Retaining wall repair around pool - do i need to drain?

[danhoelter]

Have a 4 year old gunite pool with a short 2’ to 2.5’ retianing walm around the backside (slight slope on yard). Ive recently found out when they built the retaining wall they didnt set a gravel (compacted base) and woukd like to have it rebuilt the right way.

My question is, do i need ti drain the pool in order to remove the retaining wall or is the gunite/rebar wall strong enough to handle the laterL load if rhe wall is removed for half a day. Ideally do jt in sections to limit the pressure but would appreciate any insight.

As you can see they built the wall shorter than the concrete decking and with this update the new wall would be level with the new concrete that will be repoured.

Appreciate the insight.

Dan

 

[JFarr]

I'm no expert but here is the back wall of my gunite pool from under my deck:



According to the building records my pool was built in 1985.

I don't think there's much risk of the internal water pressure from your pool blowing out the gunite wall. I think draining it would pose a greater risk.

But again, I'm no expert.

 

[danhoelter]

Greatly appreciate it; I have a pool engineer coming this week to validate it for me. Would cost 10x if it would occur so being super cautious upfront.

The fact that yours hasn’t failed gives me plenty of ease! Then again they don’t make anything like they used too!!

 

[TinFoilHat]

Wow! That is quite a view of a complete pool install. You certainly don't see that every day. It's like a massive cut-away model of a pool.

 

[danhoelter]

Had a pool engineer come out and he validated that there isn’t a need to empty the water to take down the blocks and rebuild. Stated they’ve never lost a pool in the 500+ they’ve done to date. Works for me and well worth the delay to validate for sure.