24'x54" AG build...gonna take us a while!

[linzjane88]

Hello After a couple years of Intex'ing it we (I ) have decided to go 'real' above ground. Along with that means a new pool location on our property and alot of work before we even think about leveling! I wanted to get the stuff now and count parts to make sure I have everything ready for when we can put this bad boy up.

So far we have purchased :

Pentair SD 80 #145333
Pentair 1HP 2 Speed horizontal discharge pump #340071
Signature RTL 24' x 54" pool (7" resin top ledges, 6" uprights, resin foot collars, steel bottom tracks, approved for 27" burial).

On my list to buy is:
Solar blanket
A frame ladder with rolling safety guard of steps
winter cover
**maybe** pink foam for under the pool. Undecided yet.

Our 'warm enough to swim' season is June through September so we aren't in a huge rush to get it done. Not to mention us both working full time night shift and having 7 and 3 year old munchkins. It's going to be a slow process! Then add in our rainy Washington weather. This is probably a terrible decision considering I live in a typically wet and cold state. I will add pics when I figure out how!

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi Linzjane

the best way to post pics.
Create photobucket account
download your pics to photobucket.

To add it to the post, go to photobucket and click on the pic you want to add
the pic will get big, and on the right margin of the pic wil be some code.
Click on teh code that says IMG - it will automatically copy
then come back to your post, and click paste, and the code will copy into your post
when you cick the submit button, it will show up as a pic for us to see.

 

[linzjane88]

The first pic is the general location of the pool. We are going to put in a cedar fence along the perimiter of the property. Our front yard is directed at our neighbors side yard. I know some have commented on how the neighbor feels about us putting a pool in the front yard but I can assure you she loves us :lol: We have done more landscaping and fixing up on this house than any previous owners. Plus we don't deal drugs from our home or let our transient friends live here like the last people. You know, it's the little things!

pic from last spring of the 3 trees removed today


Trees gone! Left with mess.


Point of view from our driveway. Along with a privacy fence between the neighbors yard we will also be continuing it along the walk to the front door so you won't have a view of us in the pool when you pull in. (your welcome UPS/FEDEX drivers )


This weekend, maybe, we will have a tractor here to move the logs/ fill in stump holes/ clean up. At the minimum the Mister will be cleaning the roof and gutters. Eek! We have a lonnnng way to go!

 

[pwrstrk]

24'x54" AG build...gonna take us a while!

Looks good. Make sure you are level, level. Did I say level ? Lol.
If those stump holes are inside of the area where the pool is going to be, make sure to get ALL the wood chips out of the hole. They will then need to be filled in and compacted with some suitable material.

 

[kimkats]

That is a great start! One step at a time and it will get done.

Your neighbor will love even more when you invite her over for adults drinks pool side!

Kim

 

[Casey]

Looks good. Make sure you are level, level. Dd I say level ? Lol.
If those stump holes are inside of the area where the pool is going to be, make sure to get ALL the wood chips out of the hole. They will then need to be filled in and compacted with some suitable material.

I have to second what Jeff has said. Especially if one of these holes is where a support post is going to be. That pool is going to weigh a lot and it will compact the dirt n any holes you think are already compacted. The thing is, you could lose the side of the pool so make sure you do it right so It's not a catastrophic event that leads to divorce. lol

 

[linzjane88]

Luckily the stumps are about 5 feet from where the pool will be. They needed to go because of I will not tolerate one leaf in my pool this summer . I did wonder if the root systems would eventually rot (60 year old pine is the closest to the pool) and sink a bit but then I am sure it wouldn't be worse than the moles that terrorized our yard and under our last Intex. Hmm, do moles typically dig under pools if they are buried a couple of inches? All these things I have to wonder about now.

It is a different mindset going from "Ehh, it's just a $200 pool" to having some $ invested into a real setup.

 

[linzjane88]

So after my trouble with my Pentair filter the other today (http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/88804-Very-disappointed-in-Pentair-Next-step) I recieved my Pentair pump and am very satisfied. I had to include a shot of the notice on the box regarding their carefully packed product. If it's a filter though, your out of luck cause they drop kick it from their factory and you better be lucky to get a box!


Look at that packaging


That glorious sunny area in the the front yard is where the pool will be!


