We've owned this house with 18 x 36 foot vinyl inground pool for 6 years. The pool is around 25 years old I think.
It has worked great for us, other than some problems with liner bubbling / floating over the last 2 years, and a small leak at operating level, also starting around 2 years ago.
This year we booked with a reputable pool company to get the liner replaced, but have had massive issues:
My question is, because this damage to the pool structure occurred while they were in the middle of the job, shouldn't the pool company bear some responsibility? If the pool was filled to proper level, I'm guessing the damage would not have occurred, or would have been much less. We've had large rainstorms in the past without any issues.
Thanks
It has worked great for us, other than some problems with liner bubbling / floating over the last 2 years, and a small leak at operating level, also starting around 2 years ago.
This year we booked with a reputable pool company to get the liner replaced, but have had massive issues:
- They started work at the end of May, told us we needed ~$2000 of concrete repair work which seemed reasonable, I agreed to that. That took a few days.
- Then they started installing the liner, but halfway through found they needed new stair strips. These they had to custom order which took 2 weeks (!).
- Finally they got the parts and finished installing the liner on June 22. I asked them several times if they'd found the leak, but they said not to worry, they'd done a pressure test and all was good.
- By the same afternoon we noticed some wrinkles / minor floating in spots. I checked the level that night and found it was losing about 3/8 inch in 12 hours (much worse than last year). By the next day (June 23) there were big bubbles and floating at the sides. I contacted the pool company immediately.
- They sent a diver / tester specialist on June 25 and he said he found a leak in the threads of the deep end return. Apparently the pressure test could not test for this because of how that section gets plugged during the test.
- They repaired the return on July 5, then did some additional repairs to the shallow end concrete and re-seated the liner on July 9.
- However, on July 9 while the pool was filling and only half full (about a couple inches deep in the shallow end), we had a HUGE rainstorm, 6-7 inches in 16 hours. The liner started floating again, really badly.
- Today, after they drained the water behind the liner, they noticed a bowing or bulging in a couple spots of the deep end wall, and also a big section on the deep end floor where sand/earth/debris appears to have washed into the pool (under the liner). I'm not sure how bad it is (they didn't give an estimate) but I'm guessing this kind of structural damage is going to be super expensive.
- I am checking into home insurance coverage, but it doesn't look like it'll be covered
My question is, because this damage to the pool structure occurred while they were in the middle of the job, shouldn't the pool company bear some responsibility? If the pool was filled to proper level, I'm guessing the damage would not have occurred, or would have been much less. We've had large rainstorms in the past without any issues.
Thanks