I don’t even know
I didn’t want this, but this is what I’m dealing with now.
We originally planned to just do some basic leveling in our very sloped backyard this spring—bring in fill, compact it, plant grass, and let it settle so we’d have a good base for a pool next year. We also had about 50 tree stumps we wanted gone.
We found a contractor who came out, and during the visit my partner mentioned we eventually wanted a pool. Somehow that turned into him suggesting a pool pad instead. He quoted $1,800–$2,000 to remove stumps, grade, and build a proper base with compacted gravel and a sand top layer.
Once the job started, he told my partner that gravel could damage the liner and that sand-only was better, and that this is how he “always does pool pads.” My partner trusted him, and now we have a massive sand pad that’s built up on a slope, with some random rocks added from around the property.
I’m honestly pretty fucking concerned. It’s not what we agreed to, it’s sloped like nearly 4 feet (he said sloping helps keep it from shifting), and I don’t know how stable this actually is—especially for an 18’ Coleman above-ground pool. Also not thrilled about having a giant pile of sand in my yard long-term.
So… is this salvageable?
Can anything be done at this point to reinforce or fix this so we can safely put a pool on it this summer? Or are we looking at tearing this out and starting over with a proper gravel base? My house was built on ledge so as you can imagine, digging down would be hell.