AG insulfloor opinions

[Laine17]

COVID chronicles day #78965. We live in Northern Alberta and given the outlook on our summer we have decided to purchase an Aqua Leader AG pool with natural gas heater. We had been pouring over pool websites for weeks when I came across a pool set up listed on Kijiji ( popular buy and sell site in Canada). Pool set was a great value and we decided to take the risk and make the 12 hour drive to pick it up!
Pool is in great shape with a new liner still in box. We will be setting it up ourselves as pool guys really aren’t a thing in the way up in Great White North. Our intent is to level the ground, we have a friend in landscaping. Tamp a 2 inch base of crushed lime stone, lay some type of base cloth ( Rhino) and then lay an insulator and foam cove. we are not using concrete sidewalk blocks because we live in a area of significant frost heaving ( 6’ deep piles below frost line are required for deck footings).
We have looked into XPS, wow I had no idea how pricey nearly $1000! And then came across this Insulfloor ( kind of a bubble wrap, thermofoil product. It has I high PSI compression rate than XPS. Anyways, has anyone else used that product? Is it ok to put crush base in a larger diameter than pool, and set pool wall bases on the crush? And do I still require sand to build up height?
I really appreciate all of your insight.

 

[kimkats]

I am not sure about the part I am going to quote. They are what I am worried about the most. It is my understand that the uprights HAVE to be on something solid to keep them from sinking into the ground. I have seen pics of this very thing happening. I don't know if the crushed stone it enough to keep this from happening.

we are not using concrete sidewalk blocks because we live in a area of significant frost heaving

Is it ok to put crush base in a larger diameter than pool, and set pool wall bases on the crush? And do I still require sand to build up height?

I am going to pull in a couple of people to see what their thoughts are @Casey @ajw22 @jimmythegreek

 

[Casey]

If I'm remembering correctly, you can use the crusher as a base for the post. If it's good enough to make roads, it's good enough for a pool to sit on.

 

[ajw22]

How many gallons in the pool you bought?

I don't know the pool and what type of footings it has. Pools weigh tens of thousands of pounds. Footing placed on dirt without a concrete block under it can sink into the ground when the ground gets muddy. Concrete blocks spread the weight out over a larger are and reduce the risk of a footing sinking into the ground.

 

[LFrankow]

Hello neighbour
Surface prep is key to setting up an agp, dig the high side down to the level of the lowest side. With mine I also dished it out in the middle for added depth. After I had the base as level as I could get it I added a base of sand 2-3" deep, I should have bought some 1" Styrofoam (2' x 8') sheets available at your local hardware/building supply store. Triple duct tape the seams, one in the middle and one on each side of middle tape.
Use pavers under your uprights, the top of the sidewalk block/paver should be the same height as the foam insulation board.
Foam cove is also required so your liner won't "squirt" out under your pool wall.
Have lots of able bodied helpers when you set up the hardwall also, many hands make for easy work.
When doing the initial fill, go slow, it is a good idea to hop into the pool and walk backwards from the center dragging your heels to pull any wrinkles towards the outside.
Search TFP and uTube lots of good install videos out there, well worth the time to watch and learn from.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Dont worry about the frost line set the posts on larger flat blocks. 2" of base isn't enough to support and spread the load. AG pools are all about the prep it takes work. setting up pool is the easier part

 

[Laine17]

If I'm remembering correctly, you can use the crusher as a base for the post. If it's good enough to make roads, it's good enough for a pool to sit on.

Thanks!

 

[Laine17]

Hello neighbour
Surface prep is key to setting up an agp, dig the high side down to the level of the lowest side. With mine I also dished it out in the middle for added depth. After I had the base as level as I could get it I added a base of sand 2-3" deep, I should have bought some 1" Styrofoam (2' x 8') sheets available at your local hardware/building supply store. Triple duct tape the seams, one in the middle and one on each side of middle tape.
Use pavers under your uprights, the top of the sidewalk block/paver should be the same height as the foam insulation board.
Foam cove is also required so your liner won't "squirt" out under your pool wall.
Have lots of able bodied helpers when you set up the hardwall also, many hands make for easy work.
When doing the initial fill, go slow, it is a good idea to hop into the pool and walk backwards from the center dragging your heels to pull any wrinkles towards the outside.
Search TFP and uTube lots of good install videos out there, well worth the time to watch and learn from.

Thank you, I really appreciate your valuable knowledge We moved to Grande Prairie last spring. You should see the frost heaving on the highway, it gives me motion sickness. We built a large deck last May with 6’ concrete piles. There is one pile that because of the clay and maybe a rock we could not get the full 6’ even with the massive auger we were using. That corner popped over the winter not a lot ( maybe an inch) but enough to notice the steps were not level. It remained high until the last week or so, frost is finally starting to come out. So I guess I just worried that the block would pop up under the liner filled with a giant ice cube over the winter.

We are still prepping, so far have about an 1”-1.5” of tamped crushed lime stone. We want to get our deck built prior to pool install as we will be running the natural gas line under the deck ( in ground will run us about $1800 and we will have to lift up pavers vs tacked to the underside of deck $1200). We have hit a road block with deck construction frost at about 4’ and because it is clay the good old pouring boiling water down the hole is not working as well as in past locations we have lived. Prepping is slow and steady which is making my husband crazy, we are a start a project, work day and night until it is finished kind of family.

We have have some great people in GP, so many hands should not be a problem. I will reward them with dinner and a dip we also have a friend that will heat the potability city water to 30C before delivery ( plus side of an oilfield city) so we will be able to enjoy without waiting for days. We have purchased cove, wall and floor insulation. In an attempt to improve efficiency. The pool is definitely the cheap part!

We will continue to maintain slow and steady progress. Hopefully in it before Victoria Day.

 

[Laine17]

How many gallons in the pool you bought?

I don't know the pool and what type of footings it has. Pools weigh tens of thousands of pounds. Footing placed on dirt without a concrete block under it can sink into the ground when the ground gets muddy. Concrete blocks spread the weight out over a larger are and reduce the risk of a footing sinking into the ground.

21’ round 52” not sure of capacity. I will ask my husband

 

[ajw22]

21’ round 52” not sure of capacity. I will ask my husband

About 13,000 gallons will weigh about 100,000 lbs.

 

[LFrankow]

It works out to roughly 225 pounds per square foot weight on the bottom of the pool, which is why base prep is very important. The weight on the individual uprights is less as the bottom of the pool rests on solid ground, the uprights hold the sidewalls upright, the pool is not suspended on the uprights per se. But it is also very important to put pavers under your uprights to try to maintain a perfectly level pool. With my elcheepo Intex pool the second year it was up I was not happy with the level, I had some low spots. So I made a T device and jacked up the lower legs, while the pool was full, then put ceramic tile shims under the low spot legs, the end result is the water level is now within half an inch all the way around and has not changed in the last 6 years or so. I am not sure if you can do that with hardwall AGP, but ask my friend Google and she will tell or show you what others have done to correct small errors.
Cost, the initial purchase and install is not cheap. But a few years back I did a cost analysis of how much I have invested into my pools over a ten year span and it worked out to roughly 450-500 $ per year.
If you go camping for a weekend it will cost about 3-500 $ for a few days, if you have a boat and tow Skiers around for the weekend that will run closer to 1500$, plus the cost of a tow vehicle, RV etc.
Also you have rules like fire bans, alcohol bans along with sometimes rude and obnoxious neighbours to contend with, in my backyard I make the rules and my neighbours have been with me for 20 odd years now, a pretty happy gang.