New member, so hello to everyone and a quick note to say I've enjoyed reading many of the threads in the forums before signing up to post this.
We bought a house that has a very large inground cement pool. Knew it was a disaster when we bought it, and we got the house price down by about $20k listing the unknown costs of repairing or removing the pool as one of the negatives.
Have only had one pool company come by to look at it. And they are obviously looking for rich clients only. Quickly estimated 15-20k to remove it and 40-50k for a new one the same size. I think the look I gave him was clear enough and he left.
So:
We bought the house from the estate of a very elderly woman.
The pool hasn't been used in a number of years. More than several (the pool guy figured the mechanical equipment is all antiques).
The previous owner is not the one that built the pool. However they are the ones who committed the cardinal sin of emptying the pool and leaving it empty.
Although the previous owners caused the pool to lift, they used it in that condition for many years. As you can see in the photos, plywood was installed and painted to hide the raised metal wall structure of the pool.
So the bad news is a giant pool with a poor condition interior and a raised deep end. There's a 3 or 4 inch difference in height sided to side at the deep end, and there's about a 20 inch difference between the highest point and the lowest point on the coping.
I have no idea about the condition of the bottom drain or piping. I suspect that only the skimmer was being used after the pool floated.
The good new is this thing is solid (might be bad news if opting to remove it). Some hairline cracks, but last summer all I did was keep pumping it out after rain to keep the water level below the first step. And left to its own, water will overflow the low point of the coping. So no noticeable amount of water seems to leak from the pool. There is one crack that seems to let tiny amounts of water in since I've left it pumped out to the level of the shallow end.
The amount of money a neighbour said the previous owners spent may mean the pool was solidified and supported in it's current state.
So, what to do? Don't have much money. The renovations on the house have already stretched the finances.
First I want to clean it out. The smell can be foul and the bottom cannot be cleaned with net. A huge quantity of chlorine only made the water cloudy for a couple of days and it then reverted to brown and green.
Plan:
- Rent trash pump and pump it out completely.
- Rent a power washer and clean the whole thing (as-is I used a rather low power pressure washer).
- Open a hole in the bottom so it won't float any more. Is this a good idea and how big a hole should I be prepared to drill if the bottom drain has no plug or hydrostatic valve?
Then?
I've been wondering what cement work could be done on the interior to reprofile the walls and floor. And what might be done to cut down the raised walls to flat or raise the low walls up (a raised pool with a negative edge would be wonderful IMO).
We bought a house that has a very large inground cement pool. Knew it was a disaster when we bought it, and we got the house price down by about $20k listing the unknown costs of repairing or removing the pool as one of the negatives.
Have only had one pool company come by to look at it. And they are obviously looking for rich clients only. Quickly estimated 15-20k to remove it and 40-50k for a new one the same size. I think the look I gave him was clear enough and he left.
So:
We bought the house from the estate of a very elderly woman.
The pool hasn't been used in a number of years. More than several (the pool guy figured the mechanical equipment is all antiques).
The previous owner is not the one that built the pool. However they are the ones who committed the cardinal sin of emptying the pool and leaving it empty.
Although the previous owners caused the pool to lift, they used it in that condition for many years. As you can see in the photos, plywood was installed and painted to hide the raised metal wall structure of the pool.
So the bad news is a giant pool with a poor condition interior and a raised deep end. There's a 3 or 4 inch difference in height sided to side at the deep end, and there's about a 20 inch difference between the highest point and the lowest point on the coping.
I have no idea about the condition of the bottom drain or piping. I suspect that only the skimmer was being used after the pool floated.
The good new is this thing is solid (might be bad news if opting to remove it). Some hairline cracks, but last summer all I did was keep pumping it out after rain to keep the water level below the first step. And left to its own, water will overflow the low point of the coping. So no noticeable amount of water seems to leak from the pool. There is one crack that seems to let tiny amounts of water in since I've left it pumped out to the level of the shallow end.
The amount of money a neighbour said the previous owners spent may mean the pool was solidified and supported in it's current state.
So, what to do? Don't have much money. The renovations on the house have already stretched the finances.
First I want to clean it out. The smell can be foul and the bottom cannot be cleaned with net. A huge quantity of chlorine only made the water cloudy for a couple of days and it then reverted to brown and green.
Plan:
- Rent trash pump and pump it out completely.
- Rent a power washer and clean the whole thing (as-is I used a rather low power pressure washer).
- Open a hole in the bottom so it won't float any more. Is this a good idea and how big a hole should I be prepared to drill if the bottom drain has no plug or hydrostatic valve?
Then?
I've been wondering what cement work could be done on the interior to reprofile the walls and floor. And what might be done to cut down the raised walls to flat or raise the low walls up (a raised pool with a negative edge would be wonderful IMO).
