Cove is Mushy and Skimmer Leaks

by Jason
(Dallas, Ga)

I recently installed a 24' above ground pool. After getting the wall up, I placed aluminum flashing all the way around the bottom of the wall for reinforcement since the pool is over 25 years old.

I then moved the sand inside the wall. Then I made my 6" high cove. Now that the pool is up and full, I've noticed that the cove is not hard like pool bottom. Is this normal?

This is my first pool and as I said, it's a 25 year old pool. I think I'm just very paranoid that something is or will go wrong with it. It has been full of water for just over a week now and has had a lot of bathers in it already.

So far, so good except for the skimmer has a small exterior leak that I need to correct. Not a real fan of the wall saver (1 piece) rubber gasket! On my second one already since the first one didn't seal either. I am waiting on the water level to lower before taking the skimmer out again.

Again, I would like to thank the owner of this site for the immense amount of shared knowledge!



Hi Jason. It does take the cove area longer to pack solid. Unless you are seeing wet spots around the outside of the pool it is probably just fine.

The butterfly gaskets can be a little tricky. I use the gasket directly of the side wall. I found no way to work the liner in under the gasket on the inside of the pool. So I gave that up early on.

There are two common problems with these gaskets. Many times the screws do not go through the holes. I would check this first. Most adjustments can be made without removing the faceplate, only do that if you have to.

Loosen the screws and take a close look at how the gasket is set. Did all the screws go through the holes in the gasket? If not you can remove some of the screw and adjust the gasket.

What happened to me occasionally was the bottom of the gasket not being pushed down far enough. Not hitting the gasket holes could cause this, but not always, sometimes it just happens.

Before you loosen the screws, look on the under side of the skimmer. The gasket should be visible from the outside of the pool. If it is not this is where you need to start. Loosen the top and top side screws and then remove the lower side and bottom screws. You can now work the gasket down and into place, and then start putting the screws back in. As you tighten them make sure the gasket is pushed down and showing under the skimmer.