Chapter 5 - RACHEL'S BAD IDEA
Rachel’s first idea was revenge.
Change the water green.
Remove the ladder.
Install motion sprinklers.
Play alarms.
Daniel rejected all of it.
“Do not create hazards.”
“They climbed my fence.”
“And if someone climbs again and gets hurt?”
“They’re trespassing.”
“Still do not create hazards.”
Annoying.
Correct.
Rachel then said:
“I’ll drain it.”
Daniel paused.
“You can.”
That was the first useful answer.
She stared.
“Completely?”
“Property owner. Subject to permits and structural requirements.”
Rachel called a pool contractor.
The pool was twenty-three years old.
Surface due for major resurfacing.
One plumbing line had a slow leak.
Equipment nearing replacement.
Estimated renovation:
$64,000 to $88,000.
Rachel stared.
“What if I remove it?”
Contractor answered:
“Full decommission or partial fill?”
“How fast?”
“With permits? Depends.”
Rachel smiled.
Then he warned:
“You don’t just dump concrete into a pool.”
Good.
Engineering mattered.
Proper decommission required:
drainage,
perforation or approved base preparation,
fill,
compaction,
sometimes controlled low-strength material,
inspection.
Access to Rachel’s backyard was difficult.
No wide equipment route.
One option:
concrete pumping over the house.
Another:
small crane.
For certain loads:
helicopter lift.
Rachel laughed.
Then stopped.
“Helicopter?”
Contractor shrugged.
“Expensive.”
“How expensive?”
He told her.
Rachel smiled again.
Not because she wanted spectacle.
Because Karen’s HOA petition hearing was in six days.
Could Rachel legally decommission before then?
Daniel answered:
“If permits clear and no court order prohibits it.”
Karen had not filed suit yet.
May you like
The pool was Rachel’s.
The clock started.
