Question About Fiberglass Pool Install

[NCPoolNewbie]

It was flowable fill, that names come back to me now, I think there was two loads (Up to the sun deck; but that is a guess); it was three trips of the water truck to fill. I dont know about why their isnt a collar of concrete, I am learning as this goes, so it would be seem to me the PB is trying to get away without doing something.

What is this tile fix? Is this where the tile is layed to the water line to hide the out of levelness a pool has? We are asked about a tile border that would have been installed at the factory but decided we didn't want that.

The more I am learning about this install process, the more it seems to me they just weren't checking during water fill / stone backfill / flowable fill, etc and it moved on that and we are where we are. So the question is what can be done to bring some of corners back into an acceptable range (Acceptable to me means no bow in the edges whatever out of levelness is not discernable to the eye). The 3/4 out of the level the pool is over the long edge you cant even see but the 3/4 over the short edge just seems way to much to me.

Are there techniques to remove the track for the cover, and shim them to planer; use like a RTV Silicon to fill in the gaps (Cure hard), then all the pavers are working from a level alignment? If there is no issue for the structural stability of the pool, I would consider that an acceptable action.

 

[vtpools]

Using tile to hide it being out of level would be difficult with the autocover track, probably not something I would do. Basically the tile is installed level with the waterline so it looks like the pool is level and hides the discrepancies. If the autocover track is there this can't be done as the tile will get in the way of the track. Tile installed on a pool prior to installation is installed flush with the top of the pool and has a 1/2" industry standard for level. Two seperate things.

Short of resetting the whole pool there isn't anything that I would attempt to try and get the pool back into level. The flowable fill is a pain to remove but if one of the shallow end corners seems to have lifted that would be the likely culprit, especially if the pool was level on the original set.

I don't know about anything to shim the autocover track, it gets screwed directly to the shell itself and whatever fix you do may end up looking odd.

Wish I could be more helpful with this, like you said the 3/4" on the long edge isn't really super noticeable but on the short edge it is. I'm not sure if there's a quick and easy fix for this one.

How Level Should A Fiberglass Pool Be?

How level should a fiberglass pool be? What are the acceptable tolerances? What are the consequences of an out of level pool? Learn the answers here!

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[NCPoolNewbie]

'That was an interesting post about the levelness, unfortunately it didn't discuss anything about flatness of the top relative to level. I guess this means flatness is either 1) Not discussed in the industry due to the complexity and/or companies not wanting to open up to another requirement for a successful installation or 2) It is assumed that all pools will be flat even though they may be out of level in the long and short direction.

 

[NCPoolNewbie]

There has been quite a bit of discussion and investigation here and I believe we have come to a plan that will result in a proper look but before I lay it out for thoughts, I wanted to ask this

If the pool is removed and reset, is there a possibly of getting a flat surface with the top of the pool, even if that plane has some pitch and roll? The installation requirements per Latham about 1/2 level in all 4 corners to me means there can some waviness on the top along the perimeter. To me, the waviness is what I think is unsatisfactory since everything flows off of that.

So potential plan being discussed,
1: Remove Auto Cover Track and Container.
2: Create Forms and Pour Concrete Collar to create a Level and True Surface accounting for high and low and corners of pool. (In effect create a flat and level plain).
3: Reinstall Auto Covers Tracks and Container (Now Cover Mechanism and Components are Plumb and Level
4: Install Water Line Tiles On Pool/Concrete Below Cover Track to high 1/8 - 7/8 Concrete Deck Poured in Step 2.
5: Install Copying, Layout and Install Pavel deck with all pavers working to proper pitch to allow positive drainage away from pool.

 

[Thior]

All, we have a 30 x 14 Rectangular Fiberglass Pool Installed. After the pool was set in place, water started going in with gravel backfill, all is good. We are also installed an automatic pool cover, so after the pool was about 1/3 filled, the cover people came in to install the housing and the tracks. Then the rest of the water pumped in and the gravel was installed. The gravel was leveled and all the bonding and electrical work was done. Now the pool coping (Belgrade) and pavers came in. The team took some measurements and I have what I believe is a major problem, however the pool installer doesn't think so and looking for other opinions, I am just about tor ready to contact the manufacture and get them involved (Installer a registered dealer for the manufacture).

The pool is out of a level (which I understand can be a challenge over a long distance), but was really concerns me is that is "racked", ie two opposite corners and low and the other opposite corners are high. I do not see how it is going to be possible to get a clean paver install as well as am concerned about the pool cover operating properly since it will be an imbalanced load.

It seems to me that this should be able to be tighter, curious what others think.

View attachment 394204

You will never get a pool perfectly level. In our contract we put in within 1 inch. On such pool as yours our norm is about 3/4 inch difference, however we have been off by 1.2 before. I don't see a major problem if the pool is supported correctly.

8 years with over 500 installs

 

[Thior]

This is a gross exaggeration but black is perimeter of top of pool, green line is level line.

Top of Pool is Flat and Level, this is the best end result, the top of a pool forms a plain so any point inside the permeator of the pool is inline with the perimeter.

Top of Pool is Flat, but pool has a small pitch and/or roll, this is what I would expect since getting a >30 ft long fiberglass pool to have no pitch is pretty hard.

The final one is how my pool is presently laying, the not only are the 4 corners out of level, but the permeator edges have noticeable bows in them, its as the pool is "wracked" and is twisted in place. To me that seems like an unacceptable end result for an installation, and that is what I am trying to understand about the fiberglass pool installs.
View attachment 398530

What looks like has happened is they put too much backfill before water and it made too much pressure on the outside and shoved them in. They should have had a string run and put an equal amount of water to backfill as they brought the water up in the pool and kept that line straight. They may be able to fix this problem by removing some of the backfill out and the water pressure will push that side out