[John T]

I have a new customer who had a pool installed about 7 months ago. They want to put pavers all around it in the fall. For now they have us installing sod in this area until they can afford the pavers. Today we were grading and prepping for the sod. I was running the skid steer very close to the side of the pool as there was very little room to maneuver. After only about three passes I noticed a very significant depression where the tires were; probably about 8 inches. I looked down a little further to see the construction of the pool. It appears to be nothing more than an above ground pool installed below grade. Now it definitely was made to be installed as an inground pool; they didn't actually take an above ground pool and sink it, although it appears they just may have well have. Anyway, it did appear the wall was starting to bulge inward so I stopped using the skid steer in that area. My concern is how do I go about compacting a base for the pavers down the line if the pool is made this flimsy? Anyone have any experience with a pool of this type?

[start2finish]

was the pool full of water when you were working around?

if so, you need to dig out the dirt you mashed in and allow the water pressure from the pool to hopefully push things back out , you may have run over a deck bracing. This is most likely a liner type pool and they are not made to have any equipment anywhere close to them.

[Fine Edge]

Years ago when we were doing mostly planting installs and design, we opened an above ground pool company to keep us busy in the Summer.
Most of the inground panel pools can't be compacted sufficiently very close to the edge and certainly won't accept a heavy load ( aka "Skid Steer").
Like mentioned above, try relieving the pressure from the outside of the wall and see if the wall pops back into shape.
If that doesn't work, this could be a little more serious. Many panel wall inground pools have a vertical support that the wall may be fastened to. If the wall bulges too much from downward force, it may have become "unfastened" from the support. The best way to fix that is drain pool, take down liner & examine wall more closely.

Try finding out who installed the pool and how it was manufactured. That will give you a good idea of how to proceed with the proper fix.

[AZTLANLC]

I would defenitly not do any pavers until next season.
Let the soil settle more.

use a small plate compactor when you install your base set it low and compact in 1" lifts, about 2' around the perimeter.

[Matt Kulp]

If you want to wait until the area is totally settled, you will have to wait atleast 3 years. We usually use flowable fill on the sides of the braced pools and bring to within 24" of the finish grade and then compact the base in 2" lifts with a plate compactor. If the pool is completely backfilled already, you will have to remove all the fill material and get rid of it. This will take more work, however you will not have to wait until it settles.