Secure dormant outdoor swimming pool

AC_Dublin12

We have bought a house that has an outdoor swimming pool that is no longer fully functional. As our savings are being put into the renovation of the house we want to push out any decision on keeping or removing the pool to a later date. So for now our priority is to make the pool safe.
The pool, made of fibreglass, measures 8m long x 4m wide x 1,5m deep and is sunk into an existing elevated decking area.
One option put forward was to erect a metal/wooden fence around the pool, however this would need to be about 5 feet high and would not look great in the garden for the next couple of years.
The only other option put forward from our builder is to build a wooden support structure in the pool itself and then cover the area with new decking. This is going to require a lot of timber and in itself is working out quite expensive.
Before embarking on this option I was wondering what other options/idea's people may have.
We do not want to undertake any construction that will damage the pool just in case we ever decide to recommission it at some stage in the future.
We will use a submersible pump to periodically drain the pool so that the temporary solution does not need to be waterproof.

Alkers

Have you much land? Could you fill or partially fill it with topsoil?

Or fill with water as a pond? Doesn't require much equipment or expense.

9935452

AC_Dublin12 wrote: »

We have bought a house that has an outdoor swimming pool that is no longer fully functional. As our savings are being put into the renovation of the house we want to push out any decision on keeping or removing the pool to a later date. So for now our priority is to make the pool safe.
The pool, made of fibreglass, measures 8m long x 4m wide x 1,5m deep and is sunk into an existing elevated decking area.
One option put forward was to erect a metal/wooden fence around the pool, however this would need to be about 5 feet high and would not look great in the garden for the next couple of years.
The only other option put forward from our builder is to build a wooden support structure in the pool itself and then cover the area with new decking. This is going to require a lot of timber and in itself is working out quite expensive.
Before embarking on this option I was wondering what other options/idea's people may have.
We do not want to undertake any construction that will damage the pool just in case we ever decide to recommission it at some stage in the future.
We will use a submersible pump to periodically drain the pool so that the temporary solution does not need to be waterproof.

If it was me i would see if it is feasibly to recomission it.
Talk to your surveyor and insurance company regarding it. They could come back and condemn it. Then it removes one option .
Other options in my mind are to build a canopy over the top of it , ie like the roof of a shed but would be as expensive as decking , Something like a polytunnel would cover it too and could be picked up reasonable second hand and could be sold on.
A fence would be the best option in my opinion.
It might not look the best probably the safest option

Peregrinus

If it's ever going to be recommissioned as a working pool you'd need to make it safe anyway, and this would require a child-safe pool fence of at least 1.2m in height (though a bit higher would generally be recommended). And if you think that "would not look great in the garden", well, maybe you now have an answer to the question of whether you might ever want to rehabilitate it as a working pool.

Simona's suggestion of using it as a pond is visually appealing, but doesn't solve your problem, since a 1.5m deep pond presents the same drowning danger as a 1.5m deep pool. You'd still need additional safety measures.

Your problem is the size of the pool. If you'er not having a fence, then any covering across the pool has to be strong enough to support the weight of a child (or an adult) who falls onto it, climbs onto it or walks across it. And when you need a covering that spans a 4m-wide pool, that's not going to be a cheap structure.

Your builder has suggested a wooden structure resting on the floor of the pool which will support the cover, so that you don't have to have a 4m span that will support a person. Expense aside, I'd be cautious here, and speak to a pool engineer. A fibreglass pool is designed to take a considerable weight of water, but evenly spread across the bottom and sides, which limtts the pressure at any particular point. If you have a weightbearing structure comprising poles or pillars which concentrates the weight of the pool cover at a small number of points on the floor of the pool, the pressure at those points could very easily exceed what the pool is designed for, leading to significant damage. This might end up being just an expensive way of permanently decommissioning the pool.

