Is It Normal For New New Ig Vinyl Pool To Be Slightly Unlevel?

[webfeet]

STexas,
Thanks for advice. Please explain your last two statements. I don't know what you mean.

Also, I am convinced my walls are not level. EDIT: DH shot pool with optical level and says the walls are 1/2" to 5/8" out of level- not quite 3/4". However, it will be a very difficult and expensive job ( if possible) to correct, since the walls are cemented into the ground. I guess what I want to know is - Will I have any mechanical or funtional problems because the pool is about 5/8" lower l on the deep end than the shallow end? I expect my PB to try to get me to accept it the way it is, and if the only problem with the slight unlevelness is with the appearance ( like looking at a crooked picture) then I will probably settle for an appearance damage concession from him. It really bugs me that part of the border pattern disappears underwater for the last 20 or so feet of the length of this 40'6" long pool. But if it may cause me problems in the future, then I want to have it fixed before I let him do anything else.
On the other hand, If it is an appearance problem only, what is a reasonable finanical concession that the PC should allow me? I am thinking $1000.00. I am paying about $27,000.00 bucks and I think I deserve a level pool. I could have put it in unlevel pool myself, and saved myself thousands of dollars. I bolded my main questions - hope this does not mean I am yelling, mad, or being rude. I need this specific info asap. Thanks for your help!

[tenax]

i would expect frankly compensation in the neighborhood of what it would cost to take out the liner and adjust the surface, if that's what would do it..i highly doubt 1,000 would even come close, but still far cheaper than replacing. given the compensation i would be going after, i'd be trotting off to my lawyer if the guy didn't agree to do it in writing with committed dates and such. you could also for refund money back as a "bond" to ensure the work is done. that way if he did walk away from it, you would have the money to correct (if that is possible)

i know what you are saying..to some people slight out of level would be "c'est la vie", good enough. i have a garage that was out of level at the roofline by about 1.5 inches over 40 ft span from sinkage at the corner..once i noticed it, it haunted me until i got it fixed.

[webfeet]

Thanks Tenax for the reply. I edited my previous post after your reply- because DH shot the pool with an optical level. Pool is about 5/8" lower on deep end. You are probably right, I bet $1000.00 will not touch what it will cost to level the pool, if it is possible to fix it. I am still wanting to hear from Waste and others that install IG liner pools and get their opinions concerning what is fair, and what I should do. PB didn't show today, but I called him and told him about the problem. (He has not seen the pool, since we completed filling it.) He didn't sound happy when he said he would "look at it tomorrow." I concluded with, " I need my pool leveled before you do anything else." I hope to get more advice before I talk to PB tomorrow.

[waste]

Web, when a 'damsel in distress' calls, and I can hear it in time, I will answer (to the best of my ability). What I'll do here is recount 3 jobs that I've been on in the past few years where a pool has been severely (more than ~ 1/8" out of level [a LASER level has a +/- 1/16" margin of error]) out of level. I can not criticise a job I've never seen nor the company that did the job, so I'll let you infer what's going on with your pool.
1) A few years ago I personally was responsible for the steps in a pool being ~ 1" higher than the rest of the pool (thankfully the 'rep' option is gone ). This wasnt noticed until the pool was backfilled. The fix we made was to excavate the step area (to ~20' either side) and jackhammer out the collar so that we could lower the affected pannels to their proper heigth and repour the collar and rebackfill - all by hand, guess who got to do all the 'drudge work'?
2) Last year, a portion of one of the walls, collar and all (after a week of very heavy rain) sank over an inch, causing the wall to actually buckle (and thereby be ~1 1/2" low at it's lowest) right at the skimmer. Our cure this time was to excavate and cut the 'tops' off of new pannels and attach them to 'recreate' the beam that had failed.
3) Similarly, on a 'rehab' job 3 years ago, the original pool was so badly out of level, we cut new pannels in half and attached them as to raise the entire pool to the level we wanted (they were getting a new deck, so we had the leeway we needed).
The comparitive expense of these, I don't know, but I'm sure none of them are cheep. Talk with your PC and see what he will or can do to correct the situation.
I wish you well, again, with your situation and hope all turns out fine.

