We dug out a small (about 2 1/2 foot) hillside on one side of our pool to put our above ground pool up. I heard that we can put plastic on the pool wall or paint it with antirust paint and then the hillside can fill in next to the pool on the side, has anyone done this? Do you let the dirt fill back in, or do you put it in after the pool has been painted or coated in plastic on that side? Thank you.

I was on flat ground and dug a 2 ft hole for my 4 ft pool. I sprayed the outside of the pool with automotive undercoating and back filled with sand. It lasted 20 years. The water pressure will hold back the sand or dirt. I used sand because it is more uniform, easier to remove if I had too.

I did similar to what ballengerb1 did, I dug about a 3 ft hole for my 4 ft pool, put landscaping liner around it, and backfilled around it with sand.

It was still good about 4 years when I wold the home.