setting up a used 24' above ground

[joseney21]

I got a 24' round above ground from craigslist for free. the previous owner said it was 15 years old, the pool definitely doesn't look it. only very light surface rust on some of the bottom rails and a bunch of rusted screws at the wall joint, i cut threw those with a wheel grinder. I bought a new 30ga liner, coping strips (the old ones look sturdier and still have their shape, I think i'll reuse those) and the foam cove all from ebay for $300. I also bought a wide mouth hydro tools skimmer on amazon to replace the old skimmer and return.

some questions

when ready, do i cut the existing hole in the pool wall for the new skimmer with tin snips? any other suggestions for an easier/better cut? how much water needs to be in the pool for the new skimmer install? I'm getting very far ahead of myself on this one from the looks of the leveling, lol.

I removed the sod with pitch fork, wheel barrow and the help of a friend in 1 1/2 days. the pool is going to be on a slope with the high side being about 18" higher than the low side. my neighbor helped move tons of dirt with his tractor but he said the rest would have to be done by hand... this almost seems impossible. I'm using a 12" spade to dig and the 4' level taped onto a 12' 2x6 to check for level.

is leveling supposed to be this hard or am i doing something wrong? what is the exact technique to use... I feel like i'm missing something or doing something wrong.

here come the equipment pics and what we've done so far

 

[techguy]

I would see how close to level you are. Do you know? My tractor guy made mine level to within a quarter of an inch over the 24 feet we leveled.

 

[joseney21]

here are some pics of what we've done with the "hole" so far

 

[joseney21]

techguy it looks like we're off by at least 6-8" in certain places. my neighbor may not have the experience to get it any closer. I posted an add on craigslist to see if someone else with a tractor can come over and finish leveling it out

 

[joseney21]

my wife's boo boo after she dropped the 2x6 on her foot and three of the many who will be enjoying the pool.

the swelling has gone down a bit, initially it was about the size of an egg

 

[joseney21]

I thought i had equipment pics but i don't. I'll have to post in a few days, will be doing 16hr shifts at work for the next few days.

 

[techguy]

Even if your neighbor could get you to within an inch, you could do the rest by hand. Six inches is too much, in my book, to dig by hand.

 

[cramar]

Your site can be leveled by hand, mine was 8" off and had a healthy component of clay, I went at it in strips of about 8" or so, took a while but it can be done. A half moon hand lawn edger is a good cheap tool to use.
That said, any machinery help is definitely good, especially if free!

Your girls are gonna have so much fun in that pool, do it right, it will be worth it!!!

 

[joseney21]

cramar thanks for the idea, i will have to give that a shot. the lawn edger is what made removing the sod somewhat easy. I was using the spade but the edger might make it easier. I'll post back on monday or tuesday with results.

 

[cramar]

I rented a sod cutter....now that would be a lot of work to remove the sod by hand.
If you check out the thread in my signature theres a couple of pics on how I went at the soil removal.
I also screwed an old broom handle to the end of my 2X6 so I could easily swing it around....that thing really saved my back!

 

[George N]

OUCH! I sure hope shes better soon

 

[1380ken]

I would not use tin snips on the silde of the pool they might deform the metal. Use a cut off wheel or a dremel tool. Also it is amazing how much can be done with a shovel and wheel barrel. I have done crazy large jobs which seemed impossible by keeping a steady pace.

 

[joseney21]

the guys that work at the nursery down the street came by with a bigger tractor and finished leveling the site. for $250 it was well worth it as it would have taken me at least a few days to do the same job working non stop for the entire day. now I can go work some overtime and make that money back with the free time they've provided me...in theory, lol. a part of me does wish i had done it by hand. pics of the progress to follow.

now i have to figure out how to bond the pool and how to get a line out to the pool or hire someone else for that. the previous owner of the house had a pool and must've had a line going to it, I'll have to try and figure out exactly where this is on my panel and if it is still good.

 

[joseney21]

Would hand tamping and wetting the area help?? I've seen others do it on their pool builds. what are the pros and cons for this? is it necessary?

these are pics of the site after leveling

 

[techguy]

What I see is you have a good start. If you are level, I say BUILD! Get your pavers going and your walls up.

 

[cramar]

Yup, if it's level start building.

If I ever do a pool install again I'd have no problem paying someone a couple hundred bucks to get the site level or close to level, that's money well spent.
Regarding the electric feed, once the walls are up you want to get water in there asap to prevent any potential for wind damage to them, after that you want to be filtering within a couple of days so you'll need that power available at the right time in your schedule.

Looks like you have a great site for solar heat if you ever need it.

 

[joseney21]

yes cramar, the pool should get sun most of the day. i have some very far trees that cover the late evening sun and some trees that are a bit closer that cover the early morning sun. I want to set up a deck so that the south wall still gets plenty of sun (maybe paint it black). next season i'll hopefully setup some solar heaters for it also. BTW your pool/deck build was inspirational, the fact that you did most of that on your own says a lot about you. the sun and the heat here chipped away at my determination. my wife spoke to the guys that did the leveling before i tried the edger idea.

some pics of my wife's foot getting better...she painted her toes before going to the DR, nothing is broken.

 

[poolgranny]

All I can say is ouch -- your poor wife's foot looks like it must be painful!!

 

[joseney21]

Almost a year later and still no pool.... my goal is to have it set up by the end of the month, in the meantime I do have one question. I am going to use extruded polystyrene as a bottom but it seems a bit expensive. I got 12 sheets of 1.5" toungue and groove 2'x8'. I would need around 30 of these @ ~14 a piece it comes out to over $400 dollars. seems everyone else got 4x8 sheets for the same price.

did I get the wrong (unnecessarily expensive) type of sheets?? is it the toungue and groove that makes these so expensive?

 

[techguy]

I used sand... I wished I had used more when I changed liners but the walls were already up. I do have a thin pad that was a white/clear closed cell poly something. I also have a few rocks that pushed up. My sand layer is very thin now.

I don't know how important it is. I think it's mainly for comfort.