inground pool on ~15-18 degree slope - questions

[gtnos]

Please keep your posts under one thread whenever possible

our entire back yard slopes down from house to a pond at the very back. the only "flat" spot is where i currently have our intex pool. i just learned today when i finally got my diagram of the septic lateral lines that they run all over the flat area, in fact, my intex pool is sitting on top of the last ~12 feet or so of the last 2 lateral lines..... since its been there a month, hopefully about 42,000 lbs of water hasnt crushed them.... doubt it, since its spread over an 18 foot area. (*EDIT* - should be fine, by my math thats only ~165 lbs per square foot, laterals will support that easy)

anyway, obviously we cant dig there, so we will have to dig up by the house, where the yard slopes about ~15 -18 degrees.

1. will i have to have a retaining wall?

2. will being on a slope limit me to any one kind of pool? leaning towards fiberglass, wanting 16 x 32 with 4ft shallow and 8 ft deep

3. will this slope cause any other issues i need to know about like rain runoff issues or anything, and will it be more expensive?

wife and i have been talking about this a lot, and we want to go inground, not above. in fact, she says if we have to go above ground, she would just rather keep the intex.

thanks!

 

[techguy]

One thing I am not sure you have considered is a partially buried in ground. You can bury the back side of the pool where it goes into the slope. You do need to chose an above ground pool designed to be buried or partially in-ground, but they are pretty common. Doughboy makes several.

Some of the metal or poly wall in-ground kits can have an exposed wall also.

 

[gtnos]

One thing I am not sure you have considered is a partially buried in ground. You can bury the back side of the pool where it goes into the slope. You do need to chose an above ground pool designed to be buried or partially in-ground, but they are pretty common. Doughboy makes several.

Some of the metal or poly wall in-ground kits can have an exposed wall also.

so, are you saying this is the type of pool i will be limited too? or will it just be the cheaper route? wife really has her heart set on an inground inground.... a complete inground, totally inground inground.... however else you can say it.... :lol:

 

[titaniummd]

Ours ended up being a Gunite pool. Part in the ground and backed by a retaining wall. It's still being constructed.

Waterfall structure and coping is completed.

Retaining wall.

Steps from the deck to the pool area.

 

[gtnos]

thats awesome! unfortunately, looks waaayyy out of my price range. im looking at about 30-35kish if not cheaper

 

[titaniummd]

thats awesome! unfortunately, looks waaayyy out of my price range. im looking at about 30-35kish if not cheaper

Ok.

Just a suggestion. They have built 2 retaining walls for the deck, pool and stone steps from a deck that we are extending/have extended under the same project.

 

[gtnos]

2 more inground pool questions....

sorry, just full of ??? tonight...

1. can a built in spa be had with a vinyl liner inground pool?

2. "roughly" how much more is to add a built in spa to either a vinyl or fiberglass pool? i want one i can use in the winter too, separate from the pool...

 

[JamesW]

Re: 2 more inground pool questions....

I would suggest purchasing them separately. No reason to combine them. I think that a stand-alone spa would be a better choice than trying to incorporate them in one product.

 

[duraleigh]

The dilemma seems easily solved but maybe I am missing something.

The IG pool must remain level, obviously, so the surrounding ground has to be brought up to level.

Since we can't see the site, only you can tell if you can bring in enough fill to make the ground level at the pool and then either slope it away or build a retaining wall(s) to make it work.

Fill dirt is not a good substrate for concrete decking so you will need to let it settle for a long time or consider pavers.

 

[techguy]

I don't know the economics of IG pools but I am not sure a budget of 35K is enough to build a pool, spa, and retaining structure and have any pool of size.

 

[bk406]

I have a similar set up. Badly sloped back yard. You will need a retaining wall of some sort. And probably not a rail road tie or a small one either. Its probably something that needs some meat to it. Like others have said, we would need pictures to give you any more info.
A nice vinyl IG pool with some bells and whistles with a deck should run around 30k give or take depending on the market you're in. A retaining wall could be cheap or expensive depending on the size and scope.

Here's my set up:

 

[pool mum]

I have a yard and pool very similiar to the one above - VERY sloped back yard (more so than the one pictured). It has a paver retaining wall and patio all around it. It came with the house, so we didn't put it in, but my friend who is a professional house assessor says he estimates it costs around $75k for the set up. Not sure if that even included the pool or not - he was looking at the patio. It does have steps and flower beds made of pavers and stone too.

 

[gtnos]

^^^^^^^^^^ beautiful pool!!!!

okay, here is what we are dealing with, after looking at some of the other pool pics posted here, my hillside doesnt seem near as sloped as others, so i dont know. anyway, here is what we got:

 

[gtnos]

more pics.....

 

[duraleigh]

Well, that sure is a pretty setting for a pool.

I would seriously consider a long retaining wall and then some fill behind it to make your pool spot almost level.

It'll add some bucks but would make a beautiful layout.

 

[gtnos]

thanks! yeah, the setting is pretty tranquil with the pond, in fact, i love when im in my intex pool i can enjoy the pond too. i wish we could put an inground where that intex sits, and that was my plan until yesterday when i obtained a septic drawing fromt he county for our laterals and discovered unfortunately that the intex is sitting on top of the septic lateral lines so no inground out there, we will have to move it up by house as that is the only place where we could dig.

as far as a retaining wall, im thinking it may not be too bad, as the retaining wall i wouldnt think would have to be very high ~2-3 feet and if they built it while escavating, they would have more than enough dirt....

 

[bk406]

From the looks of it, you might be able to dig the area out in front of the patio and sink the pool. That would put a couple of walls on the sides and none in the back. In any case, just adding a little fill on the back side is really not the way to do this. The rule of thumb when leveling a pad is to dig down to level, not build up. In any case, you will need some sort of wall(s) to level things out.

I would HIGHLY suggest getting a landscape architect to come out and see what he/she says. For just a little money, you can get a professional to look at it, come up with a set of drawings to work from, and potentially save yourself a lot of headache down the road.