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Right! I always planned on renting it to make sure my pavers were level for the uprights just never thought I would be basically starting over.
I got the bricks in place and height leveled, I still am going to tweak them a bit to make sure it is level front to back and side to side. I was able to avoid chiseling the rock more by just moving the whole build about 6 inches over. Now to just take a pick axe to the center and get that all brought down to the same level. I do not have the laser level anymore so this will be done with 4ft levels and by eye. Since it is the inside portion from what I have understood that is not as critical to have perfect. Getting closer!
ETA: Is there somewhere online to find assembly manuals for pools? I tried looking around and could only find the brochure. I have a good idea of how to put it together since I tore it down but having it on hand would help to solidify things.
www.inyopool.com has a great set of videos and such for installing an above ground pool. They might also be able to help you with a manual for your pool.
Kim
Kim
I hate it when you find out that things are not level after you are reasonably sure they were. My build I was going crazy making sure everything was level to come to find I was 2" high in 2 quarters of the pool floor. My own fault for not slowing down when reading the measurements. Like you I caught it before putting the pool up. Keep up the awesome work you are doing a great job.
Almost done with re-digging it all, just have that little island then I have to go over everything again when it is nice and wet to get it smooth. It started to storm otherwise I probably could have wrapped it up tonight, hopefully the next day or two allow me some time to work as I am hoping to start moving the sand this weekend.
The picture and my eyes can be very deceiving, that island is about 3" tall and depending where you stand I am very surprised my bricks are all level with each other, I triple verified the day I had the laser though so I am keeping the faith in it.
The picture and my eyes can be very deceiving, that island is about 3" tall and depending where you stand I am very surprised my bricks are all level with each other, I triple verified the day I had the laser though so I am keeping the faith in it.
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Finally got the pool up. That was... something I never want to do again, at least not without flatter ground or better equipment. I had used the bottom rails to size out the area and my pavers, well the pool wall wound up being 6-7 inches larger and the bottom rails would not slide to adjust out so I had to lift out the wall a section at a time and the adjust the rails in each plate individually. All of my rails at least are still over the pavers but the back end of the upright on some is not. I also had to dig out the circle more in some spots to allow for this adjustment.
We got it as a circle pretty much within an inch all around and using a 4' level all uprights seemed to be on point. So I went ahead and started spreading the sand, well it had rained pretty good 2-3 days ago so the sand was still wet, not too wet but wet enough where it wasn't easy and light sand to move, lighter than clay though. I got that pretty much level, there are some dips in spots but that is an imperfection that only I will probably notice, I was running out of daylight as well at this point and just wanted to get it done.
The liner was by far the easiest part of this whole project so far, we used a unibead liner and that part went smooth, I even think I got every wrinkle out of the bottom. The only downside was that it blew the motor on my small shopvac after and hour or so of filling. By that time we had about 1.5-2" of water so I think we are good on that end.
I will take some pics when I get home today, my wife took some during the process but they don't tell much. O yeah and I dig the trench for my plumbing to find out that large rock does in fact spread out, I can still bury my plumbing but it will only be about 12" under dirt. I did get lucky that the rock didn't spread more in the direction of where the pool went. Once I finish painting the rest of the top rails I think it will look real nice, and theforecast chaged so I may be able to finish within a week after all.
We got it as a circle pretty much within an inch all around and using a 4' level all uprights seemed to be on point. So I went ahead and started spreading the sand, well it had rained pretty good 2-3 days ago so the sand was still wet, not too wet but wet enough where it wasn't easy and light sand to move, lighter than clay though. I got that pretty much level, there are some dips in spots but that is an imperfection that only I will probably notice, I was running out of daylight as well at this point and just wanted to get it done.
The liner was by far the easiest part of this whole project so far, we used a unibead liner and that part went smooth, I even think I got every wrinkle out of the bottom. The only downside was that it blew the motor on my small shopvac after and hour or so of filling. By that time we had about 1.5-2" of water so I think we are good on that end.
