Ultra XTR 18ft x 9ft x 52in Above Ground Swimming Pool Set w/Pump

This will probably be a lengthier review than I would normally commit to, but I hope it helps somebody. Read on to find out what you need to know before getting this or any above ground pool.I ordered the 24ft by 12ft Intex Ultra for the family. It was a decent price, but a little scary for the budget minded do it yourselfer. I researched, and priced some hard sided above ground pools, and man are they expensive! A company here in Arkansas wanted $10,000.00 dollars for a 24ft round above ground pool. I had to provide a dump truck full of sand and have electric hooked up to the area for filters, but for that price it came with the sand filter, and tools plus chemicals. Still, THATS ALOT OF MONEY FOR AN ABOVE GROUND POOL!I had a 12ft easy set big blue thing a few years ago and learned some things about setting up a pool that helped me with this one.This is what you really need to know!!! What you pay for this pool will not be the price in the end meaning that there will be costs associated with ground leveling, etc...The Intex Ultra is an excellent pool, and I believe, a good value for what you get. I bought the package with the pool and sand filter. (You must have a sand filter or your pool will suck.) Paper filters are junk and all you do is change them. Dont do it. This one comes with a nice sand filter! Next you need to know that when setting up a pool this size that a level surface is key! It is an absolute! DO NOT set these pools up with one side higher than the other. The pool will sag on the sides and will eventually implode. I have a gravel area in my back yard where I put this pool. I built a 1x4 treated lumber frame 28ft by 18ft and leved the frame with a string and a line level (clips to the string). Then I raked out the gravel until it was as close to level as I could get it (it was within a quarter of an inch everywhere inside the frame. Then I bought 1 inch thick foam board insulation at the home improvement store. They sell it in 4ft by 8ft sheets like plywood. I put that down on the gravel inside the frame and taped all of the seams with gorilla tape. (Note... if a rock gets under your pool liner it will eventually create a hole.) So the foam board gives your pool floor a nice cushy feel and protection from whatever lurks underneath. The setup of the pool was pretth simple, but it was hard work in the hot sun. My Wife and I put it up with no issues. The instructions are good and they explain everything well. We put a 12x12 inch paver under each leg as recommended by the manufacturer. The legs would sink into the ground, foam, sand or whatever if you do not do this. It is important! After that we began to fill the pool. We set up the filter, and eight hours later we were swimming!This pool is a nice pool. It is sturdy, affordable, and big enough to allow for swimming and fun. Small rinky dink pools always seem to be a dissapointment, but it depends on the room you have.These are the notes to remember with this or any above ground pool.Your area must be level!Your foundation must protect the liner. (Any rocks, sticks, roots, etc... will eventually pierce the liner no matter how good it is.)This pool comes with a "ground cloth" we put this over our foam floor, but it is simply a tarp. It has very little protection value.You must place blocks under the legs of the pool to keep it from sinking. The 24'x12' pool that I bought hold 8,500 gallons of water. That is over 4 tons of weight! The legs will sink if they do not have a proper foundation.I hope this helps someone looking to invest in some family fun. I plan on encasing this pool with treated wood to make it a more permanent feature at our home.Good luck!

