Help! Something hard is building from bottom of my AGP

[bratan007]

I have 27' AGP that came with the house when I bought it less than 2 years ago. It always had these liner wrinkles on the bottom, but I never had issues with it. Today I noticed something scary bulging in those wrinkles. Large hard lumps that look like rocks or roots. Wrinkles also got much higher and also hard. It looks like a tree root system or miniature mountain range I didn't see those few week ago when I was vacuuming...
I imagine two possibilities. One it's tree roots (I do have large trees around pool) buckling floor. Second is ground is shifting and rocks are now protruding. I actually don't know what's at the bottom. Is it aluminum floor? Or just ground and some kind of padding?
I was just about to close pool for the season (I live in upstate NY) when I noticed these... What should I do? Drain and inspect? Leave it until Spring? I'm afraid if I leave it liner might just break at the bulge and I have catastrophic flooding (don't want my basement to be flooded).
Is pool done for?
Additionally we did have some heavy rain fall a week ago and pool filled up, but this whole week there wasn't any rain at all...

 

[kimkats]

That would worry me also!

Any idea what is under the floor? sand? dirt? How is the ground/dirt/area around the pool?

Sorry for more questions than answers but I am hoping the answers will help figure out what is going on.

How close is it to the house? Is it a real danger of flooding the basement?

Is there ANY chance you can get a new liner now? Reusing the old liner has not worked in the few times I have seen it tried.

You cannot take out and leave out the liner for any period of time..........the walls will collapse.

Kim

 

[wjr75]

Those are roots. My parents AGP we tried cutting them at the edge of the pool. When we replaced the liner we added a thick gorilla pad on the floor which really helped.

 

[kimkats]

So can they wait until the Spring? Are they risking a flood if they wait?

Kim

 

[bratan007]

I have no clue what's under the pool, I thought it had metal floor, but I'm reading more about it, it seems they just usually put sand and some kind of padding (i.e. gorilla pad) under liner.
Around pool it's regular lawn with grass. Yeah pool is very close to the house, but area that has bulging is on far side, so I think it rips there it will drain away from house (there's slope there)... After discussing it with my wife (I stopped panicking, lol) we decided to just winterize pool and deal with it next year... I'm gonna drain some of it tho (just below skimmer) just in case...
wjr75, that's a good idea about cutting roots around pool. I tried digging hole in one spot, and I do find some thin roots there, but I might have to dig much dipper. When I was planting apple trees, I found some really thick roots around on over foot depth!

 

[kimkats]

At least you have a plan. Come Spring "call" us again and we can help you replace your liner and see what is going on.

Kim

 

[Crackerjack4u]

That's a darn shame that you're even having to deal with it. Hopefully, if it's a root it will sit dormant through the Winter, and not be growing anymore, so you can get it out from under there come Spring before it tears/pokes a hole in your liner.

 

[DarrelB]

Looks like a root of sorts. I had 2 this summer that felt like a hardball under the liner, but they never grew past that. Very lucky I had a gorilla pad under the liner as I am sure it prevented from puncturing the liner.
I had taken a shovel and thought I cut all the roots around the edge of the pool, but looks like I missed a couple. I plan on taking an older chain saw and sacrificing a chain and bar, ($20), to cut a 16" deep slot around the outer edge of the pool, and insert some metal or plastic 12" strips into the slot. It should act like a decent barrier to stop the roots from growing under the pool. I am also going to spray the trough with a vegetation killer liquid I got from local farm supply. I am not worried about the grass close around the pool as I plan to make a wrap around deck next year.

 

[phonedave]

Some of that looks like liner wrinkles, and some of it looks like roots / rocks.

You would be surprised at how good roots are at finding water. The wedge their way into all sorts of things. Rocks also migrate upwards. Over time soil will stratify, with larger items moving to the surface. That is the same reason you keep finding new rocks in a farm field after you removed them last season. I have two small rocks under my liner that I swear were not there when I installed it this spring.