In-ground pools are great. They add pizzazz to a yard, and they provide a great place for gentle exercise.
However, you will only get these great benefits if it is installed correctly. This is why you hire experts for the job.
One thing that these experts will want to do before installing your pool is to prepare the ground. You can help them out by knowing what situations they are looking for in advance and maybe picking a spot that doesn’t need a lot of work.
The first requirement will be that the ground is flat. You need a level surface for your pool to be accurately excavated with even stairs and floor. Also, water will follow gravity, so it will simply splash out of your pool if it is installed on a hill. If your yard is on a slope but you want to put in an in-ground pool, a bit of that slope will have to be terraced so that part of it is flat.
Another consideration is the type of soil that you will be putting your pool in. Pools need to be in soil that is uniform for its entire length and that isn’t prone to shifting around.
Unfortunately, some types of soil aren’t great for pools. Clay, since it doesn’t drain well, can expand rapidly which will put cracks in your pool wall. A lot of homes are on fill, or debris used to flatten a foundation, and sometimes this fill was not compacted before it was built on. Sand and gravel can also be insufficiently compacted, and salt in the ground can corrode metal in the pool’s foundation.
These circumstances need extra caution and your pool construction company should remedy them. They might use a retaining wall and backfill to give your pool a solid beginning. Hydrostatic relief valves may have to be added.
Whatever the condition of your yard, Alan Jackson Pools would like to help you. We can provide professional advice on how to prepare your land for constructing an in-ground pool.
