How forgiving is fiberglass, and can you fix wall bulging and floor issues?

(WARNING LONG POST)

I have a fiberglass pool, it's about 17 years old and the last few seasons more and more issues are cropping up. I posted here before on a crack on the bottom that formed, but now I am hoping I can fix the entire shell up to make it stable (save the pool). Back in December of 2015 we had a weeks worth of rain, the water table is high already but the extra amount ended up screwing up my pool floor by pushing up from the underside. This caused a crack in the bottom. It also caused the pool floor to become uneven with high and low spots. And one area in particular to bump up pretty bad.

I ended up just sealing up the crack and draining under the pool using the "sump" pipe throughout the season. As I did not have the money to put into doing much more. I did notice last summer the sides bulging more than they had been as well. They always had since I moved in, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

So as I stands now I have a uneven floor (that sometimes water beds). Sides bulging in and pure sadness. My first thought was to just get a new pool installed this summer now that finances are better. But then the quotes came in.... So then I thought screw it I will get it removed and filled in, then again the quotes came in and it made me take pause. So I thought "what if I could have it fixed?" This led me to start researching and a bunch of articles popped up. From reading it seems things like bulging sides could be repaired. And possibly even the floor. However it would take a lot of cutting and redoing the fiberglass. This also made me wonder how forgiving fiberglass is, and if you can just cut out areas and have it fixed back up? There are also separate large slabs around the pool covering some coping. They seem to have raised slightly over the years (guess it's been trying to float for awhile). I was not sure if they could be removed and the area around the sides fixed.

I assume the back fill was sand or something crappy. Although it's getting older, so I am not sure. Is this a feasible idea? Do you guys think if its doable it would be a good idea to save it? I also have NO idea how much something like this would even cost. I do know just the 14 inch crack quotes were coming in at 3-5k. However saving the pool might be worth the cost over losing it, or buying a new one all together? Removal I was told could be upwards of 15k, does that sound right?

The pool is small, I can not remember the exact size, I believe 11-12k gallons. The original install back in 2000 (irrelevant) was 27k. So I am not sure if this idea is even worth it.

Any opinions?

Fiberglass pool structure varies. It's impossible to answer, without knowing the details of YOUR pool.

Most likely only a local contractor or builder will be able to help you . . . but in most areas, the contractors are not skilled AND/OR are not interested in complicated repairs that have a high chance of failure.

Sorry.

I called around everywhere and no one will touch it. Although I was told they would be happy to help me with a NEW pool. I found two fiberglass guys who repaired pools and was given estimates between 2700-3100 just to fix the crack. After the bulging and crack etc I started to think about having it removed. So I got some quotes on the removal of shell and patio around it that were between 10 to 15k. And did not include repairing the ground itself.

At that point I was like well... it holds water. Worst case it caves in. Fast forward to today and it's still there and intact, well outside of the crack and wall bulging. So two weeks ago I bought a large transfer pump, grinder and all the materials to fiberglass it. There is a stand alone pipe that runs under it and I used my smaller transfer pump on it previously and noticed the water level drops in the pool itself. That gives me a bit of hope that I can drain via the underside and lower the water around the shell helping keep the hydro-static pressure down. I also plan on putting in a few supports.

So I figure why not give it a shot, I don't have much to lose. lol

Sounds reasonable.

Honestly, there are lots of repairs that make NO sense for contractors who have to make a profit, but may well make sense for skilled handymen/owners who are willing to take the risk.