Hi all, would really appreciate some fresh eyes/thoughts on our situation with this pool that we inherited when we purchased our home in March 2019.
As first time pool owners we were super excited about our pool, especially since we have young kids. Within a month of moving in we realized we were losing water rapidly. We hired a leak detection company who discovered a leak in our skimmer. They epoxied the leak and everything seemed fine. We planned for a backyard remodel that included redoing the tile and the coping as well as removing the grassy area surrounding the pool and adding concrete instead. We finished that project in early 2021.
What we did not know was that we should have also demo'd the pebble and redid the pebble at the same time. Our pool was empty and exposed to the elements for a good 2-3 months. The workers who redid our tile and coping were extremely careless and dropped several huge chunks of stone onto the pebble causing several gouges. Regardless, we didn't have budget at the time to replace the pebble so we patched the gouges. Once the remodel was done we filled the pool back up. This was in April 2021.
Well - we noticed we were dropping water again. We hired leak detection again and they couldn't find any leaks within our plumbing at all. It was weird. And the spa was losing water way faster than the pool. It was honestly super frustrating trying to figure out where the leak was coming from and why we couldn't figure it out. Additionally, we noticed that the dirt surround our pool equipment was soaked. We dug up about 2 feet of dirt to find a huge pool of water that we pumped out, DAILY, for a couple of months.
We finally got another pool construction company to come out to discuss what to do. We decided to hire them to demo our pebble and redo it and get all new pool equipment as well. We hired yet another leak detection company who identified a huge crack in our spa step. We patched the crack in the meantime while waiting for the work to begin on the new demo and pebble. We assumed the spa step was the source of the leak and therefore figured that demo and replaster would fix it.
Demo began on 1/14/22. The crew identified the issues with the spa step as well as several other issues with crumbling that they later fixed. But here is our biggest issue: during demo, water started GUSHING out of one of the pool lights (not from inside the conduit but from around it). This pool light is basically adjacent to the pool equipment. The earth between this side of the pool and the pool equipment is covered in concrete. The water gushed out for a good 45 minutes. Seems like this weak spot at the light was the main the source of the pool leak itself. So the guys drilled a couple of holes in the pool to allow for all the water to drain out. That was on 1/14. It's 2/28 and there is still some residual water leaking out of there. My concern is why hasn't it dried up - and is this normal? We had them pressurize all of our lines AGAIN and they all held pressure. We also had yet another company come out and run a leak detection on our irrigation to confirm that there are no irrigation leaks, and there are not. They are supposed to re-pebble this Thursday and I'm worried about the wet earth behind the pool.
My question is.... Why is there STILL water leaking out? How long should it take for the earth BEHIND the pool to effectively dry out? Do we need to demo the concrete to figure out exactly what the heck is going on?
We have spent so much money on remodeling / leak detection / remodeling again. We don't want to have to deal with any more leaks ever again.
Would really appreciate any tips, advice or thoughts on this. I've included a link with a bunch of pictures so you have an idea of where the light is and where the water is coming from. Yes, the equipment does sit on a concrete equipment pad - hard to see from these angles. Thanks in advance.
As first time pool owners we were super excited about our pool, especially since we have young kids. Within a month of moving in we realized we were losing water rapidly. We hired a leak detection company who discovered a leak in our skimmer. They epoxied the leak and everything seemed fine. We planned for a backyard remodel that included redoing the tile and the coping as well as removing the grassy area surrounding the pool and adding concrete instead. We finished that project in early 2021.
What we did not know was that we should have also demo'd the pebble and redid the pebble at the same time. Our pool was empty and exposed to the elements for a good 2-3 months. The workers who redid our tile and coping were extremely careless and dropped several huge chunks of stone onto the pebble causing several gouges. Regardless, we didn't have budget at the time to replace the pebble so we patched the gouges. Once the remodel was done we filled the pool back up. This was in April 2021.
Well - we noticed we were dropping water again. We hired leak detection again and they couldn't find any leaks within our plumbing at all. It was weird. And the spa was losing water way faster than the pool. It was honestly super frustrating trying to figure out where the leak was coming from and why we couldn't figure it out. Additionally, we noticed that the dirt surround our pool equipment was soaked. We dug up about 2 feet of dirt to find a huge pool of water that we pumped out, DAILY, for a couple of months.
We finally got another pool construction company to come out to discuss what to do. We decided to hire them to demo our pebble and redo it and get all new pool equipment as well. We hired yet another leak detection company who identified a huge crack in our spa step. We patched the crack in the meantime while waiting for the work to begin on the new demo and pebble. We assumed the spa step was the source of the leak and therefore figured that demo and replaster would fix it.
Demo began on 1/14/22. The crew identified the issues with the spa step as well as several other issues with crumbling that they later fixed. But here is our biggest issue: during demo, water started GUSHING out of one of the pool lights (not from inside the conduit but from around it). This pool light is basically adjacent to the pool equipment. The earth between this side of the pool and the pool equipment is covered in concrete. The water gushed out for a good 45 minutes. Seems like this weak spot at the light was the main the source of the pool leak itself. So the guys drilled a couple of holes in the pool to allow for all the water to drain out. That was on 1/14. It's 2/28 and there is still some residual water leaking out of there. My concern is why hasn't it dried up - and is this normal? We had them pressurize all of our lines AGAIN and they all held pressure. We also had yet another company come out and run a leak detection on our irrigation to confirm that there are no irrigation leaks, and there are not. They are supposed to re-pebble this Thursday and I'm worried about the wet earth behind the pool.
My question is.... Why is there STILL water leaking out? How long should it take for the earth BEHIND the pool to effectively dry out? Do we need to demo the concrete to figure out exactly what the heck is going on?
We have spent so much money on remodeling / leak detection / remodeling again. We don't want to have to deal with any more leaks ever again.
Would really appreciate any tips, advice or thoughts on this. I've included a link with a bunch of pictures so you have an idea of where the light is and where the water is coming from. Yes, the equipment does sit on a concrete equipment pad - hard to see from these angles. Thanks in advance.
