Ok, I have had NOTHING but bad luck, pertaining to getting a pool this year. If I had to do it all over, I think I may have never purchased one. From the excavator almost making the retaining wall too tight, to him almost installing the drainage to tight, to now the drainage is not even working! (pool was in 4 inches of water yesterday, but that's another story)
The installers had everything out of the boxes, and all over my yard. When they went to install the wall, they took it out of the box, and it had a dent in it. (You can tell it was from pressure from the tiedown strap used by the delivery guys. :grrrr: :grrrr: He said I could stop now, but then I would have to put all that Crud back into my garage, wait about 2 weeks for a replacement, and then schedule another install. I decided to live with the dent, which shows up in two spots, since the wall was rolled up.
Anyways, everything looked great for over half the job. (I took time lapse pics, which I will post some time in the future) They had the wall almost complete, and one guy was inside. A guy from the outside went to hand him the liner, which they never unfolded to let heat up. (Admittedly, it was about 74 outside and not too sunny.) As he handed it to the inside guy, he slipped a little and the liner fell onto the top of the wall. It bowed in some, and then they caught it. Nothing bad, no creases or folds, BUT, what they did not notice was, that the wall came off the bottom track at that spot. So they get the liner all in place, and all the top rails besides 2. The water truck is waiting there to fill. He had the liner smoothed out and everything. Thanks goodness, right before they started filling, they noticed the bottom rail. They took off about 2 more top rails, and the liner off about 10ft. The inside guy stepped over the liner, so he could be between the liner and wall. They got it back on the bottom rail, but got a little dirt in one area as you can see from the pic. Also, as you can see, they did not get the bottom rails back to where they should be, but they are "in" about an inch.
I talked to the shop, and they said they are SURE there is not structural risk, and if I want, they will replace the wall this fall or next spring. From there, I was fairly set at ease. The installer came back out, and said he could dig under it, and try to pull it out a little and see if I would be happy with that. If I was, then great, if not, then they could still do the new wall later. He also said there was NO structural risk, since the wall was still in the track, and there was nothing causing it to get worse. I asked how he would replace the wall. He said they would drain the water (my expense, but in contract
) and fold the liner in on itself a little. Then put up new wall and then rehang the liner.
Ok, NOW I am worried all over again! Do you REALLY think they can rehang the liner, and get all the screw holse to line up perfectly, without them having to pull or stretch the liner in one direction or another?? Also, the liner will be all stretched out, won't it be VERY difficult to get it all filled back with water without any wrinkles? What makes this all even worse, is the fact that he got this liner installed without ONE wrinkle, and the water level is within 1/8 of an inch all the way around. :-D Not to mention, they would have to push out my backfill around the pool, in order to get the wall and bottom tracks in the right spot, I would assume. AND, I also paid for foam coving that is STUCK to the wall. So I wonder if that will have to be replaced.
So, I need some advice. What would you do? I have thought of a few options:
1) Tell them (politely) I do not like the idea of the same liner being reused, since I am worried about how the holes will line up. And I want a new wall AND new liner or they can just come and pick up the whole darn thing and refund my money.
2) "IF" this is really no risk of structural damage at all, then ask them how much it would cost for a new wall and install, and then ask for that money to be refunded to me, and if it ever goes bad, it is my problem.
I am a pessimist at heart, unfortunately. I just know, that if they come and redo it, something else will go wrong.
Lastly, the bottom of my pool is so bad. It is not smooth at all. I honestly do not believe it is the installers fault. I watched him use a roller to smooth out the sand, and then he took a soft bristle brush. It looked good. I have alot of clay in my ground, and the ground was somewhat still soft. They said, as did my excavator, that is was fine and they had seen much worse. You could jump up and down and feel the ground give. Heck, you could just shift weight from one foot to the other and tell the ground was giving. I think the ground is just too saturated down deep and it did not stay smooth once the water went in. If they install again in the spring, you think maybe the ground would be settled and compact by then and I could have them lat more sand and smooth out before the wall install? Sigh, I really want to give up. This all gives me a sick feeling every day.
