Foam Base Placement

by Nick
(Wisconsin)

I was reading some of the posts and would like to go with a 1" foam base for my 27'AGP. I have purchased the snap in pool cove already, so my question is do I put the foam at the same level as the patio blocks for the uprights?

The other posts I read seem to imply putting the wall up and then cutting and taping the foam to fit. I don't think I would be able to clip my coving into my wall rail if I did it that way?

Thanks for the great site, any info on this matter would help.

Hi Nick. There are several different ways to work with the foam sheets and the preformed pool cove.

If you exchanged the track cove for the taped back foam you could lay the foam and install the cove over top of it. This is the way I usually do it.

Many of our indoor display pools get set up directly on top of the foam. The foam base extends a foot or so beyond the pool. The cove can then snap into the bottom rail.

Another way to do it would be to install the wall, install the cove and then bevel the base foam to fit. This could easily be done.

My cuts are never that perfect so I take all the little crumbs of foam and fill any gaps. Over top of the seam between base and cove I would use duct tape. It would work.

I had a reader tell me they pre-cut the foam on the driveway before installing into the pool. This made so much sense to me I have started doing it. The base is measured and cut into a perfect circle before going into the pool. It works great.

Foam Sheets and Beaded Liner

by Roger Brink
(Minnesota)

I will be putting 2" thick high density foam sheets under my 24' round 54" high above ground pool. I would like to use a beaded liner but I was wondering if the extra height of the foam sheets would cause slack in the liner. Should I just use an over lap liner.

Hi Roger. My preference would always be an overlap liner. The majority of the time I can install them with perfectly smooth bottoms and no wrinkles. I do well with beaded liners, but when they don't fit the pool, there is not much I can do. This does happen on occasion.

If the was no specific reason for wanting a beaded liner, like a deck or something, I would go overlap.

If I needed a beaded liner I would just order a smaller size. A 52" beaded liner would probably fit just fine.

If you are installing the liner in 110 degrees and direct midday sun you might even get by with a 48" liner. I used to use a 48 in a 52 pool all the time. They just melted right in, perfect every time. That was in the middle of an Arizona summer, very hot. I would never had tried that in the spring or fall. The temperature and the amount of direct sunlight makes so much difference.

Pool Cove And Padding

I have an old pool up and I want to install cove and padding for it? Do I need to remove the sand or what do I do?

Hi. It sounds like you want to install preformed pool cove and foam padding to an existing above ground pool. There are a couple of ways to go about this.

You could pull the sand cove back away from the wall and install the pool cove. This sand could then be put back over the cove and the remaining sand used to resurface the bottom of the pool. Once that was all smooth you could lay the cushion over that and run it all the way to the wall. It could then be taped to the wall to hold it in place.

You could also remove the sand from the cove area and install the preformed cove. At this point you could try to level the existing sand out to a point just a little below the half way point on the cove. This would leave the top half of the preformed cove exposed. When you lay the foam pad down it could then be taped to the coving. Or it could cover the cove and be taped to the wall, it really does not matter, it looks nice either way.

The most important thing to keep in mind with the pad is that it will take on the shape of whatever is underneath it. It will not smooth out a rough surface. It is thin, and with the weight of the water on it, everything shows. You need to lay this material on top of a very smooth surface. For that reason I would use it over top of smooth sand, as opposed to removing the sand and putting it on dirt.

Coving and Base Size For Beaded Liner

by Brenda Clark
(Watford, Ontario)

We are installing a 12x24 oval above ground pool that is 48" high with a beaded liner. We need to know what size coving and what size a base we should have.

We know that with a beaded liner that measurements are more important as you can not overlap the excess liner, so we are wondering what size base and what size coving is best.

We want to use a 1" or a 1 1/2" styrofoam on the bottom, as well as we have a gorilla liner to put on top of that. Is 1" or 1 1/2" styrofoam better and depending on which one we use how much sand do we need?

We do know that the material ONLY of our liner (not including the beading) is 43" so that may help.

Any assistance you can be we would appreciate.

Thanks so much.

Brenda Clark

Hi Brenda. I would use just enough sand to smooth the base out and install the 1" foam over that. I would then use the preformed pool cove around the outside. This would be about the least amount of base you could use and the liner should fit just fine. Liners can always stretch a little, that is not a problem. The problem is having too much liner.

Since having too much liner is a common problem I have turned beaded liners into overlap liners on many occasions. I would rather do that than see a pool full of wrinkles.

I keep a supply of coping on hand for just that purpose. I pull the liner over the wall, install the coping, and put the bead receivers over the coping and finish the pool. I have never had a problem doing this and the liners look much better.

Installing Preformed Cove

by Elliot
(Suisun City CA)

I'm doing a new 12' round above ground pool. I am using 12"x12" pavers under the uprights. Do I use pavers all the way around the pool for the wall rails to sit on also? Or do the rails sit on the dirt?

Also, when I put the bottom cove sections in, do they sit on the pavers? If so, do I just put the coves to the edge of the pavers and then the liner on the sand? thanks.

Hi Elliot. In most soil conditions blocks under the uprights are all you need. Unstable soil, or very sandy ground, would be conditions where it would be helpful to use the pavers under the entire ring. Either way, the coving would go into place the same way.

Preformed pool cove will either snap into the bottom rails, or get taped to the wall just above the rails, depending on which type of cove you have. They both need to rest at ground level, either on the dirt or on the pavers. Since the top of the pavers should be set to ground level, it would not make any difference with how the cove will be used.

I normally just spread the sand out inside the cove area, trying not to cover more than maybe have the cove, so that there is still a couple of inches showing above the sand level. It is possible also to cover the foam cove completely with sand, using the cove as just an extra protection against a possible cove washout. Either way is OK.