Setting up a pool soon and have questions

Hi folks,

First I just wanted to thank the administrators and creators of this awsome forum that seems to have a huge bank of knowledge. So recently I purchased a used 18' round pool.. when I looked at it guy told me it was 54" deep so I was content with that.. after I paid for it and went to take it down I discoverd it was only 48" deep. This is very dissapointing considering we are all over 6' tall in my family..
So after some research we discovered that we can "bowl" out the bottom to create a deeper pool, this makes perfect sense for our situation. However A lot of the answers I find seem to conflict with eachother so I figured I may be able to get the correct way to go about doing this here.

1.) I have read that you can use an overlap liner that is not expandable if you are doing a small bowl (6" or less)
is that true?

2.) what is the proper way to dig out the bottom.. (one steady decline or 2 levels)

3.)can i use a pool pad? and how would I get it to conform to the pool bottom if it is 2 different levels?

Thank You so much in advance
Steve

None of your questions are ones I can answer specifically, but I can make some suggestions in sorting among the answers.

1. Use the methods your pool mfg will warrant, if you can determine that.

2. Ask the seller / mfg for info about construction methods.

3. You can certainly dish the bottom a little -- probably even a foot -- IF you grade the slope evenly from the edges. Do NOT start the slope right at the edge of the bottom -- your walls and posts need something stable to rest on.

Keep in mind that almost always 'listed' pool depths are 'flood depths' and only correspond to the working or normal depth on an IG pool with a rim flow gutter. Most other pools (like yours) will have an ACTUAL depth that is 6" to 8" less than the listed depth.

Ben / PoolDoc

Steve, unfortunately I also cannot answer your questions, but hopefully somebody will see your post and be able to. I just wanted to say hi and welcome to the forum. We are glad you found us and hope that you enjoy participating with us!

Thanks for the reply and welcome.. I think I may have this figured out, but am still wondering about using a non expandable liner.. all the expandable ones I have found ar not very good looking. I only intend to go about 6 inches deeper. Hopefully i will be able to get away with the standard overlap liner