Fill in an in-ground pool?

[NoItsNotLikeThat]

Hey all! I'm pretty new and I've seen some very creative solutions to expensive home maintenance issues here. So last March, we bought a rental property. It has an in-ground swimming pool in the back and we were told it leaked. They would have filled it in for us before closing, but we wanted to see if it would be usable, so instead they lowered the selling price by $10k to account for the pool.

Turns out the pool had more extensive issues than we realized and in hindsight we definitely should have had them fill in the pool for us. Oh well! Now we're stuck with an enormous hole in the backyard, full of frogs.

Any ideas of what do to with this pool, other than pay a company thousands to fill it in? We could probably rent equipment to break up the pool... and we also have access to free dirt, but no equipment to haul it. We would need a LOT of fill dirt. Plus there are two fences in the way to getting it into the back yard.

It currently doesn't even have a functional cover (for insurance purposes it was just covered with a huge tarp, but it fell in from the weight of rain water). I considered just buying a safety cover, one of those that you can walk on, and leaving it covered permanently. This pool is huge and a custom shape, so even that will cost thousands of dollars.

Any other options I'm not thinking of?

[Alphaville]

put a roof and a staircase and turn ito a bunker?

actually i was thinking more greenhouse like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walipini

keep the pump functional in case of accidental flood?

[NoItsNotLikeThat]

Those are pretty awesome lol. Never seen such a thing

[horsewoman]

We had a structure our farm that we turned into a pool like thing - it actually was originally a place to keep cow manure with one open side to access it with a tractor. The first few years we used it as a fire pit, simply because we did not know what to do with it. Last year we turned into a vegetable garden, here is a picture in my journal:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10725&p=203216&hilit=garden#p203216

We filled it up with old wood, manure and gardening waste of all kinds, didn't cost us a penny. We let it sit and compost over the winter and this year it's already a thriving garden. I particularly like the walls DH built into the middle, it makes weeding very easy without having to bend over.
Here in Germany, it is extremely easy to get large amounts of horse manure for free, IDK how it is in other countries.

[Jean]

I'de crush the wall with a mass (if no structure nearby requires ground stability) and slowly fill it with organic wastes. If it's not possible to have a huge compost in the area, couldn't you just get some free dirt and fill it with a showel? It should only take a few days, still worth much less than 10000 dollars.

[Alphaville]

Those are pretty awesome lol. Never seen such a thing

i might trench one some day in my country land, but if you have a pit already dug why not go with the flow i’d say.

given than you have a hard floor, water supply, etc, it could be more high tech than the rural andes. could grow hydroponic or drip irrigation in plastic buckets, microgreens in trays, etc.

this is similar btw to the experiment paul wheaton wants to do (or is already doing?) at wheaton labs. not exact design though.

and @sky knows about growing stuff indoors

anyway here’s a picture of a microgreens room (i don’t have one)

https://microgreensfarmer.com/wp-conten ... 24x721.jpg

looks very high tech/for a business, but you don’t have to, especially with a clear roof (i’d do greenhouse plastic)

what’s the shape/size of your pool???

[jacob]

What happens when it rains? If we dug something like that in our backyard, we'd have a pool in May and October.

[Optimal_Solution]

Are you renting out the property? If so, I could see some of the approaches mentioned here being a large potential legal liability.

[Alphaville]

oh damn, “rental property” failed to register in my brain.

fill it up and find a tenant.

[NoItsNotLikeThat]

what’s the shape/size of your pool???

Unfortunately I don't know what size it is. It's very deep though. Since it was used for diving, I would say at least 10 ft deep at that end.

It's a rental and right now our college aged son is living there with a roommate.

Here's a photo.

[NoItsNotLikeThat]

What happens when it rains? If we dug something like that in our backyard, we'd have a pool in May and October.

