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Thread: Pool Close Down

  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Pool Close Down

    I'm thinking of closing down my pool. I'll need a company in the Manchester area to fill it with rubble and top it off with some paving.

    Anyone with any experience of having this done? Or reccommendations?

    I'm sure there's quite a few specialist companies that would want the earth to do this.
    All I need really is a jobbing builder with access to a few skips of rubble.


    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  2. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    wow thats a shocker,,most landscape companys will be able to do it,just fill with hardcore,whack down and lay flags on sand base,,,,not a big job really ,,,andi

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    After the amount of hell digging the pond in the first place it would break my heart to have to fill it back in, so my solution is different.....

    Build a shed over the hole and have a trap door leading underground to store all your secret stuff you don't want the wife to know about.

    If it's a big pond drop a lorry container in there with steps leading to the door and turf over the top.... You end up with a huge underground shed that doesn't take up any garden space, and doubles up as a bomb shelter!

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    yeah agree andi shocked. sorry to hear your thinking of giveing the game up dog house, all the best in what you decide on mate

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Thanks for the interest, but I only want sensible suggestions. We'be had it for thirty-three years and I've other interests.

    My plan is to retain everything bar the water. I want it paved to shape and level of the present surface of the water, breaking a gap through the small bed forned by two rows of rocks on the collar, to form a step down.



    I can then move some of my wife's fifteen roses in ceramic pots that live on the patio on to it.








    "The information's out there,
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  10. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    I've already taken some drastic action in the garden, first time for many years, I had the "dwarf" conifer taken down yesterday.

    It was 40ft tall and still growing, it was about a foot tall when we planted it after I built the pool.




    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  12. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley View Post
    Thanks for the interest, but I only want sensible suggestions.
    Not sure if referring to my suggestion but in my world they are brilliant ideas and easy to implement, although having a container delivered in one piece may cost you some crane hire which isn't cheap.

    Extra space nowadays commands such a premium that discreet underground storage adds far more value than its cost.

    Maybe not for everyone though.





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  14. #8
    if you get in touch with local skip companies, they will often tip you free hard core, because it saves them having to pay to dispose of it.

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Sorry to hear your closing your pond , DH - you have one of the most beautiful gardens on` the forum .

    I`m sure what ever you decide to do will still look fantastic , but I`ll miss seeing new pictures of your pond , as I`m sure every one will on here - sad day
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Thanks for the kind words.

    Things are moving on.

    A neighbour who has a koi pool is going to take the fish. I've a 200 gall plastic tub on a wheeled dolly, which we can half fill with pond water and move them a couple at a time. It's less than fifty yards away, so they won't get too stressed.
    He has quite a sophisticated filter system including a Nexus, so they'll be well cared for.

    I've had the pool for over thirty years, over time, other interests I've found have meant that it is no longer the all-consuming hobby it can be at the start.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  20. #11
    That is a real shame. sorry to hear you are shutting down but times and people change and we all have to do what is best for us.

    Good luck with the new ventures.

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  22. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Thanks for all the kind words.

    Koi have only ever been just another feature of our garden, I've enjoyed having them, despite all the "koi's law" setbacks, we all get from time to time.
    The garden won't look that much different without them. What with my golf ,my jukeboxes, my tenor sax and my leccy piano I'll have plenty of other things to keep me occupied.

    Tomorrow the fish are moving and I'll then start to drain down the pool. All things being equal, the big "fill in," I've been promised will start on Monday week. In the meantime I'll dismantle the filters. I may move my work bench out of the garage into the filter room at the other end of it.

    I'm pretty much geared up now. Today I removed a couple of plants from the narrow bed in front of the pool. Eventually this double row of big rocks will be broken through, by having two pairs taken out, to provide access to the new paved area.



    I've a strong wooden ramp which I made ten years ago to get my two vinyl jukeboxes up the steps into the tea-house (or if I ever need to get them out), as they weigh around 300lb each, that I've checked will fit that gap so that the contractor can use it to barrow in the necessary rubble. Access to the pool would otherwise be difficult. I'll be moving some of my wife's roses in 15 ceramic pots (that's well over three hundred quid just in pots), down to the bottom patio, she wouldn't be too pleased if any got broken. So there shouldn't be too much mess or damage to the garden. I'll take some photos of the progress.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  24. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Fish moving day.