If you were buying a house with a functioning pool, your choice would be (a) put in a proper pool fence or (b) get rid of the pool. To be honest, I think that's still you're choice in the present situation. The fact that the pool has been drained (or that you will drain it) doesn't really change the safety calculation or widen your options in a useful way.

budhabob

Some very good advice to consider in the above post!

knickerbocker

Build a wall, and get the neighbours to pay for it.




A decorative wooden fence might be a good option, something like this:

http://www.nowordz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Build-Horizontal-Wood-Fence.jpg

and to keep costs down, use a wire/chainlink fence where not in main view in the garden.

Calahonda52

knickerbocker wrote: »

Build a wall, and get the neighbours to pay for it..

or drain the swamp.

OP: it must be some elevated structure to hold c 48 tonnes of water!
While it might not look great as per your own words, I would erect green chainlink fence around it and then get some small planters with modest climbers to take the hard look off it. You will need access to clean out all the crap that will collect in it.
The bottom foot of the chainlink should have some fine green garden screen on it to stop hedgehogs, foxes, rats, mice, stoats, snakes, politicians and other critters straying into it.

bonzodog2

Calahonda52 wrote: »

The bottom foot of the chainlink should have some fine green garden screen on it to stop hedgehogs, foxes, rats, mice, stoats, snakes, politicians and other critters straying into it.

Peregrinus

knickerbocker wrote: »

Build a wall, and get the neighbours to pay for it.




A decorative wooden fence might be a good option, something like this:

http://www.nowordz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Build-Horizontal-Wood-Fence.jpg

and to keep costs down, use a wire/chainlink fence where not in main view in the garden.

Calahonda52 wrote: »

or drain the swamp.

OP: it must be some elevated structure to hold c 48 tonnes of water!
While it might not look great as per your own words, I would erect green chainlink fence around it and then get some small planters with modest climbers to take the hard look off it. You will need access to clean out all the crap that will collect in it.
The bottom foot of the chainlink should have some fine green garden screen on it to stop hedgehogs, foxes, rats, mice, stoats, snakes, politicians and other critters straying into it.

Neither of these will do the trick.

A pool fence has to be such that an inquisitive toddler/young child can't scale it. Therefore no horizontal members, no crevices that can be used as climbing aids.

A pool fence looks like this or, though this costs rather more, like this. And no no account should you be placing planters, pots, etc along the bottom, unless you are going to raise the height of the fence by a corresponding amount.

Right2Write

And OP, even if you don't have young kids yourself - think of visiting relatives or neighbours kids etc. Be interesting to hear some ideas from foreign climes where outdoor pools are far more common. Presumably there, children grow up more accustomed to the potential hazard -just as kids here growing up beside busy roads or open harbours get used to it.

Peregrinus

Right2Write wrote: »

And OP, even if you don't have young kids yourself - think of visiting relatives or neighbours kids etc. Be interesting to hear some ideas from foreign climes where outdoor pools are far more common. Presumably there, children grow up more accustomed to the potential hazard -just as kids here growing up beside busy roads or open harbours get used to it.

I'm in Australia, which is definitely a foreign clime where outdoor pools are common. (I have one myself.) Kids are used to the hazard, and are endlessly lectured about it, and from the age of 3 or 4 are taught what to do if you fall into a pool. But they are still kids, and they still drown if they fall into a pool unnoticed, which can happen even if adults are present - a toddler doesn't make much of a splash.

Which is why we adults know all about pool fences and what will and won't work, and about how to handle kids in the vicinity of pools.

Jack the Stripper

Stralia is a lot different to the auld damp wet Irish climate be gora.

Right2Write

Peregrinus wrote: »

I'm in Australia, which is definitely a foreign clime where outdoor pools are common. (I have one myself.) Kids are used to the hazard, and are endlessly lectured about it, and from the age of 3 or 4 are taught what to do if you fall into a pool. But they are still kids, and they still drown if they fall into a pool unnoticed, which can happen even if adults are present - a toddler doesn't make much of a splash.

