walls buckling on my above ground pool

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jhuehne

Well-known member
Aug 15, 2015
114
Lakeville/MN
Hi,

I've had my pool for 2 seasons. I live in MN where we get cold winters and harsh conditions. I have alot of wind in my backyard. I closed my pool in the fall with directions from this website. I switched this past year from a 27' winter cover to a 24' winter cover with wrap.

It is just starting to warm up a bit here with temps in the 40's with mid 50's coming this weekend. We will most likely drop down and probably will get more snow storms before spring is here. Last year I opened mid April when temps were around 60.

I just noticed today that my walls have buckled much much worse this year compared to last season. I've taken a bunch of pictures and uploaded them here:

pool wall buckling - Album on Imgur

As you can see I have buckling all the way around the pool. The worst appears to be buckling at the lower portion of the metal plate where the skimmer is. I contacted the store where I bought the pool and talked to their service department today. They had me send pictures and told me to immediately remove the wrap and cover and put it inside the pool to relieve pressure on the walls. The service manager said this winter has been unusually harsh here with many deep freeze/thaw cycles that caused alot of ground heaving in the area. He thinks I may have this under the pool causing the low level buckling. He has suggested I leave the cover in the pool until it gets closer to opening and then contact them again for evaluation. The only thing he suggested I do is try to dig down near the edge of my pool and try to see if the wall is still within the ring it was installed in. If not he said it would be a complete teardown/rebuild for $1000-1200 including a liner replacement and assuming they can re-use all my parts.

I'm wondering what the forum experts here suggest. I didn't do anything different this year for closing compared to last year except using a more appropriate sized winter cover (24' for 24' round pool). I was told this was just mother nature and bad luck.

Any suggestions what I should consider here?

Thanks in advance.
 
I would remove the plastic wrap and loosen the cover so that it falls into the pool. That looks like pretty even buckling all the way around and I am more inclined to think that there is no water supporting the weight of the ice on the cover. Water provides most of the structural integrity of an above ground pool. It might have been drained too low, or it may have developed a leak, or the weight of the ice displaced most of the water in the pool. Regardless of the cause you need to get the weight off the walls asap.
 
First thing I would do, like stated is remove wrap and drop cover into pool.
Then wait until its time and refill and go from there
jhuehne said:
I've had my pool for 2 seasons. I live in MN where we get cold winters and harsh conditions. I have alot of wind in my backyard. I closed my pool in the fall with directions from this website. I switched this past year from a 27' winter cover to a 24' winter cover with wrap.

It is just starting to warm up a bit here with temps in the 40's with mid 50's coming this weekend. We will most likely drop down and probably will get more snow storms before spring is here. Last year I opened mid April when temps were around 60.

I just noticed today that my walls have buckled much much worse this year compared to last season. I've taken a bunch of pictures and uploaded them here:

pool wall buckling - Album on Imgur

As you can see I have buckling all the way around the pool. The worst appears to be buckling at the lower portion of the metal plate where the skimmer is. I contacted the store where I bought the pool and talked to their service department today. They had me send pictures and told me to immediately remove the wrap and cover and put it inside the pool to relieve pressure on the walls. The service manager said this winter has been unusually harsh here with many deep freeze/thaw cycles that caused alot of ground heaving in the area. He thinks I may have this under the pool causing the low level buckling. He has suggested I leave the cover in the pool until it gets closer to opening and then contact them again for evaluation. The only thing he suggested I do is try to dig down near the edge of my pool and try to see if the wall is still within the ring it was installed in. If not he said it would be a complete teardown/rebuild for $1000-1200 including a liner replacement and assuming they can re-use all my parts.

I'm wondering what the forum experts here suggest. I didn't do anything different this year for closing compared to last year except using a more appropriate sized winter cover (24' for 24' round pool). I was told this was just mother nature and bad luck.

Any suggestions what I should consider here?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
I can't tell yet. I hope to in the next few days. We are supposed to be upper 50's to 60. I hope to suck the water off the cover and remove it. I think the pool water is still frozen in a large block, but I would think some water is underneath. I fear the liner ripped but really won't know until it melts more and I see if the level keeps going down and leaks out. I can't tell now if the water around the outside of the pool is just thaw or a ripped liner leaking. Any tips?
 
Looking at the pictures again,the one that has the storage shed and your dog in it, is that one support post leaning in?That"s the reason I don't cover anymore, in case it was the weight on top rails.
Currently here in Iowa it is suppose to get near 60 and the water is thawed 4" at edge and quite a bit under ice.I have often wondered with the block of ice with and edge that floats around can slice liner.Looking forward the hearing updates.My pool walls also bow away slightly from supports when I drain down and winterize but not that extreme.
 
I have a micro mesh cover that allows rain to go right through it. However, when snow is expected I just take the cover off and let it stay uncovered for say January & February. And then recover in March. I know that doesn't help you now, but its something to consider going forward.
 

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Man, that is sad what happen with the buckling like that. I think after all this I would only use a leaf cover or something that would let snow and water pass through. It doesn't look like you have a lot of trees around so it may not get to messy.
 
Another updated set of pictures.

After 6 warm days, no water at bottom of pool - Album on Imgur

This was after 6 days at 60 degrees. The ice melted alot. I took large chunks of ice off the cover that were 2-4 inches thick.

The water has drained completely out of the pool down to the liner now, which probably means the liner is torn somewhere from the damage. Looks like a possible complete replacement necessary.

Thoughts?
 
Probably no help for now, but to me it appears it was already leaking near the bottom, water froze and stopped the leakage.Once it started to thaw it leak again and enough so that the cover kept dropping further down into pool and eventually effected the supports and wall.Now with that short summer spell being history, I would remove cover once able to along with inner tube,let the water thaw and see if it drains out more.
If it drains totally then an issue on the floor area, if some water remains start looking at the water line level for any issues.Also that sand on the pavers, is that base sand from under pool?
 
We're getting snow again now, so I will have to wait until the weather warms up again to try and get the cover and tube out. I did try to do this and both wouldn't move like they were frozen down. As for the sand, I agree that this is probably base sand from under the pool which makes me think the walls buckled bad enough to tear the liner and it washed out. There is fine sand between the pavers and under them as well but I don't think that sand you see has come up through the pavers. I think the weight of the cover ice and snow pushed down so hard the walls buckled inward then bent back outward in a < type shape. Maybe the liner tore and the sand came out during the bend? Not sure...

We are looking into replacement pools as our pool company where we bought it told us we are looking at a complete teardown and replacement. Our pool has been discontinued and does not have replacement parts. Apparently I need to pay for a dumpster and disposal myself and they will disassemble the old and put up a new pool.

Does anyone know if an all resin pool would be ok for Minnesota weather? Temps here range from 105 degrees and humid in the summer to negative 40 (air temp) or negative 60 (wind chill) during the winter.

I was thinking something like this Matrix pool:

Wilbar Matrix 24 Resin Pool (Skimmer Included) - PMAT2454RRRRRS1 - INYOPools.com

It looks like the walls are more durable. I've also had issues with the rock around my pool rubbing the existing pool walls and causing rust. That wouldn't be an issue with the resin pool from what I understand.

Thanks for all the help!
 
Hello,
So we live in MN too. This is the third winter with our pool. I am having it curve inward on the bottom of the pool. Wondering if we have a similar problem? What did you ever end up doing last year? Did you get your pool from family leisure, cuz they are telling me the same things?
 
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