We live in a tiny little bungalow in Southern California. When we bought the house, we thought, “Hey, cool — a pool!” And then proceeded to never use it. It sat there, sucking up money and taking up our entire back yard. We probably would have just left it there until we moved out of the house, but then two things happened: 1) the edges of the concrete around it started crumbling, and it became clear that the 30-year-old pool had some major issues. And 2) we got a dog 🙂
This was our back yard. The pool pretty much filled the entire thing. It was old, and badly damaged. The estimates we got to repair it started at $15k, and we said “Hell no” to that idea.
The only grass in the back yard. Would you like some rosemary? We have a planter full of it.
Kara says, “Yeah, this sucks.” Sidenote: she fell in the pool the evening after this picture was taken. Talk about affirmation for getting it removed!
“I have a dream that someday I will have a back yard to run and play in…”
The contractors came and set up a pump overnight to empty the pool. It was oddly exciting to watch the levels go down during the day…
And here it is, empty. That’s one big cement pit.
They started by punching several holes in the bottom of the pool.
They then filled the bottom with dirt until it was high enough for the Bobcat to start jackhammering the cement shell of the pool. They take off the top couple feet of the pool.
Pile o’ dirt. There was a really huge pile in our driveway in the front, and the Bobcats would come back and forth down our little side alleyway carrying a heap at a time.
They keep filling the pool with dirt, and compacting it, so there won’t be any sinking. Also — note the nice clean sawcut they did on the edge of the patio near the house. It didn’t make much sense to us to remove it all and then repour the exact same concrete; would have killed our budget!
Making serious progress here — pool is mostly full of dirt. Just have to finish getting rid of the unwanted patio. You may have noticed that we also got rid of the pergola — not much choice in that, since the section of the patio that it was affixed to got removed. It was also rotted and ready to fall down. We may replace it eventually, but not right now.
Very nearly finished — it’s starting to look like a real back yard!Finished! Now we just have to get some landscaping in place…
From the other end of the yard.
We have a landscaper scheduled to come in next week to get the sod, trees, and flowers in place, so stay tuned for Part 2!
For those of you coming here to check on the status, I regret to inform you that I have decided to not continue the project. The reality is, I simply don’t have the time to devote to it — I run my own business which keeps me crazy busy. This is a project that is near and dear to my heart, and I truly wish I did have time to devote to it, but after letting it lag for the past year or so, it’s just become clear to me that I will likely never finish it.
If someone does decide to work on it, and would like some assistance, please ping me, and I’ll happily help out. I just can’t spearhead or take on the lion’s share of development. So sorry!
