Building above ground pool wall over a ground tree stump

[Dan HH]

Hello There,
I am new to this forum but I am looking forward to being active once I get my pool built.
Does anyone have experience managing the excavation of a ground tree stump under a pool wall?
I have a 21' circular Doughboy that I am assembling. We have a very small yard and so had to had to have a large tree removed in order to fit, they ground the stump. We had the yard professionally excavated/leveled afterwards and they added a thin layer of masonry sand. I am currently placing the 12" x 12" pavers to go under the vertical supports for the wall. As I placed and leveled the last three pavers in the area where the tree had been I found some mulched tree root and realized we hadn't paid attention fully excavating the area and replacing with something which won't sink. I am looking at pulling these three pavers up and digging down to hard earth but not sure what to replace the mulch/earth with. Does anyone have any suggestions? Compacted gravel? Would a concrete footing make sense?
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Dan

 

[duraleigh]

Gravel would work........#57 washed rock is better (it average 3/4" in diameter) and requires no compaction. remove as much of the loose dirt as you can.

 

[DorsalSpine]

I'll state the obvious here so take it with a grain of salt. Make sure you are down to solid earth and you removed the tree roots under your supports. They will rot over time and the ground will settle. I've had many big trees removed and stumps ground. I still had to fill low spots years later as the roots rotted.

 

[Dan HH]

Thanks very much to the both of you! Yes, I plan to go down to solid earth in that whole area.