Between today and yesterday we have moved three 50 year old trees worth of stumps and ground down the limbs of all of them. All day rental of a wood chipper? $280 Popped tire on the tractor from surprise re-bar found in the ground? $75. And some cage thing holding the throttle on my dads tractor broke within about 2 hours of starting work yesterday. For now he is using a vice grip to control the throttle. Who knows how much that will be. These incidentals are killin' me! I also discovered the size of limb you should, and more importantly, should not put into the chipper My poor dad spent an hour with a sawszall pretty much inside the chipper trying to cut out a chunk I got wedged inside it. It was a good thing my husband was inside when it happened. My dad is much more tolerant of my poor choices (and willing to help fix them. Haha!)
Hopefully tomorrow we will start leveling out the pool area! Whatever we don't get tomorrow will likely be on hold for a week or two. I work the next 8 nights straight. Goodbye sunlight!

 

[linzjane88]

I can't get those links to work. Well they weren't that interesting anyway. I guess you'll never know

 

[kimkats]

Got to love a Dad that will help you out!

All of the work will pay off when you are in your pool holding a cold drink!

Kim

 

[linzjane88]

Re: 24'x54" AG build...gonna take us a while!

The rain! The stupid Washington rain! We seriously have not had dry days while any of us have been off work. Grrr.... Not to mention we were a little stalled with septic troubles (backed up into the basement ) that commandeered our 'project time'. We still have managed to get in about 2 hours of tractor time before the rain hit again. We mostly have the sod scraped off.

My dad left the tractor keys here If it's dry and both he and my husband are at work I might see if I can take care of some things. (and lets hope I don't get caught!). I am in general banned from most power tools and most certainly the heavy machinery. They don't like my trial and error style. I personally think that I have undiscovered handyman talents that they just don't appreciate. Rude!:-D
Most exciting is that my pool showed up I ordered the lift gate service and the guy drove the little pallet into the garage (the teeny 500lb pallet!).

The big box that is damaged is just an empty filler box so nothing is broken.


I did order another new filter--rebought the SD80 and lets hope this one ships with some better packaging! I will say the Amazon return setup was a breeze and I had my refund and the broken filter picked up within a few days. I just hope I don't have to experience it again!

Questions: Holy hard plumbing. I thought I could buy what I will need and have it ready for go-time but I am so confused. This is going to be another father daughter project. ..... elbows, unions, valves. Do I want slip or screw in? If my pump is 1 1/2 that is the pipe size I should get, right? I have seen some posts where it's mentioned getting 2" piping. How would that improve anything if the water is going to get forced through 1 1/2" areas at the pump and filter? This is probably painful for you handy men folk out there. Be gentle!

- - - Updated - - -

 

[linzjane88]

The more I think about it the more I am sure I should have put this in the Above Ground Pool section and not the build section. It is definitely not a fancy in ground pool! I need to be with my kind over there. Haha! Oh well, the in-grounders don't have to look if they don't want to

I got my SD-80. I bought through Amazon but used the seller "In the Swim" instead. I have no clue if there is a different product/ process involved or just sheer luck (or maybe they decided not to air drop the package to me...) but whatever the reason my filter is in tact. YAY! Barely a scuff on the box and all the parts were there.




We have gotten all the tree debris cleaned up and now we are ready to move onto the leveling/digging. The utility company is coming out by Thursday to mark our buried lines. We will be putting the pool 1-2 feet into the ground. We have rain in the forecast for most of the next 8 days and then we leave for Florida for a week. If I can't get sun here I will go find sun :sunny:

Question for any semi-buried pool owners: Has anyone used thick black plastic around the base of the pool that is covered? Does that delay the rusting any? From what I have gathered even the pools rated for burial (which mine is) will breakdown faster than the non buried. Hopefully we get 5-10 years out of it and I am okay with that. I just don't know if the plastic slows the process at all.

 

[linzjane88]

My thread activity may have died but the pool activity hasn't! It is finally happening! We had a lot of setbacks in the landscaping department (setbacks involving bids coming back at about 4k more than we expected!).

This is us initially still trying to work with our front yard full of roots, stumps, and a giant rock.




This is what happens when you hire someone to grind your stumps (that is indeed our neighbors fence). He kind of left after that and we were still left with stumps.


THIS is what we decided to do after bids for a decorative stacked stone retaining wall going into the yard/pool area. 1k for a level yard area or 8k for stacked stone...hmmm


AFTER! We are going to repour the driveway/walkway


Another shot. I actually feel bad for the temper tantrum I threw after the hubs said I couldn't spend 8k on a wall. This ended up being such a better idea.


Bottom track laid out. The only problem with taking the 1.5 feet of earth from the yard is that we are on rock hard clay. It takes the pick ax to be able to chip away at it. Not fun setting the pavers into that. Not to mention the temps are mid nineties.


