Need quick advice - purchase a home with erosion around pool?

[stully05]

Need some quick advice:
Went to look at a house that is for sale. House was excellent, pool great. Peeked under the decking of the downhill side of the pool and saw some major erosion issues. On a fairly large area (50 linear foot) the concrete apron is completely exposed underneath. It does appear there are some angular metal supports that appear to be part of the frame of the pool itself, but the original dirt has washed away. The house itself is built on a pretty steep slope. The inground pool was installed around 2004. There is a wooden deck that completely surrounds the pool 360 degree. Uphill side I imagine it is sitting on dirt, downhill side it built up with 4x4's. I have no experience with inground pools, but I imagine you can't leave the concrete apron unsupported like that...? When walking around the pool, it does look to be in good shape, level, no cracks etc.
Is this a disaster waiting to happen? Does this need fixing and if so how? Should I run away? Most secure solution I can think of is to tear down decking on downhill side, build a retaining wall, backfill with significant drainage solutions, then rebuild decking. Seems like it wouldn't be hard to spend 100k on something like that.
My wife loves the house and we've been looking for years so she says yes, although I have reservations for something that would require so much to make right when we only get 3 months of pool use. (We live in Wisconsin).
Thanks for any help you can provide

 

[stully05]

added photos

 

[Liz315]

Check to see if they got building permits at the towns construction office. There should be poured concrete footings. The town should have a copy of the plans and they should have inspected the footings prior to them building the deck so it should all be recorded. Now I’d have the home inspector look at it to see if any of it is failing prior to finalizing sale. You can they have the sellers fix or ask for money off to fix.

 

[kimkats]

I will also suggest getting a structural engineer to take a look at it.

It such a pretty pool and deck. I can see why your wife voted yes to it. I hope it all works out!

 

[an1vrsy]

+1 for structural engineer and those drone shots display a beautiful property.

 

[PoolStored]

Others have covered structural engineer.

I wouldn't touch this with a 20' pole. You may be in a different mindset than me and that's cool. My guess is that it is a full rebuild. Would be cheaper to find a home without a pool and build one, that tear one out and re-build one.

The concrete deck of the pool supported by 2X4s? YIKES!!!! (assuming the first two pictures below, you are are under the wood deck looking under the concrete deck and those are the sidewalls of the pool).

The deck is not built to code that has existed in the last 20 years.

There is a HECK of alot of remediation, just to fix the damage...and it is not clear what caused it...and you'd have to remediate the cause too.

YMMV.




The whole foundation of the concrete deck is at risk...note crumbling...




Certainly not code:

 

[reggiehammond]

A structural engineer is 100% needed and it won’t be a quick process. But I don’t think you’re at risk of losing the potential purchase as any competent buyer and inspector is going to see that and think “whoa.”

 

[Bperry]

Defiantly some odd things going on under that deck. Depends on how deep your pockets are or whether you like the house enough that if the pool was removed you’de still be happy with it.

 

[DavidArmenB]

The concrete slab around the perimeter of the pool being up in the air is a major issue. What’s keeping it from completely collapsing and taking the entire deck down the hill with it? A few wooden studs!?

 

[stully05]

My best guess is that the diagonal metal supports coming from the bottom of the pool itself are incorporated into the concrete. That is only way that thing is still in the air. Plus rebar in the concrete itself. A smaller adult could crawl into the space under the concrete for sure to get to the exterior wall of the pool. The fill that was around there looks pretty sandy. Just has washed out over the years.
We've decided to pass on the house even though the house itself is excellent. A bit heartbroken but probably the smarter move. The crazy thing is, the real estate market in our area is insane. Huge shortage. The house will go for 50k over asking with no inspection easily. Someone is going to eventually have a huge headache.

 

[stully05]

A structural engineer is 100% needed and it won’t be a quick process. But I don’t think you’re at risk of losing the potential purchase as any competent buyer and inspector is going to see that and think “whoa.”

Insane market here. Guarantee the seller will take the offer that is waiving inspection. Unfortunately very common in our area at this time.

 

[reggiehammond]

I would have told you budget $75k to $125k for repairs, worst case. Good move to pass. You don’t need a headache

 

[kimkats]

I am sad but it is the best move on your part in the long run.