You are not going to be able to pour a thin amount of cement to level it off, it won't work, concrete needs to be at least 2 inches thick. You could try drilling holes in existing concrete and installing tap cons, binding them with wiring, and pouring a thin layer, but it's a lot of work, and high risk! I think your first Idea "prying up existing slabs" is your best bet. Other than that, you will probably have to put a sleeve in for the skimmer. If you don't care about a higher deck, pour a new deck at least two inches thick all the way around, be sure to include expansion joints if needed, but where you have a fiberglass pool and it hasn't popped out of the ground you probably don't need expansion joints. Then put new stones right over the new pour. Here is a link that might be useful: Pool Service

Do you have sprinklers, a waterline, drip-line or any source of water in the pool area? I'm not trying to be un-sypathetic to your situation, it has just been my experience that problems like you are experiencing usually have a cause other than or in addition to a poor installation, which is usually some source of water.

quote" I would assume that Maggie's attorneys have told her to stay offline with this situation. "quote Hopefully she retained one for her counsel. Last thing I remember was she was meeting both builders and the pool guys structural engineer. I'd definitely be hiring my own and not depending on his. What you see in this thread, piss poor construction techniques, happens in Texas all the time. I lose pools on price all the time and then get the come fix my mess calls. Thankfully it sounds like her builder is a stand up guy and hopefully he'll have a claim against his insurance carrier. This kind of stuff typically throws a builder around here into closing the doors quickly, but he'll waste no time starting a new pool construction company. You know what's sad??? The 21 yr old girl that cuts my hair has a license and is held accountable for her actions but the guy I just lost a 65k pool on price to is on his 4th company since 2000 and still competes with the good builders I've known for decades under the same name and has never been held accountable for the many many uncompleted and poorly constructed pools he's been on. How can you beat my price by 10k, simply by quoting it a tick above cost, not paying the subs, and by not doing things the proper way. What's even more sad is that the judicial system here protects him more than the pool buyer. See ya, Kelly

Readyami, thank you! We have some "mixed metaphors" going on with the Texas star decorations and the un-tiki gazebo, but I've always been kind of eclectic anyway, LOL! :-) Tim, thanks! When I was putting the skull up I was thinking "This belongs on Tim's pirate ship", haha! The ball is a Japanese glass fishing float (this one is actually a modern replica), a long time favorite decoration in tiki bars and restaurants the world round. It's as required a staple as the traditional hanging puffer fish lamp (I have one of those too) :-) Mostly they were hung indoors in arrangements of different colors and different heights and sometimes were lighted from within. I can't direct-link the photos, but if you look at the thread linked below (photos of vintage tiki bars) you'll see what I mean. They were also popular as A-frame decorations. My A-frame is actually a little teeny version of the real thing, the traditional A-frames built on restaurants and bars were enormous and had gigantic glass fishing float replicas, period light fixtures or even outrigger canoes hanging under them. Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=29982&forum=5&13