In ground pool, WWGRMD?

I have been house hunting and came across a home that fit's my need quiet well but, it has a in ground pool. I am not a pool guy and have no need or want for one, this home seems to have been empty since the fall of last year the pool looks to have received zero maintenance and is both nasty and full. The pool is about 18x25 with a six foot concrete walk way around the pool.

My first thought was to just drain it and fill the empty pool in with dirt but that might cause a "swamp" area to form, second was punch holes in the bottom and use the sides as a kind of drain field and then fill with dirt.

Has anyone here ever had to deal with something like this?

Thanks, Paul

Woman across the street drained hers, left the drain petcock open and filled it with dirt. I think some cinder blocks and rocks in the bottom to promote draining.

23 years later you wouldn't even know it was there.

Dan

My daughter/son in law bought a house with an in ground pool. After a couple of summers of fun, the liner developed a leak. After getting replacement costs and the kids were growing up, the filled it with dirt. Nice lawn.

Check local codes. Some places won't allow the pool to be "buried". you must dig it all out along with the plumbing.

Knock the sides in a few feet down and fill it in. Nobody will ever know it was there.

Took me about 6 hours with a Bobcat to fill my 18x36x9 in.

I also had a ton of fun doing in.

Skate park?

Fill ain't cheap to buy or truck.

Round here it's 5k to have it dealt with. Sounds like a bargaining chip for the sale price.

HappyAndy wrote: Skate park?

An empty pool is dangerous. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I agree with NOHOME. Get a quote from a local pool provider to fill it in, use it to negotiate the price of the house down.

1)Tell the wife it was filled.

2)Build a solid cover over it

3)Grow grass on it

4)Enjoy you secret hideout.

Wall-e wrote: 1)Tell the wife it was filled. 2)Build a solid cover over it 3)Grow grass on it 4)Enjoy you secret hideout.

Park some cool car in it first though.

Drain, place I beams across, instant mechanics pit

Pat and Wall-e are on to something here. This is why I asked a group or "well informed" people Gear head I should check into this but I am going to guess there are no codes on this as it's a rural area, for now.

Thanks, Paul

I have filled a couple in. As already mentioned, fill to a couple feet below grade, pull the walls in(and surrounding concrete), and finish backfilling. But they do take a lot of volume to fill. If you see someone close by digging a basement offer him a dump site for the spoil.

I've seen two pools where they pushed all the pool bits into the hole, then backfilled till it was flush.

To me, pools are like boats.

Fill it in within 2' of top and build an 1/18 scale R/C car track?

I came here to post this and was beat to it, but I don't care you get it anyway.

The guys across the street from me are using random pool furniture, pieces of fence that blew down and tumbleweeds to fill theirs. It's been a long process.

Matt B wrote: I came here to post this and was beat to it, but I don't care you get it anyway.

X3

1. Clean it out
2. Fill it with water
3. Get a floaty chair
4. Get lots of beer
5. Enjoy

I would clean the pool up and use it. You might like.

Grow your own fish

A friend of mine bought a house last year with an absolutely NASTY pool in the back. It hadn't been cleaned in years, and it was full of gross black water. He was NOT a pool guy. Hell, I've never seen him swim ever. After going on some forums (Grassroots IngroundPoolSports?) he ended up learning that if he cleaned out all the debris, he could use that very same water and get it crystal clear with the right chemicals. And he did! That pool kicked butt all summer, and it was a great place to hang out.

OR

You could fill it in. But definitely check the local laws and building codes, because if you bury a pool around here, you can get in trouble. My buddy looked into removing that pool, and it cost WAY less to just get it going and have a great place to hang out with friends and family.

Fill Option - My parents had a cement inground pool at their house when I was a kid. In my teens, we decided to scrap the thing, so we jackhammered a few holes in the deep end. Then we threw all the rocks, bricks, stumps, etc we had all summer into the hole We advertised for free fill in the Pennysaver (pre-internet) and got lots of truckloads of rocks and broken concrete and such. Then we advertised for clean fill, and got a few top coats of actual dirt. Topped with topsoil and planted grass. It settled a bit after a year, so we leveled again with more topsoil, and it has been the backyard for over 25 years now without an issue.

Keep Option - My old post-divorce bachelor pad had a nasty, black swamp out back. I looked into draining it myself, but dropping a siphon hose into the local sewer line was apparently frowned upon. (stupid me, I asked) The township wanted a contractor to come and pump out the water, clean and treat the pool, and then fill it from a truck. I had no money, so that wasn't an option.

It had a crappy cover over it, so I ended up just pouring buckets of chlorine bleach into it to keep the mosquito population at bay and trying to keep standing water off the cover. Every once in a while, I had some body panels or construction debris that the trash man would not take, and having a black hole in the back yard came in handy. I was renting the place, so what did I care?

The point is, you may be surprised by what...or who...you find in there.