Oval Pool Wall Bulge at Top

by Alex
(Georgia)

Hello, I recently returned from visiting a friend to find that my husband and his friend installed our pool while I was gone. Neither had prior experience. A few months ago we purchased a Quest 12’x24’x54” Above Ground/Semi-Inground pool from the Pool Factory. When it was finally time to install it, we found that no one locally would install a pool unless it was purchased from them.

The pool still needs to be filled about 15 more inches until it’s full, but I am extremely concerned about the integrity of the pool because ones of the walls between the buttresses is bulging at the top. It is severe enough that it bends the stabilizer rail that goes on the coping, and the resin top rail will not sit correctly. It bows out about 2 inches more than it should be. I have read that most of the pool’s water pressure is at the straight sides and am afraid that part of the wall will bust. Also, one of the first uprights after the buttresses is angled inward toward the top. This is the only one that is not straight. My husband told me that once the pool is filled all the way, the dents in the wall would disappear and everything would settle. We plan to backfill about 2.5 feet on that whole side and another because our backyard slopes. We had to have part of the yard dug out and leveled. I think we need to take it down and fix the wall…

I’m wondering where they went wrong and what caused this? Is there something that can be done to fix it without draining the pool? All of the buttresses are level and the correct distance from one another. The water in the pool is level all around. The wall is sitting in the bottom track correctly. Am I correct in that we need to drain the pool and fix the wall? Or would it be fine to leave it this way?

Thank you for any information!

Hi Alex I don't think you need to drain the pool. It does not look that bad. The end post leaning in is pretty normal. It's easy to do with an oval pool, but should not cause any problems.

The bow in the wall is probably caused by the rail being a little high. Try using a screw driver to scrape a little dirt out from under the rail. That should allow the wall to push back into shape.