What To Expect When You Demolish a Pool: Homeowner Edition

So you’ve got pool demolition on the mind. That’s completely understandable. While the idea of having a pool in your back yard is certainly attractive, there are definitely downsides. They require a decent amount of maintenance and upkeep, for one. Your enjoyment of your pool is likely seasonal, and dependent on the heat of the day and of course the rain (which we get plenty of here in Florida). But maybe more than all that, a pool takes up a lot of space. Nobody would blame you for wanting a patio where you could have dinner with friends, or a yard to play with the kids or the dog.

But no matter your reasoning, you have decided to remove your pool. For the purposes of this article, we’re assuming the pool is in-ground, although removing an above-ground pool would likely be a similar (but maybe easier) process. The first step, of course, is to call AAA Service Company. We have the experience and the skills to remove your pool painlessly, and we’ll do it for a fair price too. Here’s what you can expect to happen once we arrive.

Step 1: Drain the Pool

This part is pretty straightforward. We want the pool to be empty when we get to work on it. As we work, we will push a lot of material into the pool area. If you don’t drain it all the way, the water will overflow into a lot of areas you won’t be happy about. Also, as we remove the concrete or vinyl, that water will mix with the dirt underneath to create an unwanted swamp in your yard. That’s hard for us to work in, and again probably wasn’t your ideal outcome. So make sure to drain the pool BEFORE we arrive.

Step 2: Break Up the Walls

The first major step in pool demolition is to break up the sides of the pool. We use an excavator, a backhoe, or occasionally a Bobcat to break the side walls of the pool. Concrete, sort of like tempered glass, is surprisingly brittle. That means that each section we break up will be a little easier than the last. All of the broken concrete from the walls of the pool will naturally fall into the basin, where we will collect all of the scrap material for later recycling.

Step 3: Break Up The Top

Most in-ground pools are surrounded by a flat concrete area – you know, the “walk don’t run” zone. Every pool is different, but generally step one is to break this up into manageable chunks. We do this with an excavator, a backhoe, or a concrete-cutter, depending on how much access we have to the pool area. When we’re all done with this process, you’ll be able to put in pavers, a new patio, grass, or whatever you like. But we have to start by removing the whole pool area.

Step 4: Push The Material Into the Basin

The walls and the surrounding concrete will all be pushed into the pool basin to be collected at the end. This pile will likely grow fairly large as we continue the process, but it won’t be an eyesore for too long. Because afterwards…

Step 5: Scoop and Recycle the Leftover Material

Once the pool has been fully broken down, we collect all of the leftover and scrap material and load it into one of our roll-off dumpsters. If the pool was made of concrete, we will take it back to our recycling yard, where we will break it up into many useful aggregates that can then be used to pave roads, lay building foundations, support sidewalks, or fill holes like the one that you now have in your back yard.

Step 6: Fill the Hole In Your Yard

This leads us to one of the final steps: filling in the hole in your yard. Usually, this means rolling in a truck loaded with fill dirt. As we dump in the fill dirt, we have to be sure to compact it. Compacting as we go helps minimize settling, where the dirt sinks into place over time and the surface slowly sinks. If the dirt is properly compacted, then the surface that you see should largely be the surface that you get. When the hole is mostly filled in with fill dirt, we add a layer of topsoil to cap it off. Unlike fill dirt, which is mostly coarse minerals, topsoil is rich in nutrients that make it a much more friendly surface for grass or gardens or whatever comes next.

And with that, you will have a clean slate to build or grow whatever comes next for your home and your family. If we have demolished a pool for you, we’d love to see what you do with the newly-freed space. Email us pictures or tag us on Instagram!