Fix Dented Pool Wall

by Mike
(new york)

My son hit my brand new above ground steel pool wall with a golf ball and obviously dented it. How concerned should I be about this? Will it rust in the future? Is this now a "weak spot"? Is there anything I could/should do about it? I tried reversing the dent by gently pushing it from the inside with my finger but I was afraid of puncturing the liner.
Any thoughts would be very much appreciated. Please email your answer to my question(s) so that I don’t miss it.
thank you, Mike

Hi Mike. I think your new above ground pool will be just fine. I hope your son did not get in to much trouble. You had me remembering a few broken windows I caused between my baseball and bb gun. Kids will be kids.

It is very doubtful, nearly impossible, that the wall has been weakened any. Steel above ground pool walls have many different layers of paint and rust preventative kind of stuff. My guess is it would be hard to penetrate these layers enough to cause any kind of a rust issue. If there appears to be any kind of damage to the paint you could use some clear enamel paint and coat the area.

I would not try to push the bump out with the liner in the pool. It is probably going to take a little pounding, like with a rubber mallet on one side and a 2 x 4 on the other, and that could damage the liner. It is best left alone until the first liner change. At that time it could be pounded out flat again.

If you wanted to fix it before that time you could drain the water down to below the hole and pull the liner back. Then you could work in behind the liner and repair the dent in the sidewall. Don’t take out any more water than necessary and the liner should reset very easily.