Above Ground Pool Base Questions

by Eileen
(Illinois)

We are replacing our liner. We have not been happy with the sand under the liner shifting. Our pool installer used 3 yards of sand for an 18' x 33' oval.

We are also wanting to fill in a small deep end and make it all level. We are planning to fill it in with dirt which has a lot of natural clay.

Could we still use Styrofoam over the sand? What do you think about liner shield? Should we get a foam pad for the bottom?

Our new installer wants to add 3 more ton of sand.

What do you think about foam for the walls?

We live in Illinois. We live out in the country so there is always a potential for critters.

Thanks so much for you site. Eileen


Hi Eileen. Foam on the walls is a good insulator for pools that use a heater of some sort. If you don't heat your pool I would not bother. If you do foam the walls keep the foam down several inches from the top. It really gets in the way of the coping and rods that hold the liner in place.

I would not add more sand on top of what you already have. In most cases the second liners on a sand base are the best. The sand has packed down nicely. It can also be resurfaced very easily. I do this with a large push broom. Once it is all smooth again, it tends to stay that way. Adding more sand is just going to make more footprints and shifting.

The best thing to do over sand, if you really want to do something to improve your pool base, is to use something like Happy Bottom. It's a thin foam pad that works very nicely over top of a firm, packed, layer of sand. I don't like using it over fresh sand because it is impossible to keep the footprints out of the sand while you are working. All the footprints show up through the pad. Working on top of packed sand can work out pretty decent in most cases.

Styrofoam works well over packed sand also. The only drawback is the loss of water depth in the pool.