    This heavy duty poly tub I've had for thirty years presently used to store plastic plant pots came in handy. I gave it a good scrub, disinfected it and rinsed it out. You can't be too careful with fish. I then half filled it with pond water. We made two trips, gently wheeling it down the road but but it was only about forty yards. They quickly settled into their new home. I'll take a photo tomorrow.






    Next job was getting rid of 3000 gallons of water.
    Now when I built this pool 33 years ago, I laid an overflow pipe from a top corner of the pool to the drain under the kitchen window. It's encased in the concrete pool collar. There's another pipe from the pump sump which joins this same pipe. This was to empty the pump sump after purging. It also meant I could trickle change either "bottom water" through the body of the pump, (it didn't have to be on) or surface water from the overflow, depending how high I had the overflow which was on a swivel. Lifting it a couple of inches mean't water would trickle out through the pump instead of the overflow.
    So to start emptying the pool it was just a question of turning on the sump drain pump which sat on the bottom.



    The pump would only pump down to the bottom of the sump.

    I then had to disconnect the pump and plug the outlet into the overflow socket and drop the pump to the bottom of the pool.



    What's left I can get out with my wet n' dry vac. It has an adjustable lance and hose. That'll have to wait until tomorrow. But I did net out a couple of frogs which were stranded at the bottom.

    This only took sbout 2 hours. It's only a little Otter fountain pump.
    I've still got the 160 gallons in the filters, but they have a valve at the bottom, so I can drop that lot tomorrow, it will end up in the same drain outside the kitchen window.

    I'll just have the filter to dismantle and the quarantine tank and its filter. But there's no urgency for that.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  26. #14
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    Lovely fish and garden . Shame to let it go but as you say other parts of life take over and you still have the fish next door

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    Freddyboy the legend

    "we are water keepers first"

    Johnathan

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  28. #15
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Did a bit more today, ready for the "big fill in,"...well...This afternoon... after playing golf in the morning, you've got to get your priorities right!
    Drained the last of the water out of the pool, just by putting the hose and lance of my wet n' dry vac down the 4" pipe connecting the bottom drain to the pump sump.






    Then with my trusty decades old Wolf drill (it must be trusty, thinking about it, I hadn't used it for twenty years!) I drilled six holes through the pool's concrete base screed, including one through the bottom drain, despite there probably being quite a bit of concrete under it. I've replaced the dome, (they made them of substantial thick polythene thirty-odd years ago) so when the rubble goes in it won't get blocked.



    I've left the power cables to the sump pump, in suitu that run through the collar from the garage in a 1" pipe. We're thinking about putting a self contained water feature here,(well..my wife is). She'll be able to turn it on from one of the several switches connected to a multi-core cable that runs from the house to the garage under the patio.


    I cemented over the ends of the four 1.5" pipes of the filter return under the "bridge."

    The pool overflow is redundant, it'll end up under the paving.



    My contractor should be starting the "fill in " on Monday of next week..
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  30. #16
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    I noticed a little frog sitting at the bottom of the bottom drain looking up at me last night. Then he disappeared along the four inch pipe. I couldn't put the dome back on and trap him so I left it off and put this bit of wood in it, so he could climb out.



    This morning I saw him in a corner of the pool, so I netted him and dropped him in the "frog pond."

    "No wildlife were injured during the fill-in of this pool."

    It rained overnight, but there was no water in the pool this morning, it must have all drained through the 1" hole I drilled through the bottom drain. Our soil is a bit sandy, part of the alluvial plain of the River Mersey, we never get puddles in the garden, regardless of how much it rains.

    The contractor is now starting on Thursday.

    My next job is tearing down my filter, It's four 40 gallon tanks stacked in pairs with a header tank. All foam and flowcore. Required minimal maintenance, just a scrape of the foam once a year. The coarse solids got left in the pump sump and could be pumped to an outside drain after purging. A five minute job once a week.

    There's no end of polypipe in it or connected to it, two spray bars in each tank and "reverse" spray bars at the bottom in each to collect the water. This was to ensure adequate "dwell time" and make sure all the medium was used and prevent "tracking."



    Over 100 push-fit connectors and never a leak in 33 years. Don't let anyone tell you they aren't suitable for open ended filter systems.



    Water quality was so boringly acceptable, I hardly ever bothered to check it.


    Then it's the 300 gall quarantine tank and filter.

    After that, decide what to do with this room and its eight double socket power outlets.






    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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