Installing Pool Over Landscape Rocks

by Liz Salas
(Kingman, Arizona)

Do you think I will be ok? I am putting up a 24' x 16' x 52" above ground pool. I have put carpet padding, carpet 2 layers and ground cover, I forgot to put the heavy duty tarp, do you think I will be ok with out it?



Liz. I would say slow down before you ruin a perfectly good above ground pool. You might get away with that if it is a soft sided pool. It's going to be too lumpy to keep clean, and you will have to block under all the side supports, but it might be possible.

If you are talking about a Doughboy steel wall pool I would not consider doing it. The pool framework needs to sit on perfectly level, solid dirt. The brace assemblies need to be set into the dirt, with solid dirt packed around them.

If it were me, I would clear the rock, level the ground, set the braces, level the end rails and then bring in some mortar sand.

This page shows an oval pool being installed in a desert landscape yard. This would be the correct way of doing it.

Diamond Star Above Ground Pool