I've ordered a 15' Intex Easy Set, and I'm trying to decide where to put it. We have a walkout basement that has a large patio with high retaining walls on both sides. Because the patio is concrete and level, this seems like the easiest place to put the pool, but would it be safe? I have no experience with pools, so I don't know how to assess the risk of having 3k gallons of water a foot from the walkout basement of the house. What do you think?
How Close to the Walkout Basement?
- Thread starter akirasun
- Start date
I'm probably to new here to say... but... I would find another area. Just the other night I looked up pool collapse on youtube.com. Not good.
And what are the odds of someone trying to jump from the retaining walls into the pool?
Odds are zero. The kids are young, and the retaining walls next to the patio are about eight feet high. Kids are always closely supervised in this area and not allowed anywhere near the tops of the walls. I think we'll probably have a a railing installed up there later this summer.
Did you put a level on your patio to confirm levelness, don't confuse level with flat.
Make sure you know the surface is level.
Make sure you know the surface is level.
jblizzle said:
Just as good as my 24 year old step son saying... We can jump off the garage roof into the pool!
Which was soon followed by my response of NO YOU WON'T!!!
Okay, I just went out to check the level of the patio. There is a gradual slope from the house to the grass that creates a 2" height difference from one end to the other. Is this too much? Would I be able to easily put enough padding on the low end to level it out? Or is the whole idea of using this patio bad? I could put the pool elsewhere in the yard, but I would have to do a lot of leveling; it's a big yard with no flat places. :?
Casey said:jblizzle said:
Just as good as my 24 year old step son saying... We can jump off the garage roof into the pool!
Which was soon followed by my response of NO YOU WON'T!!!
BIL used to ride my wife's bike off the roof of their house into the pool
jblizzle said:Casey said:jblizzle said:
Just as good as my 24 year old step son saying... We can jump off the garage roof into the pool!
Which was soon followed by my response of NO YOU WON'T!!!
BIL used to ride my wife's bike off the roof of their house into the pool
OMG!
I don't think I could watch something like that! I'd be yelling and he'd be riding and I'd be walking away! Crazy things people think up and follow through on! What kind of door do you have from the basement. If you can put a railroad tie across the opening it would block the initial rush of water if the pool collapsed or was vandalized. The ideal place to setup the pool would be in the yard so you don't waste the patio space, but you could try it on the patio for a season. Two inches out of level may not be ideal but it wont hurt the pool. Everyone wants their pool to be perfectly level but 2" across 15' is close enough.
There is a sliding glass door from the outside to the basement. Our air conditioner is also nearby. Would a low rush of water hurt that?
I'm beginning to lean toward leveling a place in the yard. I'm going to find out what it would cost to have someone else do the leveling though. If someone with the right equipment can do it cheaply, I'll just go with that.
I'm beginning to lean toward leveling a place in the yard. I'm going to find out what it would cost to have someone else do the leveling though. If someone with the right equipment can do it cheaply, I'll just go with that.
I used a 15 foot EasyUp on a sloped patio for a couple seasons.
It taught me a couple things...
Intex "A" cartridge pumps suck!
You can never have enough cartridges and they multiply like rabbits
They don't filter out everything
The ladder is useless if you are as big as me. For me, it was easier to jump in and climb over the wall to get out.
It was easier to dump the water and start over once it got too green.
They make a mess when the bag fails and it rushes across the yard.
Over the years we had a 8 foot as well as the 15 foot EasyUp. I now have a 21 round steel wall, with two decks and a patio.
In hind sight, the EasyUp taught me (cost effectively) that I wanted a pool and was willing to deal with the work for the benefit. I would suggest you level out a spot where you are willing/able to have a permanent above ground pool. Make the spot as bag as you can to support a permanent pool's diameter plus 2 extra feet in diameter for equipment and ladder area. Get an EasyUp or framed pool setup in that area for this year and until you are ready for a full AGP.
For me, it cost $600 for the tractor work for 21Round pool. I am about 5 feet from the fence on two sides and about 4 feet from my patio. It would be cheaper to do the ground work for the big pool and install the little EasyUp if you intend to move up in the future. It will cost twice as much if you level for the 15 Easy and then again for the permanent. It sounds like a lot of money today but in the long run, it is one of the least expensive items you will do to have a pool when you consider the cost of the pool, the install, the deck, the water... I would also get a better pump and filter for the Intex before I set the pool up.
If you decide after owning the easy up that you want a bigger pool, you are ready.
It taught me a couple things...
Intex "A" cartridge pumps suck!
You can never have enough cartridges and they multiply like rabbits
They don't filter out everything
The ladder is useless if you are as big as me. For me, it was easier to jump in and climb over the wall to get out.
It was easier to dump the water and start over once it got too green.
They make a mess when the bag fails and it rushes across the yard.
Over the years we had a 8 foot as well as the 15 foot EasyUp. I now have a 21 round steel wall, with two decks and a patio.
In hind sight, the EasyUp taught me (cost effectively) that I wanted a pool and was willing to deal with the work for the benefit. I would suggest you level out a spot where you are willing/able to have a permanent above ground pool. Make the spot as bag as you can to support a permanent pool's diameter plus 2 extra feet in diameter for equipment and ladder area. Get an EasyUp or framed pool setup in that area for this year and until you are ready for a full AGP.
For me, it cost $600 for the tractor work for 21Round pool. I am about 5 feet from the fence on two sides and about 4 feet from my patio. It would be cheaper to do the ground work for the big pool and install the little EasyUp if you intend to move up in the future. It will cost twice as much if you level for the 15 Easy and then again for the permanent. It sounds like a lot of money today but in the long run, it is one of the least expensive items you will do to have a pool when you consider the cost of the pool, the install, the deck, the water... I would also get a better pump and filter for the Intex before I set the pool up.
If you decide after owning the easy up that you want a bigger pool, you are ready.
alanpaul
0
A--
Nothing really makes a sliding patio door air or water tight. And a flood of water COULD damage your AC unit.
Once upon a time we put up a pool like that in our backyard:
Shovel, Shovel, Level, Level, Timbers around the perimeter, Sand, Sand, Level, Blanket, Blanket, Level.
It was just fine.
Several years later, we took down the pool and all was still level; we put in a brick patio!
Go for it!
--A
Nothing really makes a sliding patio door air or water tight. And a flood of water COULD damage your AC unit.
Once upon a time we put up a pool like that in our backyard:
Shovel, Shovel, Level, Level, Timbers around the perimeter, Sand, Sand, Level, Blanket, Blanket, Level.
It was just fine.
Several years later, we took down the pool and all was still level; we put in a brick patio!
Go for it!
--A
akirasun said:
2" is at the extreme of what is considered safe.
You will be outside of the manufacturers warranty should you experience a pool failure. Levelling a pool site is simply a fact of life that most of us here have dealt with in one manner or another. The site needs to be properly leveled if you want it done right and done safe.
If you have children around the pool contemplate what 10,000 gallons of water can do if the pool fails, not to mention what it will do to your basement.
I highly recommend you spend some time studying how to properly prepare a pool site and how to install a pool, there are plenty of videos online.
Also, you measured 2 inches but how reliable is that? Is there chance that when you get it up it might be 2, 2.5......3? My point is that if you are close to the limit of safety during pre-install you could easily end up over that limit at post install.
Recently there have been some threads here of pool owners leveling a site with patios, so there's info available.
Just make sure you do it the safe way, not the easy way.
I am not trying to argue but how do you know what is considered safe. Does Intex actually have any real specifications on how level the pool needs to be?
I don't think your arguing, your asking legitimate questions.
The industry standard is to be within 1" of level.
It's within a person's ability if they are a solid do it yourselfer, if not you may want to think about hiring someone to do it.
Your pool will hold about 5300 gallons of water, at 8 lbs a gallon your pool has over 42,000 lbs of weight.....you don't want it leaning 2-3 inches to one side of a soft sided pool.
Water will always find level, so your base needs to be level.
If you watch a few videos online you should get an appreciation for the process.
The link in my signature shows the steps I used.
The industry standard is to be within 1" of level.
It's within a person's ability if they are a solid do it yourselfer, if not you may want to think about hiring someone to do it.
Your pool will hold about 5300 gallons of water, at 8 lbs a gallon your pool has over 42,000 lbs of weight.....you don't want it leaning 2-3 inches to one side of a soft sided pool.
Water will always find level, so your base needs to be level.
If you watch a few videos online you should get an appreciation for the process.
The link in my signature shows the steps I used.
You clearly think you know it all then, I'll refrain from helping you and leave you to your own knowledge.
In the future you may want to treat people trying to help you with a bit more respect.
In the future you may want to treat people trying to help you with a bit more respect.
cramar said:
Just to clear up any confusion, I'm the one asking for help, and I am not arguing with you or anyone else. :-D Appreciate all the input.
I am going to make a water level tomorrow and will try to find the best place in the yard to level out. I'm a little worried because I'm afraid that if I remove all the grass, there will be rocks everywhere. Our dirt is as much rocks as it is dirt. If I want to get a quote on having someone else do it, who do I call? A landscaper? A contractor?