26' Intex - Planning, Install, Upgrades, and Landscaping Thread

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Okay so I took my own advise and picked up two yardsticks. I taped one with the tube to the stake I had in the center of the pool, then taped the other end of the tube to the other yardstick and held that. My wife read off measurements in the center while I read the measurement on the side and noted it down. I ended up with the following chart of measurements. Setting the middle to zero as the highest point, all other points were below that, ranging from 1/2 to 1 7/8" lower than the middle.
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I'm not worried about the middle being slightly higher and outside the 1" spec, only the outer frame of the pool. So I re-referenced the measurements to the highest outside point, adding 1/2" to all measurements so the highest outside point would become 0". These numbers are seen in ( ) on the above drawing.

I then decided I needed to shave off 1/2" from the high point, and again re-referenced it to zero. When that is done, the following drawing is obtained.
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Pretty close, but now that 1/2" is taken off there's a new high point 3/8" higher that the newly leveled point. So I have to shave off a bit more on the other side as indicated.

I may also throw a bit on the lowest points (-5/8 and -7/8) and compact it down well, after which everything should be petty level.

Inside the circle I'm not going to worry about leveling more. It may not be the world's flattest surface, but I don't intend to spend much time walking in the pool anyway...

I hope to get the final leveling done tonight. I'll be heading out to pick up foam and tape shortly. Tomorrow after church a friend is coming over to help and we hope to get the foam in place and the pool up!

Oh, and I'll be grabbing four 2"x12"x8' ground contact pressure treated boards. I'll cut into 1' lengths, for a 12"x12" pad for each foot. I won't dig any of the feet down, just put the 1" foam, cut it out around the wood pad, and throw the pool up on top.

Can't wait!
 
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You know, I could have been a normal person and thrown up the pool as soon as the bobcat left and I compacted it...but noooo, I had to listen to you all about how foam made the bottom of the pool just so nice!
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Also I could NOT have made that gate any smaller, cause if I did I'd have had to modify the fence. Next time I'll be sure to get 8' between the open gates, not 8' center to center on the posts...
 
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So again, for better or worse, I changed my mind at the last minute and did NOT put in wood blocks under the pool verticals. Mostly we were tired, but I also realized the posts are right up to the pool, so if we put wood under it would likely be under the liner and is not the same height. Anyway, we'll see what happens and if that was a mistake or not fairly shortly.

In other news...
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I have some timelapse videos I hope to post up at some point shortly.

I need to get the electrical trench dug and have the electrician finish up the electrical on a post for the pump so I can have a filter. I'll see if I can get a trencher rental soon. I also need to verify the distance the outlets can be from the pool, I think it's 6' but need to verify before I dig a trench and set a post.
 
6 ft should work anywhere. Most places use 5 ft, even indoors with your tub. 5ft was chosen for any electric so you cant touch both the outlet/switch and be standing in the pool/shower. Actually, it was your hot tub we were looking up and that was 5ft, so the pool should be the same.
 

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I think the 5 feet is distance from pool to underground utility lines.

My Intex manual says don't place the pool closer than 6' from electrical outlets, so I suspect 6' is the correct distance in the NEC from pool to outlet.

My guess is that's because the standard power cord on things is 6', so that means you can't plug something into the outlet and bring it into the pool (or prop on the edge and it falls in).
 
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If the wood blocks weren't flush with the foam you probably would have had problems. They would have been pushing up on the bottom of the liner and I'm guessing might eventually tear it.

Just my 2 cents but you've spent sooo much time researching, preparing, constructing, money and doing everything so well why such a rush on one of the last steps and not putting blocks under the legs? That pool could be there for a long time (about 5 years on mine so far). The weight on those legs is tremendous, I wouldn't go without concrete blocks. Wood might work but i can see over time those cracking along the grain or warping.
 
About 20" left (9-10 hours).
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krazykrames said:
Just my 2 cents but you've spent sooo much time researching, preparing, constructing, money and doing everything so well why such a rush on one of the last steps and not putting blocks under the legs? That pool could be there for a long time (about 5 years on mine so far). The weight on those legs is tremendous, I wouldn't go without concrete blocks.
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I see this a lot, but I'm not sure it's true. For retangular pools for sure, as in that case the blocks are holding up the sides, and so have a lot of force transferred to the blocks, which is why we see so many cracked pavers on rectangular Intex pools. But for a vertical pool? My engineering mind is saying there shouldn't be a lot of force, but I could be wrong. We'll see shortly.

