Use French Drain around in ground pool??

[poolguy968]

Hi everyone, I've been building an inground gunite pool in my backyard for the past few months and right now I'm in the process of figuring out how to setup the proper drainage around my pool deck. I am planning to do pavers.

I've attached some pics but basically the situation is that three sides of my pool are fairly close to the fencing (maybe 4-5 feet away). On the left side my
yard is actually a bit lower than the area beyond the fence, while my rear fence and right side fence border neighbors who are at a lower elevation than me.

I have a landscaping contractor who is recommending that I install a french drain all around the base of my wood fence surrounding the pool and they will also install the paver pool deck so that the water will slope away from the pool coping and down towards those fence/french drain areas.

They would bury a long pipe with holes on top all along the base of my fence and cover it with rocks so the water can just seep downwards and then eventually flow to the curb/storm drain. They said that the visible area on the surface would be about 2-3inches wide meaning that basically I would have pool coping, then pavers and then a 2-3 inch gap filled with little rocks and then the wood fence.

The alternative would be to just add a bunch of round spot drains every ten feet or so all along the perimeter of the fence near the pool. Or we can buy one of those long trench/slot drains too but it'll probably cost a lot more to get those.

My contractor is saying this French drain would essentially accomplish what the trench/slot drain would do at a much more economic price and also provide better drainage than having a couple of spot drains. However I am planning to put in five spot drains along the side of the pool that's closest to the house since a French drain wouldn't look too good in that area.

The only thing is I haven't seen too many examples of people doing French drains all around their pools like this and so I have some reservations. I'm not sure if this would actually work well or not?

What do you folks think? Do you think this is a good working solution for drainage? Do you forsee any issues with this approach?

Thanks!!!

 

[setsailsoon]

Hi everyone, I've been building an inground gunite pool in my backyard for the past few months and right now I'm in the process of figuring out how to setup the proper drainage around my pool deck. I am planning to do pavers.

I've attached some pics but basically the situation is that three sides of my pool are fairly close to the fencing (maybe 4-5 feet away). On the left side my
yard is actually a bit lower than the area beyond the fence, while my rear fence and right side fence border neighbors who are at a lower elevation than me.

I have a landscaping contractor who is recommending that I install a french drain all around the base of my wood fence surrounding the pool and they will also install the paver pool deck so that the water will slope away from the pool coping and down towards those fence/french drain areas.

They would bury a long pipe with holes on top all along the base of my fence and cover it with rocks so the water can just seep downwards and then eventually flow to the curb/storm drain. They said that the visible area on the surface would be about 2-3inches wide meaning that basically I would have pool coping, then pavers and then a 2-3 inch gap filled with little rocks and then the wood fence.

The alternative would be to just add a bunch of round spot drains every ten feet or so all along the perimeter of the fence near the pool. Or we can buy one of those long trench/slot drains too but it'll probably cost a lot more to get those.

My contractor is saying this French drain would essentially accomplish what the trench/slot drain would do at a much more economic price and also provide better drainage than having a couple of spot drains. However I am planning to put in five spot drains along the side of the pool that's closest to the house since a French drain wouldn't look too good in that area.

The only thing is I haven't seen too many examples of people doing French drains all around their pools like this and so I have some reservations. I'm not sure if this would actually work well or not?

What do you folks think? Do you think this is a good working solution for drainage? Do you forsee any issues with this approach?

Thanks!!!

Nice pool! I've used French drains to move water out of low areas in my yard and they work great. But I don't see what they're gonna do for you around the edge of the lot. Also, slotted channel drains are pretty cheap, and are usually used to take water off the pavers and away from the pool. Not sure a french drain is going to be cheaper or help move water off the pavers and away from the pool.

I hope this helps.

Chris

Chris

 

[Bperry]

Hi everyone, I've been building an inground gunite pool in my backyard for the past few months and right now I'm in the process of figuring out how to setup the proper drainage around my pool deck. I am planning to do pavers.

I've attached some pics but basically the situation is that three sides of my pool are fairly close to the fencing (maybe 4-5 feet away). On the left side my
yard is actually a bit lower than the area beyond the fence, while my rear fence and right side fence border neighbors who are at a lower elevation than me.

I have a landscaping contractor who is recommending that I install a french drain all around the base of my wood fence surrounding the pool and they will also install the paver pool deck so that the water will slope away from the pool coping and down towards those fence/french drain areas.

They would bury a long pipe with holes on top all along the base of my fence and cover it with rocks so the water can just seep downwards and then eventually flow to the curb/storm drain. They said that the visible area on the surface would be about 2-3inches wide meaning that basically I would have pool coping, then pavers and then a 2-3 inch gap filled with little rocks and then the wood fence.

The alternative would be to just add a bunch of round spot drains every ten feet or so all along the perimeter of the fence near the pool. Or we can buy one of those long trench/slot drains too but it'll probably cost a lot more to get those.

My contractor is saying this French drain would essentially accomplish what the trench/slot drain would do at a much more economic price and also provide better drainage than having a couple of spot drains. However I am planning to put in five spot drains along the side of the pool that's closest to the house since a French drain wouldn't look too good in that area.

The only thing is I haven't seen too many examples of people doing French drains all around their pools like this and so I have some reservations. I'm not sure if this would actually work well or not?

What do you folks think? Do you think this is a good working solution for drainage? Do you forsee any issues with this approach?

Thanks!!!

Pavers are porous (unless you’re paying down cement first) so Id imagine a deck drain wont do much for you as the water seeps through the pavers and never has a chance to pool up on top and then hit the spot drains. The channel drains are not very expensive to buy but take a bit of work to install right.

Id think the french drain isnt a bad idea, but id widen the visible gravel from the pavers all the way to meet the fence line if not already doing that. It may help your fence rot slower.

 

[poolguy968]

Oh yeah so I am going to be laying my pavers on top of concrete actually so I guess that's why the drainage is especially important since I don't expect a lot of the water to be able to just seep down through the pavers themselves.

The main idea is that the French drain would be buried all along the perimeter of the fence and then it would be connected to the outside curb so it can flow to the storm drain.

 

[setsailsoon]

Just a thought but you can do sand set pavers with a good compacted base and use channel drains. If you ever need to access piping around the pool shell you don't have to break up concrete... and at today's concrete prices I'm pretty sure it's cheaper. Either way you'll be sloping them away from the pool so you should get good run off.