I am filling in an inground pool 10′ deep 20′ x 40′ 4′ at shallow end. I want to fill this in but my concern is that it is where I might be building my work shop. My options are fill in with gravel (too expensive) haul in dirt hope I get good compaction. If I fill with dirt I will have to dig it out when I build my work shop or pier the foundation.
My work shop will be either ICF’s, Superior walls if I dig out the basement I will use Insul-Deck for the floor. That is why I can not build at this time ($$$$).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Tim Kiser
Replies
You've already got the shop basement dug, why fill it?
One thing that is very important is to make sure the pool drain is still working and does not get blocked when you fill the pool in. This seems counter-intuitive, but the fact is that if the drain no longer works, any rain water that seeps down into the old pool will just stay there, eventually creating a wet muddy swamp that you will have to dig out and drain. If you can't assure this drain will continue to work, you will have to break up a good bit of the pool's carcass with a jackhammer before filling it in.
Once that's done, I'd suggest you dump a load or two of 6-12" rock in there, followed by a foot of gravel and a geo-textile before filling the rest up with sand (the cheapest, and it drains very well and compacts naturally in one freeze-thaw cycle, usually) and finally your landscaping soil. If you need to build on top of that area right away, you will have to compact the whole thing mechanically for each lift of material. The local building inspector can give you precise figures for the permitted depth of added fill between compactings.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Tim
The guy that I used to work for filled in two pools at X-mas time, he said that he had to jack hammer 30% of the bottom and then fill, compact, fill compact...
Doug