Question
I don't know if you can help me with this but my husband and I just bought a house that previously had a pool in the backyard. The previous owners did not correctly fill in this pool- they busted up the concrete and tore up some of the vinyl liner and threw it into the hole and filled the rest in with dirt and sand (it looks and feels like sand to me anyway). Moving to my problem- We go through a few months a year of what we call our rainy seasons. During these times we have a 'lake' in our backyard. We have trying digging about a foot to 2 feet down to remove the concrete and vinyl liner sections that are close to the top of the ground and then putting more dirt in as we go. Which seemed to work for a while but then the rain started again and our lake it back. I know the ground is completely saturated all around the property because we have puddles everywhere- but can you give me any advice on how do to get rid of this lake?! Thanks for your time!

Answer
Hello,

Concrete from the work should have been removed from the pool and the bottom should have been completely removed. Large areas of concrete in the pool will impede drainage and if the sides of the pool are in tact that also could impede drainage. The best course of action would be to remove the entire bottom of the pool. Drilling drainage holes in the bottom may not be sufficient. It is unlikely that all the walls of the pool are impeding drainage,but,for instance,the wall on the deep end of the pool may and if this is the case,that wall should be taken completely out.

My advice to you would be to remove all the concrete and vinyl from the pool. That of course will require removing the entire soil content from the pool. The top two feet of soil should be a quality top soil. The underlying layer can be of lesser quality but it must be compacted well.
It should be relatively porous;clay for instance,would not be suitable.



If you bring in heavy equipment for this,such as a backhoe,take steps to protect any lawn or paving areas that such equipment can damage. Plywood can be placed over lawn areas to prevent tires or tracks from tearing up the grass. Tracked vehicles,depending on their weight,can damage paved surfaces such as an asphalt driveway. Plywood or some kind of temporary roadway material such as steel plates or matting may prevent this. Good luck. Let me know if I can be of further help.

Check to see if any warranty you may have on the house would cover this. If this was a precondition that was not revealed to you than your warranty may entitle you to be compensated.

In many municipalities,codes state that all debri from swimming pools may not be deposited back into the pool and that all debri must be removed from the property and disposed of properly. Violators can be fined and made to remedy all damages caused. If this work was done by a contractor perhaps they can be found and forced to remedy the situation.


Mark Harshman
http://www.mahdrafting.com
Email: [email protected]

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