what is a good yet cheap way to pad underneath an above ground swimming pool?

First of all, there will never be anything CHEAP about owning a pool - I don't care if you get it FREE!! Most manufacturers instruct you to have beach sand a minimum of 4 inches deep under your pool. The trick is to 1) Maintain the bowl shape of the liner; 2) Keep the sand at consistent depth from outside the circle to middle; and 3) Comb/rake it until you remove ALL gravels, sticks, leaves, grass stalks, etc. It is a royal pain to do it right. The smallest thing can puncture your pool liner.

If you have more time than money, you can screen your dirt to remove the sticks and stones that will cause the holes you described. Take a wooden box and remove the bottom and replace it with screen you can get at a hardware store. The screen should be the size that allows fine dirt to make it through but not sticks or rocks. The problem will be that it also catches clumps of dirt, so be prepared to put some effort into this. It might be easier to go out and work at something else to get the money for sand. Put a shovel full of dirt in the box after you remove as much of the sticks and rocks as you can find, and mash the clods of dirt down to a finer grain. Then shake the box across the top of another container, maybe a 5 gallon pail or small trash can, and let the clean dirt fall into the pail. use the clean dirt under the liner in place of the sand. Sand is better because it will drain water that seeps in from the side and won't dry to a harder surface or clump up, so again, you may wish to put some effort into getting sand.

Sometimes people have extra sand left over from projects. Put an ad on craigs list for free or watch there for ads about free sand for the taking.

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