Holes Under Pool Liner

by Joe
(PA)

I purchased a 27 foot round above ground pool one year ago. I am now noticing that there are holes under the liner where the sand bed was put down. The liner is not leaking but I can notice a definite depression in the floor liner. These depressions are approx. 2"x2"x 1" deep under the liner. Is this just the pool settling? Is this from animals or washout?? Should I be concerned?? What can I do to stop or prevent this.



Hi Joe. Most of the time these types of depressions are from the soil under the sand settling. In that case there is very little you can do about them. They should not cause you any harm and can easily be taken care of the first time you change a liner. That’s the great thing about second liners, the soil and sand are well packed. When the sand is smoothed over again, and the new liner installed it really stays looking nice.

Pockets in the liner floor could also be caused by holes in the liner. If that is the case they are easy to detect and easy to fix. You would just need to go under water with goggles on and examine the liner in these areas. Rubbing your hand over the liner should cause any dirt to move, spots that do not move are usually holes. Patches can be applied under water, without having to drain the pool.

These types of holes have also been caused by insects, ants and beetles usually. Green Day makes an ant killer that comes in a granule form. This can be liberally applied around the pool if you think this might be the problem. Unless they are really bad pockets you will probably not want to drain the pool and fix them. If you did drain the pool, and pulled the liner back to peek underneath it, you would probably know for sure what is going on.

If you decide to drain and fix the liner work fast and don’t let the liner sit empty in the sun. I would drain the pool down to where there was just enough water in the bottom to hold it in place, to keep it from shifting and getting off center. Leave the skimmer hooked up also, they are hard to realign. With one person holding the liner back, another person can get behind it and make repairs to the sand.