I purchased the 18’ x 9’ x 52” model which includes the Intex Krystal Clear SX1500 Sand Filter Pump. The included filter has been more than adequate for this pool and I have never felt the need to upgrade it. I made this purchase in March 2025 and had it delivered to eastern North Carolina. After a full swimming season, winter closing, and spring reopening, I can honestly say this has been one of the best purchases we’ve made for our family.One thing new buyers should know is that this pool arrives by freight delivery. During checkout I was able to select a delivery date and time window but in my case the freight company delivered it several weeks early and left it at the end of my driveway while nobody was home. The pool is packaged in multiple extremely heavy boxes, so moving it is not as simple as grabbing a hand truck and rolling it away. My husband and I ended up opening the outer packaging and carrying the individual boxes to the backyard. To amazon’s credit customer service refunded $100 for the inconvenience.As far as installation goes I won’t spend much time discussing ground leveling because many other reviewers have already covered it in detail. What I will say is that proper ground preparation is absolutely worth the effort. If you’re starting with grass I highly recommend renting a sod cutter and an electric plate compactor for the day.I read the manual several times before installation and watched multiple setup videos online. Following recommendations from both the manual and these videos I used baby powder on the frame poles which made assembly much easier.The ground preparation had already been completed the week before so I started assembling the pool around noon on April 19th 2025. I was able to lay out the ground cloth, spread the liner, and assemble most of the frame by myself. The only point where I needed assistance was when it came time to attach and position the legs. Once my husband joined me, that part went quickly. We had the rest of the pool assembled, plumbing connected, sand filter installed, and water filling by approximately 6 PM.The included ladder is functional and straightforward to assemble. It isn’t luxurious but it gets the job done and we’re still using the original ladder today. I suspect I will be replacing the ladder before needing to replace the pool.What has impressed me most is how easy this pool has been to maintain. I intentionally chose affordable, low-effort options whenever possible. My setup consists of the included sand filter, chlorine tablets in a floating dispenser, an all-in-one weekly pool care concentrate, a basic Intex cleaning kit, a pool brush, and new this season an Intex automatic skimmer.My routine is simple. Once a week I brush the walls, skim the surface manually, vacuum the bottom, backwash and rinse the filter, add my weekly chemical and let the sand filter do its job. That’s it.The result has been crystal-clear water all season long. Eastern North Carolina summers are hot, humid, and hard on pools, yet this one has remained consistently clear with very little effort.For anyone wondering about size this has been the perfect pool for our family. On an average day we have three adults and four children ages 6-8 swimming comfortably without feeling crowded. We’ve also hosted pool parties and backyard cookouts where as many as eleven children in that age range were in the pool at once and still had plenty of room to play. Adults did not join in when there was eleven kids though.My daughters, ages 6 and 8, use this pool nearly every day during good weather from late April through September. On many days they’re in it for three plus hours. The amount of use this pool gets in our backyard makes the purchase price feel like a bargain.I purchased mine during a Prime sale for around $700, which made it an incredible value. Even at today’s pricing, I would buy it again without hesitation.Last fall I decided to leave the pool standing through the winter rather than take it down. Closing it was straightforward. I brushed the walls, vacuumed the pool, added a double dose of my weekly treatment, ran the filter overnight, lowered the water below the inlet ports, removed the filtration equipment, plugged the openings, and installed a cover. I also used a pool pillow under the cover, which made removing accumulated rainwater easier. I stored the filter in my controlled garage.When I reopened the pool this spring, the water was still crystal clear. I reinstalled the filter, brushed and vacuumed the pool, topped off the water level, ran the filter overnight, added chlorine and my weekly treatment, and the kids were swimming the very next day.After a full season of use and one winter outdoors the liner still looks excellent. I have no discoloration, no leaks and no visible deterioration. The frame components also remain in excellent condition with no rust anywhere on the metal poles.If I had to make this purchase again tomorrow I wouldn’t hesitate. This pool has provided hundreds of hours of entertainment for our family, has been surprisingly easy to maintain and has held up exactly as I hoped it would.Pros:Large enough for families and pool partiesIncluded sand filter works very wellStraightforward assemblyEasy to maintainCrystal-clear water with a simple routineOpened crystal clear after winterNo rust on the frame after a full seasonExcellent value for the amount of use we get from itCons:Freight delivery experience may varyPool shipment is extremely heavyIncluded ladder is functional but basicGround preparation is time-consuming

