West Vancouver, BC · Structural Concrete
Concrete Pool Walls Over 16 Feet Tall, West Vancouver
Some pools sit on flat ground. This one hangs off a West Vancouver slope, held up by concrete walls over 16 feet tall — nearly as tall as a two-storey house. We formed, reinforced and poured walls more than 100 feet long, braced with concrete buttresses, to give the owners a level pool deck with an open view.
The challenge
A pool full of water is one of the heaviest things you can put on a hillside. The walls had to carry the weight of the water and the deck, resist the soil pushing from behind, and stay dry for decades. At over 16 feet tall, they sit well past the height where engineering and municipal permits are required.
What we did
- Engineered design. We built to a structural engineer’s drawings, with footing sizes, rebar and buttress spacing set for the load.
- Tall formwork. Forms for walls this height have to resist huge pressure from wet concrete, so we braced them in stages and checked plumb and line before every pour.
- Buttresses. Concrete buttresses tie into the back of the wall at intervals, stiffening a long wall the way fins stiffen a fence.
- Reinforcement and inspection. Every rebar layout was inspected before concrete went in.
- Drainage and waterproofing. Every form-tie hole was sealed, then the back of the walls got a spray-applied asphalt damp-proofing coat. Over that went a DELTA dimpled drainage board with filter fabric bonded to one side. The dimples leave an air gap and the fabric keeps soil out of it, so water runs freely down to 3/4-inch crushed drain rock and perforated pipe instead of pushing against the wall.
The result
A level pool and deck where there used to be a steep slope, on walls built to last. Completed in 2026, the pool is about 12 feet wide and 30 feet long.
The same home’s driveway has sweeping curved concrete walls: see curved concrete retaining walls, West Vancouver. For how we approach tall walls in general, read our guide to concrete retaining walls on the North Shore.
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Planning something similar?
Tall pool walls, retaining walls and structural concrete on steep lots are what we specialize in. Send us your drawings or site photos and we’ll tell you what it takes.