Winter Damage To Above Ground Pool

by Jo Fo
(Quebec, Canada)

frame coming away from rail

frame coming away from rail

This winter has left my 27' above ground pool with the sides separating from the top rail. On the days the temperature is above 0 C there is no water between the wall and the ice inside the pool. I imagine there is a hole in the liner.

What can be done to save the bending sides until the snow melts and the liner can be replaced?

Hi Jo Fo.

Here's an idea that might work. You could start by cutting the liner just below the top rail all the way around. This would allow you to straighten the sides out, and keep them from getting damaged further.

The only problem with that is if any water gets behind the liner it could decide to all come out at once causing some structural damage to the pool. To prevent this from happening you would need to drain the pool before the ice melts. Could you drill through the ice and use a garden hose to start a siphon?

Most of the time the solution is to just keep as much water in the pool as possible until things melt, and then make repairs. I'm just not sure that's the right answer for you pool. If the water lowers daily, bringing the wall down with it, I think I would relief the pressure by cutting the liner.

The good news is it should be easy to straighten the walls and pound them out flat before you install the new liner.

Comments for Winter Damage To Above Ground Pool

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Apr 05, 2011
 liner installation.
by: Anonymous

I bought a new pool and it was installed in August, The people who installed it were inside kicking it out with the heal of their sneakers, in February I went to ck it and it was empty, The company (Syracuse pool and patio) said kicking it in won't hurt it, u can hit it with a plastic shovel, I don't believe it and think it failed due to improper install. Is it ok to put a liner in by kicking it out to the sides with sneakers, and leaving foot indents al around the bottom?

Hi.

It is impossible to say if the sneakers caused the liner to fail. It could have been any number of things.

I install all my liners from outside the pool, leaving no footprints at all, and no liner damage. Installers that do install liners from inside the pool, on a sand base, wear large soft sponges on their feet. These barely leave any tracks.

Anytime I ever had to get into a pool, the shoes came off. To me that's just common sense.

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