I need advice on leveling my ground.

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The way AveMaria said is easiest IMO. Get a straight 2x4 and place one end on paver and other end in center of pool circle. Put your level on it and see what needs to happen. Keeping the 2x4 in the center of pool, go from paver to paver with the other end and adjust the earth accordingly.
 
Havlc2u said:
Well I started leveling mine with a water level yesterday. Much easier. Only question I have is the pavers are level what's the easiest way to do the rest.

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Since you want everything at the same level, I'd play connect the dots. Pick a spot, attack it with the pick and shovel and use the water level to tell you when to stop. Then move over and do it again. Eventually you'll have a ring of level pavers and a pockmarked center. Then just start shovelling between any two level spots and connect all the dots.
 

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When I did mine I used the center of the paver as my location for height. I then used a torpedo level to fine tune each paver making them level. The other thing I did was added one in the center so I could swing a straight edge from paver to paver(like a clock hand) as I removed the dirt till it was all level. That way I was not trying to chase a bubble in a level as I was digging.
 
CnDWdes.jpg


I got all the pavers level using the water level withint 1/2" of the 'base' paver. i removed all the large dirt inbetween,....now i'm at the fine tuning stage. I failed miserably at this last year. I'm having trouble again :( How close do i need to get this? There are dozens of little shovel sized hills and valleys within the circle. I dont have an eye for it....when i see a small 'hill' i shave it down, but then i see it created two more, so i end up in this vicious cycle of things....helppppppppppppppppp

edit: i wasnt using that spade you see in the photo, i have a square shovel i was using.
 
nate81 said:
CnDWdes.jpg


I got all the pavers level using the water level withint 1/2" of the 'base' paver. i removed all the large dirt inbetween,....now i'm at the fine tuning stage. I failed miserably at this last year. I'm having trouble again :( How close do i need to get this? There are dozens of little shovel sized hills and valleys within the circle. I dont have an eye for it....when i see a small 'hill' i shave it down, but then i see it created two more, so i end up in this vicious cycle of things....helppppppppppppppppp

edit: i wasnt using that spade you see in the photo, i have a square shovel i was using.
Click to expand...
Now's when you find the straightest plank and a bubble level and start scraping from paver to paver with it.

And you should show us a picture of your home-made water level.
 
nate81 said:
Ok, sorry...i have another question.

So say the red paver is my lowest....do i simply leave one end of my homemade water level ont that one...and rotate the other end to the other pavers leveling them as i go....while leaving the red paver alone? and this will magically make all 16 pavers the same exact height??


View attachment 29780
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Yes, that's exactly how you do it. If your pavers are close enough together that a 4' level will reach from one to the one next to it...you can start with the low "red" one and level the one next to it. Now you have two that are level. Move over one and make 3 level....keep working around and when you get all the way around back to the red one where you started they all should be level.

The water level leaving one end on the low red paver will be the most accurate.
 
Ok, intex pool is up. I have to admit, i was bit skeptical about the whole water level thing, but my frame looks pretty darn level, only about 3 inches of water in it so far. I scraped and scraped the bottom basically on and off all day today, i got it as close as i think i can.....it came out decent!

Now....i have to fill it again, last year we had issues...it ran our well...we have a shallow bored well...very old school....its VERY shallow. I'm going to try and take my time filling, but i dont want to take too long in case a storm comes rolling in...i'm scared a heavy wind would blow this thing away!? Anyone else fill their pool from their well?
 
I think that it's about 100 gallons per inch which is roughly 800 lbs for every inch of water. So I think other then a terrible storm moving the legs you should be ok. I filled mine in 3 days with the hose open halfway. But we had tons of rain before and after. The first year I did it in a week at about a quarter way open. I also turned it off while the kids showered because it was 3 of them in a row.

