Why Herriman pools need more than a dump-and-fill
Pulling out a pool is the easy part. What matters is the ground left behind, because it has to carry a lawn, a patio, or a whole new building for decades. A pool that is crushed in place and covered with loose dirt can keep settling for years, leaving sinkholes, standing water, and cracked slabs.
The ground under most Herriman yards is west bench rocky soil and bedrock. Rock and hardpan are slow to dig and slow to drain. Water that gets into the backfill can sit on the hard layer underneath, so draining the old pool floor matters as much as the fill above it.
The benches here are old shorelines of Lake Bonneville, the Ice Age lake that once covered much of northern Utah. Its beaches left sand and gravel on the benches, while fine clay and silt settled on the old lakebed that is now the valley floor. Two pools a mile apart can sit in completely different ground, which is why we don't use one backfill plan for the whole valley.
Backfill and drainage in Herriman
Bedrock excavation limitations: that's the site condition we plan around first in Herriman, because it shapes how we dig, drain, and fill the hole. For the backfill itself, a standard spec isn't enough. A geotechnical engineer designs the structural fill and compaction for your site, and we place it to their numbers.
Building where the pool was
In Herriman, a big part of what's driving pool removals is fast growing area retiring early 2000s pools. If an ADU, garage, or addition is going where the pool was, the ground under its footings has to be solid. A partial removal leaves broken concrete in the ground, which works under a lawn but is a poor base for a foundation. For any structure, we recommend full removal with compaction that can be tested and documented for your permit.
On sites like these, the geotechnical engineer's report sets the fill material, the compaction target, and the testing schedule, and the building department reviews the foundation against that report. We place and compact the fill to the engineer's numbers so the ground under the new structure matches the design.
Water, utilities, and selling your home
Before demolition, the pool has to be drained legally. The rule we follow in Herriman: De-chlorinate below 0.1 ppm before storm drain discharge; max 30 GPM. Some cities send pool water to the sanitary sewer instead of the storm drain, so we confirm which applies before the pump goes in.
Most in-ground pools also have a gas heater and a dedicated electrical sub-panel.Utilities in Herriman are Enbridge Gas Utah (formerly Dominion Energy) gas and Rocky Mountain Power electric. Licensed trades cap the gas line and lock out the pool circuits before the excavator arrives.
If you plan to sell, the paperwork matters too. The Utah Seller's Property Condition Disclosure asks sellers to disclose known buried debris, fill, and settling. A partial fill-in leaves broken concrete in the ground, and a buyer's inspector or lender may flag it. Full removal with a compaction report gives you documentation instead of a disclosure question.
Permits and disposal in Salt Lake County
Herriman is in Salt Lake County. One local hurdle to plan for: Salt Lake County Health Department (SLCoHD) Pre-Demolition Asbestos Inspection. We go over it during the free site visit and build it into the schedule, so it doesn't stall the job halfway through. Debris from Herriman jobs is hauled to Trans-Jordan Landfill, and clean concrete from full removals goes to recycling.
Older pools can contain asbestos in places you wouldn't expect, such as some plaster finishes, deck and coping materials, and asbestos-cement drain or return pipes. Before any concrete is broken, a Utah-certified asbestos inspector checks the pool and deck. If anything turns up, a licensed abatement contractor removes it before demolition starts, and that step is scheduled ahead of time so the job doesn't stall.