Holes in Above Ground Pool Sidewall

by Tina
(Farmington NY)

Should I drain the pool, pull the liner back, and repair the pea holes in the wall of my pool or leave it for the summer? Or should I put the new used pool up?

Putting the new pool up means purchasing a new liner and paying for the installation, can't really afford that just yet.

When I put the new used pool up should I add more sand? I was thinking of using those preformed pool coves. Should I relevel the blocks? I will probably have to add a few more, I think the new pool may have the posts in different areas.



Hi Tina. I am sending you an email in hopes of getting a few pictures of the pool. That would help a lot.

If you are trying to put off the expense of switching pools for a while, you might be OK in doing that. You would need to drain the pool down to a point below the holes. Try to leave at least a foot of water in the pool when you do this. By leaving water in the pool you will be able to refill it without damaging the liner. If the liner shrinks, and you can't refill it, you may be doing the pool swap anyway.

When the water is low enough, pull off a few top rails and look in behind the liner. Wall repairs can be made with aluminum flashing and duck tape, that is discussed in the link below. What you want to be careful of is the wall integrity. If the holes are caused by massive rust that has eaten away at your sidewall it may not be safe to use. You can pick at the holes with a screw driver and see if the wall crumbles, and the hole gets bigger, or if the wall is sound. If the wall is sound you should be just fine patching and refilling.

While the pool is full is a good time to look closely at the level to see what will have to be done before the new pool is installed. Take a tape measure and measure from the top rail to the water level in many spots around the pool. That will tell you if a major relevel is needed.

Adding more sand is always advisable when changing pools, how much will depend on the amount and condition of what is existing. I don't like using the preformed pool cove with a sand base, but that is just my opinion. It works out best when the pool is on concrete and you are using some type of foam or carpet pad base.

Pool Wall Repair

Holes in Doughboy Sidewall

by Sharon Hock
(Newville, PA)

Someone recently gave us a really nice Doughboy pool. We came to their house and took it down. My husband along with my son-in-law started working on putting it up. However, because they were doing it themselves, it was taking a while.

They had the pool wall almost completely up but needing to stop. It gets very windy at our place and before they could finish it, the wind put some holes in the pool wall. We were wondering it there is anyway to patch the holes so we can still use the wall without having to go out and purchase a new wall or new pool.

Thanks


Hi Sharon. Here is a page related to repairs that can be made to above ground pool sidewalls.

Pool Wall Repair

Aluminum or metal flashing material can be taped over the holes using duct tape, and in most cases this makes a very adequate patch. The water pressure is greater the farther down the wall you get, so the size and strength of the patches should increase also. With a small tear near the top of the wall simply using a few layers of duct tape is fine. In the bottom half of the wall I would use a two foot square patch securely taped in place to cover the same size hole.

Patching a wall is effective as long as the integrity of the wall is otherwise sound. If the wall has major rust issues I would not do this, as it would be more likely to burst open when it was full of water.