Pool walls buckling & liner

[Junior14]

Hello , so I have had a my 18x18 round above ground pool for over 12 years now . I have never had an issue with cold weather here . This year for some reason it’s not very very cold , but it’s going from
Warm to cold at nights , To low temps only like -10 so far . I drained my pool like normally about 4” below my jet , I think put my tarp on it as I do every winter . I had to remove my tarp due to a huge storm we got with hail this was in the summer time still . I then removed tarp and I saw my pool legs & the top railings on one half of my pool seem to be lifting I think , as I have a big gap between the top rail & the pool wall . All my plastic pieces that go onto liner all broken & snapped apart cause they are plastic . Now my liner is toasted , my walls seems to be bending in some spots , not terrible but some spots are bending & bowing . My question is will this all settle when spring comes and the water starts to melt , or do am I gonna have to replace the whole pool ? As far as I can see the liner is scrwed &
Will need to be replaced but I think the walls might go back to normal when the ground melts & I pound down the legs abit ( I had to pound some legs down in the summer time from previous winters to ) . Not sure what to do at this time , but I forsure would like some help or options or ideas , if anybody has any . I do hsve some pics I will post below . Thank you for your time & looking forward to hear some feedback thank you .

 

[kimkats]

Hi and welcome to TFP. Sorry to be meeting this way. Yeah your liner is toast. Time will tell on the walls and legs. That is quite a gap from the wall to the coping. I would keep a CLOSE eye on it when things start to warm up. If you still had the tarp on it I would tell you take it off if possible but that is not an issue now. I would be saving my dimes to replace the whole thing with it being 12 yrs old. You might get lucky and there is no big rust between the liner and walls and everything will settle down.

I would have tape ready to tape the liner up as the ice melts. This will keep the liner from dropping and letting the water RUSH out and flood your yard/house.

 

[Mdragger88]

Wow! Sure hate this for y’all!
Looks like heaving but usually it’s just in a spot or two. This usually happens when its been really wet then the temperature drops below freezing quickly before the ground has a chance to dissipate all the moisture.
The only way to prevent this from damaging your pool is to ensure you have good drainage around the pool that carries water away quickly. Even then with best efforts it can still occur.
The best you can hope for at this point is that when things thaw they settle back down without any buckling then access the situation.
If the wall gets buckled it’s new pool time.
If the majority of the uprights/top rails are damaged it may also be more advantageous for you to get a new pool if replacements can’t be found or are costly.
If your pool is covered under your homeowners insurance you may be able to make a claim. Every carrier is different so this greatly varies but you don’t know if you don’t ask.
Definitely do as Kim suggested & try to secure the liner to prevent flooding as it thaws. You’ll want to drain the pool as soon as you can once it is no longer frozen but make sure there’s no ice left. Shifting ice can easily rip the cold inflexible liner.
As Kim said, Once the liner is out if there’s rust it’s usually best to just replace the pool.

 

[phonedave]

You need a new liner - that is a given

The coping strips, those plastic pieces on top if the liner need to be replaced too - good news is they are about $1 - $2 a foot, so you are looking at under $60 for your pool

Now on to the mystery. It is hard to tell from the pictures what moved where. Did your legs lift, or your wall drop (buckle)? Can you show what the outside looks like?

Normally the leg attaches to a plate, which goes under the track that the wall sits in. I cannot see ground heaving could lift the leg without also lifting the wall in that section. The leg would have to rip off of that plate.

Either way, it is not a good situation. Do what you can to keep the water in what remains of the pool as it thaws, or pump it as it thaws. You don't want to also have to deal with a flooded backyard.

If your wall is buckled, or those legs ripped out, a new pool is your best bet - especially given the age of this pool.

 

[Junior14]

There is no buckling , the walls look completely mint , other than one spot . The walls haven’t changed from where I measured the height when it first did that , the legs are the ones that are lifting cause it’s only lifting on one side of the pool , the other side the legs are flush with the wall .

 

[Mdragger88]

My fingers are crossed for you that it settles back down without too much damage
You may want to price out some replacement uprights & top rails along with some of the connecting plates to see if they are still available & how much they would cost. Inyopools can help you locate the correct parts.

 

[phonedave]

There is no buckling , the walls look completely mint , other than one spot . The walls haven’t changed from where I measured the height when it first did that , the legs are the ones that are lifting cause it’s only lifting on one side of the pool , the other side the legs are flush with the wall .

Here is what I am not understanding. Below is a typical ABG installation. The wall goes into that track, Track sits on a plate, and the plate sits on a patio block that then goes under the track as well. The legs then attach to that plate.

How can the legs lift, without everything else in that picture also lifting, including the track that the wall sits in.

Can you post a picture of the outside of the pool, and show exactly what parts are lifted (and what caused them to lift)

Thanks