Calling all above-ground pool owners (past or present)

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motley

Full time employment: Posting here.
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Nov 1, 2020
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In a nutshell:

- I have one
- I've never used it
- I've never done anything to it other than replace the old cover (after a 2 yr gap; the frogs have been very happy). I don't even know if the (20 yr old) pump works.
- That all said, it appears to be in good shape.

I hope to sell this house next year or the year after; I've no clue what to do, if anything. What should I do other than try to fire up the pump, which I'm not even sure how to do? Or do nothing and say "as is" for the house? Bring in an expert to examine it? I fear getting ripped off if so. What kind of costs might I expect roughly? I do know from research you shouldn't drain it, which made me happy since I wasn't into buying a pump to do so.
 
Get a pool company in there to give you an evaluation. No pump running? How long has the water been in it? No water treatment? You may have a mess on your hands.
 
Above ground - I would have it removed. Especially if the pump is actually 20 years old.
 
Yeah...unless those are very common in your neighborhood (ie, expected by buyers) I'd get rid of it.
 
Is it just an above ground pool or is there a deck around it, in whole or in part?

What does your realtor recommend?

I think you have 3 possibilities and all cost money. 1) Get it opened and running, especially if you will be showing during a period of time that pools are open in your area, if not then have it winterized. 2) Remove it and convert it to lawn or 3) Do nothing and sell "as is" but buyers will probably bid lower because of the unknowns of the above ground pool.
 
Thanks. ugh. The far end of the deck was made so that it butts right up against one side of the pool, so that part of the deck is a round shape...removing the pool would basically mean some kind of deck work so it doesn't look stupid (and for safety reasons, I'd need to get railing added).

I don't have a realtor as I won't be trying to sell it until next spring if that.

I guess I'll call research pool companies and see if I can get a free estimate and if not, what it would cost. I really want whatever is both easiest and cheapest without possibly putting a serious ding in curb appeal.
 
If you want to engage a group of knowledgeable pool guys, log on to Trouble Free Pool - Home

They would be able to help you on weather or not to try to resuscitate the old pool and give you some idea of the cost. You’d need to do some of the legwork like taking some pictures and getting brand and model of some of the equipment so it could be identified. Personally, I think the liner is bound to be shot and the filter and pump in such bad shape that bringing it back to life would not make financial sense, but I don’t have all the variables to consider.

Otherwise, maybe you can get someone out to look at it. Good luck with that though because those guys are busy.
 
CardsFan said:
Tear it out, with the deck, even if it costs $10k.
Click to expand...
Afraid you lost me. I'm not about to tear out the deck! And removing a pool wouldn't cost anywhere near that much. In fact I agree with those saying pool removal sounds like it might be the best option, but then I'd need to see what it would take to "fix" the deck.
 
Jerry1 said:
If you want to engage a group of knowledgeable pool guys, log on to Trouble Free Pool - Home

They would be able to help you on weather or not to try to resuscitate the old pool and give you some idea of the cost. You’d need to do some of the legwork like taking some pictures and getting brand and model of some of the equipment so it could be identified. Personally, I think the liner is bound to be shot and the filter and pump in such bad shape that bringing it back to life would not make financial sense, but I don’t have all the variables to consider.

Otherwise, maybe you can get someone out to look at it. Good luck with that though because those guys are busy.
Click to expand...
Great idea, thx! Yeah I was thinking of bringing someone in during the fall when I figure they wouldn't be as busy.
 
motley said:
Afraid you lost me. I'm not about to tear out the deck! And removing a pool wouldn't cost anywhere near that much. In fact I agree with those saying pool removal sounds like it might be the best option, but then I'd need to see what it would take to "fix" the deck.
Click to expand...
I got the impression the deck was stand alone for the pool. If not, you are right, fix the deck.
 
I think most of us are thinking of those raised decks that lead up to the above-ground pool - which would look...odd...if left with no pool.
 
ah, no, it's a regular (in fact large) deck off of the house; the pool just happens to be on the far end.
 
