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In some cases, a pool-to-pond conversion is reversible, leaving the possibility of restoring your backyard pool in the future. Its also virtually maintenance-free. Well, your neighbors will, for one. Here are a few options for those looking to become former pool owners. Not only can this happen, but it almost certainly will if you take the path of least resistance and just leave your pool unmaintained for extended periods of time. Most storm drains run into lakes or rivers. Composite is a wood-polymer lumber made from wood waste mixed with reclaimed plastic from shopping bags and plastic film. In my town, a minimum of 3 holes is required to allow for drainage, but it varies from place to place, so you will have to check with local authorities. Now that you know some of the concerns with leaving your pool sit dormant and unmaintained, if you find yourself in a situation where you need to close the pool at least try to follow some of the steps outlined below. A swimming pool Deckover makes sense for many reasons: Cost savings: No longer will you be paying for electricity to heat and circulate the water in your pool and no longer will expensive chemical treatments be required. Do not empty it onto fresh grass, because the salt might take the water out of the plants (mitosis). If it is broken already then what is the point of caring for it any longer? This is why you should not close your pool permanently. It's best to fill in a layer of crushed rock first and then compact it to create a base. But if you seldom feel like swimming these days and the cost of maintaining your swimming pool just isnt making sense anymore, then it may be time to find other uses for that area of your yard. So how long is too long when it comes to closing a pool? So what happens to all the people stuck in the middle who do not want to eliminate the pool completely, but also have no desire or interest in keeping it open and maintained? Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. By using our site, you agree to our. Rosie recommends that you cover your unused pool with a deck made from a composite material. If you think that a $15,000 repair bill is unmanageable, just wait until the pool deteriorates to the point where you need $50,000 to stop it from destroying the rest of your property! Big deal right? Unfortunately, filling in or tearing out a swimming pool is a big expense. Spruce up your outdoor space with products handpicked by HGTV editors. The best you can hope for is to maintain the water level in the pool at the height it was intended to operate at. Join the party! The problem is that you can not really just leave a pool dormant without causing problems. And the excavation costs for a new pool in the location where the old one was could be astronomical. Unit 1040 | Waddell, AZ 85355, 6993 North Columbine Boulevard | Flagstaff, AZ 86004, 600 East 1st Street | Casa Grande, AZ 85122, 1101 West Melinda Bldg B | Phoenix, AZ 85027, 22425 North 16th Street Ste 2 | Phoenix, AZ 85024, Pro Solutions Air Conditioning and Heating LLC, Marvel Building & Masonry Supply | Phoenix North, Oldcastle Superlite | Belgard Hardscapes | Echelon Masonry Solutions, Refreshing Your Pool For A Refreshing Dip In The Summer. Mosquitos are carriers of disease, and specifically bad ones at that, and this alone should be enough of a reason to avoid leaving your pool closed for extended periods of time. With no way for rainwater to drain through the pool liner, it will become a mud pit. Just because you can not afford a $15,000 repair and renovation bill does not mean that things can not get a LOT worse. Pools are nice but they can be a liability issue. 1737 East Jackson Street | Phoenix, AZ 85034, 1919 W Fairmont Dr. Ste 5 | Tempe, AZ 85282, 7000 North Cotton Ln. WATER SAFETY GOES BEYOND THE SWIMMING POOL. Outdoor living space: With the new deck comes a perfect place to set up an outdoor dining or entertaining area. Real Helpful. If you can afford to keep the pool running with minimal filtration and chemical maintenance then this is by far the preferential option. Tips on how to carefully uninstall and remove kitchen appliances and fixtures. You may have heard of empty pools collapsing, popping out of the ground, and having the interior surface ruined from being emptyand all of these concerns are true and serious. New pool owner guide Also, if you sell the house or land, you have to let whoever buys it know that there is a partially-removed pool there, which will drop your property's value. There are a couple of things to consider before installing a pool Deckover: The price for a Deckover varies depending on the size and shape of your swimming pool. You can, but the trees will deteriorate and cause a void in the sand/dirt, causing additional settling. Take a tip from "The Beverly Hillbillies" and consider converting your inground swimming pool into a koi or wildlife pond. - Swimming Pool Steve It still needs to have water in it, and without filtration and chemical treatment the water is going to become a stinky, dark, mess. you no longer want to use your pool for swimming, Watch kids play games inside an empty swimming pool, Take a radio-controlled vehicle for a drive, Give the kids a safe place to ride their bikes. Despite my warnings about why you should not close your pool for extended periods of time, if you must do so then you should at least invest in closing it properly to minimize the amount of damage that the pool will experience when dormant. If the pool has a few dozen squirrels and neighborhood cats at the bottom of it this will make the problem of disgusting, dangerous and smells water infinitely worse. Endorsed Brands From Swimming Pool Steve Stagnant water is not congruent with longevity of pool components. To visually eliminate evidence of the pool, the decking and top few feet of the pool itself may be removed and buried. If you buy thru these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This, certainly, will result in damage to the pool, complaints from the neighbors, a reduction in the real estate property