After Staten Island suffered greatly from hurricane Sandy, Staten Island pool owners are trying to figure out when and how is the best repair strategy. When it comes to your swimming pool Pool Doctor first recommends not to drain your pool until you have a professional come to examine the problem and they deem it necessary. Draining the pool can cause serious structural damage. Here are different types of damage that can occur in various types of pools in Staten Island:

Vinyl Liner Inground Pools: By far the most dangerous of all pool types to drain and is recommended to only be done by a pool professional. Older pools especially can be at risk of the walls collapsing as they may have not have been built to handle the pressure of the dirt that was back filled around without the pool water inside. Another issue is ground water that can cause the liner to float. Rain water is a problem for some normally and could be an even greater problem with no water in pool causing a floating liner and then eventually a wrinkled, folded liner.

Concrete and Fiberglass Inground Pools: With these pools you face the same problems as a vinyl liner pool in regards to ground water. If the ground water gets high enough with no water putting pressure on the pool the shell can act like a ship and actually float in the ground water!

Above Ground Pools: When draining the water out you risk the liner shrinking and possibly tearing when trying to re-affix. The older the liner the less it will stretch. The cold weather especially prevents the liner from stretching, so perform repairs when there is warmer weather and quickly after draining pool to try to save the quality of the liner.