Title pretty much sums it up. I have a ~35 yr old in-ground kidney bean shaped diving pool, approx 35,000 gallons, fiberglass sides with a plaster/concrete bottom.
The pool finish has been aging pretty noticeably recently so we hired a pool contractor to refinish the pool surface with an epoxy. It took us over a year to find someone that would even take on the job so we were thrilled when they finally got us on the schedule.
They drained the pool (mostly, left maybe a foot or two in the bottom of the deep end) a week ago today (Monday) and I was immediately concerned based on the fact rain was forecast on Friday and through the weekend. We called them and they explained that they were well aware of the weather but needed to get moisture away from the walls etc.
So Friday night we got about 12" of rain and Saturday morning my wife and I woke up to the sound of our pool deck exploding all around the perimeter of the deep end. There are now huge cracks (like I can stick my hand in them) along the concrete edge of the pool deck 5-6 feet long. The entire pool deck on one side of the deep end has lifted about 6 inches.
We called the pool guy in a panic to have him come and look at his mess. He assured us that once we fill the pool back up it will settle back in place and they'll replace the pool deck that is damaged. He drilled a hole in the middle of the shallow end of the pool to relieve the ground water underneath and sure enough a 2ft jet of water shot into the pool for several hours.
The pool has been full for about 48 hours at this point and has settled back a few inches but the worst parts of the deck are still several inches (floating) above the ground around it and I'm starting to notice some bulges in the fiberglass walls around where the deck damage is worse. There is about a 2 inch difference in height of return jets between the shallow and deep end relative to the water level now. When the pool guy was out today he mentioned several times about how this pool has "floated before" which makes me feel like he's setting himself up to weasel his way out of repairs later.
Is the pool really going to settle back to anywhere near where it was? Should I let this guy fix his mess or just get the lawyers and insurance companies involved? What kind of long term damage may have occurred that I won't know about until this guy is long gone? Pool contractor wants to let the pool settle a few more days while full of water then try draining it and drilling more holes in the deep end to try to get it to settle. I'm skeptical that the 200,000+ lbs of water in the pool is going to push it any further down than it already has and I don't see how the bulging fiberglass walls could possibly be repaired...
Photos:
The pool finish has been aging pretty noticeably recently so we hired a pool contractor to refinish the pool surface with an epoxy. It took us over a year to find someone that would even take on the job so we were thrilled when they finally got us on the schedule.
They drained the pool (mostly, left maybe a foot or two in the bottom of the deep end) a week ago today (Monday) and I was immediately concerned based on the fact rain was forecast on Friday and through the weekend. We called them and they explained that they were well aware of the weather but needed to get moisture away from the walls etc.
So Friday night we got about 12" of rain and Saturday morning my wife and I woke up to the sound of our pool deck exploding all around the perimeter of the deep end. There are now huge cracks (like I can stick my hand in them) along the concrete edge of the pool deck 5-6 feet long. The entire pool deck on one side of the deep end has lifted about 6 inches.
We called the pool guy in a panic to have him come and look at his mess. He assured us that once we fill the pool back up it will settle back in place and they'll replace the pool deck that is damaged. He drilled a hole in the middle of the shallow end of the pool to relieve the ground water underneath and sure enough a 2ft jet of water shot into the pool for several hours.
The pool has been full for about 48 hours at this point and has settled back a few inches but the worst parts of the deck are still several inches (floating) above the ground around it and I'm starting to notice some bulges in the fiberglass walls around where the deck damage is worse. There is about a 2 inch difference in height of return jets between the shallow and deep end relative to the water level now. When the pool guy was out today he mentioned several times about how this pool has "floated before" which makes me feel like he's setting himself up to weasel his way out of repairs later.
Is the pool really going to settle back to anywhere near where it was? Should I let this guy fix his mess or just get the lawyers and insurance companies involved? What kind of long term damage may have occurred that I won't know about until this guy is long gone? Pool contractor wants to let the pool settle a few more days while full of water then try draining it and drilling more holes in the deep end to try to get it to settle. I'm skeptical that the 200,000+ lbs of water in the pool is going to push it any further down than it already has and I don't see how the bulging fiberglass walls could possibly be repaired...
Photos:
