Pool removal in Gahanna and Central Ohio, done so the ground holds up later

Which kind of pool you have changes the job

The construction of the pool shapes the method, the equipment and the amount of material that has to leave the property. The common types in Central Ohio backyards are:

• Concrete or gunite: a thick, reinforced shell, often with a plaster or tile finish. The heaviest to break and haul.
• Vinyl liner: a liner hung inside walls of steel, polymer or block, usually over a sand or grout floor. Less material, but the walls, braces and liner all have to be separated.
• Fiberglass: a single molded shell set into a hole. Often cut into sections and removed, since fiberglass does not break down and does not make good buried fill.
• Above-ground: a frame or wall pool sitting on the surface. Usually the simplest job, but the ground underneath still needs attention.

Partial removal versus full removal

This is the main decision, and it affects cost, schedule and how you can use the yard later.

With partial removal, the top section of the pool walls is broken out and removed, holes are punched through the floor so water can drain away instead of collecting in a buried bowl, and the remaining shell is filled with the broken material and soil, then compacted. Partial removal moves less material off the property and is usually the less expensive route.

With full removal, the entire shell, floor and walls, is broken up and hauled away, and the excavation is backfilled with engineered fill placed and compacted in layers. Nothing of the pool remains underground. It costs more, but it leaves ground that behaves much more like the rest of the lot.

Why some buyers and future plans favor full removal

A partly removed pool is, in plain terms, a buried concrete or steel structure under your lawn. That may be fine for grass and a garden. It becomes a concern if you or a future owner want to build a garage, an addition or a patio on that spot, because footings cannot sit on a broken shell full of mixed rubble. Some buyers and their inspectors ask about a former pool, and some lenders or builders want documentation of how it was handled.

In Ohio, sellers are generally expected to disclose known material conditions of a property, and a buried pool can fall into that category. How that applies to your sale is a question for your real estate agent or attorney. The practical point is simple: keep the paperwork, including any permit and any compaction report, so the history of the spot is easy to show.

Draining the pool the right way

The water comes out first. Pool water usually contains chlorine or salt, and cities generally have rules about where it may be discharged. In many places it should be dechlorinated and pumped to the sanitary sewer through a cleanout rather than into a storm drain, a creek or a neighbor's yard. Your city's water or sewer department can tell you what is expected for your address.

There is a reason pools are not usually left empty for long. In ground with a high water table, which you find in some low areas near Big Walnut Creek and Alum Creek, groundwater pressure can push upward on an empty shell. Once draining starts, the rest of the work should follow close behind.

Cutting off power, gas and plumbing to the pool

Pools have more utilities than people remember. The pump, filter, lights and any heater are wired, usually from a subpanel or a breaker in the house panel, and that circuit must be shut off and made safe by an electrician before anything is broken. A gas pool heater means a gas line that needs to be capped properly. Supply and return plumbing runs from the pool to the equipment pad, and sometimes an auto-fill line ties into the house water supply; those get cut and capped as well.

Before any digging, OHIO811 should be called so public underground lines are marked. Private lines, such as the wiring to the pool equipment, are not part of that service, so the owner or an electrician should mark them for the contractor.

The removal, step by step

Every pool is a little different, but the work generally follows this order:

1. Disconnect and remove the equipment: pump, filter, heater, ladders, rails, diving board and any slide.
2. Remove the decking or coping that will not stay, whether it is poured concrete, brick set in sand, wood or stone.
3. Drain the water to an approved discharge point.
4. Break the shell with an excavator fitted with a hydraulic breaker, or cut a fiberglass or vinyl pool into removable pieces.
5. For partial removal, punch drainage openings through the floor; for full removal, break and load out the whole shell.
6. Separate the debris: concrete for crushing and recycling, steel walls and rebar for scrap, liner and other material for disposal.
7. Backfill in layers, compacting each one, and leave the top with enough soil to grow a lawn.
8. Grade the area to drain, then seed and cover it or leave it ready for sod or landscaping.

Fill and compaction: the part that decides the result

The material that goes into the hole matters as much as anything that comes out. Engineered fill, meaning a soil or granular material selected for the job, compacts predictably. The native clay that much of the Columbus area sits on does not compact well if it goes back wet, and it swells and shrinks with moisture. Dumping a load of loose dirt into a pool hole and running a machine over the top is how backyards end up with a soft, sinking oval that ponds water every spring.

Proper compaction means placing the fill in layers and compacting each with a roller or plate compactor before the next goes in. Some cities want to see a compaction test, and it is worth having one if you ever plan to build on that ground. Freeze-thaw cycles in Central Ohio winters expose any weak spot, so the work is not finished until the fill is tight.

Decking, patios and the surrounding area

Most in-ground pools have concrete decking, and many have a fence, a gate and an equipment pad as well. Some owners keep part of the deck as a patio. That can work if the concrete is in good shape and sits on solid base away from the pool edge, but the section right at the coping usually comes out because it sits over the backfill zone around the old shell.

If the decking is going entirely, it is often removed in the same mobilization so the equipment only comes once. A large patio or a walk elsewhere in the yard falls under concrete removal rather than pool work. A pool safety fence can be taken down too, but check whether your HOA has rules about yard fencing before removing it.

Permits and records

Many cities and townships around Columbus require a permit to remove or fill an in-ground pool, and some send an inspector to see the drainage openings or the backfill before the hole is closed. Above-ground pools usually need less, but rules vary. The permit is also part of the paper trail that helps you later when selling.

In newer subdivisions in Gahanna and New Albany, the homeowners association may have its own requirements for equipment access, work hours and how the yard is restored. Design review can also come into play if a removed pool will be replaced with a structure. Asking the building department and the HOA early saves a stop-work surprise in the middle of the job.

What you can do with the space afterward

After a well-compacted partial removal, the area is usually fine for lawn, gardens and play space. Building on it is a different matter, since structures and heavy slabs generally should not go over a buried shell. After a full removal with engineered fill and documented compaction, the spot is far more flexible; a builder or engineer can tell you whether it suits a garage, an addition or a new patio.

Expect some settling in the first season even after good work, particularly at the edges where new fill meets old ground. A little topsoil and seed in the spring usually takes care of it. Large depressions are a sign the fill was not placed or compacted properly.

What drives the cost, and what to look for in a proposal

The contractor prices the job after seeing it. Cost drivers include the pool type and size, partial or full removal, how much decking comes out, access for an excavator and trucks (a side yard between two houses is very different from an open corner lot), the volume and type of fill that has to come in, disposal and recycling of the broken shell, any electrical, gas or plumbing work, permits and inspections, and final grading and seeding.

A complete proposal should say which removal method is planned, how the water will be drained and where it goes, how the fill will be placed and compacted, whether compaction testing is included, what happens to the decking and equipment, and how the yard will be left. If an old pool house or shed is going at the same time, see garage and shed demolition. Pools are common on the larger lots of New Albany and the rest of the northeast side. Pictures of the pool, the deck and the route into the backyard help; the email address is on the contact page.

Pool removal in Gahanna and Central Ohio — common questions

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