Nervous first time pool owner

[FinsToTheLeft]

Hello!


After much back and forth, I finally pulled the trigger and bought an 18x9ft Bestway Swim Vista pool from Costco. What I'm really concerned about right now is the installation. I had my landscaper come by to give me a quote. He is doing another AG prep in my neighborhood, and they are using decomposed granite as the foundation. Is this typical? I initially thought it might be too sharp for the bottom of the pool. But maybe with the liner, it will be ok. The manufacturer does not recommend sand. I would REALLY like to leave my sod in place and just put the granite over it to save money. Am I being too much of a cheapskate? My yard is pretty uneven. I understand we need to dig down to the lowest spot and not fill in to meet the high spots. After my granite/sand is in place, we need to water it and tamp it a few times, is that right?


After that, I need to get pressure treated lumber to go under the supports, correct? I read a few threads where people used pavers and they cracked.


And I know that I need to order a testing kit. I would like to switch to a better pump and a saltwater system pretty quickly. Should I just start out with the pump it comes with, get the hang of it, and then switch? Also, I'm totally in the weeds as far as setting up a SWG. I will check out some YouTubes. The forums are scaring me with tales of parts not fitting, etc. lol!


Thank you for all of your advice.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! You really need to remove the sod, especially if you have nut grass in your area. Nut grass will grow up through the pool bottom if you don’t pre-treat the soil before putting up the pool. It is also very important that the ground is firm and level, and the treated wood for the legs will need to be set flush to the ground.

 

[FinsToTheLeft]

Am I correct in assuming nut grass is the same as nutsedge, because we do have that here ?

Does anyone have experience removing sod themselves, or is that one of those jobs where your time and money is better spent having a professional do it?

 

[scout123]

I used a tiller and a shovel to level my area. I only have a 12 foot round, and I'll never level on my own again!! It was incredibly time consuming and difficult, especially with the clay soil and rock we have here. When I upgrade, I'll be hiring it out. All that to say, yes, you can do it yourself and many many people do, but it's not an easy job. The most important part of a pool install is the ground prep and making sure the pool is level. Oh, and yes, use wood for the leg supports. Be sure they are dug in and level with the ground. And I'm not sure why intex says to not use sand. You should never use sand to level, but I think it's fine to put some down to cushion the bottom.

I bought the intex 1600gph pump/filter with swg. I did have to order a couple parts and make the hole for the return bigger in my pool, but it was easy to do following youtube videos, and it's a really nice set up. The swg keeps my FC where it needs to be without me having to do much of anything. I know it seems daunting if you've not done anything like this before ( I hadn't and I was worried I couldn't do it/figure it out), but you get a lot of help here.

Good luck!!

 

[zea3]

Yes, nut grass and nutsedge are the same thing. If you want to do the leveling your self, and many do, rent a sod cutter. Be sure you prepare an area larger than you think you will need. For example for an 18 foot pool prepare a 20 foot area. You will want to make yours 20x11. Adding an extra foot all the way around is a good rule of thumb.

To check for level you can either rent a transit, or construct a water level aka bunyip. There are some good videos on youtube on how to make one.

Another reason to remove sod is that it will really stink once it starts to die and rot under the pool. Its not very pleasant!