It's been one year since we bought our Intex 24x12 pool. My wife sent me link to a intex pool on Prime day for a really good price. Honestly a above ground pool never crossed my mind, we talked about a in ground but of course the price always scared us away.I pulled the trigger on the pool quickly after reading the reviews. Then it kind of set in what I did when I read that I had to clear grass out and level the ground. In august heat! I didn't know what to do with the foundation, do I get sand, do I use foam boards? It seems every time I had a plan, I would read about someone else saying NOT to do it that way. I made the decision to rent a sod cutter (def do this) remove the grass and attempt to level the dirt by hand. We set a date for install, rented the sod cutter and we sweated the day away playing in the dirt. We used long 2x4's with a level on it to attempt on getting the ground level. I decided to get one of the ground covers made to go under the pool, as well as the tarp that comes with the pool. No sand or pavers, since they have a tendency to break. Fed up with research I just decided to stick to our plan of no sand or pavers and get it as level as we could.After the ground was ready pool install was very easy. Starting filling and let it fill overnight. One thing I wish I did was pay more attention to the legs. A few of them didn't get pulled out all the way and they are a little crooked. Once water is in the pool to force them out there is no way you are moving them, so that's how they still sit.Our pool did not turn out to be level. There I said it! If yours isn't perfect don't worry about it. Ours is off maybe two inch's in both directions and to the normal person they will never notice. Ours has survived all winter, kids playing, few pool parties and numerous torrential down pours.Maintenace is also fairly easy and once you get a routine and see what works it gets even easier. I run my pump for 8 hours a day. 4 hours in the morning before I leave for work and then I run it for another 4 when I get home. I put a chlorine tablet in a floater until its gone and also a clarifier/alkalinity tablet maybe twice a week. So far this summer my levels are always perfect and in the middle range. I do have a skimmer and I also hand skim it probably once a night just for piece of mind. It's kind of relaxing for me. I also vacuum maybe every two weeks, but I do skim the bottom when I'm in the pool and remove debris that way too. I had one algae issue end of last summer but that was my fault for not keeping up with the chemicals and pump routine. Took numerous shocks and cleaning to fix it but it did clear up. I also backwash once a week mainly due to my pump pressures getting too high and the flow rate goes down unless I backwash. Not a big deal.We use the pool almost every day. Kids swim during the day and I enjoy getting in at night to wind down before I shower and go to bed. Water temp stays warm (we are in southern VA) and I mainly cover it only if we aren't going to use it for a few days or if I'm trying to bring the temps up. We do have a solar bubble wrap looking cover and it does work. Mainly need it for early summer or when the nighttime temps start dropping. Peak summer it's not needed.It really is a nice pool. I'm not sure what it is but the water seems to stay clearer than most in ground set up's. Liner feels good on your feet, and it's an attractive pool. 100% recommend the pool for the price. Yes, the ladder isn't great, and you need to get a skimmer, but other than that I can't find any other issues.For winter I bought a winterizer kit, inflatable pillows, huge tarp and removed the pump. It stayed clear all winter and after I uncovered it, we were swimming the next day. Very impressed with that.So, if you are reading this you are thinking about this pool i would say go for it. Your kids and friends will love it!

We ordered 3 different pools before finally going back to this one the XTR 24x12. This included two rounds and the smaller 18x9. Finally we choose to order this one. Delivery was easy and smooth! The box was heavy but the box came in good condition. No damage.You must level your ground before even thinking of installing this pool. We rented a skidder and leveled the best we could. We followed the grading with rock dust and then sand. I know some say not to use rock dust or sand but we would never have gotten the ground level without. Our local pool company even recommended rock dust as it is what they use on their professional pools. The leveling took around 4 days to complete.We finally were able to put up the pool after many hard hours leveling the ground. We laid down the ground cover but we also used a thicker felt material under the ground cover. As the ground cover is a measly thin piece of tarp. Highly recommended something other than the ground cover IF you’ve used rock dust or have a rocky area.The assembly wasn’t hard, we did install all the side poles together before sliding them in the sleeve even though the instructions recommended installing one by one. Which is nearly impossible to get them connected once they are inserted in the sleeve.Assembly took about 1.5 hours with my husband and myself ( I’m pregnant). It’s very easy and doable if I can do it 6 months pregnant.Once we got the pool together we started filling.It is IMPORTANT to watch the legs as you fill and make sure the ground is level to keep the legs from buckling under the pool as it fills. It took about 11 hours to fill the pool using two water hoses. Another thing that is a MUST is the corner L pieces don’t fit in a certain grove, they move around to adjust to the filling pool. We made a huge mistake and didn’t watch the corner L pieces. These move as the pool fills and one end almost came out which would have resulted in the pool collapsing and possibly ripping right as it was almost completely full. Ensure to watch the L corner brackets and make sure they don’t slide all into one side while filling! Because the one corner did that the pool had huge bow in the middle but we were able to fix the L bracket by tapping it with a rubber hammer.The pool bowed in on each side till it was full, and I mean full to the line of the sleeve. We started to worry bc it was taking so long to straighten out.Another important aspect is if you use sand or you install on any soft surface use pavers under each leg. We did not do this and the legs have sank down into the sand. Which we won’t be able to fix this till fall when we go to winterize it for the winter. After how long it took to level the rock dust, sand and assembly the pool we are taking our chances on leaving it up throughout winter.The pump that comes with the pool is really good! I believe it will do it’s job and hold up very well. We bought the sand which only cost $15 for the pump!Overall this is a great pool! A little pricey but well worth it. If you’re thinking of getting a pool this is the one to get! If you’re between the 18x9 and 24x12, go with the 24x12!! It’s a great size and I would imagine the 18x9 would be to small!

