Hello From Central Iowa - New Pool Owner

[krusej23]

Hi, my wife and I bought a 24' round above ground pool and it should be getting installed March 27th. We have the hole dug as shown in the picture. We bought a Serena pool from a local pool store and it should be arriving any day hopefully. My issue that I'm most nervous about is the cut into the slope that we had to do and how we will have to deal with that with the side of the pool. We may put up a make shift retaining wall depending on what the installer says. The pool walls are steel I would worry about rusting if we put the pool right up to the dirt. The wall of dirt is about 2.5 feet deep.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Yes, a very common issue for pools on a slope. Cutting into the ground for a level base was correct. To accommodate the side where the ground is higher, you'll need to evaluate your options for either a retaining wall or some sort of edging that will promote water run off to each side. Some people do indeed fill-in the sides outside the pool with dirt (similar to just setting the pool in the ground), but as you said, there is always a concern about moisture on the outside of the walls.

 

[krusej23]

Still working on getting retaining wall quotes for this. One came back with a "I don't want to do this" quote of $5900 so I'm waiting for the other two that I think should be more in the $3000 range.

I'm still waiting for electrical to get trenched to the pump also and we are waiting for consistent warm temps. The pool water touch the 60s last week but we also got down to freezing this weekend and had some snow. The joys of living in Iowa.

I'm just really excited to get the retaining wall done and the electrical so we can start working on dirt moving and other things around the pool.

I tested the water and my results are below...
ph - 7.6
Alkalinity - 53
FC - 0.17
CYA - 5
CH - 116
Phosphates were off the charts also but can't remember what that was right now.

 

[mknauss]

Not sure where you got those test results, but not from your TF100.
Phosphates are irrelevant.

 

[krusej23]

I got them from the pool store yesterday to get a base and make sure I knew my results were somewhat accurate from my TF100 set.

 

[mknauss]

I got them from the pool store yesterday to get a base and make sure I knew my results were somewhat accurate from my TF100 set.

OK -- just remember. You are comparing a very reliable test method (TF100 done by you) to a very unreliable test method done by a pool store. No need to post pool store results. We do not provide guidance based on them.

 

[krusej23]

OK -- just remember. You are comparing a very reliable test method (TF100 done by you) to a very unreliable test method done by a pool store. No need to post pool store results. We do not provide guidance based on them.

I wasn't asking for guidance on them. Just throwing out what I got back and I'm not even acting on them right now because I don't have a pump running yet.

 

[krusej23]

Just an update. Still waiting for the retaining wall to be put up but that sounds like it should be done next week. Once that is done, that will allow me to do some more landscaping around the pool to make it look complete. I started putting some mexican beach pebbles down on the far side of the pool where there won't be a retaining wall.

At the beginning of May we started to warm up enough that the algae started growing since we didn't have electrical hooked up yet. You can see the algae starting in the picture below. Electrical was hooked up a day or two after this so we were able to get rid of the algae by filtering and shocking the pool. I was able to get some free Trex decking from a neighbor so we plan to add some decking when the retaining wall gets done. Haven't decided if I will put it between the cement patio and the pool or to the right side and create a little standing area to drink and a table to hold snacks and drinks.