After enjoying their pool for many years, our clients were ready to see their pool go. The upkeep and maintenance were too much to handle for how little they had used the pool in the last few years. So they gave Mack Land a call to find out about their pool removal options.
This pool is a very common pool type: vinyl liner, vermiculite bottom and fiberglass sides. The vermiculite bottom breaks up very easily and is left in place. The vinyl liner and fiberglass walls are removed and disposed of offsite.
After the walls and surrounding concrete patio were removed, we imported clean, compactable fill material. We compact in layers as we go to help prevent settling. After bringing in topsoil to fine grade, we spread grass seed and finished with straw blanket. Our clients now have a sizable backyard to entertain guests.
If you live in the greater Chicago or Denver areas please do not hesitate to give us a call about swimming pool removal or any of the other services that we offer. Also make sure to visit our experience page to see some of our previous pool removal work.
Art in the garden is a great investment. It is often underestimated the value and character art adds to the landscape. Gardens and art go together like peanut butter and jelly.
After a pool removal we often get asked to replace the pool as a focal point. If you are looking for low maintenance and low energy consumption, consider adding a sculpture piece. Garden artwork from a well know artist is a better investment than a swimming pool from our perspective. A great example of art that can give you something unique that no one else has are these wind sculptures by Lyman Whitaker. This is an example kinetic art (art that depends on motion for its effects) by a well know artist whose work will hold its value.
Let Mack Land, LLC help you find the signature piece for your landscape. Contact us to discuss your options.
After recently purchasing and moving in, our client in Aurora, Colorado contacted us about removing the failing pool that dominated her backyard.
This fiberglass shell pool had seen better days. With the freeze/thaw that winters in Colorado bring us and the close proximity of a mature pine tree and its roots, the pool had lifted and shifted. The previous owners had addressed the issue with Great Stuff foam.
The back yard was a very tight area to work in. That’s where our specialty with working with compact experiment really comes into play.
After removing the fiberglass shell entirely and disposing of it offsite, we broke up the surrounding concrete patio that covered the rest of the back yard.
We brought in clean compactable fill material and brought the back yard to grade. Our client opted to have us stop at this point. She wanted to get a feel for the backyard and determine what she wanted to do next. Lawn, extend the patio, planting beds? With the pool removed, her backyard looked as though it had doubled in size.
If you’re in the greater Denver or Chicago areas please contact us to discuss your pool removal options.
Fiberglass Sides with Concrete Bottom Pool Removal
After putting a lot of work into the inside of the house, our clients were ready to tackle projects out in the yard. This unused pool in Fox Lake, Illinois needed to go. It had not been used in years and cattails were growing in the deep end.
This pool was a typical style we see in the Chicagoland area. Fiberglass walls with a concrete bottom. The fiberglass walls were removed and hauled offsite. The concrete was broken up into small pieces and used as structural fill in the deep end of the pool.
This pool was located in the side yard. This gave us great access and enabled us to drive trucks right up to the pool area and speed up the process of bringing in dirt. As always, we compacted as we went to help prevent any settling.
The client is planning to finish the area with sod later this spring and is excited to have even more usable yard space.
If you live in the greater Chicago or Denver areas please do not hesitate to give us a call about swimming pool removal or any of the other services that we offer. Also make sure to visit our experience page to see some of our previous pool removal work.
After starting one pool removal in Denver, Colorado, the neighbors next door were curious as to what we were doing. Once they learned we were removing the pool and how we have streamlined the process, they signed up to have their pool removed as well.
Their pool was a fiberglass shell pool that the homeowner and his father had installed many years ago. The family had enjoyed the pool for many years but it had not been used recently. They had been unsure of what to with the pool and the backyard in general and it was perfect timing that we were working right next door.
As with all fiberglass shell pools, we removed the pool entirely and hauled it offsite. We broke up the concrete walk around the pool and used it as structural fill in the bottom. Clean, compactable fill material was brought in. We brought the area to grade and the homeowner is planning on sodding the area. The backyard doubled in size for usable space, their dog will love the extra room to run.
If you live in the greater Denver or Chicago areas please do not hesitate to give us a call about swimming pool removal or any of the other services that we offer. Also make sure to visit our experience page to see some of our previous pool removal work.
Our clients enjoyed having a pool in the backyard, however over time it became more than they wanted to deal with. The liner needed to be replaced and the steel pool walls were beginning to rust and fail. They had not used the pool in a few years and decided it was time for it to go.
