Weed Up Through Liner

by Tara Adam
(Stevens Point, WI)

We purchased a 33' round above ground pool in September 09 (used), and purchased a brand new liner from a reputable pool company. No problems at all - we installed the pool and liner, filled the pool, winterized it, and closed it up. We live in Wisconsin.

We opened the pool on April 5 2010, filled it to the top, added the proper chemicals, and vacuumed it. We put the solar cover on it on April 12. It is now April 25. We woke up this morning to find the water lowered by 2 feet.

My husband went into the pool with waders to discover a 5" tear with a dandelion growing up through the liner. It is about 4' in from the edge of the pool.

My question is - how could this have happened? First of all, doesn't sunlight need to penetrate through to allow a weed to grow? And is a dandelion strong enough to cut a 20 gauge liner? We almost feel like the liner sold to us was a cheap imitation; however, it was purchased through a good pool company.

There is no question we'll have to replace the liner; all of the sand underneath completely washed out and is located on the outside of the pool now. We prepped it correctly - leveling it and adding 4" of mason sand before putting the liner in last fall. We are completely dumbfounded at this and quite disgusted.

Hi Tara

Weeds can definitely grow through vinyl liners, it happens all the time. Most of the time a weed will grow up and pretty much plug the hole it grew through. They can then be pulled up and the liner patched. For a weed to cause a 5" tear is very unusual.

When you redo the pool, be sure and treat the ground with weed killer so nothing else grows up through the new liner.

A properly landscaped above ground pool should have a layer of landscape plastic around it. This could be covered with rock or bark or whatever looks nice in your yard. You want anything but grass and weeds around the pool. The plastic helps the area to stay grass and weed free.

Keep in mind also that a 20 gauge liner is quite thin. It is comparable to a 16 mil liner. A 25 gauge liner is close in thickness to a 20 mil liner. I would use only a 25 gauge or a 20 mil in the future, you will have better luck with them.

Weeds Between Wall and Liner

by John Ely
(Ivor, Va)

I am opening my above ground pool and noticed that it has weeds growing up the wall of the pool should I drain it and remove the weeds or is their a better way?

Thank you

Hi John

Vegetation of any kind growing around an above ground pool is not recommended. In your case I would not drain the pool but I would treat the ground around it with weed and grass killer. This will kill all the grass and weeds on both sides of the pool, outside and inside. When the weeds die they will soon dissolve into next to nothing and be barely noticeable.

Any additional weed cleanup could be done next time you change a liner. For more information about vegetation around your pool read this page.

Above Ground Swimming Pool Landscaping

Weed Cloth Under AGP

by Elliot
(Suisun City CA)

I'm getting ready to assemble a 12' round AGP. I do have minor weed infestation and possibly could have a gopher problem. I probably will use black plastic under the sand base but was wondering if the weed control ground cover would work? It is the cloth like material that water can seep through. If you say it is OK I would probably use a two layer thickness. Thanks for your help.

Hi Elliot

I'm sure the weed cloth would be just fine. I like the fact that water can soak through it. That's the biggest problem with plastic under pools. If your liner ever leaks the water has no place to go and it just turns to mold and algae.

Either the plastic or the cloth will be a big help in preventing gopher damage. The only two real cures for these pesky critters are to either get rid of them or pour a concrete slab for the pool. I would go ahead and set the pool up the way you have planned and see how it goes. You can then try to get rid of the gophers. If they do get under the pool, the ground shield should prevent the sand from collapsing into the hole. If in a couple of years you see this as a big problem, which you probably will not, you can always reset the pool on a concrete slab.

As far as the weeds go, be sure to strip the ground down to bare soil, level the area, and then treat the ground with a good quality weed and grass killer. Unless the area is well treated, you will still run the risk of weeds coming up through the liner, no matter how many layers of plastic you lay down.

Pool With Grass Problem

by Lacy Warren
(Somerville, AL United States)

Hi, we are new pool owners and first time ever owning an above ground pool. We have a 30ft Hayward pool and bought it from friends of ours and we put a new liner in it and had a crew come in paid the $1300 to just come level ground and install the pool and it has been up for a few weeks now and I was vacuuming it the other day and noticed something sticking up and it wouldn't move.

I thought it was a pine needle had poked thru bottom and remove and patch would do. well we got in the pool yesterday to fix it and realized it was GRASS growing up through the liner and began looking around and found total of 6 places where it has popped up through at.

They are all around the edge and I think one or two of them are on that seam from side to the bottom of liner. We are unsure of what to do and as of now we don't notice any leak as we have had a lot of rain recently also.

What would you suggest we do, any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!! We do plan on getting a new liner for next year and ride this one out as long as we can this year so kids can enjoy swimming. And we also plan on putting a mat under liner when we replace it as well.

With our current liner we lucked out and a friend of ours had bought the wrong liner for her pool and we got it very cheap $200 brand new still in box. Please help us as this is very bothersome to us!!!

Hi Lacy

I always tell my customers to maintain a 3' grass free area around the outside of the pool. This keeps the grass from creeping back in around the edges.

That's where I would start. Saturate the area around the outside of the pool with weed and grass killer. This will also leach in under the pool. It should stop the growth.

I also recommend landscaper plastic around the pool and a 3' border of rock scape, or anything other than grass.

A good patch kit can easily fix the existing holes. I prefer Boxer glue.

If treating the outside of the pool works, problem solved. If not, and the grass continues to grow into the center of the pool, then the liner will need to be pulled and the entire area treated.

I would start by working on the outside and see how it goes. It may just fix the problem.