I will take some pics when I get home today, my wife took some during the process but they don't tell much. O yeah and I dig the trench for my plumbing to find out that large rock does in fact spread out, I can still bury my plumbing but it will only be about 12" under dirt. I did get lucky that the rock didn't spread more in the direction of where the pool went. Once I finish painting the rest of the top rails I think it will look real nice, and theforecast chaged so I may be able to finish within a week after all.
SWEET! I hear ya on it being a job you don't want to do again!! We were able to hire ours out and were VERY grateful for that!
Kim
Kim
Don't mind the mess I was exhausted by the time I called it quits last night. Today I am putting on the rest of the top rails, I then will take the remaining ones off one by one to sand down rust and repaint. Hopefully I will get some of the plumbing put in today as well. The liner looked much better with the vacuum going but since that dies I am hoping (from reading on here) that the walls should stretch themselves out when it fills.
Went ahead and tested the water from the hose and results aren't too shabby to start with. From reading around if I remember rights the CYA of course can be added while filling or at least right away, the salt will be added once circulation gets going. Once those 2 dissolve then I should retest before adding anything else, correct? Since I have A vinyl pool CH shouldn't be much of concern unless it goes way out of spectrum as well?
FC: 1.5
PH: 7.2
TA: 130
CH: 120
CYA - didn't bother testing
Salt: 0
It has been slow going filling the pool since We only run it during the day and the first couple days only when I got home from work. Next weekend is forecast to be in the upper 80s though so I plan to have it open and ready by then.
ETA: Yes I am using pool math
FC: 1.5
PH: 7.2
TA: 130
CH: 120
CYA - didn't bother testing
Salt: 0
It has been slow going filling the pool since We only run it during the day and the first couple days only when I got home from work. Next weekend is forecast to be in the upper 80s though so I plan to have it open and ready by then.
ETA: Yes I am using pool math
Those are some good numbers to start with! We will tweak it when you get it full!
Kim
Kim
Wish I would of saw this post a few weeks ago, I would have recommended making a water level. For about $5 you can make a level thats as 100% perfectly accurate.
Finally got everything close to where we can swim in it. I was hoping to have it open Saturday, right now I'm not sure if that will happen or not. I got all the plumbing and of course found a small leak at an elbow, so repaired that yesterday. Also found the air release on the filter has a dry rotted gasket, replaced that this morning, and then (since less water was spraying I found another leak at the waste port, so I have the gasket ordered and it should be here Saturday as I couldn't find anything like it in stores. The threaded fitting from the the top of my pump had a small leak so I put a union there and re-tightened it but I wont be testing that until I get the other gasket in. Other than that though no more leaks. I was at least able to run the pump for 30 min or so just to make sure that all functioned well. Got my ladder installed today with pavers underneath (more digging yay!). CYA went in about 2 days ago and is still dissolving, I plan to start dumping some salt in tomorrow to get that out of the way and then retest the water to see how my PH and FC are holding up.
Hopefully that gasket fixes the issue. the existing one has a very small tear near the outside which is what I am guessing is allowing the water out. Still painting the top rails and doing about 1-2 a day but there is not rush for the cosmetics on that.
Is there anything I may be missing or something else I should be doing? My bonding wire is set out and is already connected to all the equipment and 1 upright so far. I plan on taking care of that whenever I can stop making repairs.
Hopefully that gasket fixes the issue. the existing one has a very small tear near the outside which is what I am guessing is allowing the water out. Still painting the top rails and doing about 1-2 a day but there is not rush for the cosmetics on that.
Is there anything I may be missing or something else I should be doing? My bonding wire is set out and is already connected to all the equipment and 1 upright so far. I plan on taking care of that whenever I can stop making repairs.
Sounds like you have it all done up and this close // to being ready!!! I say let the swimming begin as most of the stuff does not really have to do with the water!!!
