Inground Pool Wall Repair question

[SumDude]

Just bought a house with an inground pool. The pool is not in pristine condition. As best as I can tell it needs four things: 1) a liner, 2) cleaning, 3) patching of the vermiculite floor, 4) plugging of one of the returns, and 5) a section of wall replaced.

I feel fairly confident I can handle the cleaning, patching and plugging, and actually need to since I don't have the money to pay someone else to do it.

The liner will be installed professionally. What I am unsure of is how to do the wall repair.

This pool was built using what appears to be 1/2" pressure treated plywood as the wall. The pool has sat for 5+ years with no water and one of the walls has "caved in", meaning that dirt is pressing hard against the back of the wall and has popped the board out about 2-3". Popped with such pressure that the nail heads were actually pulled through the board itself all the way from top to bottom.

I don't believe the board can be reused, as it appears to be warped. And, I'm assuming that if I remove this board to replace it that the dirt behind it will rush forward and into the pool area. There is no option to dig the dirt out from behind as there is a 3' wide pool deck made of of 3" thick concrete above the wall, on top of which sets a screened enclosure.

How would one go about fixing this section of wall and how do I get the dirt back behind the new wood after I've installed it?

I've linked a few pics to help with the visualization. Thanks!

http://pho.to/7hOeK/i4
http://pho.to/7hOeK/5v
http://pho.to/7hOeK/ua



,

[kelemvor]

Your image links don't work:
Not Found

The requested URL /7hOeK/ua was not found on this server.
Apache/2.2.23 (CentOS) Server at pho.to Port 80

[SumDude]

Thank you. I'm not sure why they aren't showing, but then again I've never used that image hosting site before. I've moved the pics to a server I have control over, so I'm reposting them below:

http://ctvsystems.com/pool/pool1.jpg
http://ctvsystems.com/pool/pool2.jpg
http://ctvsystems.com/pool/pool3.jpg

Since these pics were taken I have found that there are a total of four wall sections that are partially collapsed in. All to about the same degree as pool3.jpg

I've also found that apparently there are two plumbing leaks, one on a return for a polaris and it appears that there is one where the skimmer is.

There is also massive damage to the floor. The bottom portion in the hopper is vermiculite and it has turned pretty much to sand. You can't even walk on it without damaging it. And there are some major cracks and crevices throughout the bottom, not just in the hopper.

Additionally the plastic/fiberglass steps cracked when I stepped on them. On subsequent steps I heard some more minor cracking. So I've laid wood across them for the time being.

And here's the clincher - I've got an absolutely max budget of $2500 TOTAL to get this fixed - including the liner!

[kelemvor]

Wow that's pretty rough. I'd call it a rebuild rather than a repair. I'm no construction expert but I think you'll probably have to rip all that rotten wood out and start over. Personally I'd look into using plywood and rebar to hold a form and pour concrete in behind it to make new walls/floor for the pool. I've no idea what that will cost but you might keep it in your price range if you did absolutely everything yourself. I'd search for DIY pool construction.

Maybe someone else here will have better information for you, unfortunately I don't.

[angelinamike]

I don't have any idea what will be the cost for it, I think you should get the estimation from a pool professional.