99lspwr Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Hi everyone...My wife and I really want an in-ground pool installed in our back yard..We are looking to get a 16x32'- 4'-8' deep..I understand that our housing development has a high water table where we live and thats the reason why the builder did not install basements in this section where we live.... My main question is that the pool company we want to use will not come and do an auger drill test to test the ground for water until we give them a $3000 deposit...I don't have a problem with that other then we want to do a bunch of different things to the yard this year so next year we can get the pool installed...Bottum line is we dont want to waste time and money on the yard if we can have a in-ground pool... I have tried searching around but do not know if Iam looking in the right places to have someone professional come out to test the ground since the pool company will not...Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do or whom to contact to get this simple drill test done to see if our water table is too high for an in-ground pool???? Thanks everyone!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANG Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Try and find a post hole digger with long handles and dig as far down as you can in a couple different places. It will give you a general idea how high the table is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99lspwr Posted July 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Try and find a post hole digger with long handles and dig as far down as you can in a couple different places. It will give you a general idea how high the table is. Is there a general rule of thumb on "if" I actually find water???Example-if I want to put a 8' deep pool in and hit water at 5 or 6' ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Your best bet would be to have an onground installed with a 5' sport bottom. With an onground you will have less chance of ground water. 7 1/2' isnt legal for a diving board you need at least 8'. With what its going to cost you in extra time & material when you do hit ground water. You will have saved a few thousand by going the onground route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99lspwr Posted July 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Your best bet would be to have an onground installed with a 5' sport bottom. With an onground you will have less chance of ground water. 7 1/2' isnt legal for a diving board you need at least 8'. With what its going to cost you in extra time & material when you do hit ground water. You will have saved a few thousand by going the onground route. well we are really set on an in-ground for now...There are a few houses that have inground pools close by us,but they might be on slightly higher ground..For right now we jus want to figure out the best way to get the ground tested....thanks for the replies so far.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkalla2000 Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 I live on an island, 6 feet above sea level and there are tons of inground pools here. I know here if you dig a couple feet into the ground you will start to find water. I'm not quite sure how they build them under the water table, but I know it can be done. One thing I do know is that, the pool builders down here install a pressure valve in the bottom drain in case the pool ever needs to be drained. That pressure valve allows the ground water to come up through the drain instead of the pool raising up out of the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njpoolbuyer Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Your best bet would be to have an onground installed with a 5' sport bottom. With an onground you will have less chance of ground water. 7 1/2' isnt legal for a diving board you need at least 8'. With what its going to cost you in extra time & material when you do hit ground water. You will have saved a few thousand by going the onground route. well we are really set on an in-ground for now...There are a few houses that have inground pools close by us,but they might be on slightly higher ground..For right now we jus want to figure out the best way to get the ground tested....thanks for the replies so far.. I am new to pool ownership so i won't give advice, just facts. We just had an in ground pool installed at our house at the jersey shore. We are on a barrier island, about 750 feet from the ocean and the bay. Generally, you can hit water at about 24 inches deep. our pool is 3 1/2 feet at the end down to 6 feet in the middle. we spoke to 2 builders (one gunite, one steel wall/vinyl liner), neither of whom said the water table was a problem for THEIR pool but would be a problem for the other type of pool. Pool is in, seems fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99lspwr Posted July 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thank you all for the response(s)...As mentioned we really do want to go the route of an inground...I just cannot understand why my local pool company will not come out and drill a few holes to check out the ground..I offered to pay for their time, but they will not do it unless I have 3k down... They did say something about installing well points if necessary, but thats even more money of course...Anyone have any idea in whats envolved with those or if its even worth it to do??Again I thank you all for your help and suggestions... still lookin for any ideas on whom I could call locally to drill down....thanks again!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njpoolbuyer Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Both pool companies indicated that they would likely have to "de-water" the area with well points, drilling holes at the perimeter and pumping the water out while installing the pool. This was done for the install and cost an additional $2,500. When they installed the pool, they also installed well point lines so that if the pool needs to be drained in the future, they would attach a pump to the existing lines and begin pumping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99lspwr Posted July 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Both pool companies indicated that they would likely have to "de-water" the area with well points, drilling holes at the perimeter and pumping the water out while installing the pool. This was done for the install and cost an additional $2,500. When they installed the pool, they also installed well point lines so that if the pool needs to be drained in the future, they would attach a pump to the existing lines and begin pumping. Thank you so much for clearing that up for me...Its unbelievable how I cannot get good info from companies trying to sell 30k pools, but you can get free info from a forum like this thats been way more helpful!!! thanks everyone!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luv2Cruz49 Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Hi everyone...My wife and I really want an in-ground pool installed in our back yard..We are looking to get a 16x32'- 4'-8' deep..I understand that our housing development has a high water table where we live and thats the reason why the builder did not install basements in this section where we live.... My main question is that the pool company we want to use will not come and do an auger drill test to test the ground for water until we give them a $3000 deposit...I don't have a problem with that other then we want to do a bunch of different things to the yard this year so next year we can get the pool installed...Bottum line is we dont want to waste time and money on the yard if we can have a in-ground pool... I have tried searching around but do not know if Iam looking in the right places to have someone professional come out to test the ground since the pool company will not...Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do or whom to contact to get this simple drill test done to see if our water table is too high for an in-ground pool???? Thanks everyone!! Several year ago I drilled myself a 21 foot well. For the first 12 feet, until I hit the water level, I made a crude but easy using auger to dig down. At a hardware store I got an 4 inch auger anchor used for tying down trailers. I cut the top end off and had a 1/2 inch female galvanized nipple welded to top. I than used a 1/2 inch tee and 12 inch pieces of 1/2 galvanize to make a handle. I place and turned the auger around lifting out 4 to 6 inches of dirt. When I got to bottom, I extended the handle using 3 foot section galvanized, and continued adding 3 foot sections until got to where digging, I could not go down anymore. This is when you hit wet sand at the water table. This has drilled the dry sand of many wells in this community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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