repair or remove fiberglass pool before selling house

[RuralTexas]

Originally the pool builder had told us they were going to put the fiberglass and the deck concrete into the hole. Sounded like it was done that way quite commonly. The excavator said "no" the day of excavation. He didn't feel that was the way to go with the new pool going in a few feet away. He asked the pool builder to find out where he could haul the concrete deck material. The builder just looked blank, I got on the phone with the guy at the local dump errrr, environmental controlled refuse station, he said one of the local construction companies would take concrete for free in any size to use for fill. The excavator hauled the concrete to the construction company and took the fiberglass away. I have no idea where it went.

 

[Newdude]

It’s designed to not contaminate the soil in the first place so it’s probably fine but feel free to ask anyway like TXSplash said. If you do a fill in with all the chunks it will probably settle a few times. They broke up and buried my neighbors foundation when his house burnt down. He died afterwards unrelated and the town knew the property was going to sit so they filled it in. In the end it settled about 18 inches. It will take a few seasons for the fill dirt to make its way into any voids between all the chunks. Each time the top will sink some more and you’ll be adding more fill so I wouldn’t go crazy growing grass right away if you do it a while before you sell. If you do it when you put the house on the market then you’ll need the grass to not make it an obvious problem. By the time it settles it will be the new people’s problem.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Whoa~ What about using the existing fiberglass pool as the walls for a vinyl liner inside it? Don't know how or if its possible but it seems like a good idea to me. If they could alter the top coping to install the right coping/attachment doodads for the liner......?
@jimmythegreek @Pool_Medic is this a possibility??

Maddie

 

[Pool_Medic]

It’s certainly doable yes.

 

[ajw22]

Whoa~ What about using the existing fiberglass pool as the walls for a vinyl liner inside it? Don't know how or if its possible but it seems like a good idea to me. If they could alter the top coping to install the right coping/attachment doodads for the liner......?
@jimmythegreek @Pool_Medic is this a possibility??

Maddie

You would still have a fiberglass tub that is settling and shifting. Long term it would not fare well and is not something you want to explain to a buyer after a pool inspection raises questions.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You would still have a fiberglass tub that is settling and shifting. Long term it would not fo well and not something you want to explain to a buyer after a pool inspection raises questions.

Darn. It sounds like such a great plan to me.......

 

[jtburf]

As a person who was trying to sell a home with a nice new above ground, do yourself a huge favor. Remove it, I promise your pool will be a turn off to 99% of the people looking to buy because of unknowns and cost related to unknowns.

Some folks will not even consider a home with a pool, much less one that needs repair.

John

 

[borjis]

wow only 5,000 to remove and fill in. That is super cheap compared to other regions that
can cost up to 20k for removal.

Definitely remove if that's all it will cost.

 

[Rich D]

Does anyone know if there is a problem with burying the broken up fiberglass pieces in the hole, along with the concrete pieces?

I would imagine a environmental dept would want both concrete and fiberglass removed. It would be a Grey area for me. If done correctly the excavator should be able mix it in and pack it down with the concrete and dirt so you would get very little settling ( no more than backfilling with common fill). The 2 concerns I would have is if the new owner decided to put a pool or other structure there then there could be a substantial extra cost to remove the blended material (probably far more than you would pay to have it separated out during the demo). If it were just concrete and dirt it would be fairly inexpensive to remove it.
The second concern would be contamination of the ground water and possibly close by wells. A few years ago this would not be a concern however after learning that microscopic plastic partials have found there way into the ground water it makes you stop and think what partials could be introduced by breaking up fiberglass... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯....

 

[sktn77a]

Yes, a lot of municipalities now prohibit dumping building waste as fill for a pool removal. You might want to check first.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Concrete is cheap to get rid of I wouldn't fill with it. Dirt is free to get if you need it. The dump usually takes fiberglass no problem and it goes by weight so a load is pretty cheap to dispose of