Drainage and paving around a precast plunge pool

A precast Plungie is a finished concrete shell. We crane it in. It does not have to sit in a hole with a retaining wall. On a lot of Nashville yards we keep the pool about 2 feet above the ground. In high or heavy rain, that rim sits above the water that moves across the yard, so there is a much lower chance of flooding the pool.

The interior ecoFinish is a sealed, waterproof membrane inside the shell. That is a manufacturer fact about the water you swim in, not about stormwater outside. Around the pool, the work is water management. Grade, paving, and where the rain goes.

The set

Why above-grade helps

A poured pool is usually buried. The water line sits near the lawn. When the yard loads up in a storm, runoff can pour in over the edge.

A precast shell can sit in-ground, half in, or above grade. About 2 feet up is a common set when the lot is flat, tight, or wet. The coping is above the path the rain takes. You still need drainage. You just start with a rim that is not in the puddle.

You also skip a retaining wall a lot of poured jobs need just to hold the hole. The shell is the structure. The surround is paving and grade, not a basement.

Water path

How we handle water around the pool

Rain should move away from the shell, not toward it.

We slope the first band of paving so water sheds off the coping. We keep a clear path to a yard drain, a swale, or the street, whatever the lot already uses. On some sets we pack open stone against the free sides of the shell so water can drop and leave instead of sitting in clay. If water is coming down a slope, start with curtain drains at Wallaby Land Works.

We do not bury the rim to make it look in-ground if that puts the water line under the storm path. If you want it lower, we plan the drains first.

The surround

Concrete, pavers, or permeable pavers

Paving can be concrete, pavers, or permeable pavers. Slope the first band away from the coping. Metro Nashville treats a lot of hardscape as impervious cover, so permeable pavers can matter on tight lots. The material matters less than the pitch. If the deck runs back into the pool, the prettiest stone still floods it. See how we pick a paver pattern.

Drawings when needed

When a civil engineer gets involved

When the lot needs drawings, we install the pool, the grade, and the paving to that plan.

What we need

What we need from you

A few photos of the yard after a hard rain tell us more than a dry Saturday. If you have a survey, send it. If you already have civil drawings, send those too.

We will tell you whether the shell can sit about 2 feet up, whether a wall is even in the conversation, and what the paving has to do. Then you get a clear, itemized quote. Swim-ready in weeks, not a season lost to a hole in the ground.

Call 615-606-3092.