It's a long story (seriously) with a lot of trials and tribulations. It all started several years back during a record breaking rainy period during December. That week I had so much water saturation that I sunk into the yard when I walked. My yard also "shifted" down hill some, which was enough to tilt the pump station. Keep in mind also that I don't live in a flood plain, and my yard had never had drainage issues previously. But there just wasn't anywhere the water could go and a "pond" appeared between my yard and the neighbors. This situation ended up causing so much pressure on my shell that it tried to float, the concrete decking held it down but it bulged the walls and bottom enough to cause a crack. And this crack wasn't noticed until I opened in the spring (nice surprise).
At this point I called a fiberglass company to look at the crack and got quoted about 2700 to repair it. I couldn't afford it so I "learned" how to fiberglass. I ended up draining it during a dry hot period (90s) and actually did a good job repairing it.
Once filled it up I fired the pump on and got a ton of bubbles from my jets and my pump wouldn't fully prime... So I had a leak detection company come out. They heard leaks in several places on both sides. SO... I paid a company to come remove five foot of decking around the entire pool as well as to the pump. I hand dug a two x three foot trench around it to expose all of the pipes (midwest in July). And proceeded to run all new pipes myself. The issue after that was I did not have the money to re-pour the patio. So when closing I blew out the jets and topped off the pool and tossed a sump in the low end of the trench, and proceeded to cross my fingers. Luckily the next spring (year ago) I opened it to find it intact. I still didn't have the money to re-pour my patio but I had a massive mud pit around the pool. So I ordered in 20,000lbs of rock and moved it via a cart from the street to the back of my house. It took days and once again it was 90 degrees. BUT it actually didn't look bad and solved the mud / wasp and weeds problem. So we enjoyed the pool all summer.
Closed it again the same way. Fast forward to this year and a few months ago my daughter her a loud noise over night in the backyard. When I woke up I looked out back and... the pool had floated two feet into the air. Turns out a new small crack formed in the wall over winter in one of the walls. So I assume after a dry period it slowly drained the pool. Once the spring rains hit... you get the idea.
SO... here we are. My pool luckily is about 21 years old now and needed re-coated but my kids and wife are fairly upset. Not to mention all those grueling hours in the sun were for nothing. We want a new one but as always we are on a tighter budget, but in a better financial position... AKA I could've poured concrete this year. So I am trying to find the cheapest way to get a new pool, possibly for next year (every place is booked up now). So I looked at all of the options and came across the more "budget" option (vinyl).
That's the story, it's always long winded when someone asks.... LOL
