As someone who has just purchased their first home, winter is the perfect time to be considering the installation of the new pool you want in place before summer. During winter, pool contractors have less demand for their services, so you should be able to negotiate a great rate to get them working. However, there is the problem of the frozen ground in your back garden to consider. There are several ways you can get the pool site thawed before the excavation services arrive, but you're going to need to get onto this task now.
The Blanket Method
If you want to use the latest in ground-thawing methods, then you need to find a supplier who rents out thawing blankets. These large, thermal blankets can be spread out over the area you want to defrost. They are then plugged into an electrical outlet and left to do their thing.
The electrical current in the blanket will produce heat, and this heat will defrost the immediate layer of frost and/or snow that lies beneath it. Once this top frozen layer has gone, heated moisture now exists between the blanket and the ground. The trapped heated moisture will start to defrost the next layer of soil beneath it. This process continues until it reaches the soil that was deep enough not to be affected by the cold.
If you can't find a rental supplier of the insulated thermal blanket, you could consider using the water method.
The Water Method
You already know that if you want to melt ice quickly in your kitchen sink, you pour hot or cold water over it. The same theory can be applied to defrosting your frozen ground using drilled holes and warm water.
You will need help to drill the holes in the ground, as the soil is too solid to dig through.The fastest method to drill these holes is either to rent a hole borer or hire a drilling company to drill the holes for you. Once the holes are drilled, they are continually filled with warm water, which heats the soil around it. The main downfall for this idea is if you live in an area that still has a lot of freezing temperatures to come. You don't want drilled holes to freeze with the water in them, as this is just going to add to your excavation woes.
The more thought and action you put into defrosting your ground now, the easier it will be for the excavator to dig out the outline of your pool.
