A to Z Pools

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We used A to Z pools to help us remedy a stormwater runoff issue our HOA is neglecting, not for actual pool work. Our experience was up and down, but ended in a yelling match between myself and Gary Eiland. In the end, the dispute was over what I expected him to do and what I thought we had agreed upon and what he actually did. A year later, I was proven right by another contractor fixing Gary's mistakes. More on that later.

The stormwater runoff was destroying fencing and causing water to stand for weeks at a time. Eventually impacting our property and eroding areas near the house and other concrete supported structures. While we fought with our ridiculous HOA to fix the problem, I began creating a ditch system and installed a sump pump about 6 feet down in a collection area to collect the water. I had to go that deep to ensure I got the max amount of runoff and ground water. During my efforts, we had a really heavy rain and while the sump pump and ditch system dried up the soil in more timely manner, the heavy rain was still eroding our property.

Gary came in and talked about bringing in fill to raise that are of the property about 6 inches to divert the runoff. Perfect! I asked him to also add french drain to every ditch, connecting it to an existing drain from another part of the property. For the collection area I purchased 3 of those plastic dry wells from Home Depot (link). They are 2ft high each and connect to each other, which would cover the hole I dug. I asked him to connect the french drains to the dry well and wrap everything in silt cloth I purchased.

Well, during the work, we started to have issues. The silt cloth wasn't being used and the french drain he used was just corrugated pipe, so that would clog within a year or two. Also, the pipe they installed for the sump pup was connected using rubber unions and buried in ground. I mentioned both of these and he very directly told me he knew what he was doing. 

The fill that was brought in was like sand. I asked him about it and he told me that it was not sand, that it was something else and that once he finished grading, it would dry and become hard as a rock. Not only redirecting water, but the water that was on my property would not collect.

When he finished, it looked OK, but he did not address the french drain and i still had an extra dry well. I told him that I tried placing the sump pump 2 feet, then 4 feet below grade and that I just wasn't collecting enough water. It took me getting to 6 feet to begin effectively drying out the area. This is when the yelling match began.

He proceeded to tell me that I was just trying to get out of paying him for his work. That he knows what he is doing and that he stands by each and every one of his projects, treats them like he is doing work for his own family and if I have any issues, he will take care of it. The yelling started on the phone at about 8am, he told me he was coming to my house and hung up on me. We then continued in my drive way. Eventually, we settled. I was still not happy.

So...who was right? I was. 5 months later, plenty of time for that special sand to dry out and become magic, we received about 3/4" of rain and here is what happened:

Not only did his magic fill wash away, the french drain collapsed and filled with sand. I know this because we had another contractor come out and fix all of this and we were able to see what happened to the drain: it wasn't deep enough and the silt wrapping wasn't used on his bare pipe. That didn't allow the pipes to collect enough ground water and the sump pump was higher in the ground as well, so it only pumped a small amount of water away.

The rubber unions connecting the output pipe to the sump pump, didn't last long at all. Probably not past the point at which he put them in the ground and covered them up. They were all disconnected, so the sump pump was pumping, but it was pumping it back into the ground.

All of this with the magic sand not being magic after all added up to a nightmare to fix.