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Removing my inground (20' x 40') vinyl lined pool

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Discussion starter · #241 ·
mrbeef said:
Tim, have you ever tried using water to settle trenches? Fill the pool with the fill, not top soil, grab a ~6’ section of pvc and a garden hose adapter. Stick that down into the ground with the water on and areas will settle quickly.
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Never had a project this size that I did by myself. I think I have one set up like that I used to bore under the sidewalk in one spot. I take it something that would need to be moved to multiple points over the hole to do that correct?
 
#242 ·
mrbeef said:
Looks like great progress Tim!

I’m sure the neighbors appreciated that! It’s amazing how many projects you can start knocking off the list when you rent an excavator.


As a homeowner that owns an excavator I can confirm these statements! I would not recommend anyone buying an excavator unless the need is firm justified.

Tim, have you ever tried using water to settle trenches? Fill the pool with the fill, not top soil, grab a ~6’ section of pvc and a garden hose adapter. Stick that down into the ground with the water on and areas will settle quickly.
Click to expand...
That doesn't make any sense. Why create a muddy mess. It took him a day or more just to pump the water out to prepare for the backfill. And you suggest pumping water back in. The ground will settle naturally especially when he drives over each lift of backfill with the machine he's using.
 
#243 ·
My craftsman 917.27308 said:
That doesn't make any sense. Why create a muddy mess. It took him a day or more just to pump the water out to prepare for the backfill. And you suggest pumping water back in. The ground will settle naturally especially when he drives over each lift of backfill with the machine he's using.
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He doesn't want to create a muddy mess. Just add enough water to get it to settle and not soil saturation. If he sees water on the top just sitting, then too much has been applied.
Something like watering your garden or grass. Do you just keep watering until it's becomes flooded?
 
#244 · (Edited)
I second the not adding water. Yes, it would help it settle, but it will also turn into a muddy mess that will take months to dry out.
If you don't add enough water for the dirt clods to smash under the weight of the dirt on top of it, you accomplish nothing.
So for it to work, you really almost need the consistency of mud to self level.
Granted we had compaction equipment to use when we were putting fill in, but many times of the year finding dirt dry enough to compact was a challenge.

I saw the pipes entering the pool house in your original pictures, but I just could not pass up a perfect opportunity.
 
#245 ·
Dave55 said:
I second the not adding water. Yes, it would help it settle, but it will also turn into a muddy mess that will take months to dry out.
If you don't add enough water for the dirt clods to smash under the weight of the dirt on top of it, you accomplish nothing.
So for it to work, you really almost need the consistency of mud to self level.
Granted we had compaction equipment to use when we were putting fill in, but many times of the year finding dirt dry enough to compact was a challenge.

I saw the pipes entering the pool house in your original pictures, but I just could not pass up a perfect opportunity.
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We have had years finding dirt wet enough to compact was also a problem. For some reason dust just doesn't compact well. Lime will absorb water if the soil becomes too wet.
 
#247 ·
Every type of dirt has an optimum moisture content to achieve the best compaction, using mechanical means of compaction.
I can tell you after years of excavation work, it is much easier to raise the moisture content than it is to reduce it.
I can also say you run fill in lifts, each lift will need the moisture adjusted before you run the compaction equipment over it.
Then you run compaction tests on that lift, and do what ever it takes to get it to pass, before you start the next one.
All that really don't make any difference in this instance though, the job is to small, there is no compaction equipment on site, there is no compaction test equipment on site either.

Tim, keep doing what you are doing. Tracking the dirt in like that is the best you can do with what you have, and it will do a fair job compacting the dirt as long as you keep the lifts down to a few inches at a time. Yes that machine is heavy, but it also has a lot of surface contact with the tracks that make the PSI of compaction much lower than you would think.
 
#251 ·
MARK (LI) said:
It looks like you got a lot accomplished (y)
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Imagine how much he could get done if some of us would give him a hand instead of posting our thoughts on here. Tomorrow he probably won’t even be able to walk. Wait, it was the machine doing the work, but his hands and arms must have been flying all day. 😃
 
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Discussion starter · #252 ·
I did tweak my back in the machine today, but seems to be feeling better this evening. Here's where I'm at at the end of today, I have another load of topsoil already on-site so I'll be finishing with the machine tomorrow. Soil seemed to be compacting just fine so I didn't add any water to it:


Image
 
#255 ·
Google says I can make it there in 3 hours 45 minutes, 220 miles.
I 79 north seems to take forever once you past I 70 when you are driving, that 3 hours seems like 3 days.
And I did almost volunteer, but I was not wanting to make that trip.
With a little planning, I could have even thrown my Husqvarna K970 on the back and saved him some dollars for the saw, generator and rental saw.

Bad thing about that, after he got his hands on that Husky, it may have taken a fight to get him to let go of it.:rolleyes:
 
#259 ·
Are you saving some dirt in case it settles?
 
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