How to Install a 16' X 32' Oval Pool

Mark the area for the swimming pool on the ground using garden hoses or ropes. Clear this marked area and up to 3 feet outside it of all rocks, grass and other debris. Use a carpenter’s level or transit to level the ground. To keep the pool from shifting, never add dirt to level the ground, only remove it.

Assemble the buttresses for the straight portions of the pool’s sides following manufacturer’s directions. Use the screws or bolts in the assembly kit. In most cases, this involves creating a vertical upright post set in a flat base. A brace set at a 45-degree angle provides stability to the buttress. Depending on the pool, you may have six or eight buttresses to assemble for the 16-by-32-foot oval pool.

Set paving stones, or pavers, at grade level around the perimeter of the pool to support the buttresses and the other vertical uprights. Space these according to the specifications of your pool. Use the level to ensure each stone is level from front to back and side to side. Each adjacent stone should be level as well.

Set the buttresses on the paving stones set along the straight portion of the wall. Use the bolts in the assembly kit to fasten the connecting straps to opposing buttresses. Set each strap and its attached buttresses so it is parallel to the adjacent one.

Connect each buttress to its neighbor with straight pressure plates from the assembly kit and bolts. The pressure plates connect the buttresses into a straight line on both sides of the pool.

Assemble the two halves of the curved track for the oval ends. Slide the end of a piece of track into one side of a bottom plate. Insert another piece of track into the other side of the bottom plate. Continue linking track and plates together. Connect the ends not in plates to the outside edges of pressure plates to complete the oval shape. When you finish this step, each of the bottom plates should be resting on a paving stone.

Verify that the straight walls are parallel to each other. Measure from the first buttress on one wall diagonally to the last buttress on the opposite side. Take the measurement of the two remaining outside diagonal posts. The measurements should be identical. If they aren’t, move a pair of outside buttresses slightly to make the measurements equal. Measure again.

Place 2 inches of clean sand inside the pool’s track to form a soft bottom for the swimming pool. Rake the sand to level it. Tamp it in place with a hand tamper.

Set one edge of the pool’s wall inside the pool’s track. Unroll the wall as you continue to place the edge in the track. When you completely unroll the entire wall, fasten the ends together with bolts and nuts from the assembly kit. Cover the connectors with duct tape to protect the vinyl liner as it rubs against them.

Set preformed foam coving material on top of the sand around the edges of the pool and against the wall. This coving material creates a 45-degree angle between the pool’s floor and the wall and helps reduce wear and tear on the liner.

Attach the vertical uprights to the base plates along the curved portion of the outer pool’s wall using connectors from the assembly kit.

Move the liner inside the pool. Take off your shoes. Unroll the liner and work out the wrinkles in it. Hang the north edge of the pool liner over the north wall of the pool. Clip it in place with the clips included in the assembly kit. Hang the south edge of the liner over its wall and clip it in place. Repeat the process for the west wall and the east wall. Clip the remaining liner in place.

Fill the pool 2 inches deep. Check the water for levelness. If the bottom is uneven, pull back the vinyl liner in that spot and add or remove more sand. Reattach the liner to the wall.

Put the top track in place by sliding ends together until they click. Set the track on top of the pool wall and fasten it to the openings in the tops of the buttress posts and vertical uprights on the curved walls. As you set the top track in place, tidy the appearance of the pool by tucking excess liner under the track.

Add water to just below the line marked in the vinyl liner for the pool pump’s skimmer and return opening. Follow manufacturer’s directions for cutting a hole in the liner and wall for the skimmer and return and attaching its gasket. Connect the pool’s pump and skimmer following manufacturer’s directions as well.

Finish filling the pool. Plug the pump into a GFCI, or ground fault circuit interrupter, outlet.