4 Questions To Ask When It Comes To Pool Excavation

Pool excavation can be tricky at times, you want to make sure you have professionals who know what to do when certain “mishaps” occur. This way they can correct the issue and keep progression going with the excavation of your pool.

Photo Credit: Douglas Cox on flickr

Here are common questions to ask when excavating a pool:

1. How Much Dirt Will There Be?

When planning a pool project, you need to determine where all that excess dirt will go. Most people do not realize how much dirt actually comes from digging a hole for a pool. How much dirt do you expect? Now times that number by 5 or 10 and that is about how much dirt to expect. The average pile of dirt size to be extracted from the ground when digging for a pool is that of about 5 garden sheds! The best idea is to have it hauled out by the excavationers, that way you’re not stuck with a giant ugly pile of dirt in your yard that you need to wheel barrow on weekends, or have to hire someone else to get rid of it.

2. What Happens When You Hit Rocks Or Water?

We cannot stress enough how helpful and important a soil test is! Many customers do not get this done, which makes the job more difficult since we will not know what we are going to find when digging. When you get a soil test, it will help us determine how easily the hole will be dug, or if we will run into a lot of rock or ground water.

If rock or groundwater is hit, there are several things that can be done;

Rock:

-You can move the destination of the pool to an area that is less rocky.
-Choose an elevated pool instead (this can affect cost).
-Hammer the rock (again, may cost more).
-Decide to not get a pool.

Water:

-Install a dewatering system to keep the hole dry. This allows you to keep the pool in the original destination.
-Elevate pool (same as when hitting rock).

3. Will I Save Money If I Dig My Own Hole?

The answer to this is pretty simple… No. In the long run it MAY save you $500, but that is not guaranteed. Most contractors will actually charge more for a self dug hole.

4. What Will Happen To My Yard?

Unfortunately, you can’t use a helicopter to haul the dirt, gravel and etc. from the yard, and if you figure out how to do that, we are sure it’ll cost you a pretty penny! So, that being said, you will need to expect heavy machinery being moved in and out of your yard. This can cause some damage to the lawn and etc.