Alternative to burying pavers?

[Girlmama]

Shew-ee. I was clueless to the work that goes into ground prep. But I want to do this right. At least right enough that I don't have an unexpected flood in my yard in the near (or any) future.

Picked up 18' x 48" round polygroup summer waves elite frame pool. tilled up soil with a tiny tiller, just to get the grass and such up. We have a clay like soil, so I'm not too concerned with compacting. It is SOLID below top soil. Got the ground relatively level. Threw down a surface coat of multi-purpose sand just to provide a smoother/more workable surface area and started setting out pavers for the legs, 4"x8"x16" blocks. I did NOT recognize that these should be flush to the ground, though I dug at least an inch for each (closer to three for some) to get them level to themselves as well as one another. This was pain staking, as I'm sure yall know (especially with this clay soil. phew.) raked out the base nice and smooth once more and thought we were good to set up pool, so did. Got inside to smooth out liner and recognized that the pavers will likely cause an issue where they "poke" into the base of the liner. Got on here and read that yes, that is in fact an issue but also, the seam needs to be flush to the ground (thus the feet/pavers) so now brainstorming ways to remedy this with of course as little labor and cash as needed.

Got a little rain yesterday, the base def looks pretty level, no pooling of water at one side of the pool and none on the other type deal. My partner thought we could just throw some fill dirt along the edge, kind of like where the cove goes on a solid AGP. I grabbed some pool noodles to put along the paver edge. but I'm still concerned this isn't enough.

I'm adding a couple pictures to demonstrate what I'm working with. All suggestions/advice are appreciated. thank you!!!!

 

[kellyfair]

I think you either stop filling and work on getting those pavers level with surface, OR you purchase rigid foam to put under the pool so that the pavers are level with the foam. Either way, I think you'll have to take pool down.

You could work on each paver one at a time and check level as best you can, but with pool in way I don't see how you'd check level for pavers on the other side as the one you are working on.

 

[Girlmama]

I think you either stop filling and work on getting those pavers level with surface, OR you purchase rigid foam to put under the pool so that the pavers are level with the foam. Either way, I think you'll have to take pool down.

You could work on each paver one at a time and check level as best you can, but with pool in way I don't see how you'd check level for pavers on the other side as the one you are working on.

That was my thinking. I'm not intentionally filling, I had gotten it up friday then it rained yesterday, so it has about a quarter inch of water in it.
The rigid foam seems like a good idea to me, my partner doesn't understand the rationale. I think I'll just go to lowes and check out what they've got anyways. Think I could get the foam down without taking down the pool, or no?

 

[kellyfair]

That was my thinking. I'm not intentionally filling, I had gotten it up friday then it rained yesterday, so it has about a quarter inch of water in it.
The rigid foam seems like a good idea to me, my partner doesn't understand the rationale. I think I'll just go to lowes and check out what they've got anyways. Think I could get the foam down without taking down the pool, or no?

No. You’ll need to cut it to fit pavers, AND you will need to tape the foam sheets together to keep them from separating. Most use gorilla tape, the wide kind, or if they use the regular they tape once over the seam and then do another overlapping strip on each side of the original tape, to reinforce. Make sure you get the XPS foam - it holds up under a lot of weight.