Unlevel Concrete Pool Location

by Mary
(Tallahassee, FL)

We are placing a 15' x 4' round pool on the "U" of our u-shaped concrete driveway. The location does have an 8" slope. How do you recommend we level the area? Thank you.


Hi Mary. We used to set up display pools in an outdoor parking lot that was very un-level. We used a combination of patio blocks and roofing shingles to level the pool frame. We would use a many patio blocks as needed to raise the level to just under what it needed to be. We would then use the shingles to fine tune the level to perfection. All the blocks and shingles were placed tight against each other so they would form a solid wall and hold the sand inside the pool.

Inside the pool we used a whole bunch of sand. The low area would take a lot of sand to bring it up to grade with the high side. When we were done the inside was as level as the outside.

These were display pools and were never swam in so footprints were not an issue. That much sand in a pool will leave a lot of prints, making cleaning difficult. For a working pool I would use dirt for most of the inside leveling with just a small layer of sand over top for smoothing. Properly done this would pack well and smooth out nice.

If you are talking about a frame pool it would be a different story. I would build a wood frame out of 2" x 10" lumber. I would level dirt inside of this area and set the pool on that.