New pool owner — how bad is it?

[thats_me_ywg]

Hi folks! We recently bought a new home in Winnipeg, Canada, and became the proud owners of a 20x34 vinyl liner kidney shaped pool built in 1978.

All the neighbours have said that the previous owner, an elderly man, loved his pool and kept it in great shape. But now that the snow is starting to melt we're worried about the cost and scope of repairs that we'll need to do.

For starters, it doesn't have a winter cover on, but the equipment seems to have at least been disconnected at the pump so I'm hoping it's been properly winterized.

The decking is cracked in quite a few spots and appears to be pulling away from the pool in some areas, sloping away. This has caused it to pull back the original PVC coping with it, which has cracked significantly in some spots.

Instead of replacing the original coping, which is integrated into the deck, the previous owner simply installed a new liner track immediately below it which is holding in the current liner, which was last replaced in 2015. The liner appears to be in decent shape, other than some fading presumably from chemistry issues.

We are assuming that we'll need to replace all the decking and coping. However, we'd prefer to wait until the liner fails and have a couple years to save for this.

My question is — how bad is this? Can I get away with running the pool as-is and dealing with these issues as cosmetic problems so long as the liner remains intact and the pool holds water? Or should this all be done ASAP with the decking pulling away like it is?

Thanks so much — we are so excited to get our pool up and running for the season and hope we don't run into too many headaches in our first year

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Some of our liner pool owners will be by soon.
I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool

 

[sande005]

Welcome!
I am in no way qualified to give an opinion on the structure. Just a long term pool owner. Whether the decking can be saved by mud/foam jacking to bring it all back into level, or needs to be replaced will have to be addressed by others more knowledgeable.
From the pictures, to me it does not appear that there is any imminent risk of some kind of failure. As long as the top bead of the liner is firmly attached to the track it rides in, and the track to the walls, all should be well for this summer. All liners fade, some dark ones very quickly, despite being perfect with the chemicals. Note that the liner is coming up on its 10th birthday, so is of that age where replacement starts to be thought about. Mine have sometimes made it to 15, but they were starting to get leaks and pin holes, so should have been replaced sooner. With the decking level, the added cost to restore the coping (if aluminum or vinyl) will not add a scary amount to the liner replacement cost.
That diving board should be looked at closely - even if the rusty frame is OK, the board itself may be long overdue for replacement.

And you already know, but save up quickly for that fence - mine had to be replaced not long ago, and the costs for the lumber really shocked me!

 

[Bperry]

Hi folks! We recently bought a new home in Winnipeg, Canada, and became the proud owners of a 20x34 vinyl liner kidney shaped pool built in 1978.

All the neighbours have said that the previous owner, an elderly man, loved his pool and kept it in great shape. But now that the snow is starting to melt we're worried about the cost and scope of repairs that we'll need to do.

For starters, it doesn't have a winter cover on, but the equipment seems to have at least been disconnected at the pump so I'm hoping it's been properly winterized.

The decking is cracked in quite a few spots and appears to be pulling away from the pool in some areas, sloping away. This has caused it to pull back the original PVC coping with it, which has cracked significantly in some spots.

Instead of replacing the original coping, which is integrated into the deck, the previous owner simply installed a new liner track immediately below it which is holding in the current liner, which was last replaced in 2015. The liner appears to be in decent shape, other than some fading presumably from chemistry issues.

We are assuming that we'll need to replace all the decking and coping. However, we'd prefer to wait until the liner fails and have a couple years to save for this.

My question is — how bad is this? Can I get away with running the pool as-is and dealing with these issues as cosmetic problems so long as the liner remains intact and the pool holds water? Or should this all be done ASAP with the decking pulling away like it is?

Thanks so much — we are so excited to get our pool up and running for the season and hope we don't run into too many headaches in our first year

My decking did the same thing, just worse. But I don’t have a liner pool so I suppose there’s other problems with a track there. As long as it’s not leaking, should be ok to run it until it does leak. But it’s odd the decking sank that much and would make me suspect there was a leak at some point that caused it to do that.

 

[PoolStored]

Can you take the skimmer cover off and take a picture down into the skimmer? If you can also get a picture looking into the skimmer mouth, that would be great...
Post a few pictures of your equipment pad...that can help us too....

 

[thats_me_ywg]

Thanks so much for the responses! Really appreciate it as a newbie.

As requested, here is a picture of the pool pad and some of the equipment. Ignore the broken plastic all over the ground — we had a bad hail storm recently and so there's some broken vinyl siding that needs to get cleaned up.

The water under the skimmer basket is still frozen but will likely melt in the next couple days, so I'll post a picture then. I did notice however that the jet in the pool has been plugged up, so hopefully there was some thought into winterizing it!

 

[PoolStored]

Can you take the skimmer cover off and take a picture down into the skimmer?

This is the skimmer cover under the slide...

 

[thats_me_ywg]

Sorry, here you go! It's a big block of ice so difficult to see in there right now but it'll likely melt this week as the weather warms.

 

[PoolStored]

It is not clear how they winterized. Plugs in the returns is a good sign. Nothing in the skimmer to absorb ice expansion is concerning. Usually Gizmos or some type of plastic jug with some sand or antifreeze is used...

Don't do anything until the ice is melted.

 

[thats_me_ywg]

Thanks. Our plan is to open in about a month once nighttime lows are consistently above freezing. I will report back on the status of any leaks or issues at that time! Here's hoping we're good!!

 

[thats_me_ywg]

Hi all, quick update — most of the ice is gone and I was able to get a better picture of the skimmer.

Looks like there was a gizmo that went in last fall, but I found it floating in the skimmer. So hopefully at least some work went into getting it winterized.

My question is — we are looking at some freezing weather over the next week. Nighttime lows of -4°C (about 25°F). If the gizmo was found floating, that means it's popped out. Should I be concerned about this freezing weather given we haven't opened the pool yet and can't get any water flowing?

 

[Bperry]

Hi all, quick update — most of the ice is gone and I was able to get a better picture of the skimmer.

Looks like there was a gizmo that went in last fall, but I found it floating in the skimmer. So hopefully at least some work went into getting it winterized.

My question is — we are looking at some freezing weather over the next week. Nighttime lows of -4°C (about 25°F). If the gizmo was found floating, that means it's popped out. Should I be concerned about this freezing weather given we haven't opened the pool yet and can't get any water flowing?View attachment 638392View attachment 638393

Are the threads on the gizmo still intact? Or is there some green threaded plastic chunk still at the bottom of the skimmer?

 

[thats_me_ywg]

Are the threads on the gizmo still intact? Or is there some green threaded plastic chunk still at the bottom of the skimmer?

It appeared intact when I checked earlier today. I'll go take a look tomorrow morning and see.

 

[thats_me_ywg]

Had a chance to check it out today. The gizzmo is intact and there didn't appear to be anything broken or any pieces of threads stuck.

I did notice a foam rope in the skimmer which is a good sign. I screwed the gizzmo back in just in case but I think it'll likely be fine.

Dipping below freezing for about 12 hours overnight and then it'll be mostly above freezing for the rest of April. I'm hoping a few hours of freezing temperatures won't cause any problems!

 

[Bperry]

I'm hoping a few hours of freezing temperatures won't cause any problems!

it won’t.