Pool Walls Bulging - Brand New!

[Cayman]

HI Everyone,

Any help, suggestions, idea or solutions are welcome. Bought a fiberglass pool (July 2008) , Viking, from Michigan dealer - they installed. From day one major problems - too many to list here. Pool company seems to respond but then another matter arises - now this one has ben ignored by them.

When installing the pool there were 3 leaks, despite that I called the company, they ignored me for 2+ weeks - later they "fixed" the leaks. Before concrete was poured around edge of pool (by the dealer) I noticed pool was not level - about 1.5 - 2.0 inch difference. The pool was/is aimed to dump water in my home if it overflows. Company propped up pool with 2x4 and PVC pipe - this is while the water was already in the pool.

My automatic pool cleaner never got one side of the pool - never unserstood why. Now, I see that the walls are bulging about 3" - same side where all the leaks were! Pool is in sand foundation - up on a hill, we have no ground water problems - not even a sump pump in our basement.

What makes this shappen , is it a manufacturer's defect, an installation problem, will it eventually crack, will the winter weather casue more problems... what can I expect in the future?

Thanks for any replies!

[don pool]

Was the wall bulging before, or has it recently started to happen? If it has just started to bulge you probably still have a leak. The pool cleaners lack of performance on the one side of your pool is not necessarily an indication of a problem with the pool, it could be a problem with the pool cleaner. Give me some more info.

[Cayman]

Was the wall bulging before, or has it recently started to happen? If it has just started to bulge you probably still have a leak. The pool cleaners lack of performance on the one side of your pool is not necessarily an indication of a problem with the pool, it could be a problem with the pool cleaner. Give me some more info.

Hi Don Pool,

Thanks fo the reply.. very appreciated. Interestingly the leaking occurred in early July ('08) when first attempting to install. I never noticed the bulging until recently - but I beleive it has always been there. The reason is that there were sooo many problems, we have already gotten a new pump, timer, filter, valves, ladder and skimmer - you would never beleive this story if I told you everyhting that has happened.

Anyway, the cleaner is a Great White, and if I turn the system to all "clean" rather than partially between clean and skim, that thing practically climbs up the walls. It was just this one side, by the prior leaks, that the Great White always "hung up" on - never really climbed those sidewalls. As a result, I recently noticed a brownish film in that area of the pool walls. We then used a brush to scrub the walls and that is when we noticed the bulging. I do beleive it is not a new problem or related to an on-going leak - the water levels are fine. I have noticed the pool returns have substantial air bubbles but the dealer says that is not indicating a water leak - something else - I think he said someting about "o" rings. They claim they "pressure tested" after repairing prior leaks.

They have been pretty good about fixing everything here - every time there is a problem they say "never had that happen before", and eventually fix it. But how many problems can one encounter and always hear "never had that happen before" before you start to question the quality of their service and products?

Now, they have simply ignored me about the bulging walls - they don't answer my e-mails. I was very nice, explained what I found, and asked if this was a problem now or would it be in the future - did it need to be fixed, and so on.. no reply from them. I'm starting the think this may be a big problem and one they do not want to face as they have most likely lost a ton on money on this pool already.

Hope this help you understand better what is going on here.

Thanks so much!

[Cayman]

Thanks for the suggestion - I just e-mailed Viking - we'll see what happens. I am still wondering what the problem is - what makes the pool walls bulge? Am I going to have to have repairs or a new pool installed - I already had over 10' of concrete poured completely around the pool, the terracing is complete, the landscaping ..everything - I'm worried. I will deal with Viking but I would like to sound like I have some knowlege about this before I talk with them - it was one of thier "authorized" dealers who sold and installed this pool.

[don pool]

Fiberglass pools should be backfilled with equal parts of water in the pool and sand around the pool, in other words as you put a foot of water in the pool, in turn you backfill a foot a sand around the pool. Bulges in the walls are generally caused by too much sand and not enough equal pressure of water in that particular area during the installation process. It does not mean that you will have a problem with the pool later on. Fiberglass pools will give and take with the soil conditions but, the bulge creates some additional pressure on the shell in that area.

[Cayman]

Fiberglass pools should be backfilled with equal parts of water in the pool and sand around the pool, in other words as you put a foot of water in the pool, in turn you backfill a foot a sand around the pool. Bulges in the walls are generally caused by too much sand and not enough equal pressure of water in that particular area during the installation process. It does not mean that you will have a problem with the pool later on. Fiberglass pools will give and take with the soil conditions but, the bulge creates some additional pressure on the shell in that area.

Hi Don Pool and Everyone Else who helped:

Guess what, I think my dealer reads your forum entries. Suddenly, after I noted that I had contacted Viking, I got an e-mail from the dealer! Supposedly, he just returned from a "trip" and has made an appointment to come and see the pool. Yeah!

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.