Time For A New Liner?

[rdockery_3]

I have a 24' round 15,000 gallon above ground pool that is 12 years old and has the original liner in it. Earlier this year I patched a hole in it and the patch is holding up well, but now I have at least two more new holes in it. I'm getting ready to cover the pool for the winter, but next spring should I even bother with trying to find the holes or with the age of the liner should I just go ahead and replace it? Also some of the sand cove has washed out and I'm curious to how hard of a job it would be to replace the liner myself and fix the cove. Is it worth it to have someone else do it? I also am not 100% certain on what type of liner I have, its either beaded or j-hook. I took some pictures to see if anyone could help. Thanks.

 

[waynetang]

if you got 12 years out of the liner, you did pretty good. Looks like a j-hook. Take off a section of the top rail to be sure before you order a new one. also it looks like some of the galvanized steel of the top track has corroded. you want to determine if any of that top track needs to be replaced. That top track is important because that is what is making your pool round. you may need to order new sections of top track. whether or not to do it yourself? Do you have a deck? How much of the deck obstructs access to the pool? Replacing a liner on AGP liner with decks can be challenging even for a professional installer. If you have sand that has washed out you will need to replace the sand. If you need a lot of it you will need to get some mason sand and a way to get it to your home. most of the time a pro will just pickup the sand for you. He might not even charge you for it because they often have leftover sand from new pool installs. most j hook liners are pretty heavy gauge so you will want to do it on a sunny day so you can work the liner to remove wrinkles.
Doing a liner is a lot like doing drywall in your home. Anybody can replace sections of drywall in a house. It doesn't take a pro. How the finished product looks is the difference. Taping, mudding, and sanding is an art of sorts. A pro has the experience. the same goes with liners. the pros have the experience and have already made the mistakes and know how not to make them again. so if you are okay with having a new liner installed with imperfections because there will be some if you do it then do it yourself. If you want it perfect then hire a pro. if cost is an issue, you may want to call a few installers do it in the fall. as summer ends a lot of those guys are looking for work so you might be able to get a break. you could even get a cheaper price on the liner itself. pool companies don't want to hold the inventory all winter.

 

[waynetang]

on my bigger monitor I can see your photos a little better. it looks like you have coping for a beaded liner. but the liner appears to run under the coping? It is really difficult to tell with the photos you have. Take the top rail off and submit more photos. of the front and back of the pool wall. if it is a beaded liner the liner will be hung from the inside of the pool. a Beaded liner are easier to install, but the finished product is still going to depend on the level of experience a person has with installing liners. Beaded liners are heavy gauge too. if you decide to do it yourself a sunny day will be a big help. once you redo the bottom of the pool don't try to install the skimmer until the pool is half way filled. Pros can do it with a foot of water against the wall, but they are normally standing in the pool in the freezing water pressing the liner against the pool. Better letting the pool fill to half way and let the water do the work for you.

 

[rdockery_3]

I'm more than likely going to wait until spring to get the liner replaced. I'm not sure how high up on the wall the holes are but if by chance they are near the bottom and all the water drains out should I refill during the winter to keep the walls from collapsing?

 

[waynetang]

If you have a winter cover during the winter, then you need to have water in the pool to prevent the water/snow/junk that accumulates on the the cover from pulling the walls down if the water level inside your pool drops.

 

[Casey]

If you know you have a hole and are losing water, you need to patch them before winter or you could lose it all and not have a pool come Spring.

 

[phonedave]

A couple of points

1_ They do make combo J-hook / beaded liners. It comes as a J-hook, and then if you have a beaded pool, the J-hook portion peels off.

2. As far as cove goes, if you are going to do the replacement yourself, I highly recommend spending the extra $100 (or less) for foam cove. It stays in place, it looks neater, it is easier to work with, and you wont have to bring in new sand.

3. Liner replacement as a concept is not hard. But it is heavy work. It help to have helpers. If you take you time and don't rush it, you should have good results. I just did my 27' overlap pretty much on my own, I would do it again, but I think I will put bead receiver on and use a beaded liner next time. Too much fussing around with taking the top track on and off for me.

-dave

 

[rdockery_3]

I got a friend of my uncle that used to do above ground pool installation to come by and look at it. We pulled the liner off and the wall looks great. There's not a bit of rust anywhere, praise God. It is in fact a beaded liner. I've order a new 25 gauge liner and we're going to shoot for installing it in a couple weeks if the weather is warm enough. He did a little prep work on the floor and as someone said in an earlier post he also recommended the foam cove, so I ordered that too.