Hi, we are building a pool in Arizona. At first, we were going for a fiberglass rather than a concrete pool due to terrible water conditions, and advice from builders to pool owners to stay away from gunite and the like. Our pool builder is pushing a vinyl liner pool. Very few people in our area have inground liner pools, and I am a little worried it won't hold up to our harsh conditions (115 plus temperatures, full sun, etc.). I know two people who have vinyl liner pools in our area. One says she would never have another kind -- she absolutely loves it and has only had to replace the liner once in 10 years. The other guy has had to replace his liner 3 times in 15 years, and now he is getting a fiberglass pool. I am so confused! Please help!!

The key to the life of any pool surface is how you treat it chemically. Not so much the climate.

You've started off right by coming here and asking questions. You don't know how the other people treated their liner. They may have been ones to constantly "shock" the pool at very high levels.

If you like the vinyl liner pools go for it! Spend time here learning how to maintain it and what levels you should maintain and you'll get the most life out of it as possible.

I've never seen a vinyl pool in Arizona... I don't know if there's a real reason for that or not. Perhaps the sun is especially hard on the liner exposed above the water line; just speculation. Just about all the pools in Tucson are gunite. Don't let the "terrible water conditions" scare you; the high calcium we have will affect all pool surfaces exactly the same! Managing the chemistry is simple once you have a good test kit and understand what the tests mean.

Consider an automatic cover this will help with liner life. I don't know what brand of pool you are looking at but also consider a Tru-Tile liner system. This will put ceramic tile at the water level this will also help liner life.

Me either ... in ground or above ...

Thanks for all your help! I think I'm going ahead with the pool -- the Tru Tile system is a great idea!