HELP! Water Weeping Exterior Pool Wall (Pictures)

[BigNick183]

Hi everyone,

I'm in some serious need of advice, and the pool company I've been working with has abandoned me. Here are the facts:

1. We had a hole in our liner that caused a hole in the exterior wall. The hole is approx one foot down from the top of the pool.

2. We hired a company to replace the liner and repair the hole. They also installed wall foam.

3. Pool company fixed the hole on the inside by using a piece of flashing and Gorilla tape. They did not patch the exterior of the wall.

4. Water was splashing over the pool and into the hole on the exterior wall, which caused further rust and damage. Pool company suggested fixing this by filling the holes with silicon (not sure why they didn't do this originally). See July Wall photo to see the original hole at the top, and the larger rust spot forming below the original hole. Silicon worked to resolve 99% of the issue.

5. I spray painted the rusty spot in early September, and noticed that water was "weeping" through the repair point. If you look at the Sept Wall picture, you'll notice the little brown dots throughout - those are tiny beads of water.

6. Called pool company again, and they came out to look at liner (but did not remove the liner to look behind). They said there was no hole in the liner and the water that was weeping from the repair spot must have been from the morning dew getting in behind the silicon and being pushed out. Pool company suggested covering the repair spot with Gorilla tape.

7. Still not trusting the pool company, I used CLEAR Gorilla tape and completely sealed the repair point. Now, water is still weeping from the spot, but is now behind the Gorilla tape, which is worse. See the Sept Tape picture - you can see how the rust is runny and the tape is fogged.

Called the pool company again, and they are refusing to pull the liner back to reinspect. They said if there was a hole in the liner that water would be "spewing out" from the exterior wall. They are blaming rain and moisture even though I've already caulked and covered with Gorilla tape.

How can the water weeping from the repair point be explained if there's not a tiny hole in the interior liner? Has anyone ever dealt with this before?! The pool company keeps telling me I'm fixing the "textbook" way, but this makes no sense.

I'm in need of some serious help.

 

[Casey]

That doesn't look good. Are you losing water?

 

[BigNick183]

Not really. It's a very slow weep. I lowered the water in the pool and have a cover on it now for the winter (I'm in New Jersey), and I'm thinking of lowering it more to see if that helps. When the pool people came out two weeks ago they said the spotlight was dry. Can moisture build up like that? Doesn't make sense. Could I have a small leak being soakedsoaked in by wall foam?

 

[Casey]

There is definitely water behind the wall if it's weeping and rusting like that. Where is it coming from? I have no idea but the foam can hold water if the liner is leaking.

 

[BigNick183]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to gather some additional feedback on the issue I'm having. I had the liner reinspected, and they could not find a hole anywhere. The wall seems to weep heavily only after extended pool use / splashing. We have a beaded liner, and I was considering running silicon along the inside lip where the liner folds under. There's no other logical explanation for how the water is getting in between the exterior wall and the liner/foam.

After we dropped the water and closed the pool in September, we sealed the area with gorilla tape. However, two weeks later we could see the tape was bulging and had created a pocket to trap in the seeping water. By October, there was no more water seepage.

The pool people we dealt with says the aluminum plate used to seal the hole could be taking on "morning dew", and that the moisture could be soaked into the foam and then pushed out. However, that doesn't explain how it penetrated the gorilla tape.

It's bizarre. Any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

 

[Jamison04]

If it only weeps after swimming and splashing than I'm going to suggest that the water is getting splashed up onto the top of the bead and it then drains down to each end of the bead receiver where they meet and gets between the wall and the liner that way. It's the only logical explanation how water would get between the wall and liner if there wasn't a leak.

 

[BigNick183]

If it only weeps after swimming and splashing than I'm going to suggest that the water is getting splashed up onto the top of the bead and it then drains down to each end of the bead receiver where they meet and gets between the wall and the liner that way. It's the only logical explanation how water would get between the wall and liner if there wasn't a leak.

Thanks for your help! I inherited the pool when I bought my house so pardon my ignorance, but I googled "bead receiver" and it appears I have a J hook type liner. I had previously applied silicon on the exterior of the wall at the bottom of the liner where it bends from the J hook.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to run a bead of silicon along the interior lip of the liner?

We had the pool people come back out last year and they were stumped as well.

 

[gwegan]

So we are not there.

This is not the best way to repair that wall. Placing a new panel behind the old panel and pop riveting it in place would be preferred.

When they did the original repair what did the rest of the wall look like? Put another way is this the only spot? If so I suspect there is something about the track here that permits water to drain down in.

Silicone is a partial solution. And is worth trying if it solves the problem. I'd lower the pool by a foot and don't touch the pool for a week. see if it drys out. then run a silicone bead over the liner to wall junction. This winter I would pull the liner and inspect.

 

[BigNick183]

So we are not there.

This is not the best way to repair that wall. Placing a new panel behind the old panel and pop riveting it in place would be preferred.

When they did the original repair what did the rest of the wall look like? Put another way is this the only spot? If so I suspect there is something about the track here that permits water to drain down in.

Silicone is a partial solution. And is worth trying if it solves the problem. I'd lower the pool by a foot and don't touch the pool for a week. see if it drys out. then run a silicone bead over the liner to wall junction. This winter I would pull the liner and inspect.

Thanks for your advice. From what I understand the rest of the wall was fine - it was just the one spot caused by a hole from the original liner that was replaced. I will try the silicon and will have the spot reinspected in the winter/spring.