value, and eventually an ordinance from the city warning you to take care of the pool (one way or another) or risk experiencing substantial fines. These types of covers will help to keep the pool safe for children, pets and animals during the time that the pool is closed. This, right here, is the heart of the problem. Those considering purchasing a house with a pool already installed may not want to undertake the risks or expenses of an inherited pool. It is worth noting that in these areas pools are closed during very cold months when bacteria growth and insects are minimal. Despite the fact that a new liner or a new plaster should last much longer than this, this assumes continual care and chemical maintenance. Follow these tips for regular maintenance and for winterizing your pool. Over time this will allow for bacteria and insects to take over the pool, and given enough time the pool will eventually become a swamp. It is almost always less expensive in the long run to keep the pool open and minimally maintainedbut that is not what this article is about! All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Plus, if you fill in a pool and hide it under the dirt, you must disclose that fact when you sell your home. If you are thinking that "who cares - I am not going to use the pool anyway" then you might be underestimating just how much of a problem having a swamp in your backyard might be. Completely reversible: Returning your pool to normal function is a simply matter of removing the deck that covers it. % of people told us that this article helped them. Installing an inground swimming pool (or buying a home that already had one) probably seemed like a really good idea at first. All rights reserved. Real People. You cant just fill it with dirt. A longtime owner may face costly repairs to an older pool, lose interest in swimming and dont want to continue spending the hundreds or even thousands of dollars it takes to maintain a pool or hope to reclaim the lost real estate in the yard for mother purposes. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. How much would it cost to close in my in-ground pool? Stagnant pool water will end up smelling bad enough that you may just get a knock on the door from your local police department wanting to search your property for corpses. Once the pool is empty, it may become buoyant while sitting in the ground. If nothing else this should allow you to limit your concern for future damage to the pool structure itself. Resale value: Since the swimming pool is still there, when it comes time to sell your home, potential buyers will have the option of removing the Deckover and re-filling the pool with water if they wish. The soil required can be costly and should be effectively compacted to keep your garden plot for sinking over time. Even the Pool Kings' projects aren't complete without accessories. Most likely you will also since stagnant pool water does not simply smell unpleasantwhen you let a pool sit without chemical treatment or filtration it will smell foul enough to drop flying birds right out of the sky and make a dog walking by the front of your house throw up! You have to do a full removal of the pool to be able to build an addition on it, digging everything out of the hole, having it hauled away and filling the hole with dirt. Winterize & Close The Plumbing System - Shutting down the pool plumbing system for long term storage might seem like an obvious thing to do for some pool ownershowever some geographic areas never close their pool and as such it might not occur to these owners that leaving the plumbing system open is a bad idea. With an adjustable platform base, union connections included and a very strong warranty these pumps offer an impressive value to pool owners. Here is an inexpensive and easy method to rid yourself of an unwanted in-ground swimming pool. A Deckover is constructed very much like a standard composite deck that is attached to a house. If you store the pump drained and dry in your basement or heated garage then it most likely will still be in serviceable condition when you want to open the pool next. When you stop caring for them properly they are extremely unforgiving and will likely end up costing you more than you can possibly imagine. If you were to replace the pool liner, or have the pool freshly plastered right before you shut it down for a year or two, you can fully anticipate that these new interior surfaces would need to be replaced again when the pool finally gets opened next. If you want to be able to drive over it, it will need a few additional reinforcements. If you can combine a grease monkey with a computer geek, throw in a touch of information nut and organization freak, combined with a little bit of storyteller, youve got a good idea of who I am. How long after filling in a pool should I wait to build an addition on top of the area, or can the area be used for building on? www.PoolPartsToGo.com The decommissioning process starts with draining the pool. All too often pool owners in these situations pool owners simply "walk away" and neglect the pool entirely. - Swimming Pool Steve Finally, perhaps the most obvious answer is complete removal of the pool. Whats the Best Chlorine-Alternative for Easy Pool Care? The concern for huge bodies of stagnant water breeding mosquitos is actually the main reason why many urban areas have laws governing when you must open you pool every year. If you put in a lot of concrete and do not use crushed rock and sand, you'll get a lot more settling than you otherwise would. Absolutely. My pool is 20' x 40' x 8' deep. You may not be able to leave the vinyl or the concrete. Very likely. Reclaim your backyard when retiring an old or unwanted swimming pool. How Much Does It Cost to Install an Above-Ground 2022 Warner Bros. Heres How I Did It. Storage: The now empty swimming pool can be used as storage space. Although this can be an economical and effective answer for some, not all pools are appropriate. I do all of my own repair work. