Clay Versus Sand For Pool Base

by Deby
(Wilmington, MA)

Is it better to put a 24' above ground pool on sand or clay? I've heard sand can shift and make divits causing a greater potential for the liner to rip. I also heard it makes it harder to vacuum the pool. Is this true?



Hi Deby. The majority of the pools I install go on a sand base. The sand is used just under the pool liner, not the entire pool. The pool frame needs to sit on solid ground. If the ground in your yard is not stable, or will not pack, you may need to bring in some crushed granite from a sand and gravel yard.

Crushed granite can be used in a couple of different ways. A trench about 18" wide and 6" deep can be dug around the perimeter of your pool. The bottom rail would fall right in the center of this area. The trench gets filled in with the granite and packed solid.

The other way to use granite is to level the entire pool area with it. Granite is so easy to work with and it packs down very nice, a perfect pool base. Sand is then used over top of the granite, just inside the pool frame, as a cushion for the liner.

I have had very little experience with clay but I don't think I would want to put a pool liner on it. I would much prefer sand. Sand is easy to smooth out and it packs down very nicely. Once you have the weight of twelve thousand plus gallons of water it does not go anywhere.

If the sand is properly smoothed out, and the liner properly installed, you will have very few footprints. The only shifting you would ever have would be a cove washing out. If you install a nice dirt cove, before the sand, that should not happen. Keeping dirt packed around the outside of the pool helps also.
Take a look at some of our pool installation pages to see how we work with the sand and how we install liners.



Expandable Liner Installation

Above Ground Oval Installation