QuestionI am going to have an above ground pool installed. The installer told me to prep
the area by removing all the grass and leveling the ground. The ground is very
hard, and I was wondering the best way to remove the grass.
Someone had mentioned soaking the area, but I am not sure, as this will lead to
the grass being heavy when I bag it. Any help is greatly appreciated.
AnswerPeople who keep the Grass in place and plunk an above-ground pool over it find the whole area stinks out loud a few weeks later as the Grass begins to rot in the Summer heat and humidity.
And that's the lucky ones!
Less lucky are the people who discover the Grass has survived -- and is growing INTO THE POOL, effectively boring into the pool liner and flooding the entire property with hundreds of gallons of chlorinated water. Nutgrass is FAMOUS for stunts like this. So is Bamboo and Ryegrass. Don't take the chance.
You can't have any rocks or debris under there, either, for obvious reasons.
Don't even THINK about wiping out the vegetation with Weed Killer for this. Besides the obvious moral question of damage to the Environment, chemicals might react with the vinyl used for the pool. Next thing you know, the liner is leaking. A leaking backyard pool ranks only second to a leaking fishtank in the living room.
PLUS you don't want to start filling any little valleys in under the pool. The soil won't have the rigidity you need under all that weight. Shave down the higher spots instead. When you're done, you'll have hard, level ground. Use a carpenter's level or a 2 by 4 to make sure this is REALLY level. Some places sell Styrofoam to place under the liner -- I don't know how well this works but it's worth looking into.
More info is posted by pool-man Brian Lane:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/experts/above-ground-swimming-pool.htm
The easiest way to remove those pieces of Lawn? I have reservations about all the mud your method would create. Power raking gets my vote. There's more to this than getting the turf up. Thanks for writing.
