Leak in gunite pool, next steps?

[Land of the Locust]

I thought I had a pressure side leak, but volume loss accelerated over the summer, and it continued after I turned off the pump. On the eve of closing, it’s below the level of the light. I’m actually putting water back into the pool and will have to continue thru the winter.

The plan is to address this in the spring. Pool company, without doing any diagnostic work, thinks I will need to contact a builder to do pool resurfacing. Any pitfalls I need to be aware of here, and do we need to rule out a main drain/floor return problem first? Dreading a big construction job…

 

[sktn77a]

Pool company, without doing any diagnostic work, thinks I will need to contact a builder to do pool resurfacing. Any pitfalls I need to be aware of here, and do we need to rule out a main drain/floor return problem first? Dreading a big construction job…

You need to accurately find out where the leak is. Underground plumbing? Skimmer? Main drain? Pool shell (unlikely)? Fixing the wrong thing ain't gonna help!

 

[Land of the Locust]

You need to accurately find out where the leak is. Underground plumbing? Skimmer? Main drain? Pool shell (unlikely)? Fixing the wrong thing ain't gonna help!

Right, they somehow decided it’s the pool shell. I know it’s not the skimmers or the light fixtures because the water level is so low. So that leaves the main drain and floor returns along with the shell. The deep plumbing can still leak even if the pump is not active, correct? So they should do pressure testing?

 

[1Sammy]

See if you can get plugs in the returns so pool water can not get back into the plumbing.

 

[Land of the Locust]

See if you can get plugs in the returns so pool water can not get back into the plumbing.

Appreciate the reply. Spoke with them in person and they suggested the same. I’m probably going to plug the main drain and floor returns. Now that all the deep plumbing is air-locked from the blowout, the water level has stabilized.