Now that summer is coming to and end, I would like to just post a review of my 1st year with my Summerwaves Elite 20x48 pool.
Sorry for the long post, but since other reviews on this forum were super helpful to me I wanted to do one of my own.
Overall, the pool was an amazing purchase. I bought the pool itself for about $500 (before the price spike due to covid-19) and with everything else involved probably spent a total of $1200. Which included things needed for ground leveling and general upgrades. The pool itself has given us no problems, despite being about 3 inches un-level. And almost constantly in use by A LOT of kids. Not even a single hole (so far). All in all the pool was a lot of work, and if we lived in a more permanent residence we would probably still go with the steel frame above ground pool. But this pool has been PERFECT for our lives right now and worth every penny.
Leveling the ground: Was by far the most work, since we were pretty much starting off with a complete swamp where an old pool had been years ago. After a lot of research and given the state of our backyard, going with sand(4 tons!) and stones for the posts seemed to be the best option for us. Some forums recommended against using sand due to the pool settling in and causing it to be un-level. Which did happen a little bit, but not enough to cause any issues. Same with the stones, but I had cut up a couple of outdoor rugs and lined the stones that were close to the liner with them and that seems to have worked just fine. Next year we are hoping to only need a few bags of sand to spot level and push the stones in the ground a little more to avoid needing the rug strips.
Landscaping: I must admit I got a little lazy with the landscaping. I started with landscape edging and black rubber mulch which was highly recommended, but super expensive and not really worth it to me. Not to mention our dog liked to dig a little too much in it to keep it looking nice
. Next year, I will probably just put a barrier around the bottom liner and go with regular mulch.
Ladder: Due to a super lucky facebook market find. We were able to switch to a bigger, better ladder with stairs. Which had we not found that great deal, I do believe it would be so worth it to have just bought a new one. Especially when you have littles. The ladder that came with does its job, but its very obviously cheaply made.
The Filter: The only thing I really struggled with was converting to an Intex sand filter/pump. I was under the impression it would be a lot easier than it really was. Not sure if it had to do with Covid-19 or just bad luck. My neighbor was able to set us up with some rubber connectors and flex seal that worked well enough to get us through the summer. Still a little leakage though, that I believed slowed the filter down a little bit. Next year I think we will just convert to an Intex skimmer as well.
I hope this review is helpful to someone, as other reviews have been to me. Feel free to ask any questions!
Sorry for the long post, but since other reviews on this forum were super helpful to me I wanted to do one of my own.
Overall, the pool was an amazing purchase. I bought the pool itself for about $500 (before the price spike due to covid-19) and with everything else involved probably spent a total of $1200. Which included things needed for ground leveling and general upgrades. The pool itself has given us no problems, despite being about 3 inches un-level. And almost constantly in use by A LOT of kids. Not even a single hole (so far). All in all the pool was a lot of work, and if we lived in a more permanent residence we would probably still go with the steel frame above ground pool. But this pool has been PERFECT for our lives right now and worth every penny.
Leveling the ground: Was by far the most work, since we were pretty much starting off with a complete swamp where an old pool had been years ago. After a lot of research and given the state of our backyard, going with sand(4 tons!) and stones for the posts seemed to be the best option for us. Some forums recommended against using sand due to the pool settling in and causing it to be un-level. Which did happen a little bit, but not enough to cause any issues. Same with the stones, but I had cut up a couple of outdoor rugs and lined the stones that were close to the liner with them and that seems to have worked just fine. Next year we are hoping to only need a few bags of sand to spot level and push the stones in the ground a little more to avoid needing the rug strips.
Landscaping: I must admit I got a little lazy with the landscaping. I started with landscape edging and black rubber mulch which was highly recommended, but super expensive and not really worth it to me. Not to mention our dog liked to dig a little too much in it to keep it looking nice
. Next year, I will probably just put a barrier around the bottom liner and go with regular mulch.Ladder: Due to a super lucky facebook market find. We were able to switch to a bigger, better ladder with stairs. Which had we not found that great deal, I do believe it would be so worth it to have just bought a new one. Especially when you have littles. The ladder that came with does its job, but its very obviously cheaply made.
The Filter: The only thing I really struggled with was converting to an Intex sand filter/pump. I was under the impression it would be a lot easier than it really was. Not sure if it had to do with Covid-19 or just bad luck. My neighbor was able to set us up with some rubber connectors and flex seal that worked well enough to get us through the summer. Still a little leakage though, that I believed slowed the filter down a little bit. Next year I think we will just convert to an Intex skimmer as well.
I hope this review is helpful to someone, as other reviews have been to me. Feel free to ask any questions!