This thing is fantastic. Why did I wait so long to buy one?! In 2021, these things were expensive. North of $1900 I balked. Then, in 2022, the price came back down to less than $1100. I find it to be a value at $1100, and a no-brainer at less than $1000 as it was in early 2020.Beware, setup is not as easy as you might think for most people & properties. The pool and all of its metal braces must be level. For me, this meant digging, tilling, and packing the most level part of my yard. I removed about 2 inches of grass and clay soil to get my spot “perfect”. After I filled the pool, I discovered it was not perfect. In fact it is off by about two inches over the length of the pool, but perfectly level over the width.If you have a perfectly level concrete pad to setup the pool, awesome. Be aware that the actual pad dimensions are 19’10”x9x10”. The area I prepared was marked as 20x11’ and it was just barely big enough.Step one of setup: make a perfectly level 20x11’ pad. Find a mostly flat part of your yard. Don’t build up low areas- the soil will sink. Instead, dig out high areas. In my case, I transported eight 6 cu. ft. wheelbarrows of dirt to other parts of my yard.Step two of setup: lay out the protective tarp and the pool liner. Construct the metal frame. Get a helper.Step three of setup: I was worried about the legs of the pool sinking into the clay when it rains. The bottom of the pool liner is supporting 37,929 lbs and has a surface area of about 21,888 sq. inches. The pressure across the bottom of the pool is about 1.7 pounds per square inch- which is less PSI than my shoes exert on the ground. However, the legs support the lateral loads of the pool with a much smaller footprint. Whenever the water is out of level, the frame does more work to hold the bladder in place. This pool does an exceptional job with frame resilience and load support, but the weak spot for me is the clay soil. I added pressure treated 2”x12”x10” blocks under each leg. This pool has 12 legs. I bought two 8-foot pieces of 2x12 lumber and cut them to 10” blocks.Importantly: avoid lightweight concrete paver blocks. This pool has enough lateral stress to crack those pavers in half.Importantly #2: dig down and set the support blocks level with the pool base. For each one of the 12 blocks, I used a lawn spade and a shovel to dig a 1.75” deep, square-shaped hole, and recessed the blocks into the ground. Do not skimp on the ground preparation steps. Do it right and to perfection. Even if you are meticulous, you’ll likely find opportunities for improvement. You’ll be thankful that you spent the extra effort getting it “perfect” though.Importantly #3: every rock, pebble, piece of hard plastic, root, twig, etc., must go. Be diligent about removing any material that is not dirt.Step three-A (3A) of setup: make the area useful for the long-run.- Spray the ground with weed and grass killer.- Consider adding anti-fatigue mats under the pool base for a nice foot feel and some additional puncture and vegetation protection. I found a fantastic deal at Harbor Freight.Step four of setup: the power plugs for the Intex pump (and saltwater generator) are HUGE and won’t fit in your special GFCI in-use weatherproof box. You can cut plastic boxes to accommodate the plug, but I used a 2-foot 14-3 extension cord. This extension cord connection must be enclosed in a weatherproof box. Amazon has weatherproof extension cord boxes. The built in cords are more than 20 feet long, so setup the pool within about 20 feet of your GFCI protected outlet.Step five of setup: this kit doesn’t come with all of the fancy features that you may want to consider.- I recommend you buy the Intex saltwater generator (SWG)- it will make the pool experience much more pleasant and easy to maintain.* get pool salt if you get the SWG. 115 lbs for this pool. The saltwater generator makes sodiumhypochlorite that sanitizes your water. Once the salt is added, it stays in the system.* get Cyanuric acid. It prevents UV light from breaking down the chlorine generated by the saltwater generator. This pool requires 1.1 lbs of CYA initially, so maybe buy a 4-lb bag.* get a pool skimmer. Either the Intex basket filter, the Hayward above ground pool skimmer, or a net.* get a vacuum. I bought a robot one from Amazon and it works great.* get a good test kit. HTH makes a good, inexpensive one that tests for everything and cyanuric acid.* get a cheap 36” kiddie pool to use as a foot bath at the base of the ladder. It’ll help minimize dirt/grass from being tracked into the pool.* get some apparatus to hold your beverages and devices. There are floaty ones and clamp ones available on Amazon.* I paid a little under $1100 for the pool, but my all-in cost (including ground prep and accessories) was north of $2k.Other things to know:- the included ladder supports up to 300 lbs. I’m 255 lbs and it’s… janky and high. But it works fine.- when you are filling the bladder, the pool rails will begin to bow inward. This is normal. When the water is approaching full, the sides will straighten out from the lateral pressure (this is why you need blocks under the legs).- you’ll need to build a sled/platform to place under the pump, filter, and saltwater generator. My platform is 36x18”.- you’ll need to own/buy a level to make the pad flat and level. I used a spare 4x6”x10’ piece of wood, and zip-tied my 4’ level to it. It was useful, but per my previous comments, I still ended up with a pool that wasn’t quite perfect.- the pool frame depth is 52”, but the water depth when full is 45”.- the cover included is not a “solar cover”. At my latitude, the days can be 100°F but the nights still in the 60’s or 70’s °F. The water is cold! You might want a solar heater if you don’t prefer very cold water.- wait at least 24 hours after shocking the water to add algaecide because the chlorine shock will neutralize the algaecide.I think that’s all of the stuff in my brain about this pool. Hopefully this helps!Update, a few days later: the pool temperature is perfect after a couple of days of 90°F weather with high-60’s °F overnight temps. The cover that comes with the pool allowed the top few inches to warm considerably, and the bottom 40 inches of the water column remained cool.Bonus adds: an inflatable water hammock and IP57 rated earbuds set the stage for a relaxing audiobook experience in the midday heat.

