Bear with me for yet another question about leveling the ground for a metal frame above ground pool. I've read a lot of good stuff on here, but can't sort out a definitive answer.
We've got a 14' x 42" summer waves metal frame pool. Our ground has a gentle slope and a lot of high spots. The least terrible spot is still about 3 - 4" out of level with a few high spots. I know the right way to do this - remove the sod and dig the high spots to level (+/- 1") with the lowest spot. I don't want to do that for a few reasons: I tried to do it with hand tools and it was a disaster. Bids for a professional leveling were close to $1,000, which I don't want to do. Besides, we are planning to use this for the summer and take it down, and I'd rather not have a big hole to deal with afterwards.
I hear from so many people that put down a tarp and call it good, I wonder if I'm making it too complicated for a 1-season install. Is 3-4" off level too much if we're only planning to use it for 3 months? Are there simpler solutions that would be "goode enough" for a 3 month period? Or is it really a case where if I'm not going to do it the right way I shouldn't do it at all?
We've got a 14' x 42" summer waves metal frame pool. Our ground has a gentle slope and a lot of high spots. The least terrible spot is still about 3 - 4" out of level with a few high spots. I know the right way to do this - remove the sod and dig the high spots to level (+/- 1") with the lowest spot. I don't want to do that for a few reasons: I tried to do it with hand tools and it was a disaster. Bids for a professional leveling were close to $1,000, which I don't want to do. Besides, we are planning to use this for the summer and take it down, and I'd rather not have a big hole to deal with afterwards.
I hear from so many people that put down a tarp and call it good, I wonder if I'm making it too complicated for a 1-season install. Is 3-4" off level too much if we're only planning to use it for 3 months? Are there simpler solutions that would be "goode enough" for a 3 month period? Or is it really a case where if I'm not going to do it the right way I shouldn't do it at all?