Kim
Kim
Finally got in there! It wasn't until about 6:30 so not much time until the mosquitoes came out but still. Took another test today and looks like my FC disappeared so I threw in a gallon of bleach. Ph lowered a little so I am going to pick up some borax. Got 8 bags of salt dumped in there and dissolved so I'll give that a test tomorrow. The gasket should be here tomorrow which I am hoping takes care of the drain leak.
Only issue still existing is the threaded fitting at the top of the pump is still leaking, granted only a small drop leak but still. I think I may try picking up some plumbers putty and attaching it again. I used teflon and it is on there pretty tight, any tighter and I am afraid of cracking something. I still have a ton of work ahead of me to fix the landscaping and finish painting but all of that can wait I at least got a working pool now!
I grew up on a lake and the largest pool I have had since then has been a 12' so 24' is awesome to have, you can actually swim laps without running into a wall.
Only issue still existing is the threaded fitting at the top of the pump is still leaking, granted only a small drop leak but still. I think I may try picking up some plumbers putty and attaching it again. I used teflon and it is on there pretty tight, any tighter and I am afraid of cracking something. I still have a ton of work ahead of me to fix the landscaping and finish painting but all of that can wait I at least got a working pool now!
I grew up on a lake and the largest pool I have had since then has been a 12' so 24' is awesome to have, you can actually swim laps without running into a wall.
The next time you add salt make it a "diamond day"! Have every one in the pool ready to swim with the "diamonds". It is so pretty and fun. This is also a great way to get it all mixed in!
For mosquito control try these: Amazon.com : OFF! Powerpad Lamp : Insects Lamp : Gateway These is another lamp they sell but I have not tried it. I KNOW this one works. It is almost like there is a dome over the whole area! We have a pond and wetlands close to the pool so we KNOW mosquitoes!!!
Kim
For mosquito control try these: Amazon.com : OFF! Powerpad Lamp : Insects Lamp : Gateway These is another lamp they sell but I have not tried it. I KNOW this one works. It is almost like there is a dome over the whole area! We have a pond and wetlands close to the pool so we KNOW mosquitoes!!!
Kim
So it has been a couple weeks and pool seems to be going good. I still have not fixed that threaded fitting leak as I keep forgetting to pick up plumbers putty when I am near the stores (~30 min away). The gasket did fix the leak on my sand filter drain, sometimes at least. It may be normal but when I set it to backwash I still get water dripping from the bottom as well. During normal operation it is fine though. I have been working on getting my chems right but haven't been trying all to hard since they aren't all that out of whack.
So once I got my chlorine up is when I started looking at everything else
at that baseline
FC 4.6 CC 0 PH 7.6 TA 170 CH 110 CYA 140ish (rough based on diluted test) Salt 4200
So since my CYA was super high I worked on getting the Chlorine up while I spent time researching and all that.
Maintained about FC 8 for almost a week.
I then drained about 4-6 inches from the pool ( I don't have a sump pump yet) and refilled. This brought my numbers to:
FC 5.5 PH 7.8 TA 150 CYA ~100 Salt ~3600(I've ordered more reagent to try another diluted test)
Today I am at
FC 6.5 PH 7.6 TA 120 as I have been working on getting the TA down with muriatic acid. Playing around with Pool math it seems that FC should be OK in my current range if my CYA is actually at 100, but I know isn't advised. My FC has been hanging around 6.5 -7 for the last 5-6 days (since the refill). Right now I only run the pump about 4-5 hours a day with the SWG around 40%.
When I think about it it seems a bit overwhelming so I am trying to just focus on one part at a time, I already used a gallon of acid so I have to pick up another gallon or so this weekend to get the TA lower. I may also have to suck it up and buy a sump pump to drain water to get the CYA down but if I can avoid that I will.
Other than those concerns the pool has been great, I realize this winter I am going to have to severely trim back a nearby tree though.
I have slowly been working on grading out the area around the pool to avoid having to put up a fence but since i can swim motivation on that has been lacking.