Called my dad and sister over for extra hands with the walls and liner. It is a good thing because WOW are pool walls heavy!


The hubs putting in the foam. In hindsight I wish we would have gotten a bit of sand in just to even out the divots from the pick axe/shovel. I tried to fill them in as best I could be we do have quite a few irregularities to the ground eventhough the pavers and bottom track are within .25".


I also wish I had purchased more duct tape. And perhaps looked at the weather forecast considering it started a mini downpour (first rain in weeks) while we were taping. Enough to make a muddy mess--and put taping on hold until it stopped.


Liner in. NOW I notice the fact that the back left area is about two inches tighter on the top of the liner.


Working on more pictures....

 

[kimkats]

Fun times----------NOT LOL The stump grinder "ate" your neighbors fence???????? then he left??????????? OUCH! Bet that neighbor got the first invite to swim in your pool!

I like how you did the leveling. Who drove the tractor? It looks great!

Did your little cutie get to help at all?

I can't wait to read and see the rest of the story!

Kim

 

[linzjane88]

Helper #2 in with me as we are trying to get wrinkles out. That funny looking lump to the left of her is where we forgot to cut out for the bottom plate when we laid down the pink foam. I am hoping it settles a bit once more weight is on it. If not.....well we will find out because I am sooo not taking anything down for that!


Top rails are being a pain!


now to fill! I tried calling a water service truck (of which we have ONE within an hour) and they are on a wildland fire since most of the North America is on fire right now So needless to say it is me and the hose for a while. I am somewhat concerned we might burn out well pump up? We filled our last Intex 2x in a week and that was a total of about 8k gallons. My husband is only letting me put in about two inches at a time. Sometimes I sneak back out there and turn it on before I get caught again.


We have 13 yards of topsoil being delivered today, the electrician coming tomrrow, sod coming by the end of the week hopefully, and a new driveway pour next week. It's almost over!!!

This project has turned out to be like that kids book "If you give a mouse a cookie". Six months and a few thousand after the first tree fell and we finally have a pool. Lessons I have learned thus far:
* Hire someone to install your pool. I would have happily paid 1500 to have that done. Washington state isn't an area known for its heat and swimming weather so pool installers (and water trucks) are few and far between.
* have AT LEAST 5 rolls of duct tape for the pink floor.
* hide your wall bolt panel behind a vertical post
* buy your ladder BEFORE trying to assemble the pool. I don't know why I procrastinated but I did. 'I won't need that for a few more weeks'. Cause how will you get in to install and set the liner without a ladder?
* don't get tongue and groove pink foam. The grooves are more work than they are worth.

Did I mention hire someone to install the pool?

 

[linzjane88]

Question for your brilliant minds:

Should I add any bleach while I am filling? Even a small amount? I don't know how long the fill will take, especially since The Mister keeps putting me on a water ban. Something along the lines of 'going to dry the well' 'we're in a drought' 'wouldn't it be ironic if we had to take the pool down to drill a new well that we burned up filling a pool?'. Yada Yada. Well, the last line got to me :lol: Anyhow, I think maybe around a week before we are fillled. Will I go green that fast?

 

[kimkats]

Re: 24'x54" AG build...gonna take us a while!

LOL cuties little helper in the area for sure! I see you on NOT taking anything down to "fix that place. Just don't mess with it. Let it be and it should be fine. We have on corner of one stepping stone that pokes up just a bit. We do not walk in that area or mess with it. It is right by the wall so is really no big deal.

Put 2 pucks in a bucket. Put your hose in the bucket and let the water wash over the pucks and overflow out of the bucket. That way it is adding chlorine AND CYA while if fills. Once the pool is pull enough to float the bucket put the pucks in a floater and keep it going.

You can/will go green in about 2 or 3 days BUT with my puck idea you should be able to avoid that.

Best to save the pump. I will tell you that we did not have any problems with our pump on our well BUT I live in Florida and my well is right in an underground flowing stream. It is WONDERFUL water and oh so clear and plentiful!

Kim

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and I DID hire someone to put my pool up! SMART move for sure!

Kim

 

[linzjane88]

Re: 24'x54" AG build...gonna take us a while!

LOL cuties little helper in the area for sure! I see you on NOT taking anything down to "fix that place. Just don't mess with it. Let it be and it should be fine. We have on corner of one stepping stone that pokes up just a bit. We do not walk in that area or mess with it. It is right by the wall so is really no big deal.

