I spent about $200 for the 1" foam, so a little cheaper but not a lot!

Could've just used a thick tarp..... around 50 bucks or so

Lol I’ve used foam board… 2 tons of sand andddd a tarp!! 😮finally we are filling er up!!

We bought gym mat puzzle pieces. It was almost 300 dollars, but we have reused them 3 times already.

Good luck! Take your time and do it right and you'll be happy with it!

​@FixEverythingYourself do you get any rain water pooling around the pool where you dug out the higher side?

Yes, a little from time to time. Also happens when kids are splashing a lot of water out of the pool. To the extent I can I've dug a small drainage path away from those locations. But I don't really care about it because the pool is meant to have water on it, the ground is meant to have water on it, and the only other part exposed is the foam. And I'm just not worried about the foam, either.

@FixEverythingYourself Awesome! Tanks for the quick reply. I just completed leveling the dirt, and it's deep on the one side like yours, as our yard has a big slope. I was worried about water sitting around the tiles and eventually sinking. Will be setting up the pool todau.

Thank you! Good luck when you put yours up. A sand filter is the next thing I'd recommend, then a skimmer. A skimmer will clean the surface of the pool automatically without having to constantly use a net. I have a video on how to install one.

It definitely was a lot of digging!

Great!

😂😂

Great! Good luck and I hope you have a great summer!

If it's super muddy, probably. If it's just damp, it'll probably be fine. But if you're not in a hurry, drier ground is probably better than wet.

In theory, yes, but in practice, no. The pool is one big vinyl bag so it'll sit wherever you put it. In other words, tile thickness makes no difference.

It's been a year-plus now. No problems with the liner or the foam. Of course, the foam is under all that water so I can't really inspect it but it has held up fine. My biggest concern is the lousy pump that comes with these. I've already upgraded to a sand filter and am much happier (and have a lot more time vs. cleaning the paper filter).

No, no smells or any other problems from the foam. Works great, actually. It's firm enough for walking on but just soft enough to provide a tiny bit of cushioning.

I use sad always never a problem

You're welcome!

Tiles have held up well. The ground was firm and compacted before I put them down, so that has kept them intact. The concern I had with pavers is what you mentioned: a high profile. I didn't want them puncturing the vinyl pool wall.

Thanks!

It’s day 7 of doing this. Ton of work to do by yourself

We dug ours by hand, too. Ours isn't perfectly level even though I thought it was close. Turns out I'm about 2 inches off from one side to the other. My brother has a nearly identical pool and did his by hand. He's very handy and also ended up a tiny bit uneven. If you've been diligent about making it level - and it sounds like you have - the pool will be totally fine. I've had mine for a year with no problems.

I’m doing this myself as well 😢… so difficult but maybe I’m making it more so… 😮

I have a well. I filled it up over the course of about a week, I think. I was worried about the same thing so just let it run a couple of hours per day. Didn't take more than a week.

Perfectly. Haven't had any problems. It provides a firm but still soft surface for feet when walking in the pool.

Thats lie i learned u have to use sand U cant have it sit on bear dirt u have to add sand and tamp it with a machine

No one is lying. I'm in year 3. Pool and bottom are in perfect condition.

Thanks! No, nothing under the foam. We did make sure to pick up as many rocks as we could before putting the foam down but that doesn't have to be perfect. Also, you don't need the ground sunken in where the pool goes. In fact, you just want it level but no deeper, if possible. Otherwise, you have to dig a little trench for water to drain away.

@@FixEverythingYourself Thanks for the fast reply and i did install a pool last year and was pretty level i was going to dig 1" since the foam is 1" but maybe no I won't i can just add 1" pavers for the feet of the pool im thinking

I see what you mean. I don't think it makes any difference if the feet of the posts aren't exactly perfect. But the 1" pavers will be good as long as they don't touch the vinyl part of the pool (and accidentally rip it).

The tile that you used in the video made contact with the liner and riped after some time? Would you recomend tarp or tape to ease the rubbing?

@raymondromero2840 I would move the tile (or cut the tile or whatever) to completely eliminate the rubbing. I think even with tape or some other fabric if the tile is touching it, it'll rip again.

Your pool should've come with a small patch-repair kit. It's a couple of pieces of square material along with a tube of glue of some sort. If not, you can buy vinyl repair kits online or at Lowes or Walmart. $10 or so. The repair kits work underwater, too, so you probably don't need to drain any water to make them work. Good luck!

Geez, that's frustrating. You could call the manufacturer and I'm sure they'd send you a new part. Not sure how long that will take but I'd try that first. Here's a link to the same one as on my pool: amzn.to/3r0D89T

I had some helpers but tried to flatten it with as little water as possible.

I use chlorine, not a saltwater system. Pretty easy to keep the chemicals balanced. I use the simple test strips that messure the levels of pH, chlorine, hardness, etc.

😄👍

I don't remember the holes you mentioned. Are the sizes of the tapered ends any different? I don't think it makes any difference on the holes.

Our hole was 20 feet diameter but because of the slope of the yard, it would've been nice to have made it a little larger, just to have more room to maneuver when putting parts together.

@@FixEverythingYourself Thanks for the quick response! Hope you're enjoying your pool!

You're welcome! Pool is great. Well worth the effort to put it up. Actually sitting poolside as I type this reply!

