Above ground pool - sort of

[beardking]

I have been considering looking into getting an above ground pool for my house. The problem that I have is that with the way the yards in my neighborhood slope, even with a 6 foot privacy fence, I can see into their yard and they can see into mine. So, I've been wondering if it's possible to install and above ground pool partially in ground. Anyone have any advice on this subject?

Thanks in advance
Beardking

[matt4x4]

Although I have heard of people successfully doing this, I do not recommend it since AG pools are AG pools for a reason. That said, htere are pools available that are more suited to what you would like to do, they are generally referred to as On Ground pools.

http://www.rrpools.ca/Products/Onground.htm

http://www.propools.com/products/on_ground/manual.htm

http://www.americastopswimmingpools.com/

http://www.poolsmadepossible.com/onground.htm

These are just somew I could find.

[b2001]

I've had it done, as well as some of my neighbors - ag pool 2' into the ground with decks built partially around the pool. The work was done by a contractor who does a lot of this type of pool setup, so maybe thay's the reason for us having no problems so far ...

[beardking]

B2001, since you are in the Dallas area, could you tell me what contractor it was that did your pool?

[b2001]

I bought a 18’ x 36’ x 48” “Morning Dance” Doughboy above ground pool from Crown Pools the summer of 2003. James Hendricksen Pool & Deck – 972-412-4015 – www.jhpoolanddeck.com - put it in. As I said, the pool was put 2’ into the ground; also, I had a deep end dug out, and I had a deck installed around about a third of the pool – that part which faces my house.

As I said, there were two neighbors directly to the north of me that had above ground pools installed – partially buried, so I was already aware of what this contractor could do. I didn’t have any major problems, although one could have been. The owner misjudged that he could get his heavy equipment into my backyard - guess what, he couldn’t. We were scrambling around to work around this. I was fortunate that my backyard neighbors, on a 3 acre lot, were gracious enough to grant access, and they took all of the fill dirt! The crew also installed my cartridge filter backwards which I did not discover until the next season.

Their web site still lists them as a preferred installer of Crown Pools, which is not the case anymore, so this might now be a case of buyer beware. It is my understanding that there was a falling out between them and Crown Pools over them having too many crews and not enough control, resulting in many complaints – I’m sure from the quality of the end result. I had a little bit of that, once the pit was dug, they pretty much left a crew here to install the pool and build the deck with minimal supervision. I stayed around to keep close eye on what was going on to bring up issues with the owner – they were all worked out quickly and satisfactorily. In their defense, someone was at my place the entire time working on the pool, once it was started, until completion. I had no communications problems. When I earned that they were no longer doing pool installs for Crown, I suspected lack of supervision and control – overextended - might be the case.

It sounds like they are concentrating on decks now – they did a real good job on mine, although they still might do pools.

Crown is using two different installers now – Mendez 469-878-9525 and Jones 972-938-3469. It sounds like Jones is cheaper, but also does decks, while Mendez does not. You’ll need to establish whether they do the partial bury or not, I’m assuming at least one does. Of course, I am not aware of their reputations.

I’m giving you all of this info – even though some of it is unsubstantiated – it’s always better to have too much than not enough information.