Purchase in May but left in box, unopened, until July 13th. To prepare for setup, first I pressure washed the concrete. The next day I used a leaf blower to clear of any debris. Purchased a felt liner separately, layed down, then unboxed and meticulously worked through the directions, step by step, which includes placing a tarp (included with pool) over the concrete but in our setup went over the felt liner. Took 3 hours with two of us and note it does not come with the sand needed to set up the pump or any chemicals (which we didn't learn until husband was learning about the pump). When unfolding the liner for the first time I noticed a tear. We repaired with the repair kit included but did not think to examine the rest of the bottom of the pool since this just came out of the box. Pool leaked upon having one inch of water. A lot. I wore socks when standing on the liner during set up. Dogs were locked inside the house the entire time. Liner never touched the concrete or even grass. To replace the liner costs $400, half of what we paid for the entire pool (on sale). Totally unacceptable. I noticed someone in Canada had the same experience from reviews here (also in 2026). Shipping box came undamaged. This is a quality control issue. Photo shows the one tear I found while setting up. The amount of water leaking after one inch of water was in the pool cannot be explained by this one tear that we repaired. Now we are waiting to hear from the manufacturer. I'm not paying $400 for a liner replacement when the first one came damaged.

Year 1:At first, I was skeptical of the idea of an above ground pool, especially one with some kind of liner supporting the entire thing. However, having gone through the set up process I can now say I am quite impressed and very excited about my summer this year. The pool is actually quite large compared to what I had in my head. I mean wow 4550 gallons! A lot of people have reviewed this pool and stated that they’ve done well placing their pool out on a firmly compacted and level soil base. The same people tout images of their pools in their reviews, and to me they look crappy and un-level. I would not recommend that at all, as you can see in my photos our pool is well rested on a perfect concrete pad and is quite level. During the set up process as the pool is filling with water the metal support beams bowed inward which was a little bit concerning except for the fact that other people who have reviewed this pool had also experienced the same thing. It’s physics man. As soon as you get the pool, fully filled to its capacity, the metal beams began to straighten out and the elbow pieces actually glide freely. It’s really amazing how stable the entire structure is. Even when splashing around in the pool fairly aggressively the walls do not seem to shake and the pool keeps its form very well.The set up process was actually very fun while the pool comes with one tarp, we added a additional tarp down to ensure that there was ample cushioning between the rough concrete and the pool liner. On the box, it states that you can set the pool up and begin filling it in under an hour with two people. This was mostly the case for us. However, I will caution you that the pool pump and the filter were a little bit more intimidating and took some time. I would also like to tell you that the filter did not come with sand media, and you will have to source this from your local hardware, pool retailer, or I guess you could have Amazon ship it to you too. Thankfully, the instructions provided were adequate and accurate to help us get things set up on the first try. I did experience a small leak from one of the drain hoses where it connected to the drain manifold stage before the pump inlet. Tightening the drain manifold compression band and ensuring the manifold O-rings were properly seated, seemed to help, but I will caution you to not tighten the compression bands way too much as you could cause damage to the hose or the drain manifold.The Amazon delivery driver and his helper did a very good job delivering the pool. In fact, they were just as excited about the pool as we were. He had remarked that him and his buddy were the ones who loaded it on truck earlier that morning and this was especially reassuring to me as as I really wanted things to go perfectly. Thank you so much, Amazon! Awesome product INTEX!I will try to provide some updates to this review as the pool gets used through the next couple seasons. 🙏😁😃Year 2 (2024):Left the pool liner and frame setup but drained over the winter and packed away the hoses pump and other accessories. We now have the pool set up for year 2. Everything with the frame was already set up and we moved the placement of the pool which was fairly easy with two people. Still very happy with the product. Lost an o-ring for the filter somehow but bought a ew pack of them for about $12. When we checked the sand in the filter it was kinda nasty. They say replace only every 3-5 years but sand is cheap and it’s like a 15 minute task to replace so we replaced the sand and probably will every year.

