Dirt Against An Above Ground Pool

by Cindy Koller
(Atglen, PA)

I have a 27' round aluminum above ground pool with a fan deck & 15" walk around with stanchions to support them. It was installed 3 years ago & I am finally getting around to landscaping around it because I have a lot of water issues around it. Basically the installer leveled the ground for the pool, but left the surrounding ground uneven, causing water to lay about under the deck & around the one side. The deck end ground is high (I actually step down to get under the deck where the filter is & around the ladder) & the opposite side slopes off sharply. I want to slope the ground away from the pool where it is sunk in to correct the standing water issues because I do have a very wet backyard at times, especially in the spring.

My biggest worry is how much of the supporting structure is exposed. Right now the stanchions are kind of floating out there, resting on top of brick pavers. There is little to no dirt under or around them & the aluminum ring at the bottom of the pool wall is also exposed in many places. I'm trying to fix the water issues & make the pool less of an eyesore, but I don't want to do anything to ruin its structural integrity. My big question is can I put dirt & stone against the side of the pool & how far up the side can it go? Also can I cover the deck stanchions & bottom ring with dirt? I know it won't rust, but it will corrode & is this an issue? Do you have any suggestions? I know I'm throwing a lot at you, but I want you to understand the whole issue so you can offer the best suggestions to fix this mess. Thank you in advance for your help & expertise.

Hi Cindy. I feel that in most cases you are better off packing the pool in with as much dirt as possible and that adding stones over the dirt is even better. I think have dirt around the pool is much better than letting the pool sit in a puddle of water. Letting a pool sit in water is never a good thing.

Packing dirt around your pool will protect the base parts and keep anything from washing out, or possibly shifting. I never like seeing an exposed bottom rail, I just feel they should be covered with something.

There are cases where certain soils will erode the aluminum very quickly. I would do some checks from time to time and make sure this is not happening. If you think it is, or you think it might, you can always use landscape plastic with stones over top of that.

Anything around the pool is better than nothing.