Pavers sinking along one side of the pool, how deep do I need to dig

Started by Jason Okafor · · 1 reply
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#1
Got about a six foot stretch of paver deck on the shallow end side that's dropped maybe half an inch and it's getting worse each season. Rest of the deck around the pool is solid. My guess is the base underneath washed out or never got compacted right when the previous owner put it in back before I bought the place.

I pulled up a couple pavers just to look and there's definitely a gap under there, not just loose sand. Trying to figure out if I can get away with just adding and tamping new base in that spot or if I need to pull up a bigger section and start fresh. Anyone dealt with this right next to a pool specifically, worried about water getting under the liner track area if I dig too close. For what it's worth the pool itself seems fine, no settling on the shell side, just the deck.

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#2
Whoever said pull the whole six foot section instead of patching has it right in my experience, half measures on base work just telegraph through again in a year. The thing I'd add though, before you even touch compaction, figure out where that water went in the first place. When we had a low spot near our equipment pad a few years back it wasn't bad compaction at all, it was a downspout off the cage gutter dumping right at that corner every time it rained. Once I redirected that the new base held fine. So before you dig, watch that stretch during the next decent rain and see if water's pooling or running toward it, saves you from doing the work twice. And for what it's worth I wouldn't get within a couple feet of the shell or that liner track, there's no reason to, the washout almost always stays local to wherever the water's entering. Good luck with it, nothing worse than a six foot trip hazard waiting to happen on deck you walk barefoot every morning.