Semi Buried Or Fully Buried Above Ground Pool
These pools are similar to the traditional above ground pools discussed above, however, they willhave fully insulated wall panels that are significantly stronger to combat the ground forces pushingin on the walls. These pools will come in a variety of sizes, even the more free form look.
Pros: More of the inground look and feel with a relatively quick install about 3-5 days depending on size and site location, long term solution, warranty.
Cons: Cannot be easily re-located if you move, price point for this option is fairly high due to installation, not conducive to a DIY install.
Location Of Current Things And Future Things
Sheds, playground sets, dog kennels, dog runs, gardens, and abandoned engine blocks can all take up some space in your backyard. When choosing a good site for your pool, make sure you have room for these structures and the activities that go along with them. With a shed, make sure there is still room to get that lawn mower in and out. For obvious reasons, you wont want your new pool to be too close to that swing set. And keep that engine block in view. You dont want to crush your teenage kids dream of one day rebuilding it.
Risk Of Installing Directly On Grass
You can easily install your above ground pool on top of the grass, but if you are not careful it might lead to disappointing outcomes.
After choosing the location and ensuring that the surface is level and even enough, you will first need to:
- Give it a cut with your lawnmower.
- Remove any problematic debris and stones.
- Use your leaf rake and your yard brush to clear up the chosen area.
- Place a long-lasting groundsheet on top of the grass and install your pool.
Note the following: The grass, subdued by the weight of your above ground pool, will dry and die away. Hence, you will need to resow the empty patch, after preparing the soil, if you remove your pool in the future.
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Take Those Lines Downand Dry Them Out
Whether or not youre dealing with freezing temperatures, taking down and storing your pool lines will make setting them up again in the spring a lot cleaner. Less gunky, lets say. The best part? All you have to do is disconnect the lines, allow all the water still lodged in them to run out, then let them air dry outsidewe dont want any festering-for-months mold to appear on pool opening day. Once theyre completely dry, youre ready to store your pipes. Oh, and word from the wise: do notI repeat, do notdo this while your circulation system is on, or even connected to power.
If you have hard PVC pipes that cannot be easily removed, youll need to winterize your plumbing by blowing out your linesthis will prevent any water still in your pipes from freezing and cracking your lines. For above-ground pools, winterizing usually involves using a Shop Vac to blow air into your skimmer and through your plumbing. You can also suck water from your skimmer. Just keep in mind that for this to work youll have already drained your water just below the skimmer.
If you do leave up your lines, youll want to add pool-grade antifreeze directly into that empty skimmer. Most manufacturers recommend one gallon of antifreeze for every 10 feet of 1.5 inch pipe. Just make sure you get the antifreeze thats made for pools and not, you know, cars. That stuff is toxic.
Drain Part Of Your Poolor Dont
So you didnt opt in for the skimmer cover and youre expecting a tough winter, huh? Hey, you do you. Lowering your water level will help big time to prevent freezing damage, but dont lower so much that your pool walls are extremely exposed and could crack. Just under the skimmer should do the trick.
All you have to do is lower the water level of your pool with a submersible pump. Be sure to watch it working, so you dont accidentally remove too much water. That would be seriously, ah, draining.
Be sure to check with your local authorities about where that water you drain should goespecially since its just been chemically treated. The last thing you want is fees and environmental damage on your hands.
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Putting Up The Walls Of An Above Ground Pool
Last week I showed you how we prepared the base for our above ground pool. This week Im going to show you how we installed the feet, and put up the walls. Let me tell you now, this was an absolutely exhausting day. We had Tonys parents help us, but it was still a long, tiring, and somewhat frustrating process.
*I worked in collaboration on this project with Pool Supplies Canada,who provided me with a discount on pool parts. All opinions are my own*
Fold And Fold Your Pool Liner
You know that friend of yours who is always saying theyre around if you ever need a hand? Youd better give them a call right about nowsince youre about to understand the size of your pool in a whole new way, this isnt going to be a task for just one person. Once your pool liner is dry, youll need to fold it into as neat a square as possible to fit it back into its original packaging. I know, Im making it sound easy. And with the right help, it can be. Remember, its supposed to be as neat as possiblea perfect square might just not be possible.
