New 27' AGP Partially buried Build - update thread

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Yes, the posts are all set in concrete. The inner posts are about an inch away from the top rails. The trickiest part was getting the joist height exactly right so the decking would neatly tuck under the rails with minimal gaps. So know exactly what decking material you are going to use before you hang the joists. Also, make sure you pay attention to the level of the pool. My pool is off 3/4" along the long axis. So, the deck is build to match the rails of the pool. If it was perfectly level, the gaps between the deck and the top rails of the pool wouldn't have matched. And, If I would have started on the wrong end, the decking would have been too thick to slide under the top rails.

The outer posts are not exactly 8 ft. The were evenly spaced to accommodate the existing widths of the fencing and prefabricated vinyl railing. We found the railing on clearance at Lowe's. We were going to just do wood, but the vinyl looks better and actually ended up being cheaper because of the massive clearance discount. (I think I know why they were clearing it. It was a PITB to put up) We ended up with a combination of 6 ft and 8 ft sections, so the posts were all set to accommodate what we had available.

The biggest issue I had was the pace of the work. It took five weeks for me to get it all done. With the joists and posts cooking in the summer sun, some of them twisted and warped pretty badly. The posts would have looked pretty bad if I would have done wood railing. I ended up shaving many of them down with a recip saw in order to get the vinyl post sleeves square and plumb. Plus finding 16 ft decking planks that are actually straight is all but impossible. I came up with all kinds of contraptions to draw them together before screwing them down. I didn't space them at all, and now there are gaps as wide as 1/4" between them. If I would have spaced them to start, it would look pretty bad now.


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lol, thanks for keeping this thread alive. =) Funny thing is I was just about to log in and ask questions about the pump location. For those following my build, you will learn a lot on what NOT to do.

As for progress and more challenges... I am only able to work this on weekends now but it is usable for some good breaks. we backfilled around the pool except for there the pump was. Also did not in an area next to pool where i needed to connect some conduit for power. The person helping us install the pool thought it would be a good idea to leave the pump\filter low so the filter wasn't not visible. It was already dug out 27" deep and had the space so it was placed there next to pool. I questioned the decision due to low point and water and went against my gut feeling and went with it. More on that later.

I rented a trencher for a 50' run 24" deep to the house where I plan to run the electrical line from (Right now we running off of an extension cord). About 20' of this run along the the pool before backfill went in, so only needed to trench 30'. I had conduit down for this 20' not yet for the additional 30' run. One one end of the conduit I added a temp 90 degree angle and some pipe to keep dirt out, but did not do this on the other side by pump where outlet is to be installed.

So couple days ago, we got a lot of rain. A LOT. Some places by us got 5" of rain in 3 hours. Our pump was unplugged at time, but that low space got completed flooded. To make it worse, the pool had so much rain it was overflowing, specifically at the filter. As well, the 30' trench provide a great path for the rain to fill and run down to the second section of pool where we had not yet backfilled either. Quite the mess and I was hoping the water would not affect the footings we had in place.

We got a water pump and we have been pumping out water where pool pump sits and where conduit connection point is that is not backfilled. The trench now looks to be 18" deep and muddy =) I used the pump to also bring down the water level of the pool. We are now waiting for it to dry out as much as possible but I plan on getting a couple hours in after work because the clock is ticking.....

So I need a new plan for the pump location. I am reading here we can raise the pump no higher than the water line right? We have not run the pump since it got flooded and it current sits about 24" below ground level. The pool filter section is about 20" above ground. Not sure how we do this, but guessing we need to disconnect the pump filter system, fill in the hole where pump was and then install the pump again (probably set back some more so it not on the backfill area to sink later. Is this what you all would do or fill area with rock and place pump back to where it is? How I do this, assuming filter and system is going to be super heavy.

Right now that area around pump is so muddy so I might just concentrate on trench first. We are supposed to get a lot of rain Saturday and Sunday again so clock is ticking to fix the pump location and complete trench.

Also lessons learned, the one side of conduit that I did not elbow up to keep dirt is now buried under mud. Hoping the entire conduit didnt fill up with water and dirt and I can still get a line through it. Need to fix that before connecting the remaining 30' conduit back to house.

Good times. Hope this helps people with what not to do. What would you do with the pump location? Will post picture of pump in a few...
 
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Here is picture of pump and filter next to pool. Pump is on the other side of filter. Water is out now but would say water came up to about half way up pump at worst level. My other end of conduit is somewhere under the water and mud to the right of system. I'm thinking of filling this space up with dirt or rock (tho i am low on dirt for backfill), then put the system up on some blocks.
 
I hope your pump isn't toast. They aren't really designed to be submerged.

As long as the pump inlet is below the bottom of the skimmer opening in the pool, I think you are good. You don't need a lot of pressure to from the pool water to prime the pump. As long as it is below the water line, it'll fill, and if the water is below the bottom of the skimmer opening, it wouldn't fill in any case.

That rain was crazy. I took the water level up in my pool 1.5" in about an hour or so!

SO sorry to read about all of your headaches.
 
Got the electrical wire through the existing 20' run last night and also connected another 30' of conduit and ran wire. Still have about 10' to go to reach house foundation. We will work to backfill the area the conduit was running and let the pump area dry out a bit more. It still very muddy. Rain in forecast for Saturday and Sunday and ordering a pump with float device to automaticaly pump out the water in pump area until we figure that part out.

We did turn on the pump and it seems to be working well!
 
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