Excavation question

[poolmobile]

Hello:

I have an excavator coming this week to help with my DIY build. Most material I have read has said to over excavate the bottom 2 to 3 inches of the deep end to allow for concrete or whatever bottom material I go with.

The question I have is do I over excavate the shallow end as well? Most instructions I have seen show the shelf and panels on the same grade as the excavation. Does that mean my shallow end will be a little less deep?

As an FYI, I am building a 3-6 to 5-6 steel wall with concrete bottom liner pool.

Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

That's a little confusing. If you are using concrete throughout the entire bottom, wouldn't it make perfect sense to excavate below the finished grade of the concrete to allow for the thickness of the concrete? Shallow or deep shouldn't matter but if you don't allow for that thickness, naturally the pool wont be as deep. Somehow, I think I'm missing the point.

 

[poolmobile]

I agree with you. It was my buddy who installed his pool last year told me not over excavate the shallow end as there is not supposed to be a panel shelf for shallow end. He said the liner won't fit.

The way I see it, there should be is a 2 inch over dig with a nice rounded finish up to the two inch point on the steel panel. Does that sound right?

 

[duraleigh]

I don't know what a panel shelf is.

The liner comes with the kit, right?

Don't the directions give you precise information as to the finished height of the pool walls from the concrete floor?

 

[poolmobile]

I'm not sure what else it's called. The soil that the steel panels sit on...

 

[MajorDIYer]

Panel shelf and the bottom of the shallow area are excavated at the same depth. Concrete/whatever gets put in on top of that so your walls are covered on the inside to the depth of the floor.

 

[poolmobile]

So the shallow end in my pool will be 3-3 or 3-4? Not 3-6? What would happen if I did it the other way? I'm getting confused lol!

 

[MajorDIYer]

If you haven't ordered the liner yet, then you can do whatever you want then order the liner to fit. If your liner came with your kit then you'll have to stick to the dig sheet that came with the kit.

The dig sheet shows the finished dimensions, which are the dimensions of the liner. For example, my finished shallow end is 3'4" (40"). The walls are 42" tall. I dug the shallow end all at 42" then put in 2" of concrete on the floor to get back to 40".

If your finished deep end is 6" (72") then excavate that to 74" so the 2" floor brings it back to 72".