Put 2 pucks in a bucket. Put your hose in the bucket and let the water wash over the pucks and overflow out of the bucket. That way it is adding chlorine AND CYA while if fills. Once the pool is pull enough to float the bucket put the pucks in a floater and keep it going.

You can/will go green in about 2 or 3 days BUT with my puck idea you should be able to avoid that.

Best to save the pump. I will tell you that we did not have any problems with our pump on our well BUT I live in Florida and my well is right in an underground flowing stream. It is WONDERFUL water and oh so clear and plentiful!

Kim

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and I DID hire someone to put my pool up! SMART move for sure!

Kim

OK, so is the reason why I would want to use a couple pucks now just because I have no CYA levels at this point with it being brand new water? I did BBB the entire time I had my Intex but I never refilled it season to season so I can't remember how I 'started' as that was a few years ago now. I am trying to figure the fittings and whatnot I need to hard plumb. The mister is spreading the new topsoil. Woopwoop!

 

[linzjane88]

I hope it isn't a big deal if I use all 1.5". I was going to initially try to use 2" wherever possible but considering all my connections (skimmer/pump/filter) are 1.5" it's actually hurting my lady-brain trying to figure this out. I think my other half has officially checked out of the pool project -- I am going to have my dad come help me but was hoping to plan and buy what I needed today before he comes over. I make a better nurse than a plumber!

ETA: I am headed to Lowes to get 8 90 degrees, 2 shutoff valves, 4 unions, and some pipe. I have a half concocted plan and will likely have some leftovers but I would rather spend a few bucks extra than spend an hour going back. We have teflon tape and the purple stuff--all 1.5". Heres to hoping!

 

[linzjane88]

Sod down, concrete work in process!

Another shot:


And now that I am onto plumbing....is it too late to give up on the pool? Okay, that's only said half seriously. We got the electrical finished on the pool (it helps when your best friend is an electrician ). Then we started the work on the plumbing of the pump. I have been so stressed with the pool full for a 5 days with no means to filter. I was adding bleach in very carefully around the pool and trying to mix the water as best I could in the meantime. Since I bleached a massive spot in our old Intex I learned my lesson!
My hubs is *not* a plumber or a huge DIYer--he is also working 60+ hour work weeks right now so all pool plumbing fell to me. I spent an enternity in Lowes trying to visualize what I needed for the project, and I also spent a ton of time reading up on here. With all my PVC gathered and ready and my hubs chopsaw I set to work. I dry fit everything like a champ and then applied my PVC *cleaner* followed by the blue cement (see what I did there?) Yeah, I see the error of my ways now-hindsight is 20/20! A few hours I had this :super::

Now all I had left to do was fill the rest of the way up--still blissfully unaware of my solvent welding woes. Thats when it went spiraling out of control! I was leaking LIKE CRAZY on the bottom of my skimmer, both where it attached to the pool and the smaller portion of the widemouth opening where the square butterfly gasket was. Then I turned my pump on and watched as I leaked from EVERY. DANG (not the word I used at the time). CONNECTION. :grrrr:I think maybe a small handful didn't leak. Maybe.
Keep in mind we are basically in a drought and my husband is convinced that we are going to run the well dry. The poor well that is responsible for filling the 14k gallon pool AND watering 800SF of new sod.
A little more research and I remembered I installed the butterfly gasket wrong on the skimmer. Instead of the pool wall being sandwiched in between the gasket I put the whole gasket on the inside only. So I will just pop off the screws and slip the other half of the gasket over, right? I knew it was a hasty move being made out of exhaustion and frustration at the time but I went ahead with it anyway (mind you I am solo on this project as the hubs is still at work). I get in the pool and start pulling screws out only to have the PVC fittings fall off on the outside. In my fit to grab the falling skimmer I knocked half the screws into the now freezing water that I am chest deep in. Water is rushing out of the skimmerless hole in the pool wall as I am trying to hold the liner against the wall. Luckily my husband drove in right then and was able to hold the skimmer on the outside while I try and attach it again. That didn't exactly impress him after being at work for 14 hours...

I think the worst part was my in laws and the rest of their crew were doing our driveway/walkway concrete work the whole time I was putting this together, smirking as I was traipsing around the garage for parts and using power tools like a 'pro'. Then they come back the next day to check and got to see my epic fail. About 7 hours and 50$ worth of PVC down the drain. Or into the yard in this case.

QUESTION: since I will be taking this all apart and re-doing everything.....anyone see any fatal flaws or have any suggestions for the do-over?

P.S. is it a possibility to get this thread put into the Above Ground Pool section? I feel like I will be better understood by my fellow above group peeps there