My IG pool was installed about 5 years ago. Sometime this summer I noticed it was losing water at a non-normal pace and I just ignored it. Did a bucket test a few weeks back and confirmed a leak. Eventually reached out to pool builder who wanted me to mark and measure fill levels in the skimmer, which is when I noticed a giant crack which explained my easy. The PB says I'm on my own because they warranty skimmer for 1 year.
I have 6" water line tile and the major crack runs right trough the midpoint on the tile, so when I fill to mid-tile I end up losing 1-1.25" over the next 24 hour period, then I'm below the crack. The crack at the top of the body is well above the water line.
I don't know any way to explain this other than some kind ground shifting. I am in Orlando, FL area and the dirt is very soft and lose. Since it's a paver deck it was compacted and a stiffer layer put above it for the base, but from what I recall it was sand/dirt based stuff, not any kind of major aggregate. We get a lot of rain and there has certainly been a number of rain events (from hurricanes) that led to pool being overfilled and maybe 1 or 2 overflow events from that. 1 paver to the right of the basket (looking in from throat) is very lose but it has not sunk either. All of the surrounding paver sand is gone and it's mostly gone or very low around other pavers which would explain that 1 paver being lose but I don't see any signs of ground shift via sunken pavers anywhere. Note that there is an aluminum screen enclosure wall about 1 foot away from the skimmer and it sits on a very shallow concrete footer (like 6" or less of a footer in depth).
The PB has not come to look at this in person but told me typical range to replace a skimmer $2-5k, which seems rather outrageous to me. The basket is just surrounded by dirt and it's a paver deck (see pictures below). The wildcard is the screen room wall sitting on a couple pavers that probably need to be pulled out for easier access, but I think those would be able to be slid out from underneath and slid back in (see pics below).
Looking for thoughts on a few things:
Here are more pictures for reference of the installation
And here's a shot from the plumbing rough in. This was just back filled with the ground dirt that was dug out for the shell.
I have 6" water line tile and the major crack runs right trough the midpoint on the tile, so when I fill to mid-tile I end up losing 1-1.25" over the next 24 hour period, then I'm below the crack. The crack at the top of the body is well above the water line.
I don't know any way to explain this other than some kind ground shifting. I am in Orlando, FL area and the dirt is very soft and lose. Since it's a paver deck it was compacted and a stiffer layer put above it for the base, but from what I recall it was sand/dirt based stuff, not any kind of major aggregate. We get a lot of rain and there has certainly been a number of rain events (from hurricanes) that led to pool being overfilled and maybe 1 or 2 overflow events from that. 1 paver to the right of the basket (looking in from throat) is very lose but it has not sunk either. All of the surrounding paver sand is gone and it's mostly gone or very low around other pavers which would explain that 1 paver being lose but I don't see any signs of ground shift via sunken pavers anywhere. Note that there is an aluminum screen enclosure wall about 1 foot away from the skimmer and it sits on a very shallow concrete footer (like 6" or less of a footer in depth).
The PB has not come to look at this in person but told me typical range to replace a skimmer $2-5k, which seems rather outrageous to me. The basket is just surrounded by dirt and it's a paver deck (see pictures below). The wildcard is the screen room wall sitting on a couple pavers that probably need to be pulled out for easier access, but I think those would be able to be slid out from underneath and slid back in (see pics below).
Looking for thoughts on a few things:
- What caused the cracking
- What a fair price would be for this repair
- Can I get by for a while with filling cracks with a water safe epoxy (JB WaterWeld, Plastaid, Marine Epoxy, etc) and if so, what is the best product to use
Here are more pictures for reference of the installation
And here's a shot from the plumbing rough in. This was just back filled with the ground dirt that was dug out for the shell.