I had an above ground pool installed this spring in my back yard. Installers had to dig down about 20 inches on the high side of my yard because my yard slopes away from the house pretty severely. So now I have a trench about 12" wide encircling about 3/4 of the diameter of the pool, sloping to level at the back of the pool.

The installers told me to line the trench with a U-shape trough of blue styrofoam insulation, drop in a drainage line (Big "O"), and cover with river stone or some such substrate.

I'm looking for other suggestions or detailed instructions on such an installation including materials and any other information I can get my hands on before tackling this, before fall, so I can avoid any water getting trapped in this trough.

Thanks for any help, Brad in Ottawa.

The floor of this trough should be on grade with the front edge of the pool not below grade. No watre should collect. A plastic perfporated 3" drain pipe with cloth sock is cheap and should be paid throughout the trough until it reaches grade. You can fill most back fill materials including sand, gravel and soil as long as you keep water in the poll all year round. The styrofoam is just the installers uneducated guess at keeping pressure off the wall of the pool. It will not do any better than soil or sand over the years

I just used EZ-flow for the first time from Drainage, Drip Irrigation, and Water Management Solutions - NDS (http://www.ndspro.com/). One of the big box stores Lowes) has it as EZ-Drain

Installation instructions say surface 6" below grade. Definitely easier and cheaper than rock.

I just used EZ-flow for the first time from Drainage, Drip Irrigation, and Water Management Solutions - NDS (http://www.ndspro.com/). One of the big box stores Lowes) has it as EZ-Drain

Installation instructions say surface 6" below grade. Definately easier and cheaper than rock.

This product looks great ! Just have to find a retailer or supplier in Canada. My home depot doesn't carry it.
Thanks, again.

Do you have Lowe's in Canada?

Shop NDS 8" x 10' EZ-Drain with Filter at Lowes.com (http://www.lowes.com/pd_308700-676-EZ-0802F_0_?newSearch=true&catalogId=10051&productId=3136611&Ntt=ez-drain&N=0&langId=-1&y=0&x=0&Ns=&storeId=10151&Ntk=i_products&ddkey=http:SearchCatalogDisplay)

I did find what appears to be a big NDS distributer in Canada, though. Call" http://www.turfcare.ca/documents/2009catalogue.pdf

Do you have Lowes in Canada?

Shop NDS 8" x 10' EZ-Drain with Filter at Lowes.com (http://www.lowes.com/pd_308700-676-EZ-0802F_0_?newSearch=true&catalogId=10051&productId=3136611&Ntt=ez-drain&N=0&langId=-1&y=0&x=0&Ns=&storeId=10151&Ntk=i_products&ddkey=http:SearchCatalogDisplay)

I did find what appears to be a big NDS distributer in Canada, though. Call" http://www.turfcare.ca/documents/2009catalogue.pdf

Thanks I'll give it a try. Found another by calling NDS directly. Will try their customer service number when business opens tomorrow.