Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

[K9 Protected]

Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Hello TFP friends!

Okay, so I finally decided on getting an Intex Ultra Frame 16' x 32' (52" deep) pool, but have a question if it's possible, barring city code limitations, if I can dig out the ground upon installing it just 12 inches to 24 inches, the lower the better, and if both depths would have to have a wooden retaining wall built to keep the dirt from essentially eroding back into the hole and against the braces and liner, or if there's a flexible mesh product to keep the dirt wall of the hole in place without adding the retaining wall?

I hate the massive look of this pool sitting fully above ground in my yard, and even if I can only drop it 12", it would look better. 24" or so would be even better though! I've searched online and in these forums and beyond where a few people have even fully sunken the Intex rectangular pool, building a wooden retaining wall to hold the dirt back, then decking over the open space left between the retaining wall and the pool liner itself. And creating access through that deck to the filter/pump system.

Thanks in advance for any input you may have for me. :splash:

 

[Casey]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

You need a retaining wall the whole way around this pool if you really want to sink it but really.... it won't be cheap for wood.

Good Luck and welcome to TFP.

 

[K9 Protected]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Thanks for the reply. :grin:

The more I think about it, the more I want it as low into the ground as I can afford to do it. I just have no clue yet what that could cost. It may not end up too low. My hopes were to get it virtually ground level to allow my dogs to jump into the pool from anywhere they want to. Just spent $600 at the vet this week, and likely will need a $2500 MRI to determine that swimming my male GSD (who is a "fetch-aholic" may be the ONLY way he can fetch if he does it in water swimming. He is not allowed to run on land to fetch anymore, it looks like. Poor guy...

Hopefully, I can handle this initial expense, and we'll be home free after that for awhile.

 

[Wiggledog]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

We have a lab that by the time he was 5 we were told that both of his knees were shot and he may need to have knee replacements or at least slings put in. He was another fetchaholic who I think damaged his already inherited brittle knees playing fetch in the ocean. We stopped him entirely for a while then built him up very slowly on walking and kept his weight low. We then started him swimming and we have a deck with 4 stairs that he must climb. He is 8 now and his knees are much stronger. I think the combination of swimming and walking (now as much as 5 miles a day) not only keeps him trim but has strengthened the ligaments and muscles in his knees and legs. He is able to play fetch again on land and in the water and he is now a waterholic (strangely for a lab he did not love it at first). We avoid throwing the ball into the ocean now since I think the soft sand is too easy for their legs to get stuck in and cause damage. Hopefully the water will help your dog too. Good luck!

 

[K9 Protected]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

That's encouraging, Wiggledog! Great recovery story for your boy as well! My Ansell appears (but is not confirmed) that he may have Lumbosacrial Spondylosis, which I hope is caught early enough to avoid surgery. If the specialist says he has to get an MRI, the pool project will get set back again. He's already had cruciate surgery for his left knee, but that appears to be holding up well. He is not likely to ever be able to retrieve on land again, due to the sudden twists and turns and his drive exceeds his judgment! We will both have learn to do some nosework with him and alternatives to also wear out his brain more to make up for the land fetching.

I just hope I can swing putting this pool together for him! And his sister who has a hip dyplasia in her left hip as well.

 

[Casey]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Sounds like you have entry figured out but what about the exit? You do know you'll need a step system n that is another expense. The dogs should be taught where the exit is so you don't look out n find a tired or dead dog floating in the pool. I'm not trying to scare You but telling you that it can and does happen because they couldn't figure it out.

My boxer swims but he's not allowed in unsupervised n he knows where the steps are to get out.

 

[K9 Protected]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Yes, definitely, Casey. I am exploring various options of resting platforms also, so that they can also have a place to stop having to swim without getting all the way out. When one of my dogs who is the one struggling in his back end area, he will not have to climb out on stairs with every retrieve if he swims onto a platform. I was thinking about a couple different levels of platforms even, then I'd probably only need a two step spa type set of steps to get them out either to a deck or up to the ground level if I can sink it.