Dent, the line below the dent is just a design swirl:
The buckling. Is my pool at risk at all??
Dirt in the track:
The installers had everything out of the boxes, and all over my yard. When they went to install the wall, they took it out of the box, and it had a dent in it. (You can tell it was from pressure from the tiedown strap used by the delivery guys. :grrrr: :grrrr: He said I could stop now, but then I would have to put all that Crud back into my garage, wait about 2 weeks for a replacement, and then schedule another install. I decided to live with the dent, which shows up in two spots, since the wall was rolled up.
Anyways, everything looked great for over half the job. (I took time lapse pics, which I will post some time in the future) They had the wall almost complete, and one guy was inside. A guy from the outside went to hand him the liner, which they never unfolded to let heat up. (Admittedly, it was about 74 outside and not too sunny.) As he handed it to the inside guy, he slipped a little and the liner fell onto the top of the wall. It bowed in some, and then they caught it. Nothing bad, no creases or folds, BUT, what they did not notice was, that the wall came off the bottom track at that spot. So they get the liner all in place, and all the top rails besides 2. The water truck is waiting there to fill. He had the liner smoothed out and everything. Thanks goodness, right before they started filling, they noticed the bottom rail. They took off about 2 more top rails, and the liner off about 10ft. The inside guy stepped over the liner, so he could be between the liner and wall. They got it back on the bottom rail, but got a little dirt in one area as you can see from the pic. Also, as you can see, they did not get the bottom rails back to where they should be, but they are "in" about an inch.
I talked to the shop, and they said they are SURE there is not structural risk, and if I want, they will replace the wall this fall or next spring. From there, I was fairly set at ease. The installer came back out, and said he could dig under it, and try to pull it out a little and see if I would be happy with that. If I was, then great, if not, then they could still do the new wall later. He also said there was NO structural risk, since the wall was still in the track, and there was nothing causing it to get worse. I asked how he would replace the wall. He said they would drain the water (my expense, but in contract
) and fold the liner in on itself a little. Then put up new wall and then rehang the liner. Ok, NOW I am worried all over again! Do you REALLY think they can rehang the liner, and get all the screw holse to line up perfectly, without them having to pull or stretch the liner in one direction or another?? Also, the liner will be all stretched out, won't it be VERY difficult to get it all filled back with water without any wrinkles? What makes this all even worse, is the fact that he got this liner installed without ONE wrinkle, and the water level is within 1/8 of an inch all the way around. :-D Not to mention, they would have to push out my backfill around the pool, in order to get the wall and bottom tracks in the right spot, I would assume. AND, I also paid for foam coving that is STUCK to the wall. So I wonder if that will have to be replaced.
So, I need some advice. What would you do? I have thought of a few options:
1) Tell them (politely) I do not like the idea of the same liner being reused, since I am worried about how the holes will line up. And I want a new wall AND new liner or they can just come and pick up the whole darn thing and refund my money.
2) "IF" this is really no risk of structural damage at all, then ask them how much it would cost for a new wall and install, and then ask for that money to be refunded to me, and if it ever goes bad, it is my problem.
I am a pessimist at heart, unfortunately. I just know, that if they come and redo it, something else will go wrong.
Lastly, the bottom of my pool is so bad. It is not smooth at all. I honestly do not believe it is the installers fault. I watched him use a roller to smooth out the sand, and then he took a soft bristle brush. It looked good. I have alot of clay in my ground, and the ground was somewhat still soft. They said, as did my excavator, that is was fine and they had seen much worse. You could jump up and down and feel the ground give. Heck, you could just shift weight from one foot to the other and tell the ground was giving. I think the ground is just too saturated down deep and it did not stay smooth once the water went in. If they install again in the spring, you think maybe the ground would be settled and compact by then and I could have them lat more sand and smooth out before the wall install? Sigh, I really want to give up. This all gives me a sick feeling every day.
Dent, the line below the dent is just a design swirl:
The buckling. Is my pool at risk at all??
Dirt in the track:
