Landscaping - Swimming pool removal?

PermaChanged said:
As far as we know the patio was installed a good 30 years ago, and it was an extremely common method back then to just dot a dab like crazy!

We need to dig out 8 inch of depth of the surrounding earth, lay 4 inches of 40mm down hardcore and then a 4 inch reinforced concrete bed on top of all that - like I say, we've got plenty more prep work to be doing :p
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Tbf, if it's lasted 30 years it can't be that bad:p
 
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We're dug out! We need to arrange to have the pool pumped out again, and have the pipes pressure tested once more due to the digger unearthing a few - no obvious signs of breakage but definitely worth doing before burying under hardcore and concrete.
 
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Just to be on the safe side for any future mods put yourself a duct in from any building with water or power. You can't put it in after.
We can't wait to see the finished pool and surround. That is a lot of hard work.
 
We are retrofitting lights in the side of the pool facing away from the house, as well as ensuring we have power being fed to all 4 walls so we can have lighting and exterior sockets. Cables will be far better buried than the old ones shown here https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/35192267!

Long term plan is to have a big-ish pool house / bar, and use the existing pump house as our toilet/shower block for outside.
 
Ideas and opinions needed people!

We'd like to do the prep work ourselves, in the hardcoring and laying the steel rebar given that the quote we've received is eyewatering!

We'll arrange to lay some 40 down hardcore fully compacted, and shutter off 6 inches from the boundary walls to install French drains

The quote details drilling and pinning steel dowels in to the back of the pool, so when concrete is laid it will stay true to the pool edge - how exactly is the drilling and pinning of these dowels achieved? I assume the dowels are then just tied in to the steel reinforcement mesh rebar?

We'll have someone else lay the concrete though once we've prepared the area.
 
There are a few ways of attaching reinforcing

You can drill a hole for a piece of rebar and resin it into place then either tie the rebar to this spigot or weld it to the mat (if laying a rebar mat)
or drill a hole for a long thunderbolt or rawlbolt and do the same
 
PermaChanged said:
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We're dug out! We need to arrange to have the pool pumped out again, and have the pipes pressure tested once more due to the digger unearthing a few - no obvious signs of breakage but definitely worth doing before burying under hardcore and concrete.
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Out of interest, what colour is the pool pipework? If it's white ABS pipe I'd seriously consider replacing it, regardless if it passes a pressure test or not, with PVC-U pipe. A lot of old pools were piped up in ABS pipe, however it's gets brittle over time resulting in it failing. Running in new PVC-U pipes whilst everything is exposed would be my recommendation.
 
dale1uk said:
Out of interest, what colour is the pool pipework? If it's white ABS pipe I'd seriously consider replacing it, regardless if it passes a pressure test or not, with PVC-U pipe. A lot of old pools were piped up in ABS pipe, however it's gets brittle over time resulting in it failing. Running in new PVC-U pipes whilst everything is exposed would be my recommendation.
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Thanks for the recommendation, pipes are indeed white! Any idea of potential cost involved in making the changes?

ANDARIAL said:
There are a few ways of attaching reinforcing

You can drill a hole for a piece of rebar and resin it into place then either tie the rebar to this spigot or weld it to the mat (if laying a rebar mat)
or drill a hole for a long thunderbolt or rawlbolt and do the same
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Awesome, will look into epoxying rebar in to the wall to tie too, sounds relatively simple!
 
PermaChanged said:
Thanks for the recommendation, pipes are indeed white! Any idea of potential cost involved in making the changes?
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Replacing the pipework is easy enough and something you could do yourself. Costs will all be down to materials.

For pipe and fittings see here: https://www.plasticpipeshop.co.uk/PVC-Pipe-and-Fittings_c_492.html
Then you'll need some pipe cement (I use either Weld On 725 wet r dry, or Griffon WDF 05), a tin of pipe cleaner, and a fine tooth saw

There's no need to fully expose all of the old pipework. It's usually easier to just dig a new trench that gives you the easiest/shortest run back to your plantroom. Just dig out to the back of the pool fitting and cut the existing pipe as close too it as you can, allowing enough to glue into the new fitting and away you go. Obviously you'll not be able to replace all of the sump pipework as it'll run under the shell, but I'd replace as much you can easily access.
 
We have made big progress since the last update! Our pool guys have been in, the tile band has been made roughly an inch wider than the previous, this was to ensure the worst of the pitted plaster at the water level line was cut out.

The stairs have been rounded off and retiled to make a smoother transition in to the pool, and also less prone to toe stubbing etc when pratting around in the shallow end.

New skimmer fitted, new return line fitted, and new lights fitted - the lights were trunked down the side of the pool about 2 inches below the new tile band, but as they're large dish style lights you cannot see where they were installed.

The coping stones were freehand cut, bullnosed and stuck down and all grouted up.

The hose has been in the pool for about 18 hours so far, and it's been calculated that with our hose flow rate it should be full by Friday afternoon, ready for an icy weekend plunge!

For a 30 year old and completed neglected pool, it's not come up too badly! There are bits in the plaster base which aren't perfect and not much can be done about that, but if we get good use out of and love the pool we'll potentially look in to tiling the whole thing.

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Awesome stuff. So glad you've decided to keep it. Fortunate there's not many trees around too, so rubbish being blown into the pool should keep it clean.

How usable is an outdoor pool in the UK? Some family friends have an indoor pool which is heated, but i would've thought in the UK an outdoor unheated pool would be cold a lot. It would be awesome for an ice bath in winter after exercise :D
 
ANDARIAL said:
Damn!Thats looking nice m8:)
Now do something about that tatty greenhouse in the background :D:D:D
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It's not ours unfortunately, but the weather will do something about that in the next big storm, I'm certain of it ;)

Martynt74 said:
Awesome stuff. So glad you've decided to keep it. Fortunate there's not many trees around too, so rubbish being blown into the pool should keep it clean.

How usable is an outdoor pool in the UK? Some family friends have an indoor pool which is heated, but i would've thought in the UK an outdoor unheated pool would be cold a lot. It would be awesome for an ice bath in winter after exercise :D
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It has stayed remarkably free of debris which is a real win, long may it continue that way! We're based in Guernsey so do have ever so slightly warmer/longer summers, but I think we will get it heated with an ASHP at some point in time, all the heating work is done in the pump room so can be relatively easily retrofitted.
 
Before and after chemicals - it almost looks inviting now despite being 8c!

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Currently in the process of chipping render off the boundary wall, so the whole thing can be smooth rendered in one hit - hours of "fun"!
 
We've got a 3kg Milwaukee SDS which is barely making a dent in it, and a 7.1kg Hikoki SDS Max which is tearing through it relatively easily. Handling of the 7.1kg SDS Max is the challenge though - thinking that angle grinding a grid of sorts in to the render will allow it to come off more easily.

If not, we need a middle ground 5kg SDS!
 
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