Which is why we adults know all about pool fences and what will and won't work, and about how to handle kids in the vicinity of pools.

Interesting, are there any statistics from Aus re annual deaths from drowning in private pools??

Peregrinus

Right2Write wrote: »

Interesting, are there any statistics from Aus re annual deaths from drowning in private pools??

Here you go.
45 drowning deaths in swimming pools. (Not sure how many of these were backyard pools, but my guess would be most.) Pools are by a long measure the leading location for drowning in the 0-4 yrs age group; in fact, for toddlers, pool drownings outweigh drownings in all other environments combined. Nine-tenths of toddler pool drownings involve either an unfenced pool, a faulty pool fence, or a fenced pool where the gate has been propped open.

Right2Write

Peregrinus wrote: »

Here you go.
45 drowning deaths in swimming pools. (Not sure how many of these were backyard pools, but my guess would be most.) Pools are by a long measure the leading location for drowning in the 0-4 yrs age group; in fact, for toddlers, pool drownings outweigh drownings in all other environments combined. Nine-tenths of toddler pool drownings involve either an unfenced pool, a faulty pool fence, or a fenced pool where the gate has been propped open.

Thanks. 45 pool deaths is a lot more than Ireland I would guess. Can't see any similar statistic here for pools http://www.iws.ie/_fileupload/Statistics/Analysis%20of%20Drownings%202015RS.pdf

but you only hear of the odd one now & then and often at public or hotel pools. Very few private pools here though compared to Aus. But even though you'd think private pools be a major hazard in Aus, 85% of drownings are on beaches/ rivers etc. and not pools where people would have most daily access to. So pools can't be that dangerous if you consider the exposure time to the hazard compared to natural waters, which presumably most people only encounter more occasionally.

That Irish report has about 90 drownings for 2015 exc suicides. So proportional to Australia population, our accidental drowning rate is about 50% greater..

Peregrinus

Right2Write wrote: »

. . . But even though you'd think private pools be a major hazard in Aus, 85% of drownings are on beaches/ rivers etc. and not pools where people would have most daily access to. So pools can't be that dangerous if you consider the exposure time to the hazard compared to natural waters, which presumably most people only encounter more occasionally.

Couple of thoughts:

The pool drowning rate is low because of strict regulations about pool fencing and a strong pool safety culture. As noted, nearly all of the toddler drownings are associated with some failure to observe good pool fencing practice, which indicates the importance of pool fencing.

While Australians -at least, those of them who have backyard pools - do encounter natural waters more occasionally than pools, they encounter them a lot more than Irish people do. Practically the entire population lives on or near the coast, and there is a very strong beach culture which is not confined to summer. People of all ages and classes to go regularly to the beach all year round.

This cuts both ways. On the one hand, there are a lot more opportunities to drown. On the other hand, a lot more people can swim, and swim well; there is good education about the risks associated with swimming; there is a strong life-saving culture and a lot of public money put into beach patrols, etc. If you get into trouble in the water there are far more likely to be people around, whether dedicated lifeguards or other swimmers who are competent and knowledgeable, who can and will help you than would be the case in Ireland.

AC_Dublin12

Thanks for all the replies, last few weeks has been concentrated on the renovation of the house and our ever decreasing contingency!
The original pool actually had a dedicated outdoor oil boiler to heat the water, as it turned out the house boiler was beyond repair so we swapped the pool boiler for it saving us the cost of a new boiler. This made the pool one step further away from us ever getting in back in action as whatever the practicality of a heated outdoor pool in Ireland a large body of cold water even in the "height" of an Irish summer is not an overly appealing prospect.
Also taking into account the sound advice re: the structural integrity of the pool when load in concentrated through wooden supports, it really lead to the obvious decision that filling it in was the best solution for us. So a kango to pierce the pool and a load of 804 gravel finished off with topsoil will see the end of our short lived outdoor pool. Now if we lived in Australia that would be another matter....