Do It Yourself Ingrounds

[ebes4mail]

I was wondering if anyone out there has any input on "Do It Yourself" (DIY) inground vinyl pools?

I am just in the early stages of my new home+new pool research and of course price is a concern to me.

Is it really possible to Do it yourself, and correctly?

[KnightEagle]

I have also researched doing it yourself. Have gotten estments on digging the hole out and that blew my mind. One contracter said he do the job of diging the rough hole for a 16' x 32' x24' an L shape pool. He wanted 1500.00 to dig the hole and the same to haul the dirt off. That was two years ago. Was really thinking about it. We put it on hold good thing we moved. Now were in a new house and was thinking of it again but the vinl liners from what I've read here like the wave tec pools or ones similer have lots of problems. But most of the problems are if they are not level or square and away of getting rid of the dirt. Our new home we can use the dirt we dig out as back fill on two sides. But we have changed our minds about a vinal inground pool. fiberglass be a better choice or a gunite pool. We decided on taking a 24' above ground pool and sinking it 40" into the ground with a strch liner so the center be deeper than the sides <52" sides><62"-72" center> Under the pool we be putting down a 4 inch base of gravel then a weed blocker then a 4 inch layer of sand. Around the sides of the wall of the pool wrap it with plastic and back fill with a 12 inch wide gravel and weed blocker to keep the dirt out of the gravel The gravel to pull the water from the soil. Under the pool bottom dig a 2' x 2' x 1' foot hole and place a pvc pipe with holes in it to drain any water out from under the pool to a sump pump or to a area away from the pool below grade. In Our case we have a 4' drop over 60'. If you do what I'm thinking of doing once you sink the pool your waranty is void and you have to be carefull if you ever drain it. For depends on your soil in sandy soil the soil can cave the sides in when emty in clay soils less chance of the sides caving in. So you see with our yard we can dig ours out easyer and use the dirt as back fill around the pool. No matter what you decide on doing you have to get rid of the dirt. Have found someone to dig out the spot for us and sence we our keeping the dirt the cost be around 1000.00 . So think about it really hard and try to plan every detail. For us the total cost be around 3000.00 to sink it. Good luck on your pool project. Ours will start in three months when we pick up the pool. I will post a web page so you and others can follow it along and tell me what they like and dont like. I will be taking my time.

[rob]

I was wondering if anyone out there has any input on "Do It Yourself" (DIY) inground vinyl pools?

I am just in the early stages of my new home+new pool research and of course price is a concern to me.

Is it really possible to Do it yourself, and correctly?

hello,

diy ig vinyl pools really need experience. its took me many jobs of experience to be able to go out on my own and install my first pool. just listen to all those neg post on pools out of level ad squareness. it all starts with having a good excavator and they even need to be experienced in digging the proper angles. be carefull if u try it

rob

[DKN1997]

I was wondering if anyone out there has any input on "Do It Yourself" (DIY) inground vinyl pools?

I am just in the early stages of my new home+new pool research and of course price is a concern to me.

Is it really possible to Do it yourself, and correctly?

either way, whether you pay someone to build or build it yourself, I stronly recommend paying someone to dig the hole. these guys make it look easy, but when they are done, it looks like you could fill the dirt holeup with water and jump in!!

after the hole is done, it's not too bad. set your walls plumb and square and level, call a concrete truck to dump in a 4" thick collar at the base of the walls. then hang skimmers, drill holes for return/cleaner fittings, pour a 10x4 concrete filter slab, plumb and install equipment, have sand delivered, trowel bottom, mix cement/vermiculite if you want hard bottom, install liner, fill, and swim.

sounds like a lot, but if you are really really handy and have some construcion experience, it's doable. If you were building a gunit pool, then I would run far away, lots more involved and almost impossible to do yourself without subbing a lot of it out. much of that work requires a 5-6 man crew and most people don't have access to that.

[Interpool]

Indeed, with help of experienced professionals one can "do it themselves." While very few, some dealers will let you share in the work to save $$ (which is typically the primary goal) on a project. Rob got it right, it takes more than one installation to get it down. Like anything, it involves risk. Simply put if a do it your selfer gets in over their head, a dealer during the busy season, simply wouldn't offer their services to fix your problem. Look at it this way, if you put your pool out of level, your waterline will show the error. Is it worth the potential savings? Only if your skill set is well above average. Not everything is a dot com based "deal."