This vinyl liner pool removal in Barrington was a pool style we have seen many times in the area. This pool consisted of a vinyl liner, steel sides and a vermiculite bottom. Not all liner pools have a concrete pool bottom, some are a form of vermiculite (like this one) that is very chalky and easy to break up.
We removed the steel side and concrete walk around the pool and disposed of both offsite. No material from the pool was buried. We then brought in clean back fill material, compacted in layers and brought the area to rough grade. The pool had been slightly raised so we graded out the area to give our client’s a level, usable backyard. We finished with grass seed and ersosion control blanket to blend the new lawn area into the existing lawn.
If you live in the greater Chicago or Denver areas please do not hesitate to give us a call about swimming pool removal or any of the other services that we offer. Also make sure to visit our experience page to see some of our previous pool removal work.
It’s come time to sell your house. There is lots of activity but no offers. You keep hearing the same thing; “We love the house, hate the pool”. Perhaps it is time to consider removing the pool. Below are a few reasons why removing your pool may be the right move.
Increase Real Estate Value
Removing the pool will allow you to gain a bigger yard with more usable space and a more marketable space for realtors to sell.
Houses without pools appeal to a broader market.
Houses being sold “as is” with a pool in disrepair will decrease the value of the home more than it will cost to remove it and may decrease surrounding property values.
The cost of removing a pool in disrepair will be significantly offset by the value it adds to the property and it will make the property easier to sell.
Save Money
What if you aren’t in the market to sell your home? Or did you just purchase a home with a pool you don’t want? Removing the pool can still add value to your property and save you money.
Property Tax Reduction – Pool are considered usable space are you are taxed on it.
Reduce your Home Owners Insurance Premium – Pools are a safety liability.
Lower your monthly utility costs, energy costs are constantly rising, your pool will only become more expensive.
Water costs are rising.
Repairing an old pool will cost a lot more than it will be to remove a pool over the long run. Many areas will require you to bring your old pool up to current code and can be quite costly.
If you’re in the greater Chicago or Denver areas please contact us to discuss your pool removal options.
You know the saying: “bigger is better”. We have found that is not the case with heavy machinery and with pool removals. In many locations, there is limited access to the back yard to remove the pool. Tight side yards, trees, retaining walls or utilities can limit access. We use ground protection to protect sensitive underground utilities that may not be easily located. This is more common in tighter communities. The most concerning are clay pipes and corrugated drainage tiles. Here at Mack Land, we specialize in getting into those hard to reach backyards.
Completing projects safely and efficiently is our number one priority.
One way we accomplish that with our pool removals is to use a compact mini excavator. The biggest benefit of using a mini excavator, is that it brings a lot of power to a small space. With projects that don’t provide much room for large equipment, a mini excavator may be able to handle with ease. They have a small footprint but are very powerful and can manage even tough tasks.
With their small footprint and rubberized tracks, we can reduce the impact to the surrounding area and keep the work zone contained. A rubber-tracked compact excavator can move over pavement without harming it. A compact excavator’s low ground pressure also minimizes damage to turf. An additional feature, the machine’s 360-degree turning, offset digging and reduced tail swing, allow compact excavators to work productively in spaces where a full-sized excavator could not move.
Using large machines can cause more damage to the property that just removing the pool. Their steel tracks can damage roadways and driveways and tear up turf. The vibrations and excessive force can damage foundations and crack masonry. Clean air matters. Older, larger machines put out sooty diesel fumes that are not healthy for you or your family and neighbors to be breathing. Older machines also tend to leak oil…on your lawn, driveway, sidewalk…
How we get it done.
After navigating our mini excavator into the backyard pool area, we get to work. Depending on the pool type, the machine either removes the fiberglass shell from the pool or begins breaking up the concrete pool bottom. If the pool had steel or fiberglass walls, the mini excavator pulls them out to be hauled offsite. Any concrete walls or walks are broken up with the machine as well. Fill material is shuttled back to the hole with our other compact, lightweight machine, our track loader. The mini excavator assists in spreading out and compacting the fill material brought in by the track loader.
If you’re in the greater Chicago or Denver areas please contact us to discuss your pool removal options.
This can be a topic that varies depending on who you ask and where you are located. The landscape architects at Mack Land specialize in pool removals and always recommend removing the concrete, no matter if the code allows it to be left onsite. Ideally this is the right thing to do and adds the most value. However, site constants, access and budget sometimes make leaving the concrete the only feasible option.
Most towns do not see a lot of pools being removed and have not put a lot of thought in to their code. Some towns have no code at all. The most basic code we commonly see is to perforate the pool bottom and take the sides down 24” below grade. Well that’s OK if your seller is looking to do the bare minimum. What if the next homeowner wants to put a pool back in, or an addition?