A pool guy told us that whoever fills it in, make sure they "punch holes in the bottom" so that the water will drain

[Alphaville]

o man, that could be such a sweet pool, but i see the struggle.

david hockney vs the pool of the house of usher, pulling in opposite directions.

me i’d be tempted to do a restoration, but this isn’t the 50s, and everyone is terrified of the sun these days.

so the kids aren’t interested in keeping it, i assume? what’s the yearly maintenance + insurance cost?

https://www.sothebys.com/content/dam/so ... 5Y_web.jpg

[NoItsNotLikeThat]

what’s the yearly maintenance + insurance cost?

Like homeowner's insurance? I don't think we're paying more for the pool, specifically. They did make us remove the pool and slide, though. And put up temporary fencing. Not real sure about maintenance cost either; never owned a pool.

In order to fix it so far options are 1) Pressure test to find any leaks and test drains and return lines; get any issues fixed; sandblast and paint whole pool - don't have an estimate for this yet 2) install a new liner, rough estimate given over the phone of around $10k - also still have to test drain & return lines 3) build a new,smaller, standard-sized pool inside this one - given rough estimate of $80k

[Alphaville]

given rough estimate of $80k

wow. that’s so many lifetimes of swimming club membership.

i know that homeowner’s insurance increases with swimming pools, but this is a whole different cost scale. i’d get rid of it as a pool.

if you were going to live there you could do a million different things: a sunken garden, a workshop, an urban farm, etc (i know someone who kept a pig in an unused pool, hahahah—long story)

but if you’re going to rent it, it’s a different logic, you need to look at it as a business and what makes sense in the rental market, then work it out backwards.

is a properly fixed pool going to bring you over $80k (plus unexpected costs plus interest plus opportunity cost plus etc) in additional rental income over the period of ownership? if yes, invest, if no, fill in.

even if looking at cheaper solution for $10k + unknowns you need to look at cost vs. returns *in the rental market*.

i think @ffj is onto something with the concrete, or as the recyclers call it, “urbanite.”

https://www.concretenetwork.com/concret ... crete.html

then again you could punt, leave it as-is, and just resell it once the kid vacates the premises

[NoItsNotLikeThat]

That's a lot of concrete surrounding that pool. Bust it up and throw it in the pool, then haul in dirt to level the backyard. It probably won't take much dirt as you have so much concrete.

Not a bad idea! I'll have to consider this

If you are handy you could rent a skid steer and do the work yourself.

Maybe. My husband used to be able to drive a forklift, does that count?

Not to make you feel bad, but I would have taken the sellers offer to fix that before moving in

lol hindsight is 20/20, amirite

[Alphaville]

lol hindsight is 20/20, amirite

what you did wasn’t necessarily a bad choice.

now you get to decide how it’s done instead of having to live with the result of someone else’s decision process.

since this is a new purchase, you have time, so you can pick cheap + good in the project triangle. it will just take some time.

previous owner would likely have done fast + cheap instead, and you’d be stuck with it and whatever problems could have arisen from that.

[NoItsNotLikeThat]

is a properly fixed pool going to bring you over $80k

No, absolutely not Main motivating factor was that it's right down the street and we could use it whenever we wanted.

then again you could punt, leave it as-is, and just resell it once the kid vacates the premises

I'd consider this too... but it IS a little bit of a safety issue, we can't keep the frogs out, and then they're trapped in there, and the pool was a huge pain in the ass for the sellers and I'm sure would be for us, too. Would not be able to consider any potential buyers with an FHA or any non-conventional loan. Our bank's appraiser made a big fuss about it as well.

[Alphaville]

ok so you're facing 2 realistic paths as i see it

1. fix the liner for $10K + hidden costs + ongoing maintenance, and use/enjoy. if you're a social person, pool parties are great. this needs to be priced vs. alternatives like a swimming club, going to the beach (if you're near), etc. figure out also what the selling & renting scenario is for a pool in good shape (are they desirable these days, or a PITA?)

2. fill the hole for an undeterminate cost. here is where you have the option to diy and get creative. no need to rush the decision, yeah? it's your property after all. meanwhile, frog legs are tasty (but seriously, i love to eat frog legs, hard to find these days, last i had was at a vietnamese joint in new york)

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

If you’re worried about the frogs, just put in a ramp