You don't say what diameter or depth the pool is. You say it looks like it is in good shape and you are opposed to removing it, so here is a $300 total cost way: Check your circuit breaker panel to make sure the breaker is on. Find the switch to the oil pump. As long as the water level is above the skimmer basket, turn the pump on. If it doesn't work, check the GFCI it is plugged into either at thie outlet or at the breaker panel. If the pump comes on, check that water comes out the discharge hose going back into pool. Check for leaves and debris in the skimmer basket and in the internal pump basket - clean them out. If it all works ok, order a Polaris 65 pool cleaner for $250 or so. Yes, it's worth it. Installation is a just putting a fitting in the water discharge going into the pool. Buy 15 gallons of bleach and a box of Mule train borax at Walmart. Shake the entire box into the pool. Add 5 gallon of bleach to start. Turn on the pump and let the Polaris do it's work. Keep emptying the skimmer basket and the Polaris mesh net. You will see a big improvement in a few hours. Add bleach. Should be blue water in a day. Learn how to back flush your pump filter on YouTube.
 
VT2FIRE said:
You don't say what diameter or depth the pool is.
Click to expand...
24' round, I'd guess 5' deep.

turn the pump on. If it doesn't work, check the GFCI it is plugged into either at thie outlet or at the breaker panel.
Click to expand...
? What's "GFCI?" There's a power line out of the pump and then my plan was to just plug it into an extension cord and that into an outlet on the outside of the house.

Anyway, thanks for the idea; I may give that a shot!
 
Just had mine removed yesterday. Size: 16x32. It had been on the property since 1995. No longer an asset, and we are downsizing. Realtor said, "get rid of it." They are dangerous, a potential liability (negligence) and expensive to maintain.

I hired an excavator operator to do the demolition. Took him about 2h. He had a helper with a dump trailer. Between the two of them, they demolished the above-ground pool, an ancient cab-over camper, and did some other clean-up work over a total of 9h. However, only about 1/4 of that time was spent on the pool. Cost: $452 for the excavator operator for his day (would have been substantially less if that was the only thing he did on the property), another $400 for the owner/operator of the dump trailer (same comment), and about $180 in dump fees (2 other trailer loads each cost about the same). These equipment operators were people I've used several times over the past 30y. So, I may have gotten a price break. FWIW, I live in rural, southern OR.

While it's not yet posted, the excavator operator had plans to put the demolition on his YouTube site. Whether that actually will happen, I'm not sure. The channel is: Jeramy Reber Pure Dirt
 
OP - Your pool sounds exactly like ours when we bought this house, above ground 24 ft diameter, deep green in color, couldn't see the bottom.

Your buyers might want the pool.

I skimmed the surface to remove floating things.
I drained down the water about 1 foot from the top.
Then added back the water with clean water.
I threw in ~5 bags of pool shock (powder you mix with 2 gal of water).
turned on the filter for a day.
Then put the pool vacuum on and let it run around the bottom with pool filter running.
Probably more shock, don't recall, but in a few days it was sparkling clean.

We used that pool for a number of years.

Finally the liner broke, found out it's really expensive to fix, so I tore it all out. and removed the round ring of sheet steel that is the sides.

Problem with removing the pool is it leaves a "mark" on the ground. I had to fill in with dirt, still kind of noticeable.

Our deck also has a curved side, I added a straight railing angled to meet in the middle to that curved side, so now not really too obvious.
 
Thanks. Yeah there's no easy path here it seems. I think (repeat I think) selling the house with the pool intact would be a plus as likely someone with kids would be interested in the house...not because it adds value, but because the kids would love it. I guess I could try cleaning up the water (sorry frogs) and then if nothing else I can see the bottom to see what it looks like.
 
New development: suddenly the water level is going down; must be a leak so the decision might be getting made for me.
 
get a realtor or two in now too, it would give you more than two weeks time to do any suggested repairs prior to listing in the spring.
 
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