What to do with the pool when rebuilding

Sassy · Feb 23, 2007 3:12 pm

Hi all. I am looking to demolish and rebuild in Melbourne. My dilema is that I have a 50K litre pool in the back yard. Aesthetically, the pool is keepable although it will need to be refurbished / modernised to bring it into line with the new home. The dilema is cost of refurbishing vs filling-in vs converting to a water tank as I am water concious.

My question is: Do I fill it in due to the cost of renovating plus maintenance? Do I refurbished / modernised to add value to the house? Could I have a 50k litre water tank sitting in my back yard? Purely looking at this as a financial exercise.

A side question is the potential issues of building with having a 50K litre hole in the ground? Thanks

Tam · Feb 26, 2007 11:17 am

Hi Sassy,

Just seen one guy who is selling his through ebay for $500 and maybe getting the soil from the buyer to fill in hole.

The buyer has to organise all removal costs.

Bud977 · Feb 26, 2007 1:12 pm

The cost of the pool doesn't add value to the house. Some people love them, some people hate them. Personally, I like them and just bought a house because it had one for the kids. I didn't pay more for the house though.

New house + old pool = not nice.

If the pool can be refurbished cheaply, I would keep it. Otherwise, have the builder smash it up when he has the heavy equipment on site, and fill in the hole.

Sassy · Feb 26, 2007 2:08 pm

G'day Folks, Thanks for your replies. It looks like I am going to fill it in. The cost of renovation + upkeep vs actual swimming usage does not work in the pool's favour. I wish I could use it as a water storage tank as the idea of a 50k litre water tank sounds great.

I've contacted 3 interstate companies (I am in Melbourne) on the Internet asking for advice, with not 1 reply. Is anyone in Melbourne thinking about this idea? Happy building!

PS Tam, How do I find this guy on Ebay?

Nellie · Feb 28, 2007 2:50 pm

Hello,Sassy. We have the same size pool, 26 years old, concrete, and unused for several years except for the frogs. We are currently making plans to convert it into a water storage facility for garden irrigatiion. We plan to cover it with timber decking and landscape the surrounds so that a neglected unattractive area becomes part of our larger garden, adds value to our property and our lives and SAVES WATER. We will run water off part of our roof by installing some new guttering etc. as we have a gutterless house. We have some concerns about the covering, such as should it be sealed against evaporation and dust etc, or should it collect water off its own surface as well. Also will CCA /H5 treated pine resist rotting of joists which would be exposed to moisture from within the pool.
For your dilemma , Sassy, it will probably come down to cost, but if doing it yourself like us, it may be quite feasible and, of course, the importance of the water storage in your particular area will be relevant. Water is going to become an increasingly precious resource and this is an opportunity to store a significant quantity compared with those token little rain tanks they promote as part of sustainable housing.

Sassy · Feb 28, 2007 2:56 pm

Been continuing the research. This one sounds interesting:

http://www.elmich.com.au/projects/pool.htm

Accorning to the propaganda: I'll get around 40K Litres when converting my 50K Litre pool. Sounds great. Still many questions about maintenance, cleaning, longevity, faults, so by no means endorsing. Just sounds interesting.

The cost equation for me is (space saved not having an above ground tank + money saved not having to fill + storage capacity) - cost of solution.

Nellie · Feb 28, 2007 7:36 pm

Sassy, I checked out that site. On a preliminary perusal, it looks complex and expensive. My thoughts are, you are either going to have a water storage tank with the full capacity or you are going to fill the lot in with a big truclkload of soil, after punching some holes in the bottom. Trying to combine two outcomes seems too complicated a solution.
Structurally, we are looking at placing a 150UB14 galvanised steel beam the length of the pool and housing in H5 pine joists, then covering the lot with reeded decking.

Bud977 · Feb 28, 2007 8:34 pm

Nellie, I'm glad you're putting in the 150UBs. The last thing you want is for someone to fall in the pool/tank due to rotten supports. I wouldn't like to just rely on timber bearers.

H5 treated pine would be great and should last about 20 years. We use it in timber cooling towers where the timber is in a constantly wet environment and many last up to 40 years.

It's getting hard to get though, with the EPA trying to eliminate use of CCA treatment.