Renovate or demo?

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K

kknowles

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Jun 7, 2016
6
Purcell, OK
Hi all! New to the forum, and was hoping to get some opinions on a property we are considering purchasing. As you can see, there is a "homemade" pool that hasn't had any attention in a number of years. My wife calls it the hippo exhibit, like you'd see at a zoo. She's not wrong haha. I don't know much about it at all, besides it's an eye sore. It was oddly built, and has a curb all the way around it for whatever reason. From what I can tell, there is one return line that you can see stubbed down on top, and I am guessing the other side of it is in the bottom of the pool that can't be seen yet.

We would like a pool of course, but I have no clue on where to even start on this one. More importantly, I am trying to determine if demo'ing or resurfacing would make more sense. Cost involved in either scenario are very important, but I am leaning towards filling it in and setting an above ground on top of it. Really, I'd like to see or hear some other opinions. Thanks!
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Hi there! Welcome to TFP.... what an *interesting* home made pool!? LOL

I'm all about saving old pools or repurposing things, but in this case I gotta say no way jose. I wonder if there is *anything* you can do with this....space?? Garden? I dunno!?

Destroy the hippo exhibit and put in a new pool with decent plumbing features.

Keep us updated on the decision too, please? Makes me wonder how they listed that in the MSP? Was it ever inspected or known about by the city??

Maddie :flower:
 
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YippeeSkippy said:
Hi there! Welcome to TFP.... what an *interesting* home made pool!? LOL

I'm all about saving old pools or repurposing things, but in this case I gotta say no way jose. I wonder if there is *anything* you can do with this....space?? Garden? I dunno!?

Destroy the hippo exhibit and put in a new pool with decent plumbing features.

Keep us updated on the decision too, please? Makes me wonder how they listed that in the MPS? Was it ever inspected or known about by the city??

Maddie :flower:
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It's well outside of city limits, so no inspections were needed to build this goofy thing. My worry is if I cover it up and knock over the curb around it, I don't want to have to dig it back up one day if we were able to build a normal pool. But the cost of demo will be pretty substantial. Maybe semi burying an above ground on top of it will be the way to go. Still trying to make sense of it all!
 
Keep in mind if you ever want to put an inground pool in, you can put it in closer to the house. You've got lots of space.


THe excess dirt pulled out of the ground for an inground pool could be used to fill in the goofy one.

Maddie :flower:
 
To me there are too many reasons to list to want to bring this up to a code-compliant pool. I'd fill it in or demo/fill combo and build some type of pool elsewhere in the yard.
 
My vote is to buy a hippo. Then please post pics.

JK.... If you fill it in, I'm thinking you should punch a bunch of holes in it first, otherwise it will not drain and will eventually create some fairly nasty problems.

You say you have not yet purchased the property... if circumstances allow I would be looking for some kind of credit or other consideration from the seller to get that thing dealt with. It will not be functional as a swimming pool, and will end up being a stinky giant cesspool breeding bugs and other sorts of swamp monsters.
 
Good call on punching holes in it, I hadn't thought of that. And I said the same thing to my wife, let's just get a great deal on a hippo! haha. This deal is kind of untypical, it's a repo property, so not a lot of demands can be made unfortunately. I am definitely leaning towards covering it up, then eventually building a pool closer to the house. The current pool is mixed in with a huge dock and cabana, so it would have been nice to keep it there. Here is a better pic that shows a little of that.


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kknowles said:
Good call on punching holes in it, I hadn't thought of that. And I said the same thing to my wife, let's just get a great deal on a hippo! haha. This deal is kind of untypical, it's a repo property, so not a lot of demands can be made unfortunately. I am definitely leaning towards covering it up, then eventually building a pool closer to the house. The current pool is mixed in with a huge dock and cabana, so it would have been nice to keep it there. Here is a better pic that shows a little of that.
Click to expand...

I had guessed this might be a repo situation. In your negotiations with the bank/seller, you might raise this as an environmental issue, the true extent of which is unknown, and one that you will take responsibility for with the right concessions. Describe it as a cracked and leaky concrete lined pond, not a pool. When banks hear the word "environmental" they tend to want out asap, especially in conjunction with a leaky lined pond. I would talk to a very knowledgeable realtor before doing that though, to make sure it won't backfire on you and cause the bank to back out on the sale altogether. I don't think that would happen, but would be good to get a qualified opinion on it.
 
We've 100% confirmed it was a pool for those asking. This place has 3 different fishing ponds, so there would have been no need for more. There is a sun deck, waterfall, and diving rock as well. A few equipment items are still under the sun deck too. Thanks for the advice Scdaren, that's definitely something we can talk to the realtor about. This is really the main thing holding us back from just buying the place. We love everything about the place besides having to deal with this monstrosity!
 
I'm glad everyone got a kick out of it, it's something else for sure! And again, this was 100% a pool. I have actually talked to someone now that used to be friends with the family that lived here. They swam in it all the time supposedly.

My wife and I decided, if we proceed, we are going to punch holes in the bottom and sides, then fill it in to the bottom of the curb, and put a big fire pit right in the middle with seating all around it. You'd kind of have to step down into it, if that makes sense.

Thanks again for all the opinions!
 
You could always raise the firepit in the center, and build up the top edge large enough (flat) for cushions. Folks could sit on the cushions with their legs down the sides of the "pool" and enjoy the fire.

Just an odd thought..... Largest fire pit in history!!

Maddie :flower:
 

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