Drainage around pool perimeter

[ndakotaninja]

Hiya,

Last summer a tree fell and destroyed most of our back yard (fence, deck, concrete decking of pool). Fortunately insurance covered replacing all of that good stuff, and it was already in a older (~25 yr old) state needing repairs. So during the repairs, they redid the pool coping/tiling and replaced the concrete decking around the pool. We also used to get lots of standing water where the old concrete met our stone retaining wall, so they installed drains around the perimeter of the pool up to a certain point. These work great except where they get to the yard and end and have just formed a trench of erosion.

So now fast forward, as this spring is approaching, I'm going to be installing paver stones of some sort (haven't really figured out what we want our back yard to look like yet now that we have removed most of our deck). I wanted to extend the drain around the perimeter of the pool, or at least have some sort of drainage first before installing the pavers. However, I'm not sure what they used, if it's available to purchase, or if there are other types of drains you guys may recommend. They have the Spee-d brand by NDS at home depot, but they are a bit wider than i need and are quite costly.

Any thoughts out there by people who have installed their own paver patios and drain tiles around the pool? I'm including a couple of pictures for reference. We'll probably be taking the remaining deck out and putting pavers around the length of the pool, but we did get lots of water draining issues at the retaining wall yard area prior to the repairs we had done, so I'm trying to make sure we do it right this time so we don't have to worry about it again later.

Any other suggestions or thoughts regarding pavers/backyard landscaping/etc feel free to toss my way. We mainly want to have flat areas to put our tables, chairs, and otherwise lounge around without getting lots of mud everywhere.

 

[bmoreswim]

I think before meaningful recommendations can be given, we'll need to see some pictures from various angles taken from a larger perspective. Also, ideally if you can do rough drawing showing elevations relative to a certain point labeled as 0 elevation. Other points would be labeled as + or - x.x feet from 0. Do you know what kind of drainage system was installed behind that wall? Is it effective in summer gullywashers? Where does it drain? Where does water now currently pool and also drain. The more information and pictures you can provide, the better the advice will be. You've done a good job to start the discussion, but I think there is more information needed.

The concrete deck looks nice though I am no fan of the plastic strips. They will become brittle and break apart of time from US exposure. The drain PVC is better at lasting though for appearance I'd probably spray paint it to tone down the bright white. Around here we refer to deck as the hard surface adjacent to the pool. When you said you were removing the deck, I though why? They just poured it!

 

[GaryT58]

What you have installed there looks like Deck-o-drain, which I have installed between my pool deck which runs down from pool towards house, and the deck by the house which runs down toward the pool (drain is in middle).

In my case the drain exits out at a grated drain which runs underground off to the woods behind my house, which is down hill. All my gutters feed into these underground drains to reduce any chance for pool erosion.

 

[ndakotaninja]

I can post different pictures later, attachment size was exceeded so i could only post the 2. GaryT58 looks like you're right and it is Deck-o-Drain, though i don't know if it's flexible to go around curves or if it's just rigid. Maybe there are slightly different types and i found the wrong one. Any experience installing this?

Where it currently ends (right at the end of the wood deck in the picture) i'd probably be doing a T and sending it out into the grass area to the fence (about 10 feet away) at the outside of the property. Other option is maybe a drain box with a pvc/corrugated pipe buried in the ground leading out to the fence. We plan on installing paver stones in the yard there, so we want something that looks/flows with the stones as well. The house is on the other side of the pool near the green shed, so no worries about water draining to the house.

More pictures soon...but for now, thoughts on the Deck-o-drain installation ease/difficulty? Do you think it's needed around the length of the pool if we put paver stones down? I don't know if water runoff from pools are enough to unsettle/affect paver stones. If water runoff is fairly negligible then give me thoughts on that as well. really just worried about the water draining into the stone areas, and i don't want to put down new stones and then have it damaged in a few years due to water runoff.

 

[gwegan]

What are we concerned about here? Water from the pool? Water coming off the slope onto the pool deck?

I too would like come overall pictures.

I would have some sort of perforated drain/ french drain behind the wall to de-water that.

I'm really no fan of deck o drain and the like. They tend to have limited life, clog and can be difficult to clean. As it falls apart the deck does not look great.

Look at something like this: Trench Drain Systems | Bronze and Aluminum Grating

Costs a lot more, looks a hellofa lot better and your children will learn 4 letter words latter in life and not from you.

 

[chiefwej]

I have 50 feet of the NDS 5" box drain installed across the back of my house where my covered patio meets the pool deck. It has held up well here even with the extreme exposure to UV and heat. It will accept and move a ton of water. No puddles, even during monsoons. If you shop around you should be able to find it cheaper than Home Depot.

When I specked it my pool builder thought I was nuts and said it was overkill. But when the project was done, he said he was going to start using it on some other jobs.

 

[GaryT58]

I did not install it. My PB did. The version they installed was rigid, so straight lines only. I only installed where my existing patio, which sloped away from house met with new pool deck, which sloped towards house. All other side's the pool pad slopes record my lawn.

I don't know of any flexible versions, but think they would exist.

 

[chiefwej]

The box channel drain has 45s and 90 degree sections but there is no way to make a curve. The nice thing is, I think it looks a lot better than the deck-o-drain, and it seems to hold up much better. If the drain cover do ever start looking bad, they are replaceable. There are also several colors and patterns for the covers, if you have lots to spend.

 

[ndakotaninja]

Here is a picture of most of the back yard. I checked the drains they put around our retaining wall and looks like they have small slices out of one side every couple of inches that lets them curve. So priority: our house is at the very bottom of the hill, and our back yard is 'held up' by a brand new retaining wall (about 2 feet behind the fence). We get a lot of water runoff in our yard, leaving our grass soggy for several days after a rain (where the blue arrow is). We used to get standing water at the base of the stone wall on the concrete, but with the addition of the drains during the rebuild, all of that flows out into the lower yard (where the red circle is).

Our last retaining wall rotted (~25 years old anyways) because there was no good draining from the back yard. We made improvements during the reno, but I want to make sure that whatever we do continues improving the water issues we've had in the past. So the most simple option is to put in a drain box at the end of the new drain and out through buried corrugated pipes. I'm just not sure if we need more...for instance surrounding the rest of the outside pool area.

The plan is currently to put pavers down, and I don't know if you can just put them up flush against the pool decking or if you leave a gap. My friend's house has drains separating them which made me think I should too. With the improvements we've made, the only water we should be getting in the grassy area, soon to be pavers, should be rain and pool runoff (which I can't image there to be too much of that, even with a diving board). So maybe i'm overthinking it, but I just don't want to deal with water issues again in a few years because I didn't do enough the first time around.

 

[needsajet]

Could you take another picture or two? Maybe go up the top of the hill inside your yard looking back toward the house. And another from the blue arrow soggy spot looking back along the retaining wall.

Do you know if drain pipe was put in the ground behind the retaining wall? It would have been near the bottom of the retaining wall on the hill side (not the pool side). If so, do you where it leads?