Floating Pool

[grumpy]

One of my agents in our real estate office has listed a home with an in-ground concrete pool. This pool must have been built with the decking as a continuous part of the pool.

Looks like several years ago, the deep end of the pool floated out of the ground with the surrounding deck still attached. The deck and edge of the pool are about 30 inches above ground level right now.

Is it even possible to re-set a pool and how expensive could it get?

If it's better to crush it and fill the hole does anyone have any experience with the cost of doing that.

We know that these questions about the pool are going to come up and we'd like to have some idea about it.

I can take some pictures and get some basic measurements if that would help.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[JasonLion]

There are many many details that affect the price, most significantly the size of the pool and the type of soil. Roughly speaking, getting the pool repaired is likely to be tens of thousands of dollars, while filling it in will be thousands of dollars.

 

[grumpy]

Thanks Jason, I only wanted to know if it was possible and a very rough idea on costs.

It's a shame, it was a beautiful pool.

 

[Casey]

I'd like to see pics if at all possible. 8)

 

[grumpy]

Sorry Casey, I should have subscribed to this post. I just happened across it again today.

I'll try to get some pictures next week and put them up here in this post.

Jim

 

[grumpy]

Here are the pictures. Looks like the owner put up a small fence to remove temptation to crawl under the pool.

 

[mdhwoods]

All i can say is WOW!

Let this be a lesson in ground pressure.

 

[Casey]

All i can say is WOW!

Let this be a lesson in ground pressure.

I'll add: What a shame and waste of pool.

I'm looking and I'm guessing that all the plumbing would be screwed too. I could be wrong but it's just a guess. I'm suspecting that the lines snapped like a twigs when it popped.

Thank you for posting the pics grumpy! 8)

 

[duraleigh]

If I ever need a driveway poured, I'd like to get that concrete guy to do it.

I am amazed the decking is perfectly intact.

My bet is that pool can be salvaged.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

That is amazing. What a shame. Dave, how could it be salvaged?

 

[duraleigh]

Shore up the entire pool with timbers long enough to span way out past the decking. Telephone poles would work.

Then block up to the decking so that the decking (and the weight of the entire pool) will soon be carried out to solid land around the pool.

Next, excavate a huge access hole on one side of the pool to allow for enlargement of the current hole (removing the dirt that has fallen into the old hole)

Now, (If all goes well) the entire pool is suspended over a hole larger than the original pool.

Then, position the pool lower into the hole until the desired height is reached. Backfill with gravel, put in a couple of wellpoints, and landscape.

Cost? Most likely more than double what a new pool would cost

 

[Casey]

How much was the jack hammer rental?

 

[stever]

Shore up the entire pool with timbers long enough to span way out past the decking. Telephone poles would work.

Then block up to the decking so that the decking (and the weight of the entire pool) will soon be carried out to solid land around the pool.

Next, excavate a huge access hole on one side of the pool to allow for enlargement of the current hole (removing the dirt that has fallen into the old hole)

Now, (If all goes well) the entire pool is suspended over a hole larger than the original pool.

Then, position the pool lower into the hole until the desired height is reached. Backfill with gravel, put in a couple of wellpoints, and landscape.

Cost? Most likely more than double what a new pool would cost

I respectfully disagree. For safety reasons, unless professionally shored, nobody should work beneath the pool to enlarge the hole. The weight of the deep end half of the pool alone could easily be 50,000 pounds of concrete. Also, gravel (like sand and dirt) needs to be installed in lifts and properly compacted to avoid settling and shifting after the pool is loaded up with water. This would be difficult and after all that work, the pool may settle.

IF the pool could be properly shored and excavated under, the pool could technically be lowered to the correct position and then a 2-sack concrete slurry could be pumped under the pool (not very strong, but stronger than dirt and self compacting and cheaper then real concrete and very flowable) to set it at the correct elevation.

With an experienced crew, compaction/pressure grouting could be used at the shallow end to lift the pool to the same elevation as the deep end -- then the grade could be raised all around the pool. Compaction grouting is a drilled hole where a cementicious material is pushed into the ground under high pressure. It is not usually used to raise the soil, rather compact the soil, but should be able to be used for this purpose with a skilled crew.

The plumbing is toast.

Steve

 

[spishex]

Try tapping the raised end with a rubber mallet... :-D

Thanks for the pics!

 

[Durk]

I am intrigued by the way the water level follows the tile line back towards the shallow end. There does not seem to be the angle you would expect. Has anyone checked to see how much of the 'pop-up' may due to settlement of fill towards the downslope away from the deep end? It may not be as far out of level as the ground suggests.

Our 1946 steel pool popped by 4" the first winter after it was built (before I was born), and we ran it that way for 50+ years. The galvanized plumbing survived (main drain was 3" galvanized inside pool from about 18" from top of wall so no problem there). Eventually we filled in, built a new sidewalk, and, when skimmers were invented, we put one in the middle where it worked just fine.

I just think someone should check with a water level or a laser level at night to see what's what between settlement and pop-up.

 

[fuzzy_dba]

...There does not seem to be the angle you would expect...It may not be as far out of level as the ground suggests. I just think someone should check with a water level or a laser level at night to see what's what between settlement and pop-up.

Shoot this think with a lazer level :!: Most builders have lazer levels and it would take all of 30-45 minutes. That'll kill the questions.

From the pictures it looks like the ground dropped or compacted 18-24", not necessarily that the pool popped up.

Pressure testing on the piping would be a totally different question.

 

[grumpy]

We're here on the Coastal Plain of South Carolina so the ground around the pool is almost perfectly level. I'm afraid that the deep end has in fact floated about 24 inches out of the ground. I can't explain the water level matching the tile line except to say that it must be an optical illusion created by the camera angle. I really don't recall how it looks on site.

The picture with the slide ladder on the left shows a large section that has been sawn from the decking. I can't imagine why or what could have been there but I find it interesting. Another interesting thing is that the deck and pool seem to be one piece probably completed in one continuous pour.

Stever, My first thought was that it looks very easy to raise the shallow end a bit and fill around it.

Duraleigh, I had the same thought about the concrete man. In case you need to call him, the pool was built by Price Aquatech Pools from Florence, SC. Their plaque is cast into the top step. Come to think of it, I should call them. Maybe they would like to use it as an advertisement of the strength of their pools.