Confused on cove and bottom

[Cal_Newbie]

Greetings.....

I am to the point in the pool that I have to bring in the bottom product and cove. The pool being built is a 12 x 24 that we have put into the ground 4' and sits on a compressed backfill of rock dust (much tighter than DG and sets like concrete but permeable). Everything is dialed in to within 1/16th of an inch all the way around and the base is dead level. We are also using a J-hook liner.

The question(s): Instructions call for 2" sand, but I have been reading here about this pink foam. Given how solid and level our base is, can the foam be substituted for the sand? Where may one find this?

Instructions call for a 6-8" cove, which the Gladdon self sticking cove we have is 4". Does this change my base thickness?

Also, we are going to use comfy bottom, does this have any effect on our sand volume?

I greatly appreciate the help. Things have been relatively straight forward on the is project but, this are has concern due to the liner and our understanding of how well in must be fitted.

Thank You Kindly,

Bob-

[matt4x4]

Hello,
When I did my pool, I used sand for the base and cove, however, this past summer there were several members who built their pools using the 2" pink foam (available at your local building supply store, it's used to insulate the exterior wall of a house with siding), you can use the cove you allready have with this simply by installing it on top of the foam.
The foam has to be cut to fit perfectly and taping the seams is a really good idea.
I don't know if you need to put the happy bottom on top of the foam or if that's just plain overkill.

Good call on using screenings, that's what I did, but be careful of how much fill you put inside the pool from the floor level up, you do not want to have your liner get all wrinkled because the hole isn't deep enough - a good way to know if you're on track is to measure the top of the liner j hook (where it curves) to the seam center where it meets the floor piece, this measurement should be equal to the measurement from top of wall to center of cove - at least that's what it was for my pool - this allowed the liner to stretch into teh remaining 1-2" of depth and allowed it to pull all wrinkles out of itself as it filled.
For my pool, I kept it about 8" deeper towards the center, my floor was even with the bottom track and my cove was built up on the floor, the liner stretched in nicely, and my pool has a saucer style bottom (somewhat deeper in the center) however, it's also 30 feet round so i had a lot more material to allow for the stretching than you will have.

[Cal_Newbie]

Hi Matt.

Thank you very much for the reply. The screenings is the entire floor of the hole the pool is sitting in, so the pool it sitting atop that. I gave it 5 months of compaction witha jumping jack, water and good old time to settle in.

Question: OK, I can use the foam to replace the sand. It comes in 2" thick pieces. I place it on the floor, tape it all together very well...including to the sides? On top of that, place the cove and tape the cove to the pink board and to the side walls. Yes? Also...they sent the blue duct tape and it does not stick very well to the inside of the pool...maybe some acetone on a towel an give it a good cleansing before taping?


Thank you
Bob-

[matt4x4]

I would make sure your cuts are very accurate, maybe make a cardboard template for any curves and get those nice and tight (within 1/8" of the wall), I would not tape anything to the side of the pool, this way, it can all settle freely without possible distortion or something sticking (and believe me, it WILL settle with the weight on the water).
However, taping your cove to the foam is a non issue and i would do that just so it won't shift when you fill.
I would not use acetone on the wall, it may damage the protective finish, but if you follow my advice above, I think this just became a non issue.
Tuc Tape (the red stuff people use as tail lamp replacement in the USA) works really well on just about any surface if you still need good tape.

[Cal_Newbie]

How much settling is acceptable on a pool...as it sits, we are within 1/8" all around.

Bob-

[matt4x4]

Depends on size, your's being 12' wide by 24' long, half an inch is well inside the limit for both directions, most say within an inch, visually, you probably want it to be somewhat less, 1/8" is great, i doubt anybody could get any more accurate. If everything is compacted the same all around, then your settling should happen pretty even, this means the whole pool will sink that settling amount, not just one end, so essentially, your whole pool may just sit 1/4 inch lower than when you first put it up.