above ground pool experts...chime in please......

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Wife got a 16' x 48 " above ground pool two days ago...I didn't want it but for you married dudes out there, you KNOW how it is. Anyway, it's a Intex metal frame. I got a fairly level spot on the ground. Friends at work tell me to take the plunge and get plenty of sand, at least a two inch layer, level it out and then put the pool on top of that. But, won't sand shift a lot even if I pack it and wet it? I calculated about two yards worth of mason sand, two tons. 16 foot diameter circle is pretty big when you map it out. Should I put a ground cover on first, then put the sand on top of that and then put the bottom pool liner (which is a fancy name for a tarp) that came with the pool on top of the sand once it's leveled out? I figure I'm going to keep this thing and if I got to do it, might as well do it right. Appreciate ANY comments on this. I'm also going to get a salt water system for it, about 160 bucks on ebay. Figure it would pay for itself in about two years in comparison to what the needed cemicals costs.
 
Level the ground where you want to put it, THEN put down the 2 inches of sand underneath. If you don't level the ground first you'll put an undue amount of stress on the downhill side, risking failure.
 
My folks installed an above ground pool in my youth. We just used about 2" of sand, wetted it, and packed it down with a tamper. I don't recall we had to put anything under or over it, we just put the liner over it. Never had any problems with settling or leaving footprints in it. A house we bought later had one, but the sand was so loose that you could stand anywhere and put dents in it. Vacuuming that was a pain because of all the previous dents, so we ended up having to drain it, pull the liner out, level it, and pack it down hard.
 
X2 to what bullwinkle said, we leveled the ground after we pulled to sod out before putting the sand down.
 
Oh, and if you have kids in the pool, tell them NOT to push off from the walls with their legs. They will collapse. Ask the folks who bought the house with the pool we installed.
 
Good points. Thanks. Guess I got my work cut out for me. Pushing off the walls....going to have to remember that because I know it will happen and Dave, we share the last name. Got any family members from the Fayetteville N.C. area? That's where all my clan came from and migrated from Southampton England around 1876.
 
I'll add to the votes that say you need to level the ground first by digging out the high side, then put down the sand. Just make sure you give rain water (or any ground water runoff) a way to get out from behind the pool on the up hill side.
 
I have a 27'x 52" deep, above ground pool and no matter how much you pack the sand base, there will be some dents.

Also, you need to form what is called a "cove" around the bottom of the pool wall before the liner is stretched in place. This amounts to adding sand or preformed pool cove to the bottom where the wall meets the ground and then angling the sand up several inches to meet the wall.
This prevents the liner from "blowing" out the bottom.

Kill all vegetation where the pool is going with some kind of vegetation killer. Some species of grass can grow right through a liner. Plus, Bermuda grass will run under a liner as well. So kill all vegetation around, close to the pool.

I use chlorine tablets in my pool and even when water temps get into the low 90s here, the water stays crystal clear.

I need to pull the cover off mine and get it going since it looks like warm temps are here to stay.

Good luck with the setup!

P.S. When stretching the liner in place, have some help and large squeeze clamps if available. They will help out a lot!
 
I had to rebuild/rehab a 4'x24' above ground pool at the first house I bought. I was a very tender 20 yrs old. The pool was in great disrepair, with much leaves and wiggly things in the liner. The liner was not fully attached, nor were all parts/pieces in their natural position.

A scrub brush, a 5gal bucket of sudsy water, and several days got the liner clean. Then I had to take it out and redo the sand. Pay extra attention to the point where the side and bottom meet, as has already been mentioned.

It was great fun for the summer, but since the relationship the house was purchased for didn't last, I didn't stay long either.
 
Update...got it installed and set up this past weekend. Not as perfectly leveled as I had thought it would be. I think I just simply had too much sand, used 3.5 tons, could have probably gotten away with about 2. Pretty easy to set up, but you got to take time with the bottom to get the wrinkles out. Best way....fill with about 1/2 inch of water, spread out the legs and make sure they are all level, then grab the bottom from the outside and pull away from center. The salt water system simply ROCKS!!!!
 
Pulling from a memory almost 40 years ago... I remember watching my friend's father install an above ground pool. When it came time to level the sand, he put a stake in the center and drove it flush with the sand. Then he took a straight 2x4, made so it would pivot on the stake. They swung the 2x4 in a circle and worked the sand until it was level. I thought that was pretty clever.
 
That's pretty close to how I did it, but used a laser level instead. Worked OK. I'm about 4 inches off. Not too bad, but next year I'll have it nailed. If I knew it would be so freakin' HOT these past two months, I'd never put it up. That pool is like a hot tub now, too stinking hot to get in it!!
 
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