Resurrecting old IG pool...help!!!!!!!

Hello All!
I wrote last year when I first bought this place. Now that we have the semi-permanant lid the old owner put on off, and most of the debris out, I need some serious advice!
Ok. dimensions are 16x32 vinyl lined, about 42 inches in the shallow end with a depth of 7.5 in the sloped,safety ledged deep end.
Pool has not been filled in about 5 yrs, but less than 8
Problems I beg for advice with:
This is our first pool, and with 4 little ones we are do it yourselfers

1. discovered a 3ft long tree root in deep end coming through bottom of steel wall. The tree is about 5 ft from pool and about 10 ft tall. Can we just cut root or does tree have to go??


2. Rust on sidewalls. Do we sand and paint whole shell or can we get away with spot painting rust areas??

3. Can we go with a 20 mil or should we really go with 28 mil liner??

4. there is no main drain and only one skimmer, can we get away with that??

I have been reading everything I can on this site for the past year and done a good bit of research. Any ideas will be kindly appreciated!

PS we already have the filter,pump,polaris,heater,safety cover

Link to pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...38_26550270909
Thanks!
Heather

I would fix this pool. I would sand the rust off the walls, get rid of that tree problem, the fact that is has no drain is okay...but have the plumbing checked for leaks, like pressure testing. We are getting a pool and we are doing a 30 mil liner. We actually built our own inground vinyl pool 3 years ago. It was hard work. We are now using a real company to do it. Too much aggrevation. I am a female, so it was a big project that my hubby and I decided to take on. It was the summer where it rained everyday here in georgia. That messed everything up.

P.S. you pictures cant be viewed without a passcode

Thanks for the advice. I actually have a two young friends who are "pool guys" who can loan me the pressure testing equipt and the vac for the liner. I fixed the link to the pictures, and if you look hard, you can see the tree root in question. thats pretty much the only place the concrete deck around the pool has a crack. My husband has hated that three since we moved in! Would you believe I bought this house for the pool???