Buying Pool this weekend need some advice..

[Watermom]

While you are waiting on the install, do yourself a favor and go ahead and buy a good test kit so you'll have it when the pool is ready. Click on the Amazon link in my signature and get either the Taylor K-2006 or the K-2006C which is the same kit with larger bottles of some of the most used reagents. Buying through that link makes the Pool Forum a little money on the sale which helps keep the forum up and running. Only buy if the seller is Amato Industries, however. Some other sellers are substituting the K-2005 which you do NOT want.

Let the pool place do the build, but don't let them start you up chemicals-wise. When your test kit arrives, go ahead and test your fill water and post the results here. It will help us advise you of what to do with your freshly filled pool and will also give you practice with running the tests. Don't do the CYA test, though. Your fill water will have no CYA in it and you'll just be wasting the reagent.

Buy several jugs of Walmart generic bleach. Also, buy a box of 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart), some baking soda and also some CYA -- probably a 5 lb. container. (Sometimes labeled as conditioner or stabilizer. If the ingredient label says cyanuric or isocyanuric acid, it is the right stuff. Don't let a pool store talk you into buying anything else.

[CarlD]

Ben's right: creating a level surface can cost more than you realize. If possible, dig down to match the lowest point. Building up is far more difficult and expensive. I HAD to do it, using retaining wall block, filling it in with QP (Quarry Product, like a dirty form of gravel) In the end it cost over $5000! But that is for a 16x40 rectangular, and I had build up about 30" at the lowest point. Digging down is much cheaper. In my area you can even rent a Bobcat for a day for a few hundred $$$.

The water hose level is the least expensive way to get an accurate level, but it's also the least practical. If you can rent or borrow either a transit or a laser level they can be much more practical to use. When I did my base, none of the workers could run my transit level, so I set up an inexpensive laser level...they could barely manage that.

BDTD had a nice alternative: Find a straight, long 2x4 (like 16 feet). Make one end the center of a circle, say on a bolt on a short piece of 4x8, put a 4' or 6' carpenter's level on it, and you can swing the arc and make it level. Just be sure to measure the height at the center. One person can use this.

I am much more conservative than Ben: I wouldn't allow more than 1" of deviation from level and would aim for 1/2". The more out of level, the more added stress on the structure.

BTW, when I had my original Intex Donut, I had to build a platform. I had enough debris around from tearing out a rustic stone fireplace (now slate and granite) to build a 16x16 platform that rose about 14" at the low point. Not knowing what I was doing, I filled it all with sand when I should have used QP, with 2-3" of sand on top. Still, it worked for the 3 years I used the Intex. I'd cover it with a staked-down blue tarp over the winter.

Carl

[maggiemaye]

Well, they sure dug us out....grrrrrr! the one side will need an 8 ft. retaining wall...so that would be like 3 1/2 foot above the pool...I dont think thats safe! they coming today to see what can be done....any experience you have on this would be greatly appreciated!!!!wish I knew how to put picture on here!

[Watermom]

Send your pics to poolforum AT gmail DOT com and reference the URL of this thread.