I had one for many years in my backyard. The one I had was very large so I had it installed by the dealer, but during installation they did exactly what Paul said...... they removed all the grass and then made sure the ground was perfectly level and cleaned of all roots, rocks, etc. Then they evenly spread out a thick layer of very fine sand and installed the pool on top of that. We bought the pool for the same reason you mentioned... at the time we didn't have central A/C and we were looking for a way for us and our 2 small daughters to cool off and enjoy the summer.
We used that pool every day for years and years. My kids had their friends over all the time and they had pool parties. My kids and wife had a blast with that pool for many years. As the kids got older they used it less and less. The final death knoll for the pool was when we got central A/C installed in the house. After that noone wanted to leave the house and the pool just sat there, but of course even though noone was using it I still had to do all the maintenance on it. One day a few years ago I decided enough was enough and I just drained it, pulled it down and reclaimed a large part of my yard
You will have to maintain the pool, but it's pretty basic so it's not that bad. The thing I hated the worst was having to vacuum the pool every week. That was a pain in the butt !! One thing about the chemicals for the water..... Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on cheap chlorine. A lot of places, like the larger pool chain stores, sell cheap chlorine that is really a waste of money. Do yourself a favor and go to a local, smaller family run pool store and buy the best chlorine they sell. I started out using the cheap chlorine that the dealer was selling and I couldn't believe how much chlorine I was going through. When I finally switched over to the better chlorine it was amazing... my chlorine consumption went down about 80 % and the pool water was the cleanest it had ever been. They also sell a myriad of other chemicals that people will tell you are "essential" for the pool.. things like water clarifier, anti algea stuff, but you really don't need them. If the ph in your pool is correct and you are using good chlorine your pool water will be just fine without all those other chemicals they sell. The key to clean water is really correct water "ph" levels and good chlorine levels. You will probably have to adjust your ph when you first fill the pool, but after that it should be set, then you'll just be dealing with chlorine.
You have to test the water and add extra chlorine after heavy rains. You have to "shock" the pool with a "shock treatement" kit every 10 days or so or after heavy pool use by a lot of people. You will have vacuum the pool bottom to get rid of all the sand, dirt and debris that is going to get down there no matter what you do and I don't believe the pool comes with a vacuum.
Okay, that's all I can think of........
Jeff
As for the pool in your link,,,,, I had a friend who bought one like that. It worked fine but the pump that comes with pools like that are really cheap and don't really push enough water to maintain the pool to optimum levels.
Jeff