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since 2019. My other interests include cooking, living with an aging dog, and dealing with diabetic issues. A pool can add value to your home. Insurance savings: Without an active swimming pool, your homeowners insurance will drop. Well, OK, maybe this is an exaggeration, but not by much. An inground pool can be a fabulous centerpiece of backyard living, but there are situations in which having this recreational fixture on the property becomes a source of frustration for the homeowner. A pool in such a state can drag down the value of your home to such a great extent that the entire house becomes essentially unsellable - or if you are able to sell it you will need to do so at a reduced price far greater than the actual cost of repairing the pool. Here are the factors that go into the cost: The average payback time for a Deckover pool cover is less than 4 years. If you want to keep a pool closed for an extended period of time with minimal negative consequence then using a safety cover should be considered to be the least that you can do. To put a complex technology simply, if you are looking for the best possible water care system for your pool or spa then you are looking for a Clear Comfort AOP system. For a homeowner interested in using the location as an outdoor living space, a deck conversion is a straightforward solution and eliminates the significant expense of outright removal. Try to empty the salt water onto dry grass to water it. Real Experiences. IS THERE A WAY TO COVER IT PERMANENTLY? Remove your kitchen cabinets in record time by following our four simple steps. A deck conversion like this one fromDeckover Pool Retirementis one method for reclaiming backyard space when retiring an unwanted swimming pool. Multiply that number by the cost per cubic yard of fill dirt, stone or concrete and add the delivery fee. - Swimming Pool Steve, Copyright 2021 - All Rights Reserved - www.SwimmingPoolSteve.com, what happens to a pool with a long term leak, How To Measure & Install A Pool Safety Cover. Although the pool may become an unseen memory, expect to disclose its presence when selling the property. One of the best options that will put an end to the monthly maintenance expenses while allowing you to retain the swimming pool for use some day in the future is to install a pool Deckover cover. The following links and products are to affiliates of the Swimming Pool Steve website. Constructing your Deckover in a water-tight manner will provide valuable dry storage space. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Many pools are quite wide. Construction of a deck would require sufficient support and should be designed by a structural engineer. Removing a swimming pool is usually more money than people imagine and this makes removing the pool a viable option for those with the budget to do so. Best left to professionals, removal of an inground pool can cost as much as $15,000, but allows complete recovery of yard space and permanently puts an end to the maintenance costs of a pool that accrue even when not in use. Killing mold is a dirty job, but the right tools can help you wipe it out for good. Who cares about some stinky water? Eric holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MEd in secondary education from DePaul University. Deckover, a Phoenix pool & spa retirement company, covered Wrights pool with composite material decking. Blowing out all of the plumbing lines and capping both ends with permanent (or winterization) plugs absolutely must be done if you want your pool to sit dormant for extended periods of time. If you put salt water into them, or water that has chemicals in it, it may cause harm to the river or lake's ecosystem. Holes must be drilled in the bottom of the pool to allow for drainage. To drastically decrease the chance of the chlorine all sinking to the bottom of the deep end and causing damage to the interior surface, it is strongly suggested that you manually agitate the water after any time you add chlorine. With a swimming pool Deckover, you can utilize all of that valuable space in your backyard thats currently being consumed by the pool any way you want to! Smell - The first thing that you need to know about closing a swimming pool for extended periods of time is that it is going to smell bad. If this describes your situation then at least the best you can do is to learn more about what happens to a pool with a long term leak. This article is for those of you looking for specific information on how to close your pool for extended periods of time with minimal risk for long term costs and potential damage. Each area differs. It cost him $6,000 but the move isnt permanent. Check and see if permits are required before undertaking this conversion and consider professional assistance. If you do, it will float up out of the ground, possibly damaging plumbing and electrical connections to the pool. Can I bury trees I cut down under the crushed rock and dirt in the pool? Privacy Policy. Install A Safety Cover - Installing a safety cover, and specifically a mesh safety cover that allows water to pass through, not a solid safety cover that requires you to pump off the accumulated water, is the single best thing you can do for a pool that needs to be taken offline for an extended period of time. Having a structural leak in a pool without the money to attend to the problem is a real issue. Removing your dishwasher doesn't need to be left to the pros. And can cost several thousand dollars.. The heater and filter are too big and not practical to move and store, but the pump is fairly easy by comparison, likely with two plumbing unions and one electrical connection, and is the most likely component to fail as a result of sitting unused. The foul stench of stagnant pool water can get bad enough that you can smell it from the front of your house and it is not the kind of stink you can learn to live with. Income generated from these links helps to keep this pool and spa resource available for everyone. Maintain The Water Level - In a perfect world it would be a lot easier to put your pool into storage if you could just drain it and keep it dry.