Intex Ultra Frame 16' x 48" build

[jab240]

Thanks Pooldoc. The forum has helped me learn a lot so far so I'm only happy to try and give back.

This arrived yesterday:


11mm 18ft SunBubble solar cover. I'll have to trim it a little but it was a definitely a good price. I seem to be getting lucky finding the good cartridge filters around here. I was in a one of our big box stores yesterday and found they started carrrying the Filbur cartridges. They are definitely a step up from Intex ones but I find the Unicel's quality is like night and day compared to the Filbur. The Unicel's have more weight to them and pleats seem more uniform.

Hopefully we have nice weather this evening so I can continue with my leveling. Between work, coaching my son's basketball team and the weather this seems to be dragging way longer than it should.

[Watermom]

... this seems to be dragging way longer than it should.

I know exactly what you are saying -- that's the way projects at my house go, too! If I think it will take a week, it'll take a month!

[jab240]

I know exactly what you are saying -- that's the way projects at my house go, too! If I think it will take a week, it'll take a month!

Well usually I drag projects out just to mess with my wife. The more she nags the longer it takes . But this time I'm actually trying to get it done sooner rather than later but it just doesn't want to work out that way. Gonna start working on it now and we'll see what I get done today.

[jab240]

I finally finished the bulk of my leveling on Thursday evening. Then it rained for the next 3 days! . I could not do any work on it all weekend. There was a silver lining on the rain clouds though. I was able to really get a good idea on how level the area is with all the water we got.



Those were taken Saturday morning and it shows divots and areas that can use a little fill. Yesterday evening the hole was completely water logged. I took a tape measure and measured the height of the water all around and I'm happy to say that the circle is pretty much leveled. Not your conventional water level but it worked . I'll spend the next couple of days now just fine tuning it with minor filling and tamping down. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this week.

[PoolDoc]

Thx.

[jab240]

Nothing but rain all week and progress is going slow. I was hoping to have the pool up this weekend but that's not going to happen. The rain will continue throughout the weekend. We had some heavy rain last night and this is what the dig site looked like this morning after about 2-3'' of water had been absorbed into the ground:

Maybe I should just turn this into an inground project . So how much bleach to clear up that water?

I think I'm pretty much level so my next step will be to lay out the foam. I read through a lot of builds and there are so many different ways to set up the base that have worked for people.

I think I've decided to go this way:
first layer - Landscape paper or tarp
second layer - 1" XPS foam
Then pool (maybe another tarp on foam)
Since this pool will only be used for 2 months max before coming down I was thinking I may be able to get away from using pavers. It seems just having the legs sit on the foam has worked for a lot of people especially where there is hard compacted ground in place, which I have (cement like clay). The only problem is, I don't know if I'll have enough foam outside of the pool's diameter to accommodate the legs. I know 8 4x8 sheets will be enough for the pool but does it give enough foam for the legs to move out a little? Any feedback from people that would know would be great.

[PoolDoc]

Be careful: putting foam or anything soft under a liner INCREASES the chance it will be punctured, since it enabled a sharp point to stretch, tension, and then pierce the liner

[jab240]

It will be extruded polystyrene insulation wall panels that many people use for intex pool bases. It's very strong and not exactly "soft" but still a touch softer than just ground. I haven't read anywhere yet where something got through this foam.

Here's a nice description of it:
"******* extruded polystyrene insulation is ideal for wall furring, perimeter/foundation, cavity wall, crawlspace, precast concrete, under slab, sheathing and other applications. ******** process technology makes the unique closed-cell structure of ****** insulation highly resistant to moisture, retaining its long-term R-value year after year, even following prolonged exposure to water leakage, humidity, condensation, groundwater and freeze/thaw cycling.

4' x 8' sheet
1" thick
R-5
High R-value (R-5 per inch of product thickness)
Compressive strength of 15 psi
Effective resistance against moisture, corrosion and rot
Lightweight, tough rigid foam panels are easy to handle and install
1" x 4' x 8' extruded polystyrene"

Not sure if I'm allowed to put specific product names out there so I used stars in their place.

[PoolDoc]

Putting a heavy poly tarp (black/silver type, rather than the blue) between the insulation and the pool will help.

If you to see what I mean, take a bit of the pool patch material, and set it against a wooden board, and try to poke a hole through it with a fork. Then, move it on top of a piece of your insulation and try again.

(As a rule, product names are fine, as long as you aren't selling something or ranting. )

[jab240]

I get what you're saying Poodoc. Thanks for the feedback . I don't see how much different it would be though from sticking a fork through the liner sitting on sand or bare soil and I've only read positive reviews about it so I think I will move forward with it but follow your suggestion about the tarp. thanks again