Removing a pool in today’s market.
Benefits include:
Gain a larger backyard with more usable and marketable space for realtors to sell. Potentially lower property taxes.
Houses without pools appeal to a broader market.
Houses being sold “as-is” with a pool in disrepair will decrease the value of the home more than it will cost to remove it. Surrounding property values may be negatively affected as well.
When you are sitting at the closing table, a new buyer can take issue to the concrete being left onsite even if the code allows it and try to leverage a better price. This is more likely to occur in a buyers’ market. In a sellers’ market, people are more likely to overlook these concerns. In elite communities, we feel it always pays to remove the pool in its entirety.
As we stated earlier, removing the concrete is the most ideal thing to do but is not always feasible. If you decide to leave the concrete, the entire swimming pool should be thoroughly broken down into small pieces. An excavating contractor or a pool removal only contractor are concerned only about getting the job and want to get in and out as fast as possible They will want to do the bare minimum and they will not be concerned about minimizing the damage to the property because they are more than likely not going to have to restore it. These bids always seem cheaper.
If the client chooses not to haul everything off, Mack Land thoroughly breaks up the entire pool into small pieces of concrete (see below). We go above and beyond to remove all plastics, metals, wood, and vegetation and recycle it off site. Also, we make sure the fill dirt is clean and suitable for compaction and from a local residential source. In addition, we typically use plywood/ground protection along the access route. Our specialized low ground pressure machinery also reduces our impact to the work area. We include a professional restoration and we always use the highest quality seed and turf. Mack Land is so confident, we are providing pool removal closure reports and a lifetime warranty on our pool removals. The pool removal closure report is a great tool to have on hand during real estate deals – documentation of the process from start to finish.
Mack Land Low Impact Pool Removal – Concrete is processed onsite into structural fill.
Don’t pay to get the pool removed twice, get it done right the first time.
Not all contractors care about homeowners like Mack Land does. We are committed to add value to your real estate. Why? We care about the buyer and the seller. We are not going to push anyone into something because it is easier for us. Whether it is a buyers’ or sellers’ market, it pays to do the job right the first time. Improperly removed swimming pools can be something that can be a nightmare at the closing table or haunts you down the road, even after the real estate transaction has been completed. Most states require you to disclose landfills. Buried concrete can be considered landfill material. No matter how you interpret the laws and codes, morally, you should feel obligated to disclose the buried pool removal to the next owner.
Copyright Mack Land, LLC – a pool removal & demolition company. All rights reserved.
If you’re in the greater Chicago or Denver areas please contact us to discuss your pool removal options.
Yesterday we presented a talk on robotic lawn mowers with Kathy Moseler of Paradise Robotics at the iLandscape Show that is currently going on in Schaumburg, IL. In case you missed it, here are a few highlights of what we covered:
Robot Mower Basics
The majority of robot mowers work with a perimeter wire and a transmitter/receiver system.
The robot mower works within the perimeter of the wire, mowing in a random pattern, covering the whole area over time.
Robot mower perimeter wire has less installation cost, and the same maintenance requirements, as a lawn sprinkler system.
Robot mowers improve grass health while reducing water and fertilizer requirements.
Robot mowers are quiet and do not pollute.
Robot mowers have significant safety benefits that reduce landscape business operating costs.
Design for People, Accommodate Robots
Site analysis to address low spots, obstacles (trees, fences, water features), steep slopes.
Use landscape to avoid potential mower conflicts: narrow lawn sections, tight corners…
Edgers of metal and plastic are not to be used with robotic mowers.
Hard surfaces such as pavers, mulch or gravel level with the lawn, work well.
Gentle curves allow the robot mower to reach all desired areas, avoid 90 degree turns.
Uses
Robot mowers are for more than use residential use:
Commercial & Industrial Settings – vineyards, solar fields
School & Office Campuses – environmentally friendly
Hotels & Resorts – no loud mowers disrupting pool time
Municipalities – free up staff to address other items
The popularity of robot mowing has been on the rise in current years. In Europe, the market has fully adopted robot mowers. With all the makes and models coming on to the market, there is a robot mower for almost any size yard, including large fields.
If you are attending the iLandscape show, make sure to stop by the Paradise Robotics booth (#519) and talk to Kathy to learn more about robot mowing and find out more about other robots currently on the market. If you live in the greater Chicago or Denver areas, give us a call .
Copyright Mack Land, LLC – a pool removal & demolition company. All rights reserved.
