Help - Matthew Floated My Liner

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jobondur

Well-known member
Dec 13, 2009
183
Virginia Beach, VA
So we didn't get the full on hurricane but we got the torrential rain and pretty heavy wind. Went out the next morning and found my pool liner had pulled away from the wall on my radiused end and was full of water in behind the liner. As of now, the water behind the liner seems to be gone and I'm pretty sure I can reset the liner, however I have a problem I don't know how to resolve. The foam backing that goes between the liner and the steel wall seems to have floated up a fair amount. Assuming it goes all the way to the bottom of the wall, I'd say it's a foot higher than it should be (stuck my hand behind the liner until I felt the bottom of the foam and my hand was a foot above the floor). How the heck do you get that back down? If I can get that back down, I'll do the boiling water trick to reset the liner in its track but can somebody give me help on the foam???? You guys are awesome, thanks.
 
Yes, Matthew hit us much harder than they were predicting.

Here on the Peninsula I was shocked that my liner didn't float. The pool almost overflowed though. Luckily the water level was a bit low before the storm hit and I had not yet topped it off.

Did you lose power? We were one of the lucky ones that didn't.

Some years ago we had a big storm that caused our liner and wall foam to float. The liner went back into place nicely but the foam was bunched up about halfway up the wall all around the pool.

Aegean Pools came out and suggested the foam just be removed. I questioned this but they said it would be fine without the foam. We had to lower the water level in the pool to about the bottom step so they could detach the liner all around and remove the wall foam (it only took them about 45 min to do it).

As far as I can tell, it's been fine without the wall foam, however, a few springs ago I noticed we started losing water over the winter (I use a solid tarp over a mesh safety cover). I've searched and cannot find the leak, but since it's only about 1.5" a month, I'm not too worried about it. There are some places on the wall where I can feel small rocks under the liner and wondered if the lack of wall foam has made the liner more susceptible to pinhole punctures (I can't see or feel any). I cannot say whether or not the lack of wall foam is the issue.

Ultimately, I probably would have felt better if the wall foam was replaced or fixed, but that would have been a much more expensive fix. Also, there's no guaranty it wouldn't happen again (the liner has floated again since then).

I'm sorry I don't have a simple DIY fix suggestion to offer. I hope something in my rambling helps. :)

PS - I'm still cleaning shredded leaves and debris from the pool.....ugh!
 
Yeah, I leaf netted about a garbage can of debris out of the pool and it's still a mess. I just talked with a guy that is going to come out at some point but he said he's swamped right now and won't get to it until next week. I asked him what he'd do and he said he would likely drop the level of the water and remove the foam padding in the affected areas, then reset the liner. I'm thinking I could just trim the top of the foam off and then reset it myself. I'm sure there will be some visible indication of the repair but right now I'm thinking I've got 2-3 years left on my liner anyways. Is that a good idea?

Also, just went out to turn the pump on and got nothing but a hum.....awesome. When it rains it pours huh? Thanks a lot Matthew.....
 
When I called Aegean they were booked solid. Apparently many pool owners were affected. It was 4 weeks before they could come out, so I just recovered the pool and hoped for the best. We didn't get to open until June 8th that year and to my relief the water was still clear.

After seeing what they did to remove the wall foam, I could probably do it myself though it would take me much longer. Detaching and reattaching the liner is a pain. If you're comfortable doing that you could certainly try it. That said, the ground is extremely saturated right now and I'd be concerned about lowering water level that far.

How old is your liner? I'm thinking we have about the same life left in ours. It's the original liner installed in early 2004.

That stinks about your pump. Are you sure something isn't jammed in the pump impeller?
 
Do you remember roughly what they charged you? My effort to DIY is highly impacted by how much money I will likely save.

I can get my arm down behind the liner a pretty good ways and can likely pull the foam liner fairly flat, it will just be shifted up the wall a bit. I would then just need to trim the excess off the top and reinsert the liner into the track. I'm guessing something will be visible in the liner but with it nearing the end of its life I guess I'll be fine with it for a couple of years.

As far as the pump goes, I haven't done any troubleshooting yet. It was getting dark when I discovered it and I was too annoyed to screw with it at that point. Maybe today after work....
 
The original quote was $400. However, after the work was done I called and told them I thought the charge was excessive since it only took 2 guys 45 minutes to do, so they reduced it to about $170 to cover the initial visit to get an estimate and the second visit to do the repair.

Based on what was done with our pool, your suggestion sounds perfectly reasonable. Ours was so bad we couldn't do what you are suggesting.

Good luck with the pump. I hope it's a minor issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply