Neighbor's pool filter discharges into my backyard

[yhprum]

Ask him to fix it and if he doesn’t, dam it or sandbag on your side of the fence.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

People want to defund the police, yet they can't even talk to a neighbor about something as simple as DE filter being discharged into your yard. You actually talked to the pool guy and you didn't tell him... "hey dude, can you run a hose so it doesn't flood my yard". He most likely has one, but was too lazy to use it. Seriously, it is most likely not legal to dump chemicals or Diatomaceous Earthin someone elses yard, but you shouldn't even have to get into legality of it... why, because humans should be able to talk with each other. End of rant...

I have no problem talking to the owner or the pool guy. When I did speak with the pool guy, unfortunately he seemed as smart as someone who's career path would terminate at pool guy. I'm not saying the concept of gravity escapes him, but it if did, it wouldn't surprise me. I need to talk to someone who can consider the situation in a more cerebral way, I need to talk to the owner which I have no problem doing.

 

[ScottsGT]

Similar situation years back with Moms house. Her home was a new build and one day during a really heavy rain water came in her back door. Brother lived next door and started looking into the situation and the homes behind her house that was built years before hers had installed yard drains that dumped into her back yard just inside the fence line. Neighborhood was built on a sloping hill.
My brother being the ******* he is simply filled the drains with Great Stuff expanding foam instead of first speaking with the neighbors.
But the flooding stopped.

 

[orangeblood]

1. pretty sure all states have established code / legal precedents about changing land drainage patterns that affect the property of other land owners
2. talking to the owner and asking for a change is the right first step - but be sure to ask that a change be made.
3. doing nothing or asking the owner "if" a change can be made is postponement of dealing with a problem that can get worse over time

 

[NUTTSGT]

Maybe it's time to buy a Baby Ruth ?

 

[TimTaylor75]

I remember when neighbors talked to each other. Oh wait, that happens almost daily with me and my neighbors.

 

[Toolfool]

My pool filter discharges against the 6' privacy fence between properties. After living here a few months I realized a lot of the water was going under the fence. I mentioned to the neighbor that I noticed it and would correct it. He said "You mean my tomatoes and cucumbers will actually get to grow ?"

 

[Bretny]

As previously mentioned, it's not a marsh back there and little time was spent back there, basically just mowing, before I started my shed build. Since that time, I'm back there more often and I only found out about it a few months ago. When it floods, the water is gone fairly quickly so no evidence was left except for recently the white powder on the soil. I don't know if there's been a change with their filter maintenance or not, it may have been done less frequently before, don't know. I do know that the folks that actually own the house and paid the contractor (who pulled appropriate permits) to install the pool are now living in the house. Step one is an amicable introduction, then we'll ease into this issue which may or may not be a problem. I'm certainly hoping it won't be.

So the pool was installed in 2014 and your just found it last week...and now it worries you? If it didnt bother you for 6yrs why now and why contact every government agency before talking to the guy who actually owns the pool?

Talk to the neighbor. Theres no need for this thread.

 

[PhantomEB]

This is truly petty. The week my neighbors moved in, I got to meet them and have beers with them. Simple acts like this prevent future cowardice and gets issues resolved with a simple conversation.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

So the pool was installed in 2014 and your just found it last week...and now it worries you? If it didnt bother you for 6yrs why now and why contact every government agency before talking to the guy who actually owns the pool?

Talk to the neighbor. Theres no need for this thread.

As mentioned, for those who chose not to read or can't comprehend, the OWNER just moved back in and it was less than two weeks ago. Prior to that only a renter was there, that I had spoken to. I've only lived in this house for 1.5 years, when you assume, incorrectly in this case, you make yourself look less than competent.

Again, since you didn't read, something appears to have changed with the filter composition, the frequency with which it's flushed or both.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

This is truly petty. The week my neighbors moved in, I got to meet them and have beers with them. Simple acts like this prevent future cowardice and gets issues resolved with a simple conversation.

I too met everyone soon after moving in and have done the same with other neighbors before March of this year, but in the middle of a pandemic, folks who don't want to potentially get sick or make others sick have a tentancy to be a little less social than normal.

 

[slackdaddy1]

Damn it, answer the question!!! "What does the neighbors wife look like??" LOL

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Damn it, answer the question!!! "What does the neighbors wife look like??" LOL

Don't know, as stated, haven't met them yet. As for the renters, she was a very nice lady but um, NO!

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Tell your neighbor to re-direct his pool drain line.

It is illegal to dump water or anything else onto a neighbors property.
Have the neighbor correct it

Have him move the fence to INSIDE his property line, too. In most places it's not allowed to be on the property line, there has to be a set back.

Tommy

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Have him move the fence to INSIDE his property line, too. In most places it's not allowed to be on the property line, there has to be a set back.

Tommy

Our HOA dictates all fences are to be placed right on top of the property line, this keeps two adjacent fences from forming an inaccessible gap. It works well for me as my back yard is fenced and I don't have to pay for it or maintain it. Two neighbors are required to have a fence as they have pools, the other just happens to.

 

[GG441]

It is illegal to dump water or anything else onto a neighbors property.
Have the neighbor correct it

Of course, this is illegal.

 

[Bretny]

As mentioned, for those who chose not to read or can't comprehend, the OWNER just moved back in and it was less than two weeks ago. Prior to that only a renter was there, that I had spoken to. I've only lived in this house for 1.5 years, when you assume, incorrectly in this case, you make yourself look less than competent.

Again, since you didn't read, something appears to have changed with the filter composition, the frequency with which it's flushed or both.

Who cares who moved there...the pool has been there and I would assume the discharge has been there for 6 yrs?

 

[JRC3]

This thread is a lost cause, in typical fashion. Not you OP, you asked a pretty simple question to gather some advice and maybe find a difference approach that maybe you hadn't thought of before you actually engaged the neighbor. But somehow exploring your options is a bad thing.

And the word "cowardice" was actually used in reply.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Who cares who moved there...the pool has been there and I would assume the discharge has been there for 6 yrs?

You've made several assumtions so far.

Let me knock this down to a 2nd grade level so you can understand, base on YOUR comment "If it didnt bother you for 6yrs why now" YOU have assumed I've been here for 6 years. I purchase the house 12/18, that means I've only been here for one year and eight months so far. I wasn't worried about the discharge before I moved in because 1) I didn't know about it and 2) I didn't own the house. The pool was not used in the 18/19 winter so the filter would not have needed to be flushed when the pool was not needed, winter is the cold time of year when people are less likely to want to get into a pool because it would be uncomfortable and not relaxing. The limited amount of time spent back there throughout all of 2019, I did not notice any discharge from the filter, I have explained this already.

I'm sorry I have a glass floor, I just can't go down any further and simplfy this anymore than I already have. I have an engineering degree, I do not have an early childhood education degree, explaining simple subject matter to those still learning is outside my wheelhouse.

 

[dcs13]

First- There's nothing in that water that will cause harm. (unless the pool has been unused and algae is growing).. Chlorine is in your drinking water.. DE is actually good for the soil.

Second- The filter generally only needs a back wash every couple of weeks when in heavy use. So its not a daily occurrence.

Third- if it bothers you or is causing some damage to your property, go talk to the guy and work out a solution.

Cheers

 

[Bigblockyeti]

First- There's nothing in that water that will cause harm. (unless the pool has been unused and algae is growing).. Chlorine is in your drinking water.. DE is actually good for the soil.

Second- The filter generally only needs a back wash every couple of weeks when in heavy use. So its not a daily occurrence.

Third- if it bothers you or is causing some damage to your property, go talk to the guy and work out a solution.

Cheers

Thank you, the Chlorine, specifically the quantity that would be in a chlorinated pool was of a concern. The DE I have limited information on and was curious if what I was seeing left behind after the water would be just DE or some other back flush chemicals as well and in what concentration.

