Problem With AGP In Ground

by Colleen
(Winnipeg Canada)

We just finished burying a 12 x 24 foot oval pool 2 1/2 feet down. We filled it and all was well....we thought. Yesterday my husband backfilled it and it now seems that one portion of the start of a curved end has popped out of the bottom track and is bulging slightly.

Any suggestions on what we could do short of draining the pool (this would collapse it)

Thank you

Hi Colleen. Yes, draining the pool will collapse it, that's why you need to dig all the dirt out from around it first.

But before you do that take a close look at the cove area and see just how bad the damage is. With the dirt packed around the pool it's not likely the wall will move very much. It's not likely either that you will loose all your cove, but it is possible. That's what you need to check.

If the cove is intact and the liner is in no danger of resting on the sharp metal of the pool frame you might be all right. The other thing will be how visually bad it is. If it is not dangerous, and does not look to bad, you might be best off to leave it alone.

If it is bad, and does need fixed, there is no way to do it without draining the pool and pulling the liner back. If it comes to that I would try to leave a little water in the bottom of the pool, it helps to reduce the shrinking and takes away the trouble of re-aligning the liner the way it was. Someone inside the pool can hold the liner back while another person makes the repairs.

And don't forget the dirt around the pool. It takes at least a year for the ground around a pool to pack solid enough to allow draining the pool. Even then it's a matter of draining and refilling as fast as possible. A good rain storm will cave an empty pool in every time.