New Oxford Semi-Inground Installation Project

[67ragtop]

Hello all,

This is our first post to the site, but we have been visiting here for quite some time. It's been interesting to watch all of the new projects as well as the advice and help that many have received from the TFP community.

We had been throwing around the idea of putting in a pool since 2004, but the costs associated with the installation of a cement or fiberglass pool were less than attractive. This winter we revisited the subject and decided to install a semi-inground AGP.

The package we purchased consisted of:

33' round x 52 inch Oxford(Swim n' play) Aluminum/Resin pool
20 mil Overlap Boulder Liner
Armor Shield Liner
Foam Pool Cove Kit
Waterway Clearwater II 150 cu. ft Cartridge filter and 1.5 hp 2 speed pump
Hayward Aqua Rite 40K Salt Chlorine Generator System (w/T-15 cell)
Intermatic Above Ground Pool Timer
SmartPool NiteLighter Ultra 100watt Light Kit with Built-in Timer
Sun Heater Solar Heating System for Above Ground Pools (6x20 Panel)
Hayward Wanda the Whale Above Ground Automatic Suction Pool Cleaner
Ocean Blue Grand Entrance Pool Steps

We have just started the excavation process and we figured we would share these photos with community for their input. We are doing all of the work ourselves with the exception of the electrical grounding/bonding which a master electrician friend of ours will handle.
We plan on building a deck (from deckplans.com with a self-designed pool bar add-on) over the next 6-12 months.

Goodbye Garden!

Hello Trac-steer!

Moon Crater!


Next will be leveling the sand and a good compacting with a vibratory plate compactor....The pool package should arrive by freight carrier today.

 

[steinholder]

Welcome! Thanks for the pics, I am looking forward to seeing you finish this build.

 

[PSW]

Hello and welcome to TFP!

Keep the pics coming!

 

[67ragtop]

Thanks for the welcome! I'm sure that we will have lots of questions for everyone once we get this behemoth up and running....

A basic sand screed was done on the 1st half tonight, the second half tomorrow evening, and then plate compacting and transit leveling on Saturday.

The pool showed up Tuesday on time, a couple of the boxes bruised, but none for the worse thankfully.

 

[67ragtop]

Its been a couple of weeks since we posted an update (because of the memorial day weekend, which was spent at the lake partying because the pool wasn't going to be ready) so I figured we would throw up a couple of pics for those who have never done one of these builds before and doesn't know what to expect, pretty much us.....

The pallet from heck arrives

Break out the builders level and compact well

Make sure its within a 1/4 inch

Leveled with the pavers installed (we used 18 x 18 pavers)

Have your sand delivered (7 yards in our case)

Start putting your floor sand in(it seems a bit redundant to put sand in a hole that you just took sand out of, but the screened masonry sand is quite a bit different from our Florida sugar sand)



We hope to get the walls up this weekend(weather permitting) and perhaps install the liner and start filling.......

More to come!

 

[67ragtop]

Here's the latest round of pictures from our install. We have braved nasty winds and rain the last few days which has made this install rather difficult. The wall fell down the distance of 3 verticals before it was caught due to the conditions. Luckily the wall was not kinked and we were able to get it back into the bottom track with minimum effort, although I would rather skip that part if we ever end up doing another install, or better yet our friends ask us now that they have seen ours.

Anyhoo........here it is so far -

Time to start rolling!

Armor Liner down....

Installing the liner

Now I have a question about the liner installation....

When we got all the away around the pool and had reached the wall where the last 4 or 5 verticals are the liner became very tight and hung at an angle different from the rest of the liner. We have 4 inches of liner overhanging consistently around the pool wall, the pool verticals are all plumb both ways, the pool is level in all directions, and the pool is in round and true. Is this normal? It seems that the water will stretch it from what I have read on other posts concerning a tight liner at the end of the run...... thoughts?

 

[hannainnc]

I don't have any info on the tight liner since I'm a newbie...still shopping for the pool. Just wanted to say it looks great and ask how it is coming along. Any updates?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'd stick a shop vac in there and stretch the liner before adding water.

However, it will most likely work itself out once you start adding water.

 

[Jules]

I can't wait to see the finished product! We just ordered our pool yesterday (same size as yours), and I'm anxiously awaiting a shipping confirmation

 

[Speedo]

Lookin good! 33' is huge!!

 

[67ragtop]

Thanks for all of the comments!

We haven't been able to do a whole heck of a lot the last 3 days because we are stuck under a stalled low pressure system out in the Gulf of Mexico, however we have received 8 inches of rain in that time period so we have reaped the benefit of each and every raindrop!

I had my electrician friend give me a parts list that I picked up today to start all of the electrical tomorrow. We have considered different placements concerning the pump and salt generator. I favor placing the salt generator control unit in the garage, even though it is in a weatherproof box, while placing the pump and cartridge just outside the rear of the garage and running 1 1/2 PVC piping over to the pool. The savings from eliminating the copper wire run and time spent trenching has definitely been a factor in our thinking, but I'm wondering if there are any drawbacks to having the equipment 35 feet from the pool. Anybody with thoughts or experience on the subject?

The liner has begun stretching itself out. We did use a shopvac to remove as many wrinkles as we could. There are a few small ones at the wall to floor transition, but nothing that we cant live with.

....and finally, 33' is a very large hole in the ground! LOL! I will say that we are glad we decided to go big with as much entertaining as we do.

More to come, next update by Sunday night hopefuly......