This has been one of a very small number of helpful posts.

 

[PugetDude]

This has been one of a very small number of helpful posts.

BBY, it's just been the usual Free Parking Signal to Noise ratio. Hope you get a chance to update us when you've had an opportunity to talk with your neighbor (or bang his wife in the
pool )

 

[JRC3]

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’

Cows or pool water, all the same.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

BBY, it's just been the usual Free Parking Signal to Noise ratio. Hope you get a chance to update us when you've had an opportunity to talk with your neighbor (or bang his wife in the
pool )

I expected some but this surprised me. I will.

 

[23ford]

If this dischrge bothers you go get some thich metal and put it in the ground at the fench line t redirect the water to their property.

 

[PugetDude]

BBY,
Any updates?
You’re in the height of swim season; I would expect they have flushed the DE filter again?

 

[ddurrett896]

Dig a hole next to the fence, grade the water towards the hole, drop sump pump, hook up hose, spray it into his pool.

 

[PelicanPines]

Dig a hole next to the fence, grade the water towards the hole, drop sump pump, hook up hose, spray it into his pool.

And if a septic system is available... add a siphon hose to that on the "spray back into their pool feature".

 

[bad_idea]

I made it to the end with no answer?! AHHHH!

I am that neighbor. The wife and I put in a pool this summer and I just backwashed the filter yesterday morning. All of the discharge water sprayed out onto my lawn ~20 from the property line and ran downhill to the ditch between the properties. I never considered the water may damage my neighbor's lawn or that she would even care. The chlorine levels are very low and will burn off by noon in the sun. My pool is a saltwater pool, but again very low percentage when considering the overall volume of water.

I will say if you came and talked to me about it then I would sort out some way to keep the water off your yard. PVC is cheap and pissed off neighbors ****.

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

I do not understand why many of the comments on this thread want to make this a major war. The first step is to talk! Then if a fix cannot be agreed upon, then fix it from you side. Some of the suggestions, in my opinion, would open the OP for law suites that I think he would loose.

We have had pools for about twenty years and have back flushed them into our yard with NO damage. Should it be going on the neighbor's yard no, but except for the wet it will not cause damage.

 

[2gslse]

Put a water bug sensor on the loudest alarm/air horn you can find
So when it gets wet it goes off till its dry. If they dont like it
They will stop setting it off.

 

[JRC3]

Put a water bug sensor on the loudest alarm/air horn you can find
So when it gets wet it goes off till its dry. If they dont like it
They will stop setting it off.

Like they would even know what was causing the sound. Not to mention all the other neighbors have to hear it...And, you have to hear it too.

 

[brownbagg]

the lady on my corner has a pool, and a broom that she flyes, she added a pipe, like 1/2 to the road, through the asphalt wing wall ( that the curb swell made out of asphalt) so when so backwash her pool, it pumps into the road runs down the swell into the gutter about 100 feet away, but your car going get splash with chorine

 

[Beemer]

Our zoning laws don't allow anyone to create drainage onto adjacent properties.

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

^^^ This

 

[aka Larry]

I made it to the end with no answer?! AHHHH!

I am that neighbor. The wife and I put in a pool this summer and I just backwashed the filter yesterday morning. All of the discharge water sprayed out onto my lawn ~20 from the property line and ran downhill to the ditch between the properties. I never considered the water may damage my neighbor's lawn or that she would even care. The chlorine levels are very low and will burn off by noon in the sun. My pool is a saltwater pool, but again very low percentage when considering the overall volume of water.

I will say if you came and talked to me about it then I would sort out some way to keep the water off your yard. PVC is cheap and pissed off neighbors ****.

We have a saltwater pool as well and I can tell you from experience that the back wash will kill the grass and anything else that might be green. In our case, it only kills our grass (I could give a **** less) but that's because our lots are a full acre.