is it possible to reduce chance of frost heave

[Edoras]

We plan on putting up a 24' above ground pool... and to be honest I started getting nervous about leveling the ground.

I had an installer come to give an estimate on the ground prep work and when he gave me one he said that he wouldn't be able to provide any guarantee for the work as he was worried about frost heaves (we live in Southern Maine). He didn't feel comfortable about providing any alternative plans on how to mitigate the issue. He also said that he likes to get right in and out on projects, so I was thinking that maybe he didn't want to deal with one that would take a bit longer than normal (maybe I also need to bring in some more installers, lol).

I was wondering if instead of using blocks for the base if we couldn't do footings? and then to also build up the rest of the support as it was suggested in the below thread.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/leveling-ground-for-above-ground-pool-t52406.html

Is this doable? Is there another way to reduce this risk that someone would suggest?

Thanks for your time.

 

[pwrstrk]

Unless your going to bury the pool the chance for frost heave is going to be there.

Just make sure you get as much water to drain away from pool as possible. There is always moisture in the ground and it will freeze.


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[Edoras]

Unless your going to bury the pool the chance for frost heave is going to be there.

Just make sure you get as much water to drain away from pool as possible. There is always moisture in the ground and it will freeze.

Thank you for the reply.

We really aren't interested in burying the pool.

As such, would you recommend the footings as well then? Or use the normal patio bricks and instead make sure that there is very substantial drainage around the area?

Thanks again.

 

[Mongo]

I'd recommend digging down until you his subsoil. Get rid of the top soil, anything with organics.

Topsoil does two things. Well, probably many more than two things, but with topsoil you'll be concerned with two things: One, it holds water. Held water can freeze, that's where you get your heaving through repeated freeze/thaw cycles. Two, organics can decay and settle over time. If your topsoil is uniformly thick and uniform in structure, hey, could settle at an even rate. But that's a gamble.

I recommend digging down to inorganic subsoil. Level the subsoil. Then fill to your desired grade with inorganic material. If you only have 4-6" to fill, I'd just use stonedust. If you have 8-12", then use 8" to 10" of crusher run and top the crusher run off with a 2"-4" thickness of stone dust. Or you can just use all stonedust. I do like finishing with stonedust though.

Whatever you use, spread 3-4", then run over it with a plate compactor. Then another 3-4" and compact it again. Repeat as needed. It sounds a lot worse than it is.

Water will drain through the inorganic crusher run/stonedust layer, and you should get no heaving at all when the freeze/thaw begins.

Anytime you go with concrete, to do it properly you're looking at having to go down to frost depth for the footings. Probably 48" deep up in Maine. Here in my part of CT, it's 42".

 

[Edoras]

Great. Thank you for the replies. It seems like this is very doable.

Thanks again.