Tossed the box? Thats totally cool. You can use an extra large plastic storage container with a lid. If you did happen to keep your owners manual around, there should be a visual aid to help with folding your particular liner. If youre folding and folding and that liner is somehow looking messier, those instructions might be just what you need.
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Slowly Fill With Water
This section in the video shows how filling the water slowly will allow you to smooth out wrinkles in your pool liner. Its recommended to fill the pool halfway then refer to the separate instructions on how to install the skimmer and return fittings. Once installed, you can finish connecting the rest of the pool equipment like the filter system and pump. After installing all the above ground equipment, you can fill the rest of the pool.
Quick Tip: Smooth out the liner when there is 1 of water in the bottom of the pool. This will allow you to adjust the liner, giving it a smoother, tighter fit.
Tip #32 Do Not Use Any Silicone Or Anything For The Skimmer
The skimmer has either a one-piece or two-piece gasket. It is not designed to need anything else to make a perfect and lasting seal.
Using silicone or plumbers putty or anything else will often result in a mess and a leak. Yeah, dont do that.
There are instances where silicone has to be used with a skimmer install, but not often. Some very poorly made skimmers may not line up well with the holes in the pool wall. Cheap skimmers can also come with very poor gaskets that wont fit right or lay correctly.
In these cases, an experienced guy like me may elect to use silicone, but I will usually try without and only use it if it leaks. This is how little I use it.
If you dont want to hear this and/or have your reasons and are going to use something, then fine and good luck. At least make sure its 100% silicone and the label says something like for baths and kitchens. Get the good stuff.
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The Importance Of Getting Off On The Right Foot
Do you remember the story of the three little pigs? In case your preschool didnt share that important piece of engineering wisdom with you, the moral is that doing a little bit of extra work in advance pays huge dividends in the long run.
In the case of above-ground pools, it is essential to ensure that you have a firm, smooth, level, and flat-footing for it. If not, the following is on your horizon:
- Your pool liners lifespan may be reduced by resting on rocks, stretching into hollows, and so on.
- One end of your pool will be noticeably shallower than the other a slope of only 2° will tilt a 12 pool by five inches overall.
- The uneven weight distribution places excessive strain on one side of the pool wall, making it more likely to buckle and fail.
However, the flattest part of your yard may not be the most suitable in other ways. For one thing, youll need a lower point to drain the pool water to at the end of summer: almost all above-ground pools have a drain plug to which you can connect a standard garden hose, but this will be of little help if your pool is right at the bottom of a hollow.
Youll also need an electrical outlet to power the filter pump. You really dont want to mess around with extension cords, using one may void the pumps warranty and carries an increased risk of electrical shock.
Trees are to be avoided, too. Not only do they drop leaves in the water, but their shade prevents the sun from heating up the water as it should.
before your purchase
Installing A Pool With A Sand Base Foam Cove And Liner Floor Pad
Step 1
Using fine sand , lay a 3 thick bed of sand across the entire inside of the pool this will form your base.
Step 2
After installing the 3 sand base, lay the liner floor pad on top. Please note your liner floor pad is pre-cut to fit your pools exact dimensions.
Step 3
Attach the pool cove directly on top of the liner floor pad by removing the adhesive backing and sticking it to the metal pool wall .
Step 4
This is the completed above ground pool liner installation. The vinyl pool liner should be completely supported by the pool base to avoid any stress or damage to it or the metal pool wall.
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How To Install A Base For Your Above Ground Pool Liner
Many do-it-yourselfers installing an above ground swimming pool for the first time have questions regarding how to properly install a base underneath a pool liner.
This article will illustrate the correct way to do this in order to make the installation go smoother and protect the pool liner and pool wall from being damaged.
One of the biggest problems that we see is with the height of the base beneath the above ground pool liner. When the sand base is not high enough there is excess strain put on the pool liner and pool wall, and this tremendous weight of the water can easily cause the vinyl pool liner to blowout and/or the metal pool wall to be pulled down.
Pool liners are obviously not built to withstand water weight, they are simply made to line the inside of a pool to hold the water. Therefore, when installing a new swimming pool or a new above ground pool liner it is extremely important to make sure that the vinyl pool liner is supported by the proper height sand base. There should be NO AIR SPACE between the vinyl pool liner and the base that it should be resting on.
