
as above, clean it up all up then get a specialist in to check it all over.

a bit of sprucing up and that would look great.
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An old school friend of mine owns his own pool company, dropped him a Facebook message and he's coming round tomorrow to give us an idea of costs to reinstate - I sent him photos of the pump room and from that he's managed to ascertain it used to be a saltwater pool, and he believes was solar heated.

The western wall got knocked down this weekend too, we'll look to extend the pool deck area to the western boundary, will be quite the hosting area when done!
 
We do have far too much tarmac! There is a garage at the back of the house, which is integral to the building rather than a separate building, and this will be turned in to our kitchen with a vaulted ceiling with bifold doors looking out on to the pool/garden.

Our plan is along the lines of the below, black being patio which is laid flush with the kitchen floor out of the bifolds, green being a lawn laid to the side, with the existing pool deck extended to our western boundary. A fence would be erected across the driveway, in red, allowing access and keeping our garden/pool hidden from the roadside.


I posted the estate agent listing in another thread once we'd agreed the sale, so here it is for this thread too so all photos can be seen, to help visual what our vision is - https://www.livingroom.gg/buy/property/1502
qnkyx81.jpg
 
Yes, they've retained a huge amount of the land, they used to be growers so the fields to the rear were covered in greenhouses many moons ago, the garage was the packing shed for the flowers, and the house has a built in cold store room too - they weren't interested in parting with any of the land unfortunately!

We've already had quotes to have the boundary instated and the door way blocked off, we're just going to do the groundwork for the block layer.

Semple said:
Any plans for redesigning the layout? Or just modernising the decor?
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Big big plans :) Architect is drawing something up for us with our brief in mind. The current kitchen will become a bedroom, the current living room will become a master suite with walk in wardrobes and an ensuite, bedroom 3 will become a family bathroom, bedroom 2 remains the same, bedroom 1 becomes the lounge. The WC/shower/WC/bathroom becomes the entrance hall area.
 
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We're doing a basic clear up and pumping out of the pool, we'll also pressure wash it all down.

We think a new tile band is in order, as well retiling at the edge of the steps, but after an acid wash to the rest of the concrete we think the pool itself is useable/done - just the pump room bits which need replacing, have a friend visiting at 3pm today to advise who owns his own pool company.

The paving we think we'll replace as we're extending the paved area and don't think we'll get identical paving - the coping around the pool needs changing too.
 
Swimming pool pipes get pressure/leak tested a week today, if they're in good order it's all systems go in reinstating the pool!

Been a busy few weeks of ownership, the side building and cold store (which was built out of lovely asbestos cement board) have been removed and disposed of, we found a massive ants nest in the polystyrene insulation within the cold store which was fun, must have been 6ft wide and 18inches deep, quite cool to see.

The GF is documenting the build and renovation progress on Instagram, @steall_falls_diary if anyone is interested

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Pool pipes have checked out okay, new pump required however which means we're going ahead with re-opening the pool - invites to be sent out soon, BBQ and beers provided, bring your own towel.
 
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