Filling in an in-ground pool

[Fghij]

We are house hunting, and we found a lovely one with a huge in-ground pool. We don't want a pool. Is it a lot of work and expensive to fill it in or have it filled?

Bekka

[zoobie]

You'll have to check local ordinances. Some places make you haul out all of the concrete and etc before bringing in dirt to fill it. The cost depends on the price of labor, dirt, and landscaping in your area.

[sassenach]

I don't know how much it costs to fill it in. I do have a friend who turned his into a fabulous wine cellar. ðŸ·

Really?! That's a new one. How cool.

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with Zoobie. Check with local regs, and maybe get a couple of quotes before committing.  In our area it might not cost that much, relatively speaking, and depending on the material you are using to fill it in with.  I don't think there are a lot of regulations regarding this.  But where I went to high school we had neighbors whose pool cracked.  They decided to fill it in instead of repairing it or trying to replace it.  The cost was thousands of dollars because of the regulations in place at that time.

[Scarlett]

I just can't imagine not wanting a pool.....

[Catwoman]

It will cost several thousand dollars to fill in the pool -- and the town may also require special permits and specific disposal of the pool components, which will make it even more expensive. Then you have to figure out what to do with the gigantic empty patch of dirt in your yard where the pool used to be, and perhaps a lovely deck or patio that now leads to nowhere.

 

And the whole procedure is a messy nuisance.

 

Unless you already absolutely love a particular house, I would suggest not looking at any homes that have pools. Avoid the temptation!!! :)

[redsquirrel]

My in-laws filled in their pool. It wasn't a big deal. They hired a contractor who dug out the edging and took out the liner and then filled it in. By the next year you couldn't even tell it was ever there. I think the whole process to dig it out and fill it in took 3 days. It was fast.

 

I thought an in ground pool was a big cement bowl in the ground but it is mostly just a liner.

[fdrinca]

When faced with a few thousand dollars of pool repairs (and pool maintenance, which is outside of their budget right now), our friends built a wooden deck over their pool. There's a trap door so one could conceivably play down below, but it's also home to oodles of black widow spiders and the odd snake, so no one really goes down. The benefit is that the pool still is there when their financial situation improves.

[Scarlett]

We have very little money but we keep our pool up......the kids love it, I love it, friends love it.

 

When we first looked at this fixer place we have my dad said we could turn the pool into a storm shelter! Mom was like um no I doubt they will do that!

[Scarlett]

When faced with a few thousand dollars of pool repairs (and pool maintenance, which is outside of their budget right now), our friends built a wooden deck over their pool. There's a trap door so one could conceivably play down below, but it's also home to oodles of black widow spiders and the odd snake, so no one really goes down. The benefit is that the pool still is there when their financial situation improves.

That is cool but still weird to me....a deck probably cost several 1000 too.

[zoobie]

My in-laws filled in their pool. It wasn't a big deal. They hired a contractor who dug out the edging and took out the liner and then filled it in. By the next year you couldn't even tell it was ever there. I think the whole process to dig it out and fill it in took 3 days. It was fast.

 

I thought an in ground pool was a big cement bowl in the ground but it is mostly just a liner.

They had a vinyl pool. If it's a gunite pool, the walls are made of rebar and sprayed with a type of concrete that's about a foot thick. :)

[Catwoman]

They had a vinyl pool. If it's a gunite pool, the walls are made of rebar and sprayed with a type of concrete that's about a foot thick. :)

:iagree:

 

And even vinyl pools have a steel frame around the sides which needs to be removed. Some people just bury it, but most towns won't allow that, so it has to be taken out.

[katilac]

When faced with a few thousand dollars of pool repairs (and pool maintenance, which is outside of their budget right now), our friends built a wooden deck over their pool. There's a trap door so one could conceivably play down below, but it's also home to oodles of black widow spiders and the odd snake, so no one really goes down. The benefit is that the pool still is there when their financial situation improves.

 

I would totally go down there! That setup is begging to be a plot twist in a suspense movie. 

 

That is cool but still weird to me....a deck probably cost several 1000 too.

 

But now they have a deck . . . with a secret underground compartment! 

 

:iagree:

 

And even vinyl pools have a steel frame around the sides which needs to be removed. Some people just bury it, but most towns won't allow that, so it has to be taken out.

 

The idiots next door to us filled in what certainly looked like an old-fashioned cement pool to me. Either way, they didn't remove anything. I keep waiting for something bad to happen . . . 

[Carol in Cal.]

I know someone who did this on the cheap--she got her 20-something year old son to go buy truckloads of fill dirt, fill it up, and then sod over it.  The next rainy season the sod sank as the dirt compacted.  It was a mess.  I am not sure exactly what happened next.

[mom@shiloh]

We've had pools at two of our houses. I think it's a myth that pools are expensive and alot of work.  Sure, there is some expense and some work, but if we didn't have it, we'd be paying to go swimming.  That costs money and time as well.  Now, all our friends come to our house -- saves gas and running around.  It's all how you look at it.  

[Scarlett]

We've had pools at two of our houses. I think it's a myth that pools are expensive and alot of work. Sure, there is some expense and some work, but if we didn't have it, we'd be paying to go swimming. That costs money and time as well. Now, all our friends come to our house -- saves gas and running around. It's all how you look at it.

Yep. This is just how I feel. We even keep ours open all year. In cold weather it requires almost no effort or expense.

 

Our boys have already been in ours...April 13...and we will still be using it until early October.