Now what!? Fixed the holes, pool collapsed!

[sevver]

I did not put the top rails and such on mine until it was like 3/4 full if I remember correctly. It wasn't that I had it perfect right off of the get go, I did that last. I put it in, removed most of the wrinkles, and began to fill it. As it came up to the jet opening I cut it in, then I put the top stuff on, then cut in the skimmer once the water was coming up to it.

The thing is, the liner in the collapsed one shrunk and dried smaller.

[hrsdennis]

Hey newbie, Since normally, once the water is a foot or so up the wall you are safe and out of any danger, before I go into a big long thing about what might have happened and how to fix it I have one question.

From your pics I did not see any signs of metal retaining rods. I enlarged them all and looked closely. Are they still under the top rail or does your pool not have them? They should have kept the wall from pulling out of the upright top plates.

Your photos have made a mess of my evening. I would give anything to have just one day where I could fly to your town and help you put this pool back together. I see pool disasters on a regular basis but not being there to help makes my heart bleed.

Start by locating the metal rods that hold the coping in place and we can go from there. It is all fixable, just not an easy thing.

Later, Dennis

[CanuckPool]

has anything like this ever happened to an IG vinyl pool? I have always heard that the water acts as part of the structure of the pool. With all the cross bracing and cement behind the walls of the pool, you would think the vinyl liner would rip out of its coping track first?

has anyone experienced or seen a vinyl pool fall apart in the same manner?

[badutahboy]

has anything like this ever happened to an IG vinyl pool? I have always heard that the water acts as part of the structure of the pool. With all the cross bracing and cement behind the walls of the pool, you would think the vinyl liner would rip out of its coping track first?

has anyone experienced or seen a vinyl pool fall apart in the same manner?

Vinyl in ground pools (at least the one we used to have) have a cement structure to them. We did the same thing our first year in the house (drained the pool for winter) and when we re-filled it in the spring, our liner had shrunk... It just pulled away from the cement wall. We drained it again, replaced the liner, and that was it.

In short, my answer is... it probably can't happen with an in-ground pool.

[CanuckPool]

So it sounds like it would be more a liner damage that occurs in an IG pool as oppose to the structure.

[badutahboy]

So it sounds like it would be more a liner damage that occurs in an IG pool as oppose to the structure.

Correct, at least in my experience, but I'm not a voice of experience in pool construction. It's possible that IG vinyl pools don't always have a cement foundation, particularly in states south of the frost belt.

[farmgirl]

seems to me liner shrank when pool was dry and empty. when refilled, water pressure from shrunken liner caused walls to collapse inward. liner must have been super tough not to break first though!

[CanuckPool]

question. how is the liner generally attached to an above ground pool?

[farmgirl]

I am definitely no pro, but liners that i know of are attached either by a small "ziplock" type ridge that fits into a receptacle at the top of the pool ("beaded" liner) or they just lap over the top of the pool before the coping goes on ("overlap" liner). There is alos something called a "J hook" but i am not too sure how that is different from the beaded liner. Hope this helps!

[matt4x4]

Beaded is a 2 part - the bead locks into a receiver piece - usually used in IG pools - AG pools mainly use j hooks or overlap.
So sorry to see/hear what happened - definitely caused by the liner shrinking, however, I'm also surprised the liner didn't just rip appart.
if your walls aren't severly creased it could be relatively easy to get going again by installing a new liner - about 300.
First thing to do is cut the wall free from the liner and see what condition the wall is in, go from there. Any questions - post back.