Sidewall Buckled A Foot Down

by Rick
(wisonsin)

It seems that my liner had a small hole in it and I didn't realize it before I closed it for the winter. About a month ago I noticed the outside metal liner buckled about a foot down.

What I think happen was the leak froze in between the liners and the outside buckled due to this. Is this fixable or has to be replaced? Help.


Hi Rick. This seems to happen a lot in colder climates like yours. I've never seen it in person because things like that never happen in sunny Arizona. But I have seen a ton of photos and heard a lot of stories. It seems the ice is pushing very hard against the walls of the pool, sort of pinching the liner between the ice and the sidewall. As the water level drops, the ice lowers and the liner tends to pull down with it, pulling on the top of the wall.



The fix is pretty easy. When the ice is gone and things are warming up you can try to straighten the wall. It's possible it will go back into shape without having to take anything apart. Most of the time some top rails will need to come off.

Straightening the wall can be done by hand, on occasion, but usually it takes a mallet and a 2 x 4. Hold the board on one side and hammer flat with the mallet on the other.

Be careful with the liner. An overlap liner is usually the easiest. You can release it from the top and work behind it if needed. Be careful about releasing beaded liners. If they have to be released, in order to make wall repairs, do so on a warm sunny day when the vinyl is pliable.