New liner with shifting concrete

ajaxpool · Jun 21, 2014

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum. Hoping you can help with some advise. My old liner tore and so getting a new one installed. The concrete around my pool has shifted over the years. Was like this when I bought the house.

My pool guy tells me the original track is unusable, and that he wants to install a new single track below it. I'm worried this is not the proper way to fix this. I'm not quite sure how he will be able to make it work without gaps at the tops where some of the concrete is higher then others. Secondly, even if it works the new track will protrude from the side wall. He says I won't notice it.

His other option is to bang out the concrete 6 inches back and replace the track, but that also will not be aesthetically pleasing and there will still be the problem with the shifted concrete.

I guess the obvious answer is the only way to really fix this is to replace all the concrete, the problem with that is part of my deck has it's main supports resting on this concrete. I'm not sure how to deal with that.

I'm also probably only going to stay in this house another 5 years, so not sure how much to spend on this project. His suggestion is the quick easy fix of the new single track below the existing track since I won't be here long term.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

Casey · Jun 21, 2014

Looks like it's heaved pretty good and nothing but a total renovation will make it look good. Thing is, bandaides are really ugly and if you let him at it, he may make it uglier than what it already is. If you can get away with a new liner, I would do that and call it a day OR, go the extra mile, hire a professional and bust the concrete deck out and fix what needs done the right way. You will probably sell the house quicker knowing they don't have to repair the pool. That's up to you though. JMO

Welcome to TFP. I'm sure others will chime in too.

ajaxpool · Jun 22, 2014

Thanks for the reply.

In reading my post I may have asked too many questions, I guess my main one is, has anyone ever heard of installing a new single track to hold the liner "below" the original track?

duraleigh · Jun 22, 2014

has anyone ever heard of installing a new single track to hold the liner "below" the original track?

No, but that doesn't mean it won't work. Do you have confidence in what the PB is telling you? If so, I would take his advice over a bunch of pool owners (that's us) who don't build pools for a living.

If he does not give you confidence, I would keep looking until I found someone who did.

That is a HUGE movement and, while I have some experience with concrete, that is out of my pay grade.

ps0303 · Jun 22, 2014

Do it the right way or you'll pay twice. You have to do it correctly. No short cuts on this issue.

gwegan · Jun 23, 2014

Actually the question is not whether we have heard of it, the question is has the PB ever done it before and how did it turn out. Can he give you pictures of the repair?

But as has been pointed out, if you do it this way you still have the original problem. Probably better to fix the problem now.

wetchem · Jun 23, 2014

The issue I see here is not the single track, but the root cause of concrete movement.

Until that cause is found and is abated you risk having even the single track fail in short order... say a year or two... hard to know how long w/o knowing the cause.

Furthermore, it wont take long for you to start seeing issues with the deck, wouldn't surprise me to learn that pitch of the deck has changed.

As for putting the property on the market in the next five year, unless the root cause is found, that shift is going to get worse and anyone with even a moderate understanding of foundations is going to take one look at that shift and move on and forget anyone with an FHA/VA type loan as the inspector most likely wouldn't find that shift to be acceptable.

ajaxpool · Jun 23, 2014

Thanks for all the replies guys. The PB took me to another house that had the same issue and showed me the single track below original track solution. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. The liner does come away from the wall where it meets the track at the top, but that pool owner has had theirs for 3 years now with no issue.

While I normally do agree with the above comments about just doing it right the first time. The financial difference here would be almost triple. I have a very large deck that has some supports that sit on the concrete, (on the other side where it is not shifting). Having to rip that up is just too much for now.

I think I will do the single track band aid fix, and hope to sell the house in a few years. The concrete was shifted like that when I bought the house, and the house inspector didn't warn me about it. My pool guy says it's settled now, my pool is probably 20-30 years old. So if I fix the liner it hopefully won't be the cause of any other problems other than cosmetics.

Thanks everyone for your help and feedback. Glad to have found this forum.