Pavers, leveling, water, drainage

[Molly3]

Hi. Posted in the intro. New to a pool in PA, had an easy set intex in Fl. Bought a 14x42 summer wave metal frame pool. Purchased the bigger summer waves pump and filter. It looks like the intex one I used in FL and had no problems with that pump, fingers crossed. I saw a set up someone kept the skimmer and attached it to the pump, I'm going to try that. Lots of digging. Got to the point where we set up the top rail to get a better idea where the pool would go and paver positions. Read more on tfp and realized I had the wrong pavers. I'm going to get the 4x8x16 and dig them in with a trowel.
For the paver leveling, do I place the level on the frame between the pavers, and go around like a clock? At the end of that, it should be level or how do I check from the rear to front of the pool and side to side? String line? I know I start from the lowest paver, which will be near the grass once I shift the pool over some.
I plan to lay tarp then foam floor mats under the pool once the pavers are level and the ground raked out.
For drainage behind the pool I'm stumped. I thought French drain with gravel, but the back is very close to the water line, would heavy duty landscape plastic and gravel work so I don't have to dig into the ground? I'm probably going to put a retaining wall along the back. It's about 2'.
For water, the day I get it filled I have to start testing and add chemicals? I used salt water system with the easy set, the chlorine is new to me
Last, the pins that come with the pool are plastic. I thought they would be metal bolts. Does the plastic actually work ok do do most people witch out the metal bolts? I was a little shocked to see the plastic pins.
I have a lot of work to do still, here's our progress so far. Feels like I won't have the pool up until it's time to take it down, unless I can winterize it.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! To level the pavers start with the lowest point and use that as your reference point. It will be paver 1. Use a water level or a transit to level paver 2 to paver 1, then level paver 3 to paver 1, and so forth all the way around the pool.
Where does water usually gather in the yard? Maybe wait for the first rain to see if you have issues with standing water before placing the drain.
Yes, from day 1 you will need chlorine. SWGs are great for maintaining chlorine at target level, but need help getting to target level. Use liquid chlorine to reach target level. Plus you will need salt to get the SWG going, and CYA/stabilizer so you don't burn off all your chlorine. We recommend getting a FAS/DPD based test kit such as the TF 100 or Taylor k2006 to test your pool. You can winterize this pool if needed.

 

[Molly3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! To level the pavers start with the lowest point and use that as your reference point. It will be paver 1. Use a water level or a transit to level paver 2 to paver 1, then level paver 3 to paver 1, and so forth all the way around the pool.
Where does water usually gather in the yard? Maybe wait for the first rain to see if you have issues with standing water before placing the drain.
Yes, from day 1 you will need chlorine. SWGs are great for maintaining chlorine at target level, but need help getting to target level. Use liquid chlorine to reach target level. Plus you will need salt to get the SWG going, and CYA/stabilizer so you don't burn off all your chlorine. We recommend getting a FAS/DPD based test kit such as the TF 100 or Taylor k2006 to test your pool. You can winterize this pool if needed.

Thank you. I don't have swg, I did with the intex. Honestly I didn't even test the water regular. I think twice. I calculated the salt, added it each time I added water, and the water stayed clear.
I don't have a water level. How can I reach across the pool from the opposite side, to paver 1? String level? I can use an 8' board until it doesn't reach. I could move that and measure from the side working back around to the front?
I can winterize the metal frame here? I'll read the winterizing thread. I'm at the base of the laurel mountains in SW PA, we had a few days of 2-3' snow and the rest less than 1'. Some ice days, and cold. Overall it was 30-40's but there where some bitter weeks in the 20/30's, and below 20 nights.

 

[zea3]

Sorry I misread the part about the SWG. You would still need liquid chlorine, stabilizer, and the test kit to test and dose the pool correctly. You can easily build a water level. It is much more reliable than a board or leveling with string.

 

[Molly3]

That's interesting. I can try to make that. About the water, it's supposed to rain this week, and I can get a picture. Last week when it rained, the water didn't go much of anywhere. The ground was slightly off so it trickled toward the front of the slope towards the front, the rest puddled and absorbed in the ground. I only had about 3/4 dug out. The back part behind the pool, where I dug down 2', that seems to be the water table from the rain, and it sits there. It's clay there so not great draining. My neighbors have gravel drain around their pool, but it's a regular AGP and they were able to backfill.

 

[Molly3]

I went ahead and ordered the SWG system. I was thinking no salt because we have a labrador, but read it's better for the dogs, as long as they don't drink a bunch of water. We loved the SWG before so hopefully it's just as good now with the updated intex system.