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 are 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.
Tractors are also known 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.
Other methods that are used are a long 2x4 with a
carpenters level. Done correctly this can be
effective, it is just a lot more time consuming.
The other methods are similar in that they use a level
center point to set the rest of the pool. Off of
that center point you can use a clear hose half full of
water. The two points are level when the water is
centered in the hose. A string with a line level
attached can be used also but because of the small level
being used it is the least effective.
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