No, I didn't backfill around it. If the pool is set in a deep hole, backfilling could put too much weight on the side of the pool. But if it's just a small depth, backfilling would be fine. If you have a lot of dirt to move and can't (or don't want to) do it yourself, you might need to call the company again. Shouldn't be a lot of effort to backfill it.

I had helpers. Basically, you need to keep pulling at the sides (near the bottom) to straighten out the bottom. The small amount of water is to create a little lubrication to spread out any remaining wrinkles. But the primary method is by pulling from one side, then another, then another location, etc., to get the bottom flat.

Mine is great. Used it all summer with no problems. Pump works fine but I've been careful to clean the filter and, maybe more importantly, shutting off the water to the pump and emptying the water from the pump during freezing weather. I know someone whose pump cracked due to the water freezing.

@@FixEverythingYourself I was going to install saltwater pump

Good. This pump is tiny and cheap. But it lasted all summer for me.

​@Fix Everything Yourself Do you keep your pool up Year- Round? We're installing a Bestway 18x48 tomorrow. We had an above ground metal pool from American Sales for 24 years. Of course, that one stayed up year-round. By the way we live in Indiana, brutal winters.

Yes, it's up year-round but too cold to swim in the winter, of course. Before winter arrives, It's VERY IMPORTANT to drain the water from the pump so that the freezing temperatures don't cause the water inside to freeze, expand, and crack the pump. Otherwise, ours was fine all winter long.

Yes. I think we may have disconnected/loosened the top ring at the opposite location (180 degrees across the circle) of where the struggle was happening. Then we connected both sides simultaneously. Took a little bit of massaging but not a problem with the parts.

@@FixEverythingYourself that worked!! Thank you!!

Awesome!

No, tiles have been perfect. But what's critical is that the ground is level and compacted very firmly so that the tiles have a solid base to sit on.

I use chlorine and algae killer. Chlorine is the main thing. Liquid chlorine from Lowes works well. I need to buy a vacuum that will clean debris off the floor; that's my next purchase.

The tiles were just some ones that were on clearance that looked like they'd work. Nothing special. Perhaps I'd recognize them if I was in the store but maybe not. I think any solid tile will work if the ground is reasonably smooth and compacted beneath it. Good luck!

BTW, I bought them at Lowes.

@@FixEverythingYourselfhow many?

I'm on a well and filled it for a few hours each day. But if I filled it all at once, it probably would've taken 18 hours or so.

I think the brand name of the foam insulation boards was Dow but doesn't look like Lowes sells it anymore, according to their website. That seems odd to me so I'd check what Lowes has or what they replaced it with.

@@FixEverythingYourself thanks very much

YW

The foam was the only base. I didn't use sand, just put the 1" foam directly on top of the cleared dirt area.

It can go on grass but it's important that the ground be pretty smooth. If there are tufts of grass, for example, the extreme weight of the water will break the foam at those locations if the foam isn't sitting on a smooth surface. For that reason, it's probably a good idea to rake the area and ensure all rocks, roots, tufts of grass, etc., are gone and that the ground is smooth before laying down foam.

Looks like Lowes no longer sells it but here's what I used: www.lowes.com/pd/Dow-Common-1-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Actual-1-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-SCOREBOARD-1-R-5-Faced-Polystyrene-Garage-Door-Foam-Board-Insulation-with-Sound-Barrier/1000171587

I don't remember exactly but it was a few feet wider than the pool, which is 18 feet. Probably about 22 feet.

My pool is 16 ft. How deep did you dig?

I tried not to dig down at all, just tried to create a flat spot on a sloped piece of ground. The best way to do it would be to rent a machine with a blade on the front and scrape the ground flat but that costs money that I didn't want to spend.

You could but I thought it was a little thin and flexible when I considered it. The 1" is so much firmer that I spent the extra few dollars and used that.

@@FixEverythingYourself thank you this is really helpful . I’m starting the process this weekend and I’m a little intimidated to tackle this project alone . I’ve washed several video but I feel like I’m overthink a lot . Your video helped me a lot . Was it certain tile that you used ?

I bought some tiles that were on clearance at Lowes that looked beefy enough to be used here. Also, they didn't have sharp edges like square tiles or bricks might. Then I made sure the ground was flat and compacted underneath the pool (and tiles) so they'd be sitting on firm ground and wouldn't break. Everything on my pool is still holding up well after a year. I upgraded a few things including the pump and a sand filter.

Thanks!

Hmmm, that's an interesting question. The hardest part of the whole job is getting a level, smooth surface for the pool. If it's not level, the water will be uneven and too much pressure will be on the walls of the pool. If the ground isn't smooth, it can puncture the pool liner. To protect against that, either new sand can be spread across the ground for the pool to sit on or one can use foam boards like I have. Sand is probably $300; the foam was about $200. Back to your first question: excluding leveling the ground and the cost of sand or foam, I'd expect it to take two people about 2-3 hours to set up. Then filling it with water takes a day or two. To have someone do everything, I'd bet it would cost $1,000 plus sand or foam. If there's a lot of leveling required (sloped ground), expect to pay $400 for a rented machine, plus a couple hours labor.

Hey man that’s some great info you shared, very much appreciated! I’m watching a bunch of videos and yours is very helpful for what I’m trying to invest in long term. Thanks again

You're welcome!

Welp!! I need a whole entire outlet unit outback 🤦 I could use extension cord from kitchen to gfci but…… the wife’s not gonna like that. My experience with the above ground sucks so far lol

Do you have any electrical outlets outside? If so, convert one to a GFCI and run an extension cord from there.