Oval Pool In-gorund Without Supports

by Sarah
(Nashville, TN)

I'm installing an 18x33 oval above ground pool. I dug the hole and am setting it up in-ground.

There is at least a 1'2" clearance around the perimeter of the pool (which is more than enough for walking around and setting up the wall braces). However, the 4 straps that lay across the pool extend farther than that clearance to allow for the angled buttress supports that attach to the vertical wall braces.

Your instructions for sinking it in-ground said that the backfill dirt actually makes the walls stronger. So I'm wondering since backfilling with dirt makes the walls stronger, would it be possible to forgo installing the angled buttress braces. Meaning that the vertical wall braces and backfill dirt would be enough to support the weight of the water. Thank you in advance for all your help!
Thank you-Sarah



Hi Sarah. This is not something I would recommend doing. I have seen it done just once in over forty years.

The pool needs to be able to fill full of water before the dirt is backfilled. That means it needs to be built just as if it were on top of the ground. There is no way to backfill and pack the ground around the pool as it fills. The ground would not pack enough to keep the walls from leaning out, no matter how hard you tried.

The one case where I saw this done, the person had built an elaborate structure out of lumber, one on each side of the pool. This structure was built between the pool wall and the edge of the hole all along both sides of the pool. This would allow the pool to fill without the wall bowing out. The dirt was then backfilled in and around this structure. Years down the road, when the wood rotted away, the dirt would be solid enough to hold the wall in place.


This job was a real pain to install. The backhoe could not safely dig close enough to the home, so we did it with a jackhammer and shovels. It was not any fun but the pool was supposed to be a certain distance from the home and the braces had to be used.