Tree Removal Prior to Pool Build

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DSMinAtlanta

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Jun 27, 2023
97
Atlanta, GA
Hello,

We are currently getting quotes and designs from a number of pool builders here in the Atlanta area. Our backyard will require extensive tree removal in order to accommodate a pool. This includes two huge pines and two large sweet gums. One of our concerns is the tree roots breaking down over time and causing the ground around the pool to shift or settle. Are there any recommendations on the proper way to have the trees and their roots removed in order to properly prepare the yard for a pool?
 
Tree roots grow relatively close to the surface, so during the excavation for your pool they'll remove any that would cause a settling issue affecting the structure of your pool, so no issues there. I could see an issue with settling of the surrounding pool deck if a proper base wasn't constructed. What material are you thinking of using for your pool decking? Poured/stamped concrete, pre cast pavers, etc...?
 
dleonard1122 said:
Tree roots grow relatively close to the surface, so during the excavation for your pool they'll remove any that would cause a settling issue affecting the structure of your pool, so no issues there. I could see an issue with settling of the surrounding pool deck if a proper base wasn't constructed. What material are you thinking of using for your pool decking? Poured/stamped concrete, pre cast pavers, etc...?
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Thanks for the reply. My wife has been doing some research and some people claim that leaving 2-3 feet of stumps will allow a builder to dig up the stumps. However, one builder I spoke to today claimed that grinding the stumps would be good enough.

As for materials, we are leaning towards a natural stone but we are exploring all options based on cost/look.

A few of these huge trees today are right along the edge of where a pool would be built so that's what has us concerned. I'm hoping to get them cut down ASAP so we can get a better idea of what options we will have for pools.
 
DSMinAtlanta said:
Thanks for the reply. My wife has been doing some research and some people claim that leaving 2-3 feet of stumps will allow a builder to dig up the stumps. However, one builder I spoke to today claimed that grinding the stumps would be good enough.
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I don't know what the standard practice is in the Atlanta area, but here is what the dig crew did on my build. I had 2 large trees located in the dig area of the pool and they had me cut them down leaving 3-4' above ground so they could use it for leverage to remove the entire root ball. They asked me to cut down and grind the stumps to a few inches below the surface for the that were in the concrete-based deck area. The soli in my yard is mostly clay starting around 3' deep.
 
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I had oaks and they pulled them too, after having me leave them enough stump to push on to weaken the root ball. They dug a deep moat around them and then pushed them over before plucking them by the extra I left them.

The one triple trunk stump had a root ball the size of my medium SUV.

If your trees have mostly surface roots it's less of an issue because they can easily rip those out but any stump that is ground and left in place is a future sink hole of similar size to the stump.
 
Had quite a few loblolly pines that were taken down about 13 years ago , due to a large fire. The stumps were cut at ground level and left to rot . The tap roots , which went straight down, some 6 to 8 feet deep , rotted away and left deep holes in the ground. Some weren’t apparent till you stepped in them , making it dangerous.
 
I went back and looked at my pictures from my build. Every stump within the pool was dug out as part of the excavation. The guy that did the dirt work to prep for the deck slab dug out all the stumps and any sizeable roots. We had the stumps ground for a few trees thst we cut down outside of the deck area.
 
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an 18" diameter pine can easily have a tap root down 6 feet. Dig them all up. Once dug up, then the soil needs to be careully and thoroughly compacted. Then probably about 6-6" of 57 rock throughout the pool and decking area.

Overkill? Perhaps a little but you don't want your pool tilting or your deck cracking 4-5 years down the road.
 
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DSMinAtlanta said:
Hello,

We are currently getting quotes and designs from a number of pool builders here in the Atlanta area. Our backyard will require extensive tree removal in order to accommodate a pool. This includes two huge pines and two large sweet gums. One of our concerns is the tree roots breaking down over time and causing the ground around the pool to shift or settle. Are there any recommendations on the proper way to have the trees and their roots removed in order to properly prepare the yard for a pool?
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Typically the more tree you can leave the more leverage they have and the smaller the equipment needs to be to remove the stump. Of course your equipment needs to be big enough to handle the removed stump as well. You should have a contractor lined up to pull and remove the stumps before they are cut down and let them tell you how much tree to leave. Small roots will inevitably get mixed in with the remaining soils However you should endever to remove as much root material as possible. Any large holes should be properly compacted in lifts with structural material. Filling the holes with the existing organic soils is unacceptable.
 
Definitely remove the stumps. leave 3-4' of the tree trunk so the excavator or backhoe has something to grab on to.

Do not grind the stumps. They only grind 6" or so. The rest will rot and you will have a hole
 
Thanks everyone for all the informative replies. Sounds like the proper things to do is leave enough of the trunk to allow the stumps to be pulled which makes sense to me. I'm hoping to have the trees cut down very soon. We are currently waiting for a new survey to be done since our neighbor has decided she doesn't trust the property markers and wants to keep one of the trees I need to cut down... so that will be fun to deal with.

We had already scheduled the survey because of the pool build, but now the neighbor wants me to pause on the trees until I have the new survey in-hand and can prove the trees are on my side.
 
DSMinAtlanta said:
Thanks everyone for all the informative replies. Sounds like the proper things to do is leave enough of the trunk to allow the stumps to be pulled which makes sense to me. I'm hoping to have the trees cut down very soon. We are currently waiting for a new survey to be done since our neighbor has decided she doesn't trust the property markers and wants to keep one of the trees I need to cut down... so that will be fun to deal with.

We had already scheduled the survey because of the pool build, but now the neighbor wants me to pause on the trees until I have the new survey in-hand and can prove the trees are on my side.
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Welcome to the forums DS,

Waiting on the survey is a good idea. We had a tree that was on the neighbors side, pushing on our house and needed to be removed. From the survey it turned out that the fence was in the wrong spot because of the tree and the tree was actually on our side.
 
Brian PacNW said:
Any update on the survey or tree removal?
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The survey was completed about a week ago after waiting weeks for us to get on their schedule. Survey confirmed all trees are on our side despite the neighbor's efforts to convince us otherwise. We have the removal scheduled for the week of Labor Day and it's around 13 trees total. I'm still getting different answers from pool builders on how much tree should be left behind but I plan to have a few feet remaining for any that will be in or near the pool and/or decking.
 
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Here is another somewhat related question. One of my biggest concerns, even without the tree removal, is soil stability. When we had our screen porch built back in 2017 the contractor discovered unstable soil when he dug the holes for the footers. They dug down 2 feet and could tell the soil wasn't very compacted. They had a soil engineer come out and discovered the soil wasn't stable until they dug down another 5 feet. So they dug down the additional 5, backfilled with gravel, and poured the concrete footers and we have had no settling issues. Do pool builders test for soil stability? Should we get a soil engineer to test the soil prior to moving forward with a pool?
 

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