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20140602_215756.jpgHi all. As an experienced frustrated person of thinking their ground was level only to find out it was not....here is what worked for us! I agree the laser is the way to go...however, without one and the only local rental store having theirs out....this method did get our pool perfectly level. So to start we thought we leveled the ground and filled the pool...all 11,000 gallons...only to realize it was not. Then we decided to block up the low parts...MISTAKE. Do not do it. We saw in the first day the stress it was causing on the poles and after reading stories of the liner separating from the bottom liner we drained immediately. There went 11,000 gallons. Then came the rant from the husband and post it for sell.....he took the whole thing down that night. The next day, Saturday we awoke with renewed faith we could do this. But found out there was not available laser level to be rented. Determined....we knew where we were low....so we set out from the high spot setting concrete pavers in the ground. We strung a line level across as well. We leveled from each paver to the next. First we did as in the original pic and set up the top frame on the pavers, the only difference was we only used the frame as a place to set the pavers. Once we marked where they went we took off the frame. I agree, you can not level across with a board like that, boards have to much bow and swag. While a line level is not perfect it was a cheap and doable alternative to a laser. We set the first paver and went directly across, strung the line, put the line level on (had to dig out a little hole in the middle so it could dangle) and found where level was directly across and set that paver. My husband used his 4' level between the pavers to set the next one. We would set about 3-4 and then change our line to make sure we were still on. We did this all the way around...about 3 hours and 22 pavers. At the end we strung the line from multiple points across to check. Once the pavers were all level, some in the ground, some halfway, some not so much we brought in fill dirt and leveled it with the pavers....then we drug the line again across to check any low spots with the string. Some of you are probably laughing at the poor mans way but it worked. Since we knew the pavers were now level we would each just hold the string tight to a paver across and look for low spots. On top of that we put 6mil plastic and a gorilla cloth and then placed the pool on the pavers. Here is a pic, sorry for it being dark. It worked. No laser needed. About 6 hours...and lots of beer.
 
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amanjenn said:
View attachment 30164Hi all. As an experienced frustrated person of thinking their ground was level only to find out it was not....here is what worked for us! I agree the laser is the way to go...however, without one and the only local rental store having theirs out....this method did get our pool perfectly level. So to start we thought we leveled the ground and filled the pool...all 11,000 gallons...only to realize it was not. Then we decided to block up the low parts...MISTAKE. Do not do it. We saw in the first day the stress it was causing on the poles and after reading stories of the liner separating from the bottom liner we drained immediately. There went 11,000 gallons. Then came the rant from the husband and post it for sell.....he took the whole thing down that night. The next day, Saturday we awoke with renewed faith we could do this. But found out there was not available laser level to be rented. Determined....we knew where we were low....so we set out from the high spot setting concrete pavers in the ground. We strung a line level across as well. We leveled from each paver to the next. First we did as in the original pic and set up the top frame on the pavers, the only difference was we only used the frame as a place to set the pavers. Once we marked where they went we took off the frame. I agree, you can not level across with a board like that, boards have to much bow and swag. While a line level is not perfect it was a cheap and doable alternative to a laser. We set the first paver and went directly across, strung the line, put the line level on (had to dig out a little hole in the middle so it could dangle) and found where level was directly across and set that paver. My husband used his 4' level between the pavers to set the next one. We would set about 3-4 and then change our line to make sure we were still on. We did this all the way around...about 3 hours and 22 pavers. At the end we strung the line from multiple points across to check. Once the pavers were all level, some in the ground, some halfway, some not so much we brought in fill dirt and leveled it with the pavers....then we drug the line again across to check any low spots with the string. Some of you are probably laughing at the poor mans way but it worked. Since we knew the pavers were now level we would each just hold the string tight to a paver across and look for low spots. On top of that we put 6mil plastic and a gorilla cloth and then placed the pool on the pavers. Here is a pic, sorry for it being dark. It worked. No laser needed. About 6 hours...and lots of beer.
Click to expand...



I set the top ring on the ground thinking i could level the ring ...but i ended up doing what you said. I only used the ring to mark where my 16 pavers would go. I used the water level trick and it seems to have worked great! The pool is MUCH better than last year, i'm going to finish filling and take a few shots of it and post them here :) Thanks again for the help from everyone!!
 

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