Intex Ultra Frame 18x9 rectanglular pool leg supports

[tjrjim]

Hello All,

First post. A lot of great info here. I am prepping ground for a new intex 18x9 ultra frame. This will be left up year round with a deck surrounding. I am having a very difficult time finding 4" thick concrete blocks or pavers for the leg supports. I can't find any around my area in northern California.

So I am thinking of a couple different options.

1. 4 pieces of4x4 pressure treated cut to 16" long then bolted together with 1/2 all thread all the way trough to make blocks.

2. Form pads where the legs go and pour concrete to make the blocks.

Looking for thoughts and ideas on these options or open to other ideas.

Many thanks for the time and info.

 

[bse53]

4X4 is overkill.
I think I used 2x10x16" (possibly longer) pieces. Pressure treated-- but in my dry climate, standard lumber will outlast the pool. I also used 1" R-tech foam under the pool, no sand. Try and get the leg support and the foam (or sand) level.

 

[bse53]

If you don't want to use lumber, I'd use the 12"x12"x2" patio blocks from the big box stores. Use 2 per vertical upright assembly.
As has been pointed out elsewhere on this forum, water levels are probably the most accurate way of insuring the blocks are level from one end of the pool to the other.
Having used both sand and the 1" white foam board from the big box store, I prefer the foam. While the Intex liner is pretty thick and probably wont distort when people push off walking on the bottom of the pool, leaving small depressions in the sand-- the steel walled vinyl liner we had years ago did.

 

[tjrjim]

Thank you for the info. Planning on using foam.

I wonder if stacking 2 of the patio blocks increases the strength to stop them from cracking?

 

[bse53]

Someone in another thread about Intex rectangular pools calculated that each leg supports ≈550 lbs. (It's the fascinating thread about a person in Sweden hanging their pool from a deck)

If the 2" patio block is set on perfectly level, compacted soil, the block can support the weight without cracking. The problem is the soil is probably not perfectly level. Even is the patio block cracks, depending on where it cracks, it will still be distributing the load over a wider area.

I suspect that two blocks stacked would help that-- but that's the reason I went with lumber, and they work fine. Either way, make sure the ground is as level and compacted as you can make it, with any rocks or pebbles removed.

- - - Updated - - -

Even if the block cracks, depending on where it cracks, it should still spread the load over most of the block.

 

[bse53]

OK, I checked when I got home from work, and it seems I used 3 pieces of 2x6 pressure treated wood cut into 16" lengths.