Putting in a Swimming Pool for Triathlon Training – Check List for Prep Work

It’s for your own good.  If you are considering putting in a swimming pool, you need to ask yourself these things:

1. Where are the power lines in your yard?  Follow up with finding out if the local power company’s requirements are the same as the local building code.  Get it in written form and have a site inspection/consultation with the power company representative.  Our situation has ended up requiring several weeks of coordinated process which included:   moving a storage shed (which required a major reorg effort), having a section of concrete cut from our back patio, and boring a small tunnel for 95 feet in our back yard.  Happy to say the power company crew finished getting the wires down the pole to the conduit and then the electrician did his part to get the power working, as well getting started creating the additional outlets we will need.
2. What trees are in the way? We needed to take down a huge tree, and then got the ancient, rock solid stump ground down by a special machine.
3. Where will the pool heater, filter, current generator, etc. be housed?  Fortunately this turned out to be a semi-simple step for us, compared to everything else.  On second thought, you should probably get my husband’s opinion on that. He had to relocate a lot of his tool stuff from the closet in the garage.  Personally, I think he’ll be happier in the long run with it all in his shop.  🙂

   

4. Do you need new electrical outlets/connections or gas plumbing (heater)?
5. How far away from the house will the pool be?  This could require even more trenching and extra lengths of hoses and wires.  We were very glad to figure out we could have the pool within 10 feet from the back of the garage.
6. Where will the water flow if there is a leak or overflow from the pool?
7. Is the ground level?  Our back yard is sloped varying ways in different places.  We will dig down about 2 feet to both create a level spot and gain a little insulation from the ground.  Then we need to make sure it is smooth, too, probably by putting in a cement pad.
8. What sort of safety features do you need to install?  Fencing with locked gate?  Separate room?
9. Will any sprinklers or water lines need to be re-routed? Investigating this will inevitably cause you to find other sprinkler problems that need to be fixed, such as tree roots squeezing lines or leaks that you were not aware of.

   

10. What types of building permits will be required?  The government wants to control your backyard.  It’s painfully tedious and adds cost to the project.

All of this for a “simple” and fairly small above ground pool.  If you are thinking you might like to have a pool next year, I strongly suggest you begin planning and problem solving now.