[Pool Owner]

While I am an experienced DIY, I hired a pool builder because it was too much of an investment to get wrong. I utilized my DIY skills to keep on top of the project, asking questions and providing direction to get what I thought I wanted (I did learn a few things that I will eventually share on my blog). I have some information that may be useful on my blog. There is one link for a DIY gunnite/plaster pool website.

For the future, you may want to invest about $30 into getting a good reference pool book. If you have not yet done so, check your local library for books on the subject of pool maintenance/construction to see if there is one you like. I have a short review of a few books on my blog (noted below). While it is very large, I think you will find “The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual” a good choice. Since it is almost 700 pages, you need to use it like these pool bulletin boards, search for the information you need and only read the part that covers your problem. I’m in the process of reading a few other books on pool construction; however, none of them are complete enough for DIY.

[Ted@DIYPools]

I was wondering if anyone out there has any input on "Do It Yourself" (DIY) inground vinyl pools?

I am just in the early stages of my new home+new pool research and of course price is a concern to me.

Is it really possible to Do it yourself, and correctly?

ebes4mail - if you're still looking for more info, contact us and we'll answer any questions that you have. We have lots of people ask about it being possible to do it yourself (Yes, that's why we're called DIYPools) and our specialty is inground vinyl-lined polymer pools. We usually find that people want to talk at length about the questions that you pose, which is why I suggest you call us instead of trying to post back and forth.

Ted

[S-P-S-R]

While I am an experienced DIY, I hired a pool builder because it was too much of an investment to get wrong. I utilized my DIY skills to keep on top of the project, asking questions and providing direction to get what I thought I wanted (I did learn a few things that I will eventually share on my blog). I have some information that may be useful on my blog. There is one link for a DIY gunnite/plaster pool website.

For the future, you may want to invest about $30 into getting a good reference pool book. If you have not yet done so, check your local library for books on the subject of pool maintenance/construction to see if there is one you like. I have a short review of a few books on my blog (noted below). While it is very large, I think you will find “The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual” a good choice. Since it is almost 700 pages, you need to use it like these pool bulletin boards, search for the information you need and only read the part that covers your problem. I’m in the process of reading a few other books on pool construction; however, none of them are complete enough for DIY.

Hi Pool Owner,

I think it's a good idea for the home owner do do some kind of homework before chosing a pool builder or going owner builder on the project. I see 2000 to 2500 pools (inground) a year. I see lots of pool and spas in all stage of the project. their is lots of poor quailty of work out there that is given to the home owners. Rite now I'm writing a e-book on "How not to get rip off by your swimming pool contractors or landscapers" It's not ready yet but you can go to my site and sign up at my opt-in. An I will let know how it's coming along and ready to publish.

Blake Melancon

swimming-pool-secrets-revealed.com

[randb]

We just finished building our own inground swimming pool. It went very well, but did take a a long time (6 months). We were the ones that were slow not the subs. We spent a lot of time researching each phase.

Now I am looking for info on maintaining the pool and spa

[DKN1997]

We just finished building our own inground swimming pool. It went very well, but did take a a long time (6 months). We were the ones that were slow not the subs. We spent a lot of time researching each phase.

Now I am looking for info on maintaining the pool and spa

maintenance seems really daunting at first, but once you grasp it, it's very easy. Here is what I would do:

Once/week, vacuum, service filter (sand:backwash, cartridge: rinse every 3 weeks, de: backwash and replace with fresh earth every 3 weeks or if your pressure rises 5lbs above initial startup on your gauge) test chlorine and ph, add chemicals according to the dosage listed on the container for your size pool

once/month, take a water sample to wherever you buy chemicals, most have computerized testors. They can test alkalinity, tds,calcium, stabilizer, etc...they will test for free so you buy chems from them. You could also buy a good test kit to test all of these things yourself.

If you see algae, immediately shock to at least 3-5.0, higher for really bad algea, then brush the entire surface, service the filter, and set time clock for 24hrs/day until pool clears up. vacuum up dead algae to waste, don't run it through filter.

It would help if you listed what equipment you have, if you have a salt generator or ozone gen, or some mineral purifier, then that changes things a bit.