No you can not bury a traditional above ground pool. The photo above and the gallery below tell the story. Traditional above ground pools that have one individual pool wall that more or less is a thin sheet of metal is not designed to withstand the force of the ground against the pool wall.
DON'T DO IT!
It should in no way be done. However it is done all the time and pool store salesman will often time say anything to get you out the door with a pool. If your pool is buried like the one above, it may look fine and dandy for a while, but wait until it comes time to replace the liner. As soon as you lower the water level that pool wall will collapse under the wieght of the backfill. When the pool is full the weight of the water is holding up the pool wall and keeping the backfill at bay. As soon as that water is gone, so is your pool.
EXPENSIVE LESSONS LEARNED
The above pool owner learned that the hard way. They spent $11,000.00 on this Doughboy from Allied Pools in Green Bay. They were told by the salesperson that the pool could be buried and they hired a builder that went along with that story and built the pool. Little did they know that during the 2nd season they owned the pool a small leak had cause the pool to empty in one day. The pool owner not only came home to an empty pool but a bad investment. $11,000.00 down the drain. The builder would not return phone calls and Allied Pools that sold them the pool was not liable because they did not build the pool. The cost to replace the pool fell squarely on the pool owner. Needless to say they didnt replace the pool.
DONT BE CHEAP
We see this every single summer. Potential pool owners want the best price they can get and when someone tells them they can have an in ground pool at the cost of an above ground pool, they bite without taking time to do the adequate research to realize how bad this really is.
REAL OPTIONS
That being said. There are great new options on the market for pools that can be built above the ground, below the ground and 1/2 way in between. These are not your everyday above ground pools. These pools are engineered first as in ground pools but are versatile enough to be built completley in ground, half in ground, in a hill or completely above ground.
BEST OF THE BEST
The best of these pools I have ever built or serviced through 21 years in the pool industry is the Ultimate Pool from Foxx Pool Corp. This is a pool compromised of many seperate panels with a 4" flange around all sides that bolts together to form a round, oval or grecian pool. These panels are heavy duty galvanized steel with a dark tan powder coating to reduce chance of rusting. When this pool is assembeled it is literally a tank. You cannot wiggle or shift this pool at all. It is more expensive than the Radiant/Optimum type pools but is substanatially higher quality and has a much longer lifespan. Not only that but when installed in the ground the Ultimate Pool retains its warranty even if the pool is left empty. This cannot be said for the Radiant style pools that require the pool to be completley filled at all time to maintain the warranty.
THE MORAL OF THE STORY
SO dont' make the mistake of being cheap. Like everything in life you get waht you pay for and if something sounds too good to be true its likely because it isnt true. Do extensive research into your pool project, cross the t's and dot the i's. It pays off in the long run to do things right the first time. They may cost a littel more but in the long run you wont be saddled with the issues you have just read about. Take a look at our above ground pool page or contact Pool Pros for a free in home consultation.
