Ground Leveling

[Smiles79]

Turns out when I sunk my pavers they're a good bit lower than the rest of the ground in the middle. I leveled all the pavers to each other and the ground in between them.

How much higher can the ground in the middle reasonable be above the pavers and not cause me issues? The amount of sand specified in the manual to use as a base should end up being about 1.5" thick.

 

[Mdragger88]

The sand will be compressed by the water so don’t count on that elevation making up the difference. The pavers need to be flush with the undisturbed ground the pool sits on.

 

[Smiles79]

The sand will be compressed by the water so don’t count on that elevation making up the difference. The pavers need to be flush with the undisturbed ground the pool sits on.

Ah, that makes sense. The ground in between all the pavers is level with the pavers, I assumed there was some sort of tolerance wotht how close the rest needs to be.

 

[Mdragger88]

The idea is even support as the walls,floor, & liner work together as the support system for all that watah! You don’t want your upright plates to be higher than they are supposed to be or else the track will be wonky & things won’t fit together right this also risks washout of the sand cove which is what keeps the liner from making its way between the bottom track & the outside world.

 

[Smiles79]

The idea is even support as the walls,floor, & liner work together as the support system for all that watah! You don’t want your upright plates to be higher than they are supposed to be or else the track will be wonky & things won’t fit together right this also risks washout of the sand cove which is what keeps the liner from making its way between the bottom track & the outside world.

Yeah I get that, I'm just trying to figure out what the tolerance is. I read that the pavers need to be level with each other within 1/4", so I'm wondering what the tolerance is for the ground in the middle. 1"? 2"? 1/16"?

 

[Mdragger88]

With the pavers @ 1/2” on one side turns out to be alot more when u go down the line. Using a lazer transit is a lifesaver for this project. The eyes can really play tricks on you.
I would say within an inch would be ok- remember there are people who choose to dish out the middle - so as long as the area where the cove & a little beyond is pretty dead on, you’ll be good as far as support goes. The sand does give u some wiggle room but not much - when the water goes in & compresses it you will see every bump u missed
This is a permanent above ground pool, correct? Not an intex style pool.

 

[Smiles79]

With the pavers @ 1/2” on one side turns out to be alot more when u go down the line. Using a lazer transit is a lifesaver for this project. The eyes can really play tricks on you.
I would say within an inch would be ok- remember there are people who choose to dish out the middle - so as long as the area where the cove & a little beyond is pretty dead on, you’ll be good as far as support goes. The sand does give u some wiggle room but not much - when the water goes in & compresses it you will see every bump u missed
This is a permanent above ground pool, correct? Not an intex style pool.

Thank you! The pavers and the ground in between them are bang on. I'm using a foam cove and I'll make sure a little ways out from the pavers is pretty close, then just get the rest the best I can.

Correct, permanent.

Edit: I also have a gorilla pad if that matters.

 

[SecoSteve]

I would ditch the gorilla pad. I know it's probably paid for, but we had no luck with it. Our liner got water between the gorilla pad, and it led to many wrinkles on the bottom. Almost like the liner was floating. Also, when the installers used the shop vac to draw air out of the liner, the gorilla pad was lifting off the ground.

 

[Smiles79]

I would ditch the gorilla pad. I know it's probably paid for, but we had no luck with it. Our liner got water between the gorilla pad, and it led to many wrinkles on the bottom. Almost like the liner was floating. Also, when the installers used the shop vac to draw air out of the liner, the gorilla pad was lifting off the ground.

Good note on the gorilla pad, I plan to use to shopvac method to install the liner.

Side note, how much did it cost you to have someone install your pool? I would have rather paid someone, but they wanted $12k for the pool and installation.

 

[SecoSteve]

That was 14 years ago, and we were replacing an old pool in the same location, so all the prep was done. It was supposed to be just a liner install, as we set up the walls. They wanted $200 to install the liner, but it became windy and the walls started buckling, so we pulled down wall and they ended up charging us $900 to put the whole thing up.