Does ground need to be perfectly flat if using sand? Intex

[Eaglei22]

Installing a 24ft above ground intex pool. I had to dig area out on slope so this stuff is basically all hard clay. I plan on tamping some crushed rock to fill in a fee low spots, then add sand to smooth it over with 2 inch paver brick under legs. I went over the area with a tiller and got rid of all the tilled soil. Most measurement are with an inch. The ground is bumpy though..

Besides loose dirt, do i need to smooth it before laying the sand?

Picture:

ImageShack - 20170708_123800.jpg

https://imageshack.us/i/poSS2Kwlj

 

[Eaglei22]

Eh i just went over it again with tiller and built up areas and leveled with gravel, and used a plate compactor (hitting any hard clay lumps with 4lb mini sledge to flatten). All sides are even and all areas are flat now. Will be adding sand. I will post pictures when complete for anyone else struggling in future.

https://imageshack.us/i/poqhDUHXj

https://imageshack.us/i/po9ahWKlj

 

[Eaglei22]

(As the tumble weeds blow by in this thread)

As promised - finished results.

I dug out the ground a little for each paver area and added left over crushed gravel and tamped with hand tamper. I dug out a square big enough so the hand tamper would fit. I also got 2 and 3/8 by about 16 inches long pavers and cut them in half by hitting it with a 4 lb mini sledge and mason chisel in the middle. I then just took the mini sledge and knocked the cut smooth so there were no sharp points (Remember to wear your safety goggles/glasses! ). I made sure each paver brick was level with the next, adjusting as needed; hitting with 2 lb mallet to adjust any infractions the small torpedo level showed (don't hit too hard with mallet for too long or the brick will just split). I left each brick a little raised, about an inch - inch and half above surround ground, so I could bring the sand right up to it.. I dug down about 3 inches or so with a clean out shovel. I also used a 15lb spud bar I had to bust through any rock, or clean the edges, or in general to get through the hard clay. That is a great tool to have if you dig in clay soil.. I also used it to tamp down the dirt a little before adding and tamping the gravel. Remember I had to dig down about 2.5 ft into a sloped area to level pool, so I was working pretty much with pure clay, buried 3/4 inch limestone (a gift from the builders) regular rock, etc.. then after spreading sand a couple inches, I just used a long 2 by 6 board that I pieced together and went around and pulled the sand level from the radius. I just made sure I scraped each paver brick and brought the sand even with that. Then I went around and added extra sand around that area just to make sure the liner won't scrape it. But the tarp does pretty well, and in front of each brick is a little gravel with the sand filled between and tamped. So all was good when filled with water.

Not sure if it makes/made a difference but I sprayed round up over the sand with the hose adapter method, to prevent any weeds from growing into the pool liner. The stuff gets used fast and I purchased a small bottle hopefully I put enough down and it works.

Lesson learned. I thought laying out the top frame would help guide me for each leg support, well it did BUT I forgot to take into account the frame moves around (kind of like when you remove the spokes on a bike rim the ring will not be a perfect circle) so when I was done, about 10 of 24 pavers (on one area of circle) all had to be adjusted . Don't make my same mistake! About a half of days work wasted.

Here are the final results:

ImageShack - 20170716_142005.jpg
ImageShack - 20170716_184831.jpg

All that hard work paid off for a pretty darn level pool:
ImageShack - 20170719_185803.jpg

Now I need to fix some drainage problems around the retaining wall base between pool. So thankfully I had those bricks with a small gravel base otherwise I would probably have sinking legs! It was a lot of work, but at least it will be long lasting..

 

[ikorodu]

Looks pretty level to me! Nice work.

I used 2ft square pavers that were around 1.5 inch thick on my much smaller 14ft pool. One benefit is that they gave me a bit of scope for the frame to move a little and the for the legs to remain on the pavers.

 

[Eaglei22]

Looks pretty level to me! Nice work.

I used 2ft square pavers that were around 1.5 inch thick on my much smaller 14ft pool. One benefit is that they gave me a bit of scope for the frame to move a little and the for the legs to remain on the pavers.

Good point! Had I left mine a little longer and/or had wider ones I may not of had to redo the ones that were off. I was trying to avoid the liner coming up to the brick and resting on it - based off pictures of how the pool looked, but after it was all said and done, the liner comes pretty much right up to the legs and feet anyway. So going bigger and wider might be a better option.

Thanks for the response!