I want to fill in my swimming with dirt and stone?

January 13, 2009 · Filed under Do It Yourself (DIY)

pool landscape
cr500 asked:


I am sick of the pool. How much of the bottom do I need to bust out so water will not collect? I was planning on renting a jack hammer to tear out the deck and throw all this into the pool. The bottom is gunite, sides are fiberglass.
My buddy has a Bobcat so we can fill in the balance of pool with gravel and dirt.
I will probably plant a few trees and landscape over the filled in area.
I live in Dallas so freezing weather in not a problem.

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8 Responses so far »

  1. 1

    angelo26 said,

    January 14, 2009 @ 2:04 pm

    What a waste some people would love to have their own pool.

  2. 2

    Cat said,

    January 15, 2009 @ 6:22 pm

    I suppose it depends on how deep the pool is, and how much rainfall you get. And what you plan to grow in it. If busting out the bottom at its deepest point is not s problem for you, I’d do it. A 2 foot diameter should be plenty.

    If it’s problematic, maybe fill it in, and plant stuff in it. Maybe plant marginal or water-loving plants. If they don’t live - then water collection is not a problem. If the thrive, treat the site as a “rain garden”. google rain garden to find what plants like that habitat.

    And a comment for angelo - pools are expensive to maintain - $100 a month in chemicals is not unusual. Not to mention the upkeep and repairs to the circulation system. Not everyone can afford to keep a pool that they own in good order.

  3. 3

    pali@yahoo.com said,

    January 16, 2009 @ 12:51 am

    pl don’t say dirt.. it earth and stone and sand, or what ever you want from the supplier whose business is collect such material from the demolished houses and dump it somewhere at a cost., he makes double income when you ask him to supply the same go ahead ,and make a nice landscape get a specialist to do that.. . you can ask him to the granite and the fibreglass

  4. 4

    scottfamilytribe said,

    January 18, 2009 @ 8:30 pm

    as a poolguy who has been in the biz 20 years i will tell you this,, you just cant bury a pool,, you need a permit to dig it and in alot of areas you neeed a permit to bury it,, the bottom has to be knocked out and the dirt needs to be compressed by a stamper,, and this is done in stages,, its for safety so the dirt will not collapse when you walk on it,, and the inspector needs to check it out,, i have removed lots of pools and it usually cost about 8000 dollars for the whole project, different areas have different laws,, and if the pool is on record in your county and you remove it without notifying the county then one day when you sell the house they will a come a knocking,, because they will look at the records ang say oh you have a pool on record, and you will say i got rid of it and then they will ask for your permit number and if you dont have one you could wind up in court for violating city or county codes,, so please check it out before you find yourself in some deep doo doo,, best of luck ,, arthur,, a retired pool dude

  5. 5

    Jeffrey S said,

    January 21, 2009 @ 9:35 am

    I think if you take out the drain in the bottom of the pool, then put course rock for the first 2 feet or so, you should be able to get enough drainage that way to finish filling in the pool. Maybe put a layer of fiberglass cloth over the stone so they don’t get clogged with dirt and sand and stop draining. Don’t put organic items like you deck into the backfill., and be sure to compact the layers as you go up, once you stop using rock/stone.

  6. 6

    Slim Whitman said,

    January 21, 2009 @ 5:43 pm

    I’d remove the pool. it may cost a bit more but your drainage will be better if you plan on planting anything.. Trees especially may not root very well and you’d wind up with more expenses down the road with tree removal when a tree dies…

    Just my 2 cents.

  7. 7

    mountainriley said,

    January 24, 2009 @ 3:34 am

    Had you considered converting it to a Koi pond. Water lillies and Pipuras.No chemicals and minimal filtration. Check yahoo under SWIMMING POOL KOI POND. Look at ERICK’S SWIMMING POOL TO KOI POND CONVERSION. For some ideas.

  8. 8

    tysgrandma99 said,

    January 25, 2009 @ 10:52 am

    first; advertise clean full wanted. if the sides are fiberglass drill holes in the sides,keep throing rocks.sand,gravel,tree stumps,how big and you dont think you can do it in one summer,because of shifting.the deep end ,you can drain oil.gas.lines.trany fulid,and push a car in to it…that would take up more space..have fun…

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