Above Ground Pool Removal in Chicopee, MA

An above ground pool is one of the easier structures to take down and one of the more annoying ones to plan, because the pool itself is the quick part and the water is not.

A typical pool holds somewhere between five and twenty thousand gallons. That has to go somewhere before anything else happens, and it takes hours rather than minutes. Most people drain it themselves in the days before, which is the sensible approach and saves paying somebody to watch a hose.

Where you drain it matters. Pool water usually contains chlorine or salt, and a large volume released in one place will kill lawn, run into a neighbor's yard, or reach a storm drain. The standard advice is to stop chlorinating for several days beforehand so the level drops, then drain slowly across your own land, well away from any drain or watercourse. If you are on a septic system, do not put it into that.

The pool itself comes down quickly

Once it is empty, a standard above ground pool is a few hours. The liner is cut out, the top rails come off, the wall unrolls, and the uprights come apart. It is bolted rather than built, so it is a socket set job. Expect $300 to $800 for the removal and haul.

Where the material goes

The frame, rails and uprights are steel or aluminum and go to a scrap yard, which offsets a little of the cost. Massachusetts has banned metals from disposal since 1 July 2006, so that is the required route anyway. The wall is usually galvanised steel and goes the same way.

The liner does not. It is heavy vinyl, there is no meaningful recycling route for it, and it goes to a transfer station. It is also much heavier and bulkier than people expect once it is cut out and folded, so it takes real truck space on its own.

Then there is whatever the pool was sitting on. Usually sand, sometimes a base of stone dust, occasionally a concrete pad. Sand can normally be raked out and spread. A pad is a separate demolition decision, the same as a shed slab.

What the lawn looks like afterwards

Bad, and it is worth expecting. A pool that has stood for years leaves a perfectly circular patch of dead ground, often slightly dished, sometimes with a ring of settled sand around the edge. It needs grading and reseeding, and that is landscaping rather than junk removal. Fall is the better season for it in this region, because seed put down in September establishes far better than seed put down in July.