Pool Wall Caved In

by Carol
(Allentown, pa)

I'm replacing my liner this spring. Noticed walls are bent from winter and no water being in pool due to hole in liner. Was told to dig out 2 ft out and 4 ft down to put back on track. River rocks surrounded my pool so now they are pushed in. What is the right way to fix?

Hi Carol

First off, next time, do not ever leave your pool sit empty. Above ground pools set in the ground will cave in, just about every time. So keep water in the pool, always above the level of the outside dirt.

The river rocks around the pool present a problem for installing a new liner. The slightest movement of the wall and they start caving in. If I were doing the install I would first pull back all the rock from the pool.

Most of the time when a pool has caved in the advice you were given is the way we would proceed. Remove all the dirt from around the pool, straighten and reset the wall and then install the liner. Once the pool is full the dirt can be put back around it.

I don't see from your photos where the cave in is that bad. I can't see where it would have pushed the wall out of the bottom track. If it is worse than the photos show digging out may be the best option. If not, you might be alright with just pulling the rock back and installing the liner.

As long as the cove is covering the wall at the bottom whether or not it is in the track is not a big deal. The only problems bent walls cause have to do with installing the coping and metal rods, they don't always want to fit properly.

I understand from an installers point of view. Installing the liner should be about a two hour job. If you are in the middle of it and the walls really start to cave in, and this is always a possibility, you are stuck there digging it out so that you can finish your job. A two hour job just turned into an eight hour job. I would usually bid the job two ways, so much if things go well and so much if they don't.

If I were to bid this job I would want to see it, it's so hard to tell from the photos how bad the damage is and what the chances are of getting the new liner in without a major cave in.