Had mine for three years now. Setup was relatively easy. Had one corner with a broken plastic slide that was replaced by the company free of charge. I sent an email and had the part before a response. Sturdy for my older kids. Sand filter works great once I finally learned how to set it up. Now that I understand pools pretty good I am extremely pleased with this pool. I will likely be buying another once this one finally starts failing. Maybe go to the next size. Tamping the sand filter slightly has made it work so much better. I found this out when I moved my filter and it was full of sand. Apparently a few light taps onto the ground makes it filter better? Trying it again when I have to replace the sand.

Love, love love my pool!! Set it up first week of August 2024. They say it could be set up in about an hour or two, that’s ambitious. Took a little longer for two handy people, plus a few friends. Don’t think you’re buying a $2000 pool and it’s done. We had to rent a tractor to level the land, and the under padding material cost a pretty penny. We used sand and rigid foam, which probably ran us about $1000. Also, you’re definitely going to want to upgrade the ladder. The one that ships with the pool basically became an A-frame stand to hold our pool noodles and floats. It’s a death trap. I overwintered the pool with great success. I live in eastern central Ontario. Opened it this year by myself in a matter of hours. My only complaint is that it’s not very attractive. Many conversations about trying to hide the pool have been had. Still discussing building a deck around it to make it a little more pleasing on the eye. After everything was said and done, upgraded ladder, solar, blanket, roller, vacuum, robot, vacuum, DIY custom solar heater, and all of the necessary things to operate a pool, I think we were in for about $6000. But not a bad investment for a truly wonderful pool that we enjoy daily. During our install one of the brackets broke, and Intex was fantastic to deal with. They had the new part shipped out immediately, and it was here within two days. Solid, well built, and I would highly recommend. This was going to be a temporary pool to see if we actually enjoyed it as much as we had hoped to, and I now believe this pool will last for years.

We are very happy with this above-ground pool! The setup was much easier than expected, and the instructions were simple to follow. Once filled, the pool felt sturdy, spacious, and perfect for cooling off on hot days.It has been a great purchase for the whole family, and we have already gotten lots of use out of it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an affordable and easy-to-set-up backyard pool!

Colis livré un moins plus tard même si nous avions pris l'extra de 600$ pour livraison rapide. Boîte endommagé et quelques poteaux bossés.

The pool is great quality but during setup we discovered holes in the liner. The only option is to return the entire pool but it’s already been unboxed and partially setup and we’d miss most of the summer if we have to return it. Would be nice if they offered someone to talk too and maybe a replacement liner.

Year two and still really happy with this. I spent months researching a pool for my kids, ages 8 and 11, before settling on this. It’s super heavy, durable and thick lined, but surprisingly quite simple to put together after watching a couple YouTube videos. First, my husband had to dig out our grass area, using a level on top of sand. This step was important as we still ended up with a slightly deeper side once filled despite our very best efforts. He also dug in concrete slabs for each of the legs of this pool for extra support. The hardest part of the entire set up was levelling out our backyard year one, putting down sand and then half inch foam boards from Home Depot which we taped together. Year two was just a quick tidy up, removing weeds and checking with the level but honestly the ground foundation was in pretty good shape even after a rough Canadian winter. Year two we probably should have purchased a new tarp for underneath the pool but we’ve made do despite some minor tears. We also had to repurchase foam boards, costing around $200 because when we took them out at the end of last year they were in pretty rough shape. I find that they give a nice smooth, cushiony surface underfoot though. I think the add on purchase of the Intex filter that sits on the pool edge was definitely worth it. I purchased the intex vacuum kit in addition too which was fine given how inexpensive it was. This year I’ve purchased the intex solar cover in the prime day sale for $40. The cover that came with this pool is fine but its pretty tricky to tie up especially alone. Overall this pool was cheaper on Amazon than Costco and I would definitely recommend.