2nd time setting up and have plans to do much better

[bhampton]

Hi,

Last year at the end of the season I bought a discounted Intex 18' AGP. I did basically what the instructions said putting the tarp on what I thought was level ground and setting up the pool. Turns out the ground was not badly off level but there was a side that was 3" deeper and the pool was often in the shade of the house.

I Live in New Hampshire and as the winter approached I drained the pool fully and stored all of it in the basement.

Now this year I want to do a MUCH better job at the setup.

Here are my plans and if you like you can follow along with my progress. (If another section of the boards here is better for this style of thread than I will gladly move this if someone can direct me.)

A - So far,

I moved the planned pool site so that it's out of the shade of the house and put down the tarp it came with (18x18) and marked the corners with poles.I ripped up all the sod. I thought it was fairly level but the more I work on leveling it the more I notice how badly it is. I bought a hand tamp yesterday and currently I have a stake in the center with a string level and have located the very low spot so I'm raking away at high spots methodically

B- My plan

After leveling the planned location I will hand tamp it. Then I will install inch thick extruded rigid insulation. (11 4x8 sheets ~$250) Then I will tape the insulation together and put the pool up as Tarp - Insulation - Pool. I don't plan a tarp between the insulation and the pool and I don't plan to use "pavers". If the winter ever comes back I plan again to fully drain it . I will likely leave the rigid insulation in place, stake down a tarp on top of it, and store the rest in the basement again.

That's all I've got I will add some pix. I'm open to suggestions and heckling and other forms of feedback.

-Brian

 

[DaninFLA]

i dont think you really need to waste the money on the rigid insulation. its more critical that you are absolutely flat and that there are no rocks/root that could impact the liner. For the money you would spend on the insulation, i would buy a cheap laser level from homedepot and set that up to make sure you are nice and level.

 

[bhampton]

Thanks,

It's all rocks and roots here and under that more rocks and roots.

I'm excited about the insulation because the thing I really didn't like last year was the lumpy floor. It's also ... insulation so it may prevent some heat loss to the ground. Basically I think the insulation purchase is a given.

I have other leveling tools already that I was planning to use after this rough start. I have a long board with 4 foot level and I have some type of laser tripod setup but I'm not sure how easy or accurate it is. (It was very cheap like $8 type)

I looked at many things at HD in terms of level but maybe I deserve to take a small break from the excavating and look again. I didn't like the stuff that tried to use the cell phone gyros as a level... I wasn't sure there was a good low cost tripod laser type option.

My next project is a deck in front of the house so buying a fancy level gizmo may be even more justified.


-Brian

 

[DaninFLA]

a cheap alternative is to build a water level. google it, easy to make a just needs some flexible tubing