Water Damage To Pool

by Mama
(Pittsburgh PA)

We had a 6" water main break, the water hit the back side of the deck, split and ran around the pool. Now at least 6 of the up rights have moved, some are up to 3/4"crooked (not parallel to the painted line design on the pool.) When installed they used 1" cement pads under the uprights. We did have about 5" of dirt sloped away from the bottom edge, covered with plastic and chesapeak rock. That's still all in tact! Probably because there are omni stone holding it. It's an 18' round. What's your advice?



Hi Mama. It sounds like it might be an easy fix. The uprights had to have moved at either the top or the bottom. If they had moved at the top they would have all moved. Several people grabbing a top rail and pushing would slide the tops of the uprights over enough to be straight again.

The bottoms can move independently of each other and this is probably what happened to your pool. You will need to dig the dirt and rock out from around the bottom of the uprights that are bent. The footplates can then be tapped over using a hammer or a hammer and screw driver combination.

If the footplate does not slide over easily the track may be stuck on the footplate tab. This can be fixed by removing the screws on the upright and getting in behind it. The tab can be pried away from the track allowing the footplate to move.

It does not sound like you would need to take the pool down and rebuild it but even that is a lot cheaper than buying a new pool or some of the repairs that have to be made on in ground pools.