Rust On Bottom Of Sidewall

by Lee
(Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104)

We found a rusted area (from output hose that has leaked this year) to the lower area of our outer metal base.

We see daylight and now not sure how to go about fixing this mess, it is a pretty small area, approximately the size of a silver dollar but the rust is approx 12" long. How do we go about fixing this?



Hi Lee. Rust can be a very dangerous thing for an above ground pool. It is the major cause of ruptures, where all your pool water empties into your yard in a couple of minutes time, and your liner is ruined in the process.

If it were my pool I would start draining it immediately and plan to make the needed repairs. The repairs needed depend on how far down on the sidewall the rust is. The lower on the wall the more dangerous the rust area will be. The lower on the wall you go the more pressure there is pushing out.

Be sure to leave at least six inches of water in the pool so the liner does not shrink. Do the repairs quick and refill the pool as soon as you can, preferably in direct sunlight to help the liner stretch a little and fill back up without any problems.

When the pool is drained you will want to remove a few top rails. You then remove the rods and coping and pull the liner back out of way.

The repair consists of attaching a piece of flat stock metal to the inside of the pool wall. How big a piece of metal you need, and how you attach it, depends on how bad the hole is and where it's located.

It sounds to me like about a three foot by three foot piece of metal duct taped to the inside of the wall would be all you need. Another way to attach a piece of metal is to use rivets. This should be done for more serious rust areas. A larger piece of metal could be used, and it could get attached with bolts, in really bad situations.

You mentioned the hole is low on the wall. You may want to try and push the metal into the pool bottom rail and then just tape the top edge. This method does a great job of reinforcing sidewalls.