New pool install - had to dig 4ft below grade - ah!

[Francesbluebird]

Hi guys, new member here and new pool owner! Just installed a 24 ft above ground pool today and we have a very sloped yard, so on one side there is about a 4 ft ditch now where they had to dig out when leveling. I've been trying to look online for some ideas of what to do with the landscaping, and wondering if anyone on here might have faced the same challenge. We do plan on building a deck next summer so I know that will take care of it, but in the mean time what can be done? We can't filll the ditch up with pea gravel or mulch, right? My husband said that would put too much pressure on the pool walls.

 

[KarenNJ]

Re: New pool install - had to dig 4ft below grade - ah!

You don't want to put too much against the wall unless it is rated for semi inground. Otherwise you will void your warranty and may have a cave in if you have to empty the pool. Also, you need to check your local codes. Here I need to have 48" of wall height above the grade so kids cannot climb into the pool. I have the same situation here and our higher side has to be at least 3ft away from the pool wall so we are doing a retaining wall on our slope that we had to dig down 30" and the retaining wall will be 3.5' away from the pool wall. In the ditch we ae doing pea gravel. On the top of the retaining wall we are going to do a garden bed with some bushes to soften the wall you can see sticking above the ground.

 

[Francesbluebird]

Re: New pool install - had to dig 4ft below grade - ah!

So we just had our new 24 ft round aluminum AGP installed last week. My yard is on a slope and once they started digging discovered they'd have to go down almost 4 ft on one side. At that point my yard was dug up, they were already knee deep in the project and the owner comes and explains what's going on to me. There is really nowhere else in the yard to put the pool (septic system on one side, propane tank, etc) so I said to go ahead with it because I didn't feel there was any other option. We plan on building a deck around the pool but in the meantime to pass inspection, we'll have to buy a pool fence to go around the side that's 4 ft below grade. All this to say - now we are worried about soil erosion into the side of the pool. My husband went out and got the black tarp like material (sorry, don't know the proper name for it / the stuff they use at construction sites to prevent soil from coming though basically). We put two layers of that up. Will this suffice? Should we built a retaining wall? Has anyone else had this experience? Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[kimkats]

I think the black stuff (don't know the name either LOL) will work but I bet it is not very pretty

Lets see what we can come up with. Some questions first though.

How far down is the bottom of the pool on the side by the slope? Can you remove the dirt in that area? The reason I ask is I worry about the dirt holding water and causing the wall, rails, uprights, etc to rust.

Here is one of my "throw it out there" ideas......I would push the dirt wall back enough to to put up a pretty retaining wall. THEN I would get large river rocks to put on the ground between the retaining wall and pool BUT not touching the pool wall. That is why I ask if you can get the dirt away from the bottom. That way you can place the rocks along the rail so they do not touch/press on the pool wall. Of course I would put the black stuff under the the wall and rocks as a weed barrier.

Even when you put up the deck you will still need to make sure that area is safe from run off so this will be a permanent feature.

I hope some others join in with their ideas!

Kim

 

[KarenNJ]

Put stone over the black stuff to make it look nicer. The only problem you may have is a moat around the pool so I would do a french drain on the slope side at least. My sister had a slope like that for years (actually hers was a higher variance and just had a garden on the slope side and never had issues.

- - - Updated - - -


This is what we are in the process of doing. We will probably do a deck on the one side eventually but still wanted a wall to clean up the look. We will have a garden at the top of the wall with big grasses. Our high side was about 30-35" above the pool level.