 

[ariel68]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Hello TFP friends!

Okay, so I finally decided on getting an Intex Ultra Frame 16' x 32' (52" deep) pool, but have a question if it's possible, barring city code limitations, if I can dig out the ground upon installing it just 12 inches to 24 inches, the lower the better, and if both depths would have to have a wooden retaining wall built to keep the dirt from essentially eroding back into the hole and against the braces and liner, or if there's a flexible mesh product to keep the dirt wall of the hole in place without adding the retaining wall?

I hate the massive look of this pool sitting fully above ground in my yard, and even if I can only drop it 12", it would look better. 24" or so would be even better though! I've searched online and in these forums and beyond where a few people have even fully sunken the Intex rectangular pool, building a wooden retaining wall to hold the dirt back, then decking over the open space left between the retaining wall and the pool liner itself. And creating access through that deck to the filter/pump system.

Thanks in advance for any input you may have for me. :splash:

I have responded to your inbox message K9Protected. But for the benefit of anyone else who may be interested in such a project, I have to say that we are very pleased so far with our decision to embark on such a project last year. Installing our pool below grade was the best decision we could have made, albeit a very expensive one lol. I cannot stress the importance of ensuring that your time and money be spent on the planning, design and build of your retaining wall. It will be monumental in the success of your project (or failure in the case of a poorly built one).

 

[K9 Protected]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

WOW, thank you for that additional info!! The more info I seem to get and talk to people (because I cannot do it myself), the less likely it seems... :-(

I have no idea what this could cost to have someone build this out for me, but I suspect it will be closer to an inground pool that I want it to be? There is a Medallion Freedom pool that is a round above ground pool that is able to get installed fully or partially inground as well. For a 24' (or 27', I forgot which), it's about $9k installed inground.

At this point, I may be back to the drawing board on how to make this Intex pool not look as ugly above ground...sigh. I have to get my dogs swimming soon!

 

[jaxhusky]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

We went with a 14'x42" intex for our pups. Wanted to bury it 18" but only dug about 8" down by hand and decided it was good enough for now. It is easy to get in or stand outside and reach in to assist the dogs. We just upgraded to swg and 12" sand filter. Plan on adding through wall skimmer soon. We used a plastic sleep number bed and with a kurunda bed on top to get dogs in the pool and some 2'x3' shelving from lowes as a platform inside the pool about 4" below water level to let dogs jump out of the pool

 

[K9 Protected]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Thank you for the pic of your inside platform! Can you post a pic of the plastic sleep number bed and with the Kuranda bed on top? Can't picture that...lol.
Beautiful Husky, btw!!

 

[jaxhusky]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

the sleep number platform is under an old Seagrass rug for traction. Unfortunately I have to secure the platform in the water to the pool uprights a bit better as both dogs tipped it wrestling today. It wasn't as unstable until I tried to use a pool noodle as feet. I think a step may would be better. Today my plan is to backfill around the pool.

 

[MRBDDB]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

These pictures are priceless, love them

 

[jaxhusky]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Thank you. The dogs love the pool

 

[Casey]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

The big guy is saying.... MOVE IT! lol

 

[K9 Protected]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Someone else who used shelving as a platform included the bottom shelf on the floor and added weight/cinder blocks in smaller totes to weight the shelving platform down. That might help?

 

[jaxhusky]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Thanks we might try that

 

[Wiggledog]

Re: Question about dropping Intex Ultra Frame 16 x 32 into ground just 12"-24"??

Great pics! I never thought of doing something like that for the dogs! By the way Casey, I agree that it is so important to teach your dog where to get in and out of the pool asap so that they don't panic and try desperately to get out and either end up destroying the liner or worse yet - drowning. Years ago I had an adult neighbor, about 5'5" in our pool. I was maybe 12 at the time. She was panic stricken in just 3 1/2 feet of water. She fell off a raft and if I hadn't been there, she was so panicked she very easily could have drowned. In that respect a panicked dog is no different than a panicked person.