Above Ground Pool Where Old One Was

by John
(Ohio)

Just bought a house and there is an area in the yard where a pool was installed. It looks fairly level and sand still remains. The pool we are putting in is a 27' round. There is plenty of room in this spot. I was wondering if the old sand needs to be removed completely so that we can check level or is it possible to move sand to one side and check for level? I have read some other posts here and from what I gather the rail and bottom plates need to be on solid ground. Is it possible to move the old sand in a few feet and install the bottom rail level? We are using patio blocks for the plate support. Thanks and any suggestions are appreciated.



Hi John. Most of the time when we get to a job where there was an existing pool the sand base is level. This is not always the case and if it is to far off we pretty much start from scratch with the leveling and new sand. It is very difficult to move sand out of a pool area and then try to move it back and reuse it. Sand gets contaminated with dirt, rocks and debris so easily, it is much better to order a new load. It is also not a good idea to use the existing sand for any type of leveling, dirt should be used instead.

When the sand base is in good shape, like what I think you may have, most of it can be left in place. We clear an area about three feet wide around the outer edge. The sand gets either sent towards the center or to the outside of the pool, depending on the condition and amount of contamination.

At this point we would lay out the rails, connect them to the footplates, making it round as we do it. When the rails are laid out and perfectly round we would dig under each footplate and insert the blocks. Then each block gets laser leveled and the space between blocks get any touching up needed to place the track on firm ground.

Having cleared out an area of 3' allows you room to unroll the sidewall without getting it into the sand. Unrolling a sidewall on firm ground is easy, in sand it is a great big pain in the rear.

So, it sounds like you are on the right track and what I have said just reaffirms what you already knew.