What to do with excavated dirt?

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F500

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Sep 11, 2007
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Madisonville, LA
The PB has given me the option of keeping the excavated dirt to be rough graded around the pool area, or having it taken away for an added cost. The pool site is already pretty decent as far as being level with my surrounding slabs and patio, so I don't think I will need a lot of dirt to level the surrounding area out. I also know they don't use this dirt to backfill around the pool. The fill dirt around here is filled with chunks of wood and clay.

Would it be a better idea to have the PB haul it away and then bring in river sand to grade the surrounding area?

Any opinions are appreciated.
 
Hi, Lee,

If you can make it work, having the pool a little higher than the surrounding areas is quite beneficial......some fill may come in handy for that.

Secondly, If it's at all good dirt, it may be worth keeping it for some raised planting areas or perhaps leveling and sloping some areas of the yard. A BIG pile of dirt seems to disappear4 quickly when used like that.
 
Personally, I'd keep the pool level with the slab and the house, any higher and you may have drainage problems with water moving away from the house.

The main factor would be the price, it's likely that your PB will just be hauling the dirt to another job that needs the dirt and he may be collecting on both sides. I needed 18 trucks worth of dirt, all of which came from other pool builds close by. My PB said it would run me about $20-$50 per tuck, but I was never charged.

Hauling all the dirt will trash the path between your pool and the dumptruck. The dumptrucks cracked my driveway pretty good, so take that into consideration as well.
 
The dirt won't go as far as you think it will, but I couldn't really give you a recommendation without seeing the site. We have 25 acres, so it wasn't hard to find someplace to put the dirt, but we used most of it bringing the yard up to the pool on the low side. If they are going to haul it, see if you can find somebody close who wants it.
 
my neighbors built a pool last month and they just put the pile on the street that said FREE DIRT, and with in a week it was gone, people just drove up with a pick up and shovels and drove off.
 
We used our excavated dirt to do landscaping around the pool. Originally I thought we had way too much, but after building landscaping berms around the pool, we used most of it up. The rest was used to fill the path the trucks used through our front yard. (Ugh).
 
We used our excavated dirt to do landscaping around the pool. Originally I thought we had way too much, but after building landscaping berms around the pool, we used most of it up. The rest was used to fill the path the trucks used through our front yard. (Ugh).
 
Extra dirt, we had no extra dirt. Use the dirt to grade up to the pool. You should build the pool so t is above grade and use the dirt to gently slope away. This will prevent water from ever flowing into the pool from heavy rains or snow melt.
 

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divnkd101 said:
That usually will not work in the south. Usually after the first 12-18 inches, you are into the clay and lots of it. I had 4 truckloads hauled off when they dug ours. 3 loads of fill dirt afterwards to level out around the pool.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had mentioned that in my original post. I think I may follow your lead.
 
Great topic! My PB initially asked me what do I want to do with the dirt. I said, I had no use for it, unless it was needed for after the pool install. And if so to leave a small pile so I had enough to fill in tire marks from their BobCat etc. He ensured me no problem, we will grade the property and make it level.

And sure enough he took all the dirt one day when I was at work. I asked him where is my dirt? Are you going to fill in the tire marks, etc? Sure we will no worries. Well now there is a huge argument between me and the PB saying that there is no provisions inthe contract to fill in tire marks (some as 2-3 feet deep, while it was raining they were using the Bob Cat to move pavers as well, thus the deepness of the tire marks) or to grade the property. Or to take the tree stump away that they have left next to my pool equipment.

So I did the next best thing. I asked him for my dirt back! I explained to him, if you took my dirt away with out me signing off or approving it on the contract, to return my dirt, and I want only original dirt from the property, and I will be willing to have it sent to a lab to ensure it's my original dirt :shock: :lol: ! Again, wow, fine no problem I'll take care of the tire marks and fill in the holes and grade! I mean contractors, will get you where they can.

Is there a topic on this forum of Pre Contract considerations? Maybe we should make a list of things or a generic contract that people can give to their PB on this forum so they don't get screwed.
 
Coolpackard (first let me say welcome to TFP, I've seen some of your posts - but haven't 'met' you yet :) ), you can start the post you're talking about yourself - you seem to have been close to being 'screwed' on your build and your experience may help some folks 'taking the plunge' on buying a new pool! Start a thread in the 'Pool Build and Repair' section wherein you describe your problems and solutions - others will post theirs and we'll have a good base for what to do when having a pool installed :!: I think this would help a lot of people who are contracting their new pools or are having trouble with their new pool being completed correctly and in a timely manner (like Dee, to whom you responded this AM).

Just because you haven't had your pool up and running for a year or so doesn't mean that you can't proffer some good and practical advice to others who may find themselves in a similar situation to what you experienced -- who knows, you may become the "beating down a**-hole contractors" expert here :wink: You've got a knowledge base for doing this that I'm sure many would appreciate learning from!
 
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