I probably could have made the return line shorter before going underground if I swapped the flow switch and SWG but I wanted to keep the switch in a spot that could be disconnected in case of repairs without having to buy another union.
Budget wise is typical for me I had a written estimate of just over $1,775 and actual spent was around $1,850 plus some bits here and there I am sure I forgot to add in. My original budget had much less pvc included, I had the equipment pad right near the pool and the wife wanted it somewhere else which wound up being about 20' from the pool. I did not include equipment rental in the initial cost since I was hoping to do most of the de-sodding by hand . Plus there were some odd and end things I didn't include like the pavers and clamps. I forgot to add in the cost of all the rustoleum I wound up using so that probably added another $50 or so. I think I shaved off pennies everywhere I could without affecting the final product.
As I figured the floor is bumpy as anything but I can live with that, If I had waited another week or two to get it perfectly smooth it still would probably not be up now and it has been in the 90's for the past week with no end in sight. Me and working in the heat do not mix anymore.
ETA: that little bit of green is a sinking leaf No algae at all and has been clear water since opening.
So once I got my chlorine up is when I started looking at everything else
at that baseline
FC 4.6 CC 0 PH 7.6 TA 170 CH 110 CYA 140ish (rough based on diluted test) Salt 4200
So since my CYA was super high I worked on getting the Chlorine up while I spent time researching and all that.
Maintained about FC 8 for almost a week.
I then drained about 4-6 inches from the pool ( I don't have a sump pump yet) and refilled. This brought my numbers to:
FC 5.5 PH 7.8 TA 150 CYA ~100 Salt ~3600(I've ordered more reagent to try another diluted test)
Today I am at
FC 6.5 PH 7.6 TA 120 as I have been working on getting the TA down with muriatic acid. Playing around with Pool math it seems that FC should be OK in my current range if my CYA is actually at 100, but I know isn't advised. My FC has been hanging around 6.5 -7 for the last 5-6 days (since the refill). Right now I only run the pump about 4-5 hours a day with the SWG around 40%.
When I think about it it seems a bit overwhelming so I am trying to just focus on one part at a time, I already used a gallon of acid so I have to pick up another gallon or so this weekend to get the TA lower. I may also have to suck it up and buy a sump pump to drain water to get the CYA down but if I can avoid that I will.
Other than those concerns the pool has been great, I realize this winter I am going to have to severely trim back a nearby tree though.
I have slowly been working on grading out the area around the pool to avoid having to put up a fence but since i can swim motivation on that has been lacking.
I probably could have made the return line shorter before going underground if I swapped the flow switch and SWG but I wanted to keep the switch in a spot that could be disconnected in case of repairs without having to buy another union.
Budget wise is typical for me I had a written estimate of just over $1,775 and actual spent was around $1,850 plus some bits here and there I am sure I forgot to add in. My original budget had much less pvc included, I had the equipment pad right near the pool and the wife wanted it somewhere else which wound up being about 20' from the pool. I did not include equipment rental in the initial cost since I was hoping to do most of the de-sodding by hand
. Plus there were some odd and end things I didn't include like the pavers and clamps. I forgot to add in the cost of all the rustoleum I wound up using so that probably added another $50 or so. I think I shaved off pennies everywhere I could without affecting the final product. As I figured the floor is bumpy as anything but I can live with that, If I had waited another week or two to get it perfectly smooth it still would probably not be up now and it has been in the 90's for the past week with no end in sight. Me and working in the heat do not mix anymore.
ETA: that little bit of green is a sinking leaf No algae at all and has been clear water since opening.
You got photo bombed by a leaf! LOL
That came out great!!! You are doing a good job dialing it all in. I like how you are working through the levels a bit at a time. So long as you keep the FC in level with the CYA and the pH/TA happy then it is all good!
Kim
That came out great!!! You are doing a good job dialing it all in. I like how you are working through the levels a bit at a time. So long as you keep the FC in level with the CYA and the pH/TA happy then it is all good!
Kim