1970s hybrid

[shyblue014]

We purchased a house with a pool in IL winter of 2022 so no chance for an inspection. Opened it up in spring of 2023 and it appeared well kept and in working order. It has concrete floors and fiberglass walls built around 1974. Previous owners lived here for over 50yrs. Over the first summer we noticed the “decorative waterline boarder liner” was starting to peel. I emailed the previous owner and mentioned it and asked what the vertical tape was within the pool. She said nothing about the tape. Said they never had a full pool liner it’s always been concrete and fiberglass and that there was extra liner for the waterline left in the garage for us. We closed up the pool in Sept. Spring of this year, 2024 we opened the pool to find more of the “decorative liner” falling off. This time it was bringing what looks like concrete or plaster and paint with it. As the pool starts to reveal itself we are seeing buckling walls. I have talked to 3 pool contractors all with different opinions and all saying the other is wrong!!! So what do I do? What have others done with their hybrid pools and did it work? OPTION 1: remove fiberglass walls and poor new concrete walls within the pool. $50,000 basically rebuilding a new pool.
OPTION 2: Put a plunge pool by Imperial Pools inside of the existing pool. Fill in the deep end make it one level. (pool guy one said run if anyone says they will put a pool inside my pool it won’t work and will fail). $20,000 to drop a pool within the pool.
OPTION 3: put in a liner. Not sure the cost that pool guy hasn’t been over in person yet. My concern here is if the sides are already failing what happens to the liner? Would they also rebuild the sides do you think? Not sure the cost of this one yet. (pool guy one again said he wouldn’t do this option because of the risks getting a liner to fit on the current pool sides that are wavy and not as easy as just dropping in a liner).

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Those are your basic options as well as repairing your pool. There seem to be a few companies around who repair hybrid pools. Read Hybrid Pools - Further Reading

 

[shyblue014]

The hybrid pool panels are set in the concrete floor and the concrete deck is on top of the panels that’s what holds them. Without actually putting in new concrete walls you aren’t fixing that those existing walls are buckling under the decking and they will still eventually cave in or give way into the new pool. Can’t do the liner because again this issue but also because it would be so difficult to measure the pool since it’s buckling and uneven all over the place.

 

[sktn77a]

Are the walls buckling or just blistering? Your pool looks like ours - Polynesian pool walls in 6' sections. It leaked at the seams and the gelcoat was cracking and blistering. If the walls are stable and sturdy, you could apply a fiberglass wall and bottom over the existing pool - see
Fiberglass Swimming Pool Resurfacing - East Coast Pools
otherwise, your first option is what I did:

EcoFinish Pool wall questions

Great advice to stay with a solid vinyl liner. I do worry about fading. As to overall take-aways to this entire ordeal: 1) When looking to renovate your pool ALWAYS ask the Pool renovator if they are doing the work themselves and not using a 3rd party sub-contractor. ONLY deal directly with...

www.troublefreepool.com

See post 79 and beyond. It cost us ~$25,000 pre Covid, so I'm guessing $35,000 to $50,000 today.

 

[shyblue014]

It’s actually buckling. A few of the joints look like crooked teeth almost overlapping. Yeah I was quoted 50k to do it using our existing pool equipment. They would do exactly what you show done to your pool. Thanks for the photos!!! That was extremely helpful to see the process and what it looks like kind of inside there. I really appreciate it.

 

[shyblue014]

Has anyone here ever had a pool built within an existing old pool before?
I’m getting conflicting information from pool builders. I have a 1970s hybrid inground. Fiberglass sides with concrete flooring. The walls are buckling so we are weighing options. One option is to remove those walls and pour new concrete walls. Then use the existing floor and make it a full concrete pool. That guy warned us to not allow anyone to come in and say they can build a pool inside the existing pool. I’m not sure why? But he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Then of course the 2nd pool builder comes in and says he can build a pool inside my pool. It is also kind of a hybrid pool. It has steel wall braces and a liner is installed. They would use the existing concrete floor then build up the deep end and the pool would be 4ft deep flat pool which I’m fine with because no one uses the deep end except to jump on and then that’s it they swim to the shallow and stay there. Can you share your experiences and expertise please?

