Object Under Pool Liner

by Debbie
(Medina, Ohio)

The pool was installed this March. Last night I felt something very pointy under the liner about 3 ft. from the wall. I called the pool place and they said take a baseball bat and push down on the object to try to push it back down in the sand.

Won't that cause it to poke through the liner? Besides emptying the pool to get to the object do you have any ideas, or do you think I should try the bat? The pool is 24'x 54" deep. thank you

Debbie

Hi Debbie

That's not exactly the advice I would give, but close. I prefer the rubber end of a vacuum pole, but I'm sure a bat would work.

A stone should settle back into the sand, if the stone is small enough and the sand thick enough. It is also important to check the area once the stone has been pushed down. It is possible to put a small hole in the liner doing this. This requires a small patch.

I prefer doing this kind of thing myself. That way I can check the liner to make sure it was not damaged. If it was, I can patch with the same vinyl making the patch invisible. I do believe a small patch is much better than the cost of draining and refilling a pool. A patch will last the life of the liner.

Stones usually show up pretty quickly, it's very possible you have some growth ready to pop through the liner. Normally this happens within a few feet of the outer edge. If you have any vegetation growing within a couple feet of the edge you should consider getting rid of it. Saturate the outside of the pool with weed killer and you might take care of the problem.

Sharp Object Poking Through Bottom of Vinyl Liner

by Isreal

Hi, thank you for your help. Last spring I had the vinyl replaced and a few weeks later we felt what feels like a rock or something poking through but now I opened pool and that bump got bigger and sharper to the point that it hurts if stepped on. No surprise the installer is no longer reachable. Please help. Thank you

Hi Isreal

A sharp point in the bottom of your pool that is growing is usually a weed or a piece of nut grass. If so it will pop through the liner soon and you can pull it out and patch the hole.

One way for grass to be growing up through the liner is if you have grass growing around the pool. If that is the case I would kill the grass back leaving a two foot grass free zone around the pool.

If it is a rock you have a couple of options. One, you can drain the pool, pull the liner back and remove it. This option will cost you the water and chemicals. It also needs to be done properly so as not to disturb the set of the liner. You do not want to drain the pool dry. Leave enough water in the pool to hold the liner down. You would want to drain, repair and refill fast. Don't let the pool sit empty for days.

The second option is to tap the pointy object back into the pool base. The blunt end of a vacuum pole works well for this. If the rock is sitting in a sand base a little tapping will usually settle it down.

If that does not work I usually go under water with a rubber mallet. Once I settle the rock back where it came from I check closely for holes in the liner. It is possible when doing this that you will put a hole in the liner. It will be just a small, easily patched pinhole. Be sure to have some Boxer vinyl repair glue on hand before trying this. A small patch on the floor of the pool is better than a pointy object. That pointy thing will eventually become a hole on it's own, you might as well just take care of it.

When installing liners this does happen, no matter how good and careful you are. I would give my customers the option of draining the pool or leaving it full. Either way I would take care of it at no charge.

Liner Shifting and Squishy

by Ginger
(Raleigh North Carolina)

I have had an above ground pool for over 15 years. My husband and I installed the first pool. I have a slope from the house to the pool. We left several feet around the backside of the pool and installed a retaining wall. Behind the retaining wall he did install pipe for drainage system to take out to the lower part of our yard beyond the pool. Sadly the pool was damaged beyond repair in a hail storm we had last year. Insurance covered the cost for me to get a new one.

So I decided then I would let the pool company install it as well. Pool was installed late last season, end of July so we didn't have it very long. I used my water hose to fill the pool up once it was ready to turn on the hoses came off had to call them back for that. Then a week or two later I noticed some rocks underneath but one was really sharp so I was concerned that may put a hole in the base of the liner. He came back out and used a mallet to bang them in.

Before closing the pool I noticed that in the liner there was one place where it made a raised line but it was tight and I didn't think it was a concern. I closed my pool. I opened it this season to notice it was still there but no cause for alarm at first. But as a few weeks went by seemed to become what you would say is squishy underneath this area. It was inside the pool to one side of the pool. It is increasingly becoming worse and the liner moves under your feet but again in one area of the pool while it remains tight in the other side. But the squishy area seems to be spreading out.

I am concerned that the installer may have punctured a hole in the liner and that is the cause. I brought this up to the pool company and long story short was a lot of asking for pictures. No one has made the effort to come to the pool. And she immediately is blaming it on my yard and says that water is coming underneath the pool. At first she said we only sell the pool and I need to take it up with the installer. Then when I talk with the installer she suddenly says she told the installer not to handle it and is back on just sending me a bunch of links to say it can only be due to the terrain of my yard and has nothing to do with the install.

When they installed the pool they took their boards and leveled out the area then threw a bunch of dirt behind the pool and left those piles there. Another weird thing that the installer did was when you walk to the outer edge he sloped that last part downward then there is the cove. So the floor isn't level to the cove then that slope upward from the cove, they didn't use dirt but those foam pieces. I didn't understand why he sloped the ground down before getting to the cove. Can this be a problem in anyway for me?

How can I tell if I have a pin point hole in the liner or how to troubleshoot this? We have been getting some heavy rain storms but nothing more than we ever have in the past. There will be some standing water at some of the posts but I have seen that with the old pool and never did my liner shift or become squishy.

Hi Ginger I am just guessing they put a hole in the liner when pounding the rocks. It should be easy to find a hole and patch it.

Very Pointy Rocks Under Liner

by Alicia
(Clearlake Ca)

We put up our very first pool about a week ago. We are on a well, so it took quite some time too fill up. We got in today and immediately noticed there are maybe 3 or 4 pretty pointy rocks under the liner. They are not super tiny, but they aren't super huge either. But pretty dang pointy. Since we are on a well I'm so scared to have to drain and fill it back up! Is there another way? Also if there are any other ways that require a patch, what specifically would I need to patch it with water in it? Or is that even possible to do without it being dry?

Hi I would pound them down and have some boxer glue handy in case you need it. This is not something you would need to drain the pool for.