Leveling an Above Ground Pool

It has been said, and I tend to agree, the three most important things to remember about installing an above ground is right here.

1. Start with perfectly level ground

2. Start with perfectly level ground

3. Start with perfectly level ground

So how important is perfectly level ground?  Critical.

The outcome of your above ground pool installation depends on your initial ground prep.  Spend the majority of your time and money on this first, most important, step.

So how do you get the ground perfectly level?  That's what we will be talking about here.

Start your ground prep by completely removing all vegetation in the pool area.  Get rid of all the trees, weeds and grass.

I do the majority of my ground prep with a sod cutter and shovels.  This may seem like way to much manual labor for some people but I feel in the long run it saves labor and money.  A sod cutter is made to remove grass.  It cuts into the ground below grass level so that when you shovel it up all of the grass is removed.  When a tractor tries to remove sod a lot of the grass and roots are mixed back into the ground and packed down by the weight of the machine.

Trackers are also know to leave a lot of deep tire tracks that will need to be filled in and smoothed out.  A sod cutter leaves a perfectly flat, grass and vegetation free, area to start you initial leveling.

How you go about moving the dirt around from here is up to you.  I use my sod cutter to loosen the ground in the high areas and also to pack the ground in any areas that have been filled.  I also use shovels, picks and a jack hammer on occasion.

Four Ways to Level the Ground

I strongly advice the use of a transit or laser level.  In my opinion there is not a better, easier and more accurate way to level a pool.

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