 

[sktn77a]

It has steel wall braces and a liner is installed. They would use the existing concrete floor then build up the deep end and the pool would be 4ft deep flat pool

Hard pass on that proposal. Either build a proper gunite pool inside your existing pool or put in a full fiberglass shell inside the existing pool.

 

[shyblue014]

Why hard pass?

 

[zea3]

We purchased a house with a pool in IL winter of 2022 so no chance for an inspection. Opened it up in spring of 2023 and it appeared well kept and in working order. It has concrete floors and fiberglass walls built around 1974. Previous owners lived here for over 50yrs. Over the first summer we noticed the “decorative waterline boarder liner” was starting to peel. I emailed the previous owner and mentioned it and asked what the vertical tape was within the pool. She said nothing about the tape. Said they never had a full pool liner it’s always been concrete and fiberglass and that there was extra liner for the waterline left in the garage for us. We closed up the pool in Sept. Spring of this year, 2024 we opened the pool to find more of the “decorative liner” falling off. This time it was bringing what looks like concrete or plaster and paint with it. As the pool starts to reveal itself we are seeing buckling walls. I have talked to 3 pool contractors all with different opinions and all saying the other is wrong!!! So what do I do? What have others done with their hybrid pools and did it work? OPTION 1: remove fiberglass walls and poor new concrete walls within the pool. $50,000 basically rebuilding a new pool.
OPTION 2: Put a plunge pool by Imperial Pools inside of the existing pool. Fill in the deep end make it one level. (pool guy one said run if anyone says they will put a pool inside my pool it won’t work and will fail). $20,000 to drop a pool within the pool.
OPTION 3: put in a liner. Not sure the cost that pool guy hasn’t been over in person yet. My concern here is if the sides are already failing what happens to the liner? Would they also rebuild the sides do you think? Not sure the cost of this one yet. (pool guy one again said he wouldn’t do this option because of the risks getting a liner to fit on the current pool sides that are wavy and not as easy as just dropping in a liner).

The reason it is not advisable to just build a pool inside an existing pool is that you will have uneven compaction on the soil, which may cause the pool to fail. If you've ever dug a hole and tried to fill it with the same dirt then you know that once the soil is disturbed it doesn't compact the same. The fresh soil will compact more but it won't compact as firmly or be as stable as the shallow end of the pool. 1 gallon of water weighs 8 lbs. That is a lot of force compacting the soil. The shallow end is already compacted. Filling in the deep end with dirt and laying concrete on top will not give you a stable surface. You will end up with hollow areas under the new floor over time.

You can pull the old walls out and build a new liner pool. Liner pools usually have stainless steel walls and dirt or pearlite bottoms. Liners are custom made to fit the pool. You can select a pool with a similar size and shape or have a slightly larger pool dug and go from there.

 

[sktn77a]

Why hard pass?

Because they're cobbling together a system that should be built from scratch (how are they going to secure the walls in the existing concrete floor?).

 

[shyblue014]

The reason it is not advisable to just build a pool inside an existing pool is that you will have uneven compaction on the soil, which may cause the pool to fail. If you've ever dug a hole and tried to fill it with the same dirt then you know that once the soil is disturbed it doesn't compact the same. The fresh soil will compact more but it won't compact as firmly or be as stable as the shallow end of the pool. 1 gallon of water weighs 8 lbs. That is a lot of force compacting the soil. The shallow end is already compacted. Filling in the deep end with dirt and laying concrete on top will not give you a stable surface. You will end up with hollow areas under the new floor over time.

You can pull the old walls out and build a new liner pool. Liner pools usually have stainless steel walls and dirt or pearlite bottoms. Liners are custom made to fit the pool. You can select a pool with a similar size and shape or have a slightly larger pool dug and go from there.

Thank you. This is the best explanation of why not. The dirt going back in a hole you dug it out of and not fitting. The really helped I appreciate that so much.