Vermiculite Bottom / liner problems

Hi, we are entering our 3rd summer with our new pool. Summer one was great except we started getting some wrinkles in the shallow end near the end of the summer. The pool installer suggested we wait until it was near time to close the pool, drain it down to about a foot of water in the shallow end, and fix the wrinkles. We did as instructed, the guy came out, got a lot of the wrinkles out, but left a few small ones that he said would go away when we filled it back up. We filled it back up, the installer closed it for us, and when we re-opened the next summer, all the wrinkles were back plus a pretty big one on the wall bewtween the two fan sprays. The installer said he would only be able to remove the wrinkle on the wall, as the ones on the floor had "set in" and were now like seams... and could not be removed. While we were not happy, we felt like we had no option but to live with the ones on the floor. I did ask him to come out and tell me what was causing the wrinkles, as the pool is pretty high on my lot and the drainage is good all the way around it. He said he did not know, but said I may want to install a collar pump for about $1200. We had him close the pool again at the end of summer two, and when he came back out to open it again for summer three, the wrinkle on the wall was back. However the wrinkles on the floor looked about the same. When I asked him about the wrinkle on the wall again, he just shrugged his shoulders and gave me a "I don't know answer" and went on with his work opening the pool. It was obvious to me he had no intention to fix the wrinkle again, and I figured almost three years into the process, I had no grounds to ask him to do it. So, we decided to just live with that wrinkle as well..... and wait until we replaced the liner someday to figure out what needed to be done to prevent more wrinkles in the new liner.... Tonight, with the pool light on, we discovered a new sunken in place in the vermiculite under the pool liner. It does not look like a foot indention, as the indention is sharp and jagged around the edges... as if it the vermiculite caved in a little under the liner. Will this get worse? Should I ask the installer to come take a look, or should I find a new pool guy? What could cause something like this to happen? Is it something that needs to be fixed right away, or can it be put off until we replace the liner a few years down the road? What about the wrinkles? We are pool novices... any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! By the way, our pool is a Lazy "L" shape, roughly 42 feet long and I think 18 ft wide. It has a deep and shallow end. All of my wrinkles are in the shallow end... and the indention is on the slope, just as you leave the shallow end, along the seam/corner where the pool bottom meets the pool wall.

do you have a septic tank or other drainage issues near the shallow end of the pool?

Welcome to the Forum!

Despite your claim that there is good drainage around the pool, unfortunately, it seems obvious from your description that there IS a drainage issue. (I know this isn't your fault!)

It sounds like water is running under the shallow end [my reasoning- the shallow end floats (causing the wrinkles) and it takes more than 3 years for a small stream of water to wash the cement out of vermiculite, leaving it 'mushy' or simply washed out)]

You said

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as the pool is pretty high on my lot and the drainage is good all the way around it.

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- how high is your lot, compared to the surrounding lots?

BTW - even a crease (wrinkle) in a 2 year old liner should come out (as long as the liner wasn't severely chemically abused).

Where are you located?

I'll try my best to help you with this :cool:

Hi, thanks for the assist. My lot is lower than those on either side, but my home and pool are on the high part of my lot. There is a slope from the back porch down toward the pool, but I have a swell that picks up that water and diverts it twd the property line. I do have a good amount of water that drains across my lot neat the property lines in heavy rains. On the shallow end, the drainage comes within about 10ft of the walk in steps. However, it drains off pretty quickly. I am on the city sewer, so no septic system. I live in N. Mississippi where the soil has a good deal of clay. The pool is a salt water system, not sure if that has any bearing on my problem, but thought I would toss it out there just incase it does. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a call into the installer now and am waiting for him to call back regarding the indented vermiculite botton. I hate to say it, while I really had a lot of trust in him initially, I get the feeling he is just blowing smoke at me now.

Hey again :)

Your SWCG has no bearing on the ground water issue (but I think you made a great! choice in getting it.()

Being lower than your neighbors sends a lot of run-off towards your pool and your clay soil exasperates the problem:(

Your best option may be to install curtain drains at ~ the bottom of the slopes going into your lot and maybe even a couple of well points closer to the pool, to insure that the water can't collect around the pool.

p.s. your PB probably meant well, just didn't figure in the water problem i.e. - he wasn't 'malicious', just clueless ;)