[webfeet]

Thanks Waste. Although what I infer makes me sick. I think that you are saying that you believe my pool is 'severely' out of level, (granted that I am on target about it being about 5/8" lower at the deep end.. How unlevel does a panel, ect, have to be, to be "severely" unlevel? In our case, near the middle of the pool, the pool appears to begin getting lower until it reaches a max of 5/8" lower on the deep end. So it drops about 5/8" over about a 20' span. The PB will be here today. I've already told him I want it fixed, but like I said, I expect him to try to get us to accept it. I know you can't critique someone else's work, but I feel like you believe, (granted- I am presenting you a correct scenario) this should be repaired now. Is this correct? If so, I need to be sure that I get it fixed now, before the deck is poured. Do you think we could have problems in the future, like you described? Possible additional sinkage from heavy rains or shifting ground? We are (have started)backfilling with concrete sand (flume), following the PB's advice. Our yard is the clay, gumbo stuff that expands and shrinks a lot during wet/dry seasons. Either being very mushy, or drying out and cracking on the surface.
My husband is the non-confrontive, passive, peacemaking type. If I left this to him, he would probably just accept the unlevel pool. He would probably complain to me about it, but let the PB get away with it. Consequently, when we have to deal with something like this, it is usually me that does the dirty work. I can say whatever needs saying to anyone-but I want to be diplomatic, well-informed, reasonable, and on target when I have to be assertive. I don't want to take advantage of anyone, or be difficult. That is why I am relying heavily on the experience adviced from the kind folks of this forum. I do not have any other "voices of experience" to call upon. This is our first "real" pool, and I want what we are paying for- a professionally installed pool. I really appreciate everyone's input- and I do my best to follow advice from people that I feel are more knowledgable than m self. I know that you all have to "assume" that I am accurately describing the problems, since you are not here and cannot see for yourself. In different threads, different people, especially Waste, have eased my mind concerning what I thought were major problems. This time I am not eased- but I want the truth, no matter how much I dislike having to deal with it. P.S. Hubby just told me that he plans to called Hydra Pools, the manufacturer, today and get their input, too. I am proud of him! Yea! I had not thought of that. Duh. Will let you know what Hydra says.

[Snowymoon]

If I were in your shoes, the answer would be simple. I am paying for a service. It should be done correctly. If not, they must fix it or are responsible for paying for it to be fixed or having it fixed if they cannot fix it themselves; it is something they caused in the process of things, and they are respsonsible. If they scooted around the issue after a few good-faith attempts were made at getting the issue resolved, than they would hear from my lawyer. Nothing less than that would be acceptable, IMO.

If I am paying for something, I expect to get exactly what I ordered. In this case, it would be a 100% level pool.

[webfeet]

UPDATE:Hydra Pools technical serviceperson told my husband that we would probably not have any structural problems because of the 5/8" out of level. They did say,however, that the pool should be level, and that the problem cannot be corrected wtihout tearing out the walls and replacing and leveling new panels. Basically re-doing that end of the pool ( if not the whole thing). I think my builder would split, and I am not sure a Lawyer could do anything, but get a judgement, since you can't get blood out of a turnip. It boils down to this according to HYDRA- Either redo it to make it right ( Snowy- that's getting what I paid for). Or, on the other hand, I could settle for appearance damages ( getting less than what I paid for, but getting a refund). I'm not sure that I am convinced that we will never have structural problems down the road. Still leaning heavily on this forum's members that have specific experience dealing with IG liner pools.
I am waiting for another response from Waste- He is a jewel! Anybody else with personal experience with lIG liner pools, please chime in. What about you DIYers out there?

[hancop]

My pool was just completed and it is out by 1" from where the stairs are in the shallow end to the deep end. Does not look very good when you eye it along the liner. I talked to the builder about this and he said that he always raises the shallow end a bit and the stairs so that the pool will always drain into the deep end. Not sure if I believe this or not but I don't think there is anything I can do about it. I would not think that this would cause any structural issues as the pools are really strong these days. Therefore I am just going to live with it the way it is.

Cheers

[bobyoe]

hancop....Your PB's comment is the weirdest response I can imagine! Wouldn't you only need to slope the FLOOR? I guess that could apply if it were a preformed fiberglass pool, is yours that? Or does he think the water level itself would be sloping to the deep end? It reminds me of my lifeguard days... a story my kids and I laugh about to this day. I had a hose in one corner of the deep end to add some water and a mother came by and told her kids to swim only in the shallow end because "they're filling the deep end." Oh, my.....
Boby