As to why? It's hot and already the end of June. We were hot and exhausted. Worst case I can add them later.
 
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Okay, so the legs sunk into the foam about 1/8-1/4" or so. I will put some wood blocks or pavers under them in the near future. I believe I can do that without draining the pool. In the meantime it is fine though.

I shut off the water an inch and a half from the top as we're getting rain tonight.

I'll post some updates and pictures another day, we were busy running around after work, got some pool filter sand, liquid chlorine, muriatic acid, and some CYA from Menard's.

I'll start landscaping soon. I figure some heavy duty landscape fabric around the pool topped with round river rock, a border of some sort, then fill in dirt/grass seed as needed.
 
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That's much better than I thought it would be, not bad at all really, the foam must be pretty dense. I'm guessing it might sink more over time but it's probably good for a while. If you decide to place blocks with water in the pool I've had good luck with a floor jack and rigging two 2x4s to push up on the top rail directly adjacent to the legs.
 
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jseyfert3 said:
Okay, so the legs sunk into the foam about 1/8-1/4" or so. I will put some wood blocks or pavers under them in the near future. I believe I can do that without draining the pool. In the meantime it is fine though.
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I think it is definitely more critical on the rectangular pools. When I put up my little 15’ round pool I just used a standard brick under the legs. It was fine for a while, but after a year or a year and a half I had a couple where the leg was off center to start with and over time the brick started twisting and the side with the leg began sinking into the ground. The rectangular pools have a whole lot more force on their legs (There have been a number of people who have had 2” pavers crack under the rectangular pool legs), but there’s still a pretty good amount of weight under the round pool legs.

Unfortunately I don’t think you’ll have any hope of getting anything under those legs without draining the pool. I’ve seen some people try to jack up the legs to reposition them or put something under them, and you might be able to get away with that for one or two legs, but I think trying to do that for every single one of your legs is going to be way more time and effort than just draining the pool. Not to mention that there is a lot of question about exactly how much stress the jack puts on the frame of the pool. It might be worth the risk if you just had one leg that you had to fix, but not for all the legs.

I would be pretty worried about leaving the legs as is. The frame of the pool has some flex and as people move in the water the frame and the legs will move around a bit. Since the foam does have some give I’m afraid that as the pool gets used that motion will just cause the legs to work them selves further and further into the foam.

As much as it sucks to do so I really think you probably need to drain it, put something under the legs, and start filling again.
 
It looks inviting, but the water is currently 54 °F!
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That said, my wife is adement she is going to at least float on the pool today. She's been waiting almost 4 years for a pool now so I don't blame her, but I won't be getting in unless I have my wetsuit on. Which is actually tempting...

Brett S said:
Unfortunately I don’t think you’ll have any hope of getting anything under those legs without draining the pool. I’ve seen some people try to jack up the legs to reposition them or put something under them, and you might be able to get away with that for one or two legs, but I think trying to do that for every single one of your legs is going to be way more time and effort than just draining the pool. Not to mention that there is a lot of question about exactly how much stress the jack puts on the frame of the pool. It might be worth the risk if you just had one leg that you had to fix, but not for all the legs.
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Easier for sure, but it would take a day to drain, get the blocks in, and another day to refill and my wife would NOT be happy (see comment on eaiting 4 years for a pool above).

So...I will try the jack method. I don't think it'll be much of an issue. I tried manually lifting a post and I could start it moving without much effort, say 50 pounds of force or so. I don't need to lift much, just above the surface of the foam, slide a block in, set down.
 
jseyfert3 said:
So...I will try the jack method. I don't think it'll be much of an issue. I tried manually lifting a post and I could start it moving without much effort, say 50 pounds of force or so. I don't need to lift much, just above the surface of the foam, slide a block in, set down.
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Did you try lifting since it’s been totally full? The legs are reasonably easy to lift and move when it’s only 1/4 or 1/2 way full, but by the time it’s completely full I think there’s at least a few hundred pounds on each leg.

Good luck in any case:)
 

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