Closing pool for good—tips

[Amy DiChiara]

We own my elderly mother’s home next door to us which has an inground liner pool (about 25K gallons, 9 ft deep end to 3.5 Ft shallow). The liner is shot, needs to be replaced—pool has been leaking there and likely a leak in one of the pipes too.
We are finishing construction on a gunnite pool on our yard and and zero desire to keep this other pool going. But, I’m not interested in filling it with dirt bc maybe one day down the road we (or the next owner) may want to invest in this pool. So, what’s the cheapest, lowest-maintenance option?

My thought is to drain all the water out of the pool, attempt to brace the sides of the pool with 2 x 4s to try to prevent the walls from collapsing in (the pool company winterizing me will help me with this, but I just need to release them if any liability), put a sump pump down in the deep end to pump water out, and cover it (we have a mesh cover). Does that sound OK?

I didn’t want to keep water in the pool and leave it covered bc I don’t want it to get all nasty and be a breeding ground for mold, algae, mosquitos, or other critters. Even if I dump shock in under the cover once a month, I’m not sure that would keep things sanitary enough.

Anyone else have any experience with closing a pool down for good but not yet filling it in with dirt??

 

[JoyfulNoise]

It’s a dangerous proposition. You risk the walls collapsing in with no water to hold them up. 2x4’s are not going to hold back the wet ground around it. It’s also a major danger to animals and humans. Even with a solid safety cover, water is going to get in.

Pool are meant to be full of water, plain and simple. They are not designed to hold up against the earth around them.

As long as you don’t care about the risks involved you can drain it and leave unfilled but you definitely won’t get any insurance coverage against liability by knowingly keeping it that way. Imagine if someone got hurt by falling into it? You would be 100% liable with no coverage.

The responsible thing to do is repair it and keep it maintained OR fill it in. Anything else is a gamble.

 

[Amy DiChiara]

No one will be playing by it.
I am full prepared with the pool walls falling
Are you suggesting the concrete around the pool deck could crumble in?

 

[Amy DiChiara]

It’s a dangerous proposition. You risk the walls collapsing in with no water to hold them up. 2x4’s are not going to hold back the wet ground around it. It’s also a major danger to animals and humans. Even with a solid safety cover, water is going to get in.

Pool are meant to be full of water, plain and simple. They are not designed to hold up against the earth around them.

As long as you don’t care about the risks involved you can drain it and leave unfilled but you definitely won’t get any insurance coverage against liability by knowingly keeping it that way. Imagine if someone got hurt by falling into it? You would be 100% liable with no coverage.

The responsible thing to do is repair it and keep it maintained OR fill it in. Anything else is a gamble.

No one will be playing by it.
I am full prepared with the pool walls falling
Are you suggesting the concrete around the pool deck could crumble in?

Could you speak to the sanitary-ness of water under a mesh pool cover through the winter with shock just once/month? Concerns about that?

 

[Newdude]

I am full prepared with the pool walls falling

2x4s will help, but how old is the pool ? If steel walls have been in the ground for 30+ years, they're not as robust as they once were.

Are you suggesting the concrete around the pool deck could crumble in?

If the earth gives way under them, yes.

It's mostly a flash flood concern, and seeing how this is a long term plan (as opposed to a weekend or two), it becomes much more realistic of an occurrence. You get several a year and each one is a roll of the dice. If the ground around the pool gets wet/heavy enough, it'll laugh at the 2x4s which got it through regular storms.

Or the flood erodes under the wall because the liner ripped once it became brittle from being dry and the wall collapses that way instead.

Could you speak to the sanitary-ness of water under a mesh pool cover through the winter with shock just once/month?

It would probably fare well through the winter, or well enough. Once a month care won't be enough once it's hot out. It'll be a black swamp in no time.

I'm sorry there are no good answers here.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

A once a month shock treatment isn’t going to do anything. Once algae and bacteria start to grow, the water will be so fouled with biological contaminants that it will consume all the chlorine you add in a few minutes and 99% of the growth and muck will not even know you added it.

As @Newdude ended off with - there are no good solutions here. You either drain it and are responsible for maintaining the hole in the ground OR you fill it with water and you are responsible for the pool upkeep.

Honestly, filling it in may be expensive but it’s a permanent fix. You said you don’t want to fill it because you don’t want to mess up the chance someone in the future will want a pool … well, that’s no really sensible. You are incurring a huge and very real risk for some hypothetical home buyer in the future. For every home buyer out there that wants a house with a pool, there’s probably two that don’t. So, if anything, you’re improving the chances of selling the house in the future. And if someone is desperate to have a pool, they’d much rather spend their money building the pool they want and not resurrecting a pool with problems.

I’d say you should at least find out what it would cost to demolition and fill the pool. It may not be as bad as you think.

 

[Bperry]

A once a month shock treatment isn’t going to do anything. Once algae and bacteria start to grow, the water will be so fouled with biological contaminants that it will consume all the chlorine you add in a few minutes and 99% of the growth and muck will not even know you added it.

As @Newdude ended off with - there are no good solutions here. You either drain it and are responsible for maintaining the hole in the ground OR you fill it with water and you are responsible for the pool upkeep.

Honestly, filling it in may be expensive but it’s a permanent fix. You said you don’t want to fill it because you don’t want to mess up the chance someone in the future will want a pool … well, that’s no really sensible. You are incurring a huge and very real risk for some hypothetical home buyer in the future. For every home buyer out there that wants a house with a pool, there’s probably two that don’t. So, if anything, you’re improving the chances of selling the house in the future. And if someone is desperate to have a pool, they’d much rather spend their money building the pool they want and not resurrecting a pool with problems.

I’d say you should at least find out what it would cost to demolition and fill the pool. It may not be as bad as you think.

Even cheaper and easier would be to just sell the house.

 

[sande005]

Talk to a Realtor about the sale value to the property of:
1. Having a pristine pool.
2. Having a wreck that a new buyer will definitely have to spend lots of money on right away (to fix or fill).
3. The change in potential sale price after it was removed, and it is all a nice patch of grass.

Call a demo company for a quote on removal, and repairing the landscaping that will then be needed.

We sort of went through this last year - only the dogs really use it routinely anymore. And we needed to rebuild the big safety fencing. And there is that 25 yr old heater that will be going out sooner than later. And the patched skimmer that needs complete replacement. And I suspect the other one has a small in ground leak....

But, after running the numbers, even though we may be here for several more years, the cost to maintain vs the hit to the house value or the cost to fill it in meant we kept it, and keep it running.

I have a hunch you will spend the money to fix. Spend extra and make it as low maint. as you can - SWCG, a really good cartridge filter, VS pump. Then even if you can never totally ignore it, the time needed to deal with it will be surprisingly little, especially if you keep the CL at the top end of the recommended to make sure you never get any growth.

 

[ajw22]

A drained pool with a liner that requires replacement, leaking pipes, and equipment that does not work is negative value to the house. It will cost more to bring the pool back to life then building a new pool in that spot. You are doing no one any favors by trying to close the pool that way for a future owner.

Keep the pool operational or fill it in.