Ditch around pool....HELP!!!

[ANEJI]

We had our pool installed and now we have this huge trench/ditch around the pool and we have no idea what to do. One side of the pool there is a slope that we plan to lay plastic and stone on but, we were told not to fill the trench in because if the pool was drained the walls would collapse.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! Most installers will tell you to backfill that trench. You don't want a moat around your pool every time it rains. I would fill in with a couple of inches of pebbles to promote drainage, then top it off with a layer of soil and what ever landscaping material you would like for the top layer. Six inches of backfill is not going to collapse your pool even if it is empty.

 

[ANEJI]

So if we did some gravel, soil from the dig, and then I did landscaping fabric and mulch to fill it in that wouldn't be too much pressure on the walls?

 

[Casey]

How long has the pool been up? Does it collect rain water? If it does, you may have to lay some drainage tubes to pull the water from the trench.

 

[ANEJI]

It's been up since Monday....it's on the high part of our yard (the lower part of our yard was more level but is constantly wet from run off so we opted to go with this spot instead!) and the sides of the pool slope down and so far we haven't noticed any water puddling in that area. It's rained almost every day too.