question on installing my new 21 foot AGP /

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R

rpm90001

0
May 6, 2012
87
Endicott NY
Hello Everyone,

I have a question about leveling the location of my new pool. My question has to do with leveling the site by hand. I have removed the sod, and it is smooth and flat, but not level. from the low spot to high I'm 6 inches off. I have a lot of dirt to remove. I know it will not be easy, but feel it is not enough to call in machinery to dig it up. I do not want to risk disturbing the base that the frame will sit. Anyone have any tips or tricks learned while doing you own pool? Tool to have on hand to loosen dirt to help digging? Any help or comments welcome.

Also.. when ordering sand, How much should I order? 21 foot round, manual says to taper 4-6 inches deep to the center for sand. just looking for ballpark.. I don't want to much left over.

Thanks for any help.

George

picture_with_sod_out.jpg
 
Your site looks exactly like my site as far as slope is concerned. I don't have an easy way to cut the sod out, so I used the rototiller. I have a lot of grass chunks now to take out and have to level.

I'd guess I am about 6-8 inches up on the high side. With a 24 foot circle for a 22 foot pool coming in about a week and a half, that's going to be a lot of dirt digging by hand. My excavator guy is way overbooked to have time.

Not looking forward to it. I've already carried about 7-8 wheelbarrows full out of the area and it doesn't look like I've done a thing. Had a lot of holes around the yard to fill (1.75 acres) from the dog digging it up and now I've run out of places to put the dirt. Not sure where I'm going to put it.

It doesn't help that it is now over 100° and extremely high humidity at work and I'm not feeling like digging a huge area in the evening after 10 hours of that heat. Luckily, I ordered the pool to ship home and it is listed for 5/14-5/23 delivery, so I have a good week+ to dig.

I could never get the depth adjustment on my tiller to work, it would just grab and pull the tiller further in rather than hold at the adjustment, so I removed it long time ago. A rear tine tiller isn't too hard to just keep from digging too deep. They only go so far anyways, I think I can only get 6 inch depth out of mine.
 
Who wants to hand dig me a level a spot in my yard? :mrgreen:



Eh... Any takers??? :lol:
 
Quit complaining and get to work then! :mrgreen: LMAO
 
I'm a bit confused, your site is flat but not level but you don't want to disturb the perimeter where the pool wall sits...if it's not level you need to disturb the perimeter so it's level, unless I'm missing something here.

Check out the link to my build in my signature below. My build had +- 8" of partial clay to remove so I know the effort your facing, it's hard but definitely something that 1 motivated guy can do. If you aren't using machinery get a lawn edger, you'll see it in pic # 2 and 3 and a premium shovel, just go at the soil removal in strips. Find your lowest spot and work around from there.

The pool base is typically 2" of material then compacted, the wall berm is +- 6" (depending on manufacturer specs) unless you go with foam instead (worth considering). Your supply store should be able to tell you how much raw material you need, or you can google a site to figure it out, my 20' pool I ordered 2.5 cubic yards and had some left over.

The 2X6 board with the 4' level taped to it worked like a charm for levelling my site, I screwed a broom handle to it so it was easier to grab and move, make sure your level has a site on the top, make sure when you do the pavers for the legs that you level from centre to paver and then to the paver on each side as well.

Looks like you've got a good site going so far!!
 
Cramar,
Just the response I was looking for. I meant I did not want to disturb the perimeter with machinery. I was worried of going to deep and have to fill it back in. I'm not farad of some hard work, but I have learned to ask people who have done the job before and listen to there advice. I did not think about the edger, I thank that would help. I also thought about renting the sod cutter again.... That worked great, I would just have to be careful.

I was guessing 2.5 yards but was unsure. Looks like that will get me into the ball park with a 21 round.

I would rather go and get a little more than have a mound her elect to deal with.

Heading to your link now. Thank you for the reply.

How long did it take you to remove 8 inch of dirt. I will be doing this alone..

George
 

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George,

i installed a 21' AGP last spring. rented a sod cutter, then used a spade and flat shovel to level a 12" grade. i used a transit level to spot check while digging. it was an ominous looking job but i did a little bit every day and was successful. i excavated 1-1/2' wider to install a small retaining wall.

the following paragraph demonstrates how to calculate the amount of sand required for a 21' pool to a depth of 4".
4.2 cu. yds. which equals 5.67 tons.

the formula for calculating the area of a circle is A=pi*r squared. for example a 21' pool A= 3.14*10.5*10.5= 346 square feet. now multiply times the thickness in feet(4"=.33') to get cubic feet. 346*.33=114 cubic feet. divided by 27 cubic feet per cubic yard yields 4.2 cubic yards of sand. 1.35 is the conversion to tons. 4.2 cu. yds. times 1.35=5.67 tons of sand.

you can do this.

tim parr

edit- originally stated 4"=.25' corrected to .33'
 
timparr said:
George,

i installed a 21' AGP last spring. rented a sod cutter, then used a spade and flat shovel to level a 12" grade. used a transit level to spot check while digging. it was an ominous looking job but i did a little bit every day and was successful. i excavated 1-1/2' wider to install a small retaining wall.

the formula for calculating the area of a circle is A=pi*r squared. for example a 21' pool A= 3.14*10.5*10.5= 346 square feet. now multiply times the thickness in feet(4"=.25') to get cubic feet. 346*.25=86.5 cubic feet. divided by 27 cubic feet per cubic yard yields 3.2 cubic yards of sand. 1.35 is the conversion to tons. 3.2 cu. yds. times 1.35=4.32 tons of sand.

you can do this.

tim parr
Click to expand...

*inserting useless commentary*

All I read was... :blah: :blah: :blah:

I hate numbers! I didn't understand any of that and that is okay with me. :mrgreen:
 
Thank you! I'm ready to get the party started.. But the weather has not been helpful. I wanted to have it level by the weekend, but it has rained for days. Typical Binghamton NY weather. I have a rotating laser level, and made a water level for another project..along with a few 4 footers. Wish I had a transit.... This is going to be interesting, but love to do things I never done before.

I do have to wonder if it's worth it..see below.

5 & 6. SYRACUSE and BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK—Similarly, two cities in New York State ran very close to each other in terms of cloud cover and precipitation. Syracuse ranks fourth among the rainiest cities in the U.S. (171 days); Binghamton came in tenth (162 days). Binghamton is among the top ten cloudiest cities (212 cloudy days annually) while Syracuse ranks fourth among the snowiest cities with 111.6 inches annually. Being adjacent to the St. Lawrence storm track and subject to color air masses approaching from the west and north, these cities must continually endure unsettled weather patterns.
 
I can't recall how long it took to remove all that dirt, it was definitely several hard days, lots of beer and lots of chocolate bars!!
I didn't dig out the centre but I did contemplate it.

Looks like your definitely on the right track.

Is it worth it? Do you have kids, if you do than it will definitely be worth it. My daughter, 5 at the time, gave me a giant hug and said "thank you daddy for building me a pool".....still just about brings a tear to my eye! :oops:
 
oh man..that doesn't look like fun. At many of your larger rental stores...you can rent a small "dingo"..it's basically a small bobcat/skidsteer that you can walk behind..they rent for about $65 an hour.... I used one, and they work great for a project like this...what would take you a week by hand, takes you 3 or 4 hours with a dingo.

Just my two cents
Dan
 
What are you using to remove the dirt? Because yours sure is a lot neater than mine. As I said, it looks like we have about the same slope.

I'm hand digging with a shovel. One of the non-benefits of being poor. I can afford to get the pool, just can't afford the easy way of setting it up. I was digging with a spade, then started hacking away with a straight edged shovel. Problem is, the straight edged shovel I have is a mere 4 inches. I have to run to the store and get a bigger one. Not sure how I'm going to carry it in a VW Jetta, LOL.

Another downfall of being poor, I live in the middle of nowhere so we could have afforded a place to live. That means, just a quick run to the store to buy something that is needed is $20 in gas and a couple hours out of the day getting to and from the store.

Speaking of being out in the middle of nowhere, that would be another problem for me with the suggestion to rent something. I have no idea how I would have been able to acquire any type of equipment from a rental place. If a shovel won't fit in my Jetta, some sort of bobcat or similar excavator surely isn't going to fit, LOL. I don't know if they deliver it for you, you have to have a trailer or truck and pick it up, or how that works.

Though the big benefit of living out in the middle of nowhere looking at your pictures.... My wife and I can be skinny dippin and wave to the neighbors as they get in their cars in their driveway and they will wave back having no clue we are nekkid! :party:
 
mrodgers said:
I'm hand digging with a shovel. One of the non-benefits of being poor. I can afford to get the pool, just can't afford the easy way of setting it up. I was digging with a spade, then started hacking away with a straight edged shovel. Problem is, the straight edged shovel I have is a mere 4 inches. I have to run to the store and get a bigger one. Not sure how I'm going to carry it in a VW Jetta, LOL.
Click to expand...

If I can fit a dead deer in my Jetta you can certainly fit a shovel in yours right?! :mrgreen:

Lay yer back seats down! :lol:
 

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