Swimming Pool Q & A: Options for unused pool.(The Orlando Sentinel)

Byline: Paul Roth

Q: We decided to have an in-ground swimming pool built in the back yard of our home in 1981.

The pool we purchased is a 16-by-32-foot vinyl-lined manufactured pool, plus a 4-by-8-foot integrated stair-step entry at the shallow end and 8-foot depth at the other end.

We still live in the home and still have the swimming pool, but our children are married and on their own now. We like our home, our location and our neighbors and we don't want to move, but we can no longer handle the arduous work or cost of maintaining the pool. At the same time, however, we don't know what options or plans are worth considering for permanently closing the pool.

Are we to simply drain the pool, cut out the bottom of the vinyl liner, remove the layer of vermiculite, fill the entire void of the pool perimeter framing with sand, add an earth layer on top, and plant grass once again?

Or, are there other more novel, clever, creative and affordable approaches to our dilemma? I am not interested in creating an expensive Taj Mahal-type garden area, but I would like something more than just another area of grass.

A: You have a couple of options, but each must be evaluated, not only for cost but for function as well.