Install A Winter Pillow & Cover
Who else is ready for a nap? Even your pool needs a pillow once a yearbut dont worry, you dont need to sacrifice anything from your linen closet. If you live in a cold climate, youll want to place a pool air pillow, or ice compensator, under your winter cover. This will protect both the sides of the cover and the walls of your pool from pressure damage from the ice or snow that will soon sit on top of your pool. Dont live in a cold climate? Well, a pillow will still make clean up tons easier next spring. After all, it keeps water and debris from pooling in the center of your pool.
To install the pillow, blow it up and place it in the middle of your pool. If youre into perfectionism, get a pillow that has built-in grommets that allow you to secure all four corners to your pool and keep it perfectly center. Just make sure that you inflate the air pillow only to around half of its capacity. Otherwise, it might pop mid-seasonand youll have to deal with some seriously cold water to replace it. Better yet, seal off the seams and valves with duct tape after you inflate the pillow. This will keep it as resilient as possible. Hey, we all need a little extra strength to get through the cold months.
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Wave Summer Goodbye By Adding Winterizing Chemicals
Sure, balancing your chemicals before closing will sure help the water from becoming an actual swamp. But this isnt any regular weekly maintenance, at least not for now. There are also some chemicals that could give your pool an extra boost. For example, pool enzymes can be added to your water to help attack any organic contaminants that might still be in your water. And if you live in a place that gets cold enough for your pipes to freeze, use a pool-grade antifreezenot the toxic kind designed for cars.
I know, algaecide was also on the list of chemicals you need . Well get to that in this next step. Lets carry on, yeah?
Put Up The Steel Walls
This next part was the most difficult for us. The above ground pool walls come in a really long roll, and its very heavy and difficult to maneuver. We had Tonys parents help us for that day, and it took several of us to move the walls into the right spot, carefully unroll it, while also trying to gently drop it into the bottom rails. We didnt find it easy. The walls kept popping out of the bottom rails as we moved along and as the wind picked up. In hindsight, a few extra hands would have been good even just to hold the wall in place.
I dont have a lot of pictures of this stage of the process, but Ill be coming out with a video next week with all the steps for installing your own above ground pool.
Once we got the walls up we braced it with whatever we had available, and took a much needed break.
It was tiring and frustrating, but we did it! Next week Ill show you what we did to install the pool liner, and finish it off the above ground pool with the legs and top rails.
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Tip #13 While Rolling Out The Wall Attach The Top Rails And Secure It With Clips
This is a big tip for installing the pools wall.
Most directions and videos will have you roll out the wall of the pool with no mention of how to keep it in place. Some will have you using stakes, strings, and hooks or a number of things to keep the wall up and in position.
In the real world, many will recruit friends and family to just hold the wall up during the rest of the install. This rarely goes well as the wall has to stay up unsupported for a really long time, and people cant just stand there for hours holding on to the wall.
Layout your uprights ahead of time and as you roll the wall out and into the track, attach each upright as you go. Put a big spring clip on top of each upright which will clip to the wall.
Also, while rolling out the wall, temporarily attach the top stabilizer bars to the top of the wall. This will give the wall its shape and provide a lot of top support.
This is the best way to keep the wall secure during the rest of the install. The uprights attached to the bottom track and at the top will help keep the wall up. And the top stabilizer bars will give the wall top strength and help keep its shape.
Slowly Fill Pool With Water
Its recommended to fill the pool halfway then refer to the separate instructions on how to install the skimmer and return fittings. Once installed, you can finish connecting the rest of the pool equipment like the filter system and pump. After installing all the above ground equipment, you can fill the rest of the pool.
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Tip #23 Water Down The Earth To Remove Air
Despite how difficult people make prepping the earth for an above-ground pool bottom, its really fairly simple.
When trying to make an area of earth or sand flat and smooth, a good thing to do is remove some of the air in it. You do this by wetting it down.
Rake out and then smooth out the bottom of the pool, then wet it down. Repeat this until you feel that you really cant make it any better. Sometimes I will wet down a pool bottom 4 -5 times before I feel Ive got it as smooth as it will be.
Tip #7 Get The Ground Level To Within 2 Inches
After the sod has been removed, your next stage is to level the earth. Before doing anything else, make your install site level to within at least two inches.
You want the pool site to be somewhat level before proceeding. This may seem obvious, but some will start setting the track before the ground is level. And that will make everything harder.
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