Swimming pool removal

[PXW]

So, coming to the end of the season, and the garden pool has never been so underused. Mrs PXW and I tend to use a local health club for gym/pool (they have a 17m pool so much more effective for Mrs PXW than our 8m home one).

Thinking about getting rid of it - would involve stripping out the liner (easy but needs a skip), removing the galvanised side panels, breaking up the concrete base and hopper - the rubble can stay there - and then filling in. The rest I can do - all the overground pipework, pump, multiport valve, heat pump etc - I installed most of that anyway as maintenance, and some of it will have secondhand value.

Has anyone done this? I’m trying to get a feel for costs, and t’internet is fairly useless on that, but also I’m not sure what trades I need - groundworks? Hard landscaper? Just some labour and then hire jackhammers, skip and a whacker plate??

Any views/experience from the collective would be appreciated!

 

[merc07]

Depends what you want in its place I guess, do you have to even break up the base ?
What heat pump do you have ?

 

[ALFAitalia]

My friend converted his to a very nice formal fish pond....complete with fountain!!

 

[PXW]

Depends what you want in its place I guess, do you have to even break up the base ?
What heat pump do you have ?

Looking at just landscaping it into the garden - maybe some lawn, some beds, perhaps some seating (I’d like a sunken seating area but Mrs PXW isn’t keen. And she is, after all, in charge…).

The base needs breaking up because otherwise any fill will just become waterlogged and potentially unstable. The heat pump is a Thermotec 24kW with a maximum COP of 13 - great for pools but not suitable to switch to heating the house, unfortunately.

 

[PXW]

My friend converted his to a very nice formal fish pond....complete with fountain!!

Seen a few solutions like this, and they can look great…but I don’t really want to replace my swimming pool maintenance with formal fish pond maintenance!

 

[LTD]

You already have a big hole in the ground, why would you need to consider removing anything from the site ?

Can’t you just do like builders do and bury it all ?

Save the removal cost, sell the equipment if you can and then fill the hole with hardcore to about 18 inches and then fill with topsoil

 

[Darrell]

You already have a big hole in the ground, why would you need to consider removing anything from the site ?

Can’t you just do like builders do and bury it all ?

Save the removal cost, sell the equipment if you can and then fill the hole with hardcore to about 18 inches and then fill with topsoil

^^ This ^^

And ask your neighbours if they want to Chuck any of their old crap in there as well.

 

[Steveml63]

Hi,
Have you thought of drilling holes in the base of the liner - to allow water to drain away.
Then backfill with some coarse rubble and finish top with soil or patio.
I think this would be preferable and less expensive than trying to remove the liner.
Cheers
Steve

 

[ALFAitalia]

Seen a few solutions like this, and they can look great…but I don’t really want to replace my swimming pool maintenance with formal fish pond maintenance!

I have two ponds. Maintenance consists of feeding the fish and....well that its once its established. I pull the odd bit of weed out when too much grows but otherwise just look at it!! Oh and replace the waterfall pump about every three years....that seems to be about all they last, cheap or expensive!!

 

[merc07]

Looking at just landscaping it into the garden - maybe some lawn, some beds, perhaps some seating (I’d like a sunken seating area but Mrs PXW isn’t keen. And she is, after all, in charge…).

The base needs breaking up because otherwise any fill will just become waterlogged and potentially unstable. The heat pump is a Thermotec 24kW with a maximum COP of 13 - great for pools but not suitable to switch to heating the house, unfortunately.

24kw, do you boil the water, bet it worked well for an 8m pool !

 

[Will]

Turn it into an underground bunker/cellar/games room/man cave etc!

Astroturf over the top, no one will ever know

 

[Ted]

Turn it into an underground bunker/cellar/games room/man cave etc!

Astroturf over the top, no one will ever know

That sounds like a plan!
And it’s already tanked so should be dry.
What are you waiting for

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Remove anything of valve. Core drill some soak-aways. Fill with type 1 sub-base. Compact with a wacker at 150mm intervals (essential) and finish as desired.

Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[PXW]

24kw, do you boil the water, bet it worked well for an 8m pool !

Maintains 30° quite easily! It replaced an old 60kW gas boiler that packed up a few years ago.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Maintains 30° quite easily! It replaced an old 60kW gas boiler that packed up a few years ago.

My old man heated ours up with a Systems boiler in the late 80’s. Worked a great.

 

[BTB 500]

Apologies for a short non-swimming pool related diversion ...

Can’t you just do like builders do and bury it all ?

LOL we had what looked like a big shrubbery thing in the middle of our garden ... turned out to be an overgrown spoil heap about 7' high left over from some building work the previous owners had done. Took me weeks to remove with the front end loader on my compact tractor - it contained some sizeable bits of masonry, and they'd dumped it all on top of an old hedge line so there were tree stumps, fence posts, wire fencing etc. in there as well. There are another two big overgrown mounds but those are at the sides so we've left those. All good fun.

Mound on the left:


About 2/3 removed:


Mrs BTB wanted a go:


Getting there:


Found this buried in the mound:


Lots of tree stumps ... grab bucket very handy for picking them up:


Old hedge line exposed:


Some of the stumps dug out:


Harrowing/rolling:


Seeded & fenced off to grow:


This was last summer - looks lovely now, we have twice as much lawn

 

[merc07]

Maintains 30° quite easily! It replaced an old 60kW gas boiler that packed up a few years ago.

I bet it did.
Mines under sized but I bought it very cheap from a friend of a friend who like yourself was closing his pool. It's a very old 9kw (2.1kw input) heat pump that struggles a little with a 9m pool, 0.6 - 0.8 degrees rise an hour in the summer including the solar effect on the pool cover.

 

[del320]

Apologies for a short non-swimming pool related diversion ...

LOL we had what looked like a big shrubbery thing in the middle of our garden ... turned out to be an overgrown spoil heap about 7' high left over from some building work the previous owners had done. Took me weeks to remove with the front end loader on my compact tractor - it contained some sizeable bits of masonry, and they'd dumped it all on top of an old hedge line so there were tree stumps, fence posts, wire fencing etc. in there as well. There are another two big overgrown mounds but those are at the sides so we've left those. All good fun.

Lots of tree stumps ... grab bucket very handy for picking them up:

Must have been some size of a hole you dug to bury that lot...

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Must have been some size of a hole you dug to bury that lot...

 

[BTB 500]

Must have been some size of a hole you dug to bury that lot...

Yep I could have piled up the earth from it in the middle of the lawn

I actually distributed the mound round the edges of the garden - some went on the other two, and the rest was used to make low banks. As an aside I found loads of pottery pieces in the earth as I was moving it, presumably from the foundations for the extension to the house. I think the other big heap must be from the barn & stables, and the smaller one from the detached double garage ... all the building work was done in the mid-late '90s. This is the view today: