Welcome to DYI installing - installment #2 :-D
What were gonna do here is take your beautiful back yard and wreck it for a little while. If your backyard is fairly level, you're lucky! We're gonna dig a big ol hole in it - if your yard slopes, you may have to bring in fill and install a retaining wall ($) on the low side.
You need to have the room to put all the tons of dirt that will be excavated (if you have the room this is optimal - you'd have to pay to have the dirt hauled off and then pay to have dirt for backfilling brought back in :grrrr: ) The town may have you put up a silt fence to keep the dirt on your own property. Also, take access into account - you have to bring a machine in to dig the pool and also get a concrete truck into the backyard - you may have to work something out with the neighbors if your lot is small. You also want to try not to pile dirt where the plumbing and electrical trenches need to run.
The first step is to mark out the pool area, you want to dig a hole 40 - 44" deep with a flat bottom that is ~ 3' larger than the pool all around.
For starters I need to how to set up a squared rectangle. The pool needs to be 'squared' to something (usually the house or a deck). Knowing that you want the pool to sit say 12' off the house is the starting point. Measure off the house 9' and drive a pin into the ground, then go and drive another pin in 9' off the house. This establishes a line that is square to the house, it can be extended if needed. As long as your 2 points are longer than the pool will be everything's fine. Tie a string between the pins. Now you need to establish where the end walls will be (let's say you want the shallow end wall to be 5' from the side of the house) pull a string down the house's side wall until it meets the string you've already established- the string should run along the side of the house just barely touching it put a pin there (at the junction of the 2 strings - adjust as necessary to get it right. Measure off this new pin, down the original string 2' and put in another pin (A) then measure off that pin the pool length of the pool plus 6' and put in another pin (B). Measure off of pin A the width of the pool plus 6' and install pin C and the same for pin B and install pin D. Now we make sure it's a 'square' rectangle by measuring between pins A and D and B and C. When AD = BC the rectangle is squared (if AD is 3" longer than BC move C and D 1.5" towards the house side wall you ran the string off of - it's best to use new pins for the new C and D so you don't loose that line) {someone want to help me here - I don't think I'm describing this very well
}
Once these pins are in the right place, run string around them to make the rectangle, then use the string to be a guide for painting the grass or pouring lime dust on the ground - you should end up with a marked ground so the excavator knows where to dig. Now it's time for a LASER level or transit. You want to shelf out the rectangle you just created to the desired depth.
Once you have that follow what's said in this PM betwixt pzmotorsports and I last year
It takes 0 time from my schedule to assist you, I unwind after a days work by coming here and dealing with pools I don't have to 'see'
The most important thing on digging the pool is that your excavator friend know what the bottom is supposed to look like, then you have to trust his 'eye' and skill. What we do, after the 44" bed is set, is to put rebar pins in the corners and run a string to define the pool area. Then we put pins at the break/ transition points, pull a string and mark the line with paint or lime dust, this let's the operator know where NOT to dig past. Having pins at every 'defining point' lets you pull a string and use the laser transit to see if there is enough, or too much, ground removed. There will be a lot! of 'hand trimming' needed, as this is his first pool dig Don't be afraid to run strings to see if you're high or low! - of course you'll have to remove them while the machine is digging, but getting a closer dig will save on materials when doing the floor! If you have areas that are over-dug, you can fill them with either gravel or the original dirt, compacted. If for any reason, you have mud (squishy to step on) on the bottom when you go to trowel the vermiculite, dig it out and fill with gravel.
There is so much to try to tell you about your build [/quote]
[/quote]
That was fairly exhausting for me to type I'll let this sit as is for now and await input from the folks trying to decypher what I just wrote 8)
Ted
What were gonna do here is take your beautiful back yard and wreck it for a little while. If your backyard is fairly level, you're lucky! We're gonna dig a big ol hole in it - if your yard slopes, you may have to bring in fill and install a retaining wall ($) on the low side.
You need to have the room to put all the tons of dirt that will be excavated (if you have the room this is optimal - you'd have to pay to have the dirt hauled off and then pay to have dirt for backfilling brought back in :grrrr: ) The town may have you put up a silt fence to keep the dirt on your own property. Also, take access into account - you have to bring a machine in to dig the pool and also get a concrete truck into the backyard - you may have to work something out with the neighbors if your lot is small. You also want to try not to pile dirt where the plumbing and electrical trenches need to run.
The first step is to mark out the pool area, you want to dig a hole 40 - 44" deep with a flat bottom that is ~ 3' larger than the pool all around.
For starters I need to how to set up a squared rectangle. The pool needs to be 'squared' to something (usually the house or a deck). Knowing that you want the pool to sit say 12' off the house is the starting point. Measure off the house 9' and drive a pin into the ground, then go and drive another pin in 9' off the house. This establishes a line that is square to the house, it can be extended if needed. As long as your 2 points are longer than the pool will be everything's fine. Tie a string between the pins. Now you need to establish where the end walls will be (let's say you want the shallow end wall to be 5' from the side of the house) pull a string down the house's side wall until it meets the string you've already established- the string should run along the side of the house just barely touching it put a pin there (at the junction of the 2 strings - adjust as necessary to get it right. Measure off this new pin, down the original string 2' and put in another pin (A) then measure off that pin the pool length of the pool plus 6' and put in another pin (B). Measure off of pin A the width of the pool plus 6' and install pin C and the same for pin B and install pin D. Now we make sure it's a 'square' rectangle by measuring between pins A and D and B and C. When AD = BC the rectangle is squared (if AD is 3" longer than BC move C and D 1.5" towards the house side wall you ran the string off of - it's best to use new pins for the new C and D so you don't loose that line) {someone want to help me here - I don't think I'm describing this very well
}Once these pins are in the right place, run string around them to make the rectangle, then use the string to be a guide for painting the grass or pouring lime dust on the ground - you should end up with a marked ground so the excavator knows where to dig. Now it's time for a LASER level or transit. You want to shelf out the rectangle you just created to the desired depth.
Once you have that follow what's said in this PM betwixt pzmotorsports and I last year
It takes 0 time from my schedule to assist you, I unwind after a days work by coming here and dealing with pools I don't have to 'see'
The most important thing on digging the pool is that your excavator friend know what the bottom is supposed to look like, then you have to trust his 'eye' and skill. What we do, after the 44" bed is set, is to put rebar pins in the corners and run a string to define the pool area. Then we put pins at the break/ transition points, pull a string and mark the line with paint or lime dust, this let's the operator know where NOT to dig past. Having pins at every 'defining point' lets you pull a string and use the laser transit to see if there is enough, or too much, ground removed. There will be a lot! of 'hand trimming' needed, as this is his first pool dig Don't be afraid to run strings to see if you're high or low! - of course you'll have to remove them while the machine is digging, but getting a closer dig will save on materials when doing the floor! If you have areas that are over-dug, you can fill them with either gravel or the original dirt, compacted. If for any reason, you have mud (squishy to step on) on the bottom when you go to trowel the vermiculite, dig it out and fill with gravel.There is so much to try to tell you about your build [/quote]
[/quote]
That was fairly exhausting for me to type
I'll let this sit as is for now and await input from the folks trying to decypher what I just wrote 8) Ted
