Cracked steps and liner wrinkles

Hi, everyone, I'm new here. We have a seven-year-old pool that was built by the home's former owners. We took it over in the third summer. Second year we had it, the salt water generator went south and we had to replace it. The next year, wrinkles started developing but they were small at first. Last year, they were much bigger so we called in a repair guy who checked for leaks and couldn't find any. He said there was nothing he could do about the wrinkles, though, because the liner had "too much memory". This year, the winter cover ripped so we will have to replace that when we close it. Tonight, when I went to vaccuum for the first time, I realized that the fibreglass stairs are cracked on both sides -- large cracks that have opened up, which explains why we're losing water. The concrete deck also has some cracks that became bigger over the winter. I'm beginning to wonder whether all these problems are related and whether it's worth it to keep spending money on this pool. Do any of the experts out there have any opinions or suggestions? Is it worth it to try to have the steps repaired -- will the repairs last and not look unsightly? Any idea on the relative costs of repairs versus replacement? I'm in the Toronto, Canada area. Thanks in advance.

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

Pool construction is NOT my area of knowledge, but there are some very knowledgeable members in that area, and I'm sure one of them will be along soon to give you some insight into the cracking concrete and stairs.

As far as the wrinkles in the liner, they could be due to the pH getting too low for too long, but more likely they are related to the water leaking from the cracking steps. When water gets behind the liner and pushes it around, it starts wrinkling like crazy--I got a chance to witness that first hand this past winter--we had a tear in the liner and another unidentified leak, so I let the pool drain itself over the winter, and the liner pretty much started wrinkling everywhere, and the more water that drained, the worse they got until it finally just floated almost all the way up.

So--if you can fix the cracks in the steps and put a new liner in, then the wrinkling should stop. I don't know how much it will cost to do that--I had a new liner installed a month ago, and paid $2500 for the job--average costs here (in Louisiana) are $2500-$3500 just for the liner install.

Janet