21' Round AGP Installed Incorrectly

by Amy
(Wisconsin)

This is the area that leans inward.

This is the area that leans inward.

Hi, I have read thru your Q & A pages, and they have helped with so many things, thanks so much! My problem is my husband and I put up a used 21' pool last summer.

We have helped put up pools before, so this wasn't our first time, and we had an 18' before, but apparently my hubby was getting frustrated with the length of time the whole ordeal was taking. We had just finished putting the wall up, and were to the part where we should have tapped the bottom plates in/out to make the wall come together to put the screws in...however, my husband decided just to "force it together".

I told him it wasn't going to work in the end, he said it would all settle and be fine in the end. I knew it wouldn't. Needless to say, it isn't. We were able to get it within an inch of being level last summer, so we swam in it all summer. However, now that spring is finally arriving, I checked the pool, and have found that one of the bottom plates has broke, and the pool seems more unlevel than it was before winter, but only a little.

My question to you is what should we do now? It makes me nervous because one area of the pool wall near our deck leans inward and about 2 ft of wall in that area is out of the track. Down about 4 feet further, the wall leans outward. The whole rest of the pool seems perfectly level and the wall is straight up and down. We are not sure now how to resolve this. Should we take the whole pool down? Can it be fixed without totally disassembling it?

I would really appreciate any input you can provide. I am including pictures that I hope will help you see what I am talking about.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Hi Amy. The big thing that causes me concern is the wall being out of the track. That could be a real problem.

Ideally, the bottom rail should be laid and made perfectly round, using a tape measure from a center point. The bottom rail, and all the footplates, should be made perfectly level.

If this is accomplished before the wall goes up there should be no need for further adjustments once the wall is up.

Only you will know how close you came in those two criteria, round and level. But they are important.

It seams to me, that since you will have to drain the pool to fix the wall out of track problem, you should address the round and level issues.

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May 14, 2013
 Measured the water level
by: Amy

Thank you for answering my questions. Now that it has warmed up, I took a tape measure and measured the water level to the top of the top rail all around the pool. It is fairly consistent, where it is off, it is only off by an inch, and one area an inch and 1/4.

We were going to have a professional come in and excavate the pool area, but it really isn't in our budget, and neither is replacing our liner...it is only a year old.

Looking at the previous pictures I sent, and the information above, do you think it might be fixable without taking the whole pool apart?

If not, what is the chance that if we take it down and keep the liner in a container with water, that we could re-use the liner?

Thank you so much for your advice, I don't know what I would do without your site!!

Hi Amy. Since you used the pool all last summer it would probably be OK to do it again.

I would drive a wood stake behind the upright that is broke, that should hold it in place. I would then build a nice solid dirt birm around the pool base, especially in the area where the wall is out of the track.

You need to be sure the pool cove remains intact. If that is washed out in any area that could be trouble.

It sounds like the leveling is your big issue. An inch out of level between posts will cause problems. It causes posts to be anything but straight and could also cause the wall to come out of the track. An inch out of level from side to side is not nearly as bad. If it is a gradual slope it would hardly be noticed.

If you planned on storing the liner I would dry it completely and store it indoors. Even then you are taking a chance. If it has a through the wall skimmer, as most pools do, you complicate things. Lining up the openings and then trying to center a liner that has shrunk is not fun. It's always better to start with a new liner.

May 15, 2013
 One last question...
by: Amy

Dennis, Again, I cannot thank you enough for your help. I took the whole cover off today and measured at each upright. I thought maybe if you knew the actual measurements you could help better. Math was never my strong area. Here are my measurements from the top of the water to the rail at each upright;

1. 15 1/4" 9. 15 1/8"

2. 14 3/4" 10. 15"

3. 15 1/8" 11. 15"

4. 15 1/4" 12. 15 1/4"

5. 15 1/8" 13. 16 1/2"

6. 15 1/4" 14. 17 1/8"

7. 15 1/4" 15. 16 3/4"

8. 15 1/4"

The area between upright 14 & 15 is where the wall is out of the track.

The area between uprights 12 & 15 the wall leans inward.

The area between uprights 1 & 3 the wall leans outward.

The upright #4 is where the footplate broke...but now that I took the cover off, I think it may have broke due to the stress of the wire from the cover pulling on the upright with all the snow on the cover. Is that possible?

Now I can push it all the way back up to the pool just fine.

I guess I don't understand where the uprights need to be raised and where they need to be lowered, by just looking at the water level..it should probably make sense to me, but it doesn't, and I don't want to make it worse if we try to fix it.

Thank you for taking your time to help me, I appreciate it more that you know!!

Great Job Amy We both know a lot more about the pool now. It's those big jumps of an inch or more between posts that are causing you problems. Overall your level is excellent, you have one major problem area and one minor.

Lets try to get this within a quarter of an inch, that means that 11 of your posts are just fine. They measure from 15 to 15 1/4 so we will leave those alone. Post 2 is 1/2" low causing your post to lean out, raise the upright and the post will straighten out.

Between 12 and 15 your wall is going up fast, causing the posts to lean in. From 12 to 14 it goes up almost a full two inches. That causes all sorts of problems, like the wall coming out of the track.

Lower 13 1 1/4", 14 1 78" and 15 1 1/2".

The broken upright is probably what you said. It is easy to pound a stake behind it or to fabricate some type of L bracket to hold it in place. I have had to do that a lot with used pools and rusted footplates. I just make a bracket that attaches to the footplate and then screw the upright into it. It is not a big structural part so it does not have to be elaborate or anything.

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