Mixed messages from contractors...

[NucMedDanny]

This is my first posting and might be a rudimentary question and I apologize to the die-hard poolers out there. I bought my house about 4 years ago, which came complete with a modest in-ground pool, and have had three summers of learning so far. The pool is a 16x32 vinyl liner and goes from 3-feet to 9/10-feet at the deep end. It's, from talking with the previous owners, about 20 years old and has what I would consider to be a standard poured concrete apron with the "usual" white bull-nose coping.

We have a problem with the concrete apron/deck. It started with a few cracks, some larger than others, which over the past few winters have progressed and are becoming an issue which my wife and I would like to fix before it gets worse. Specifically there are 2 cracks on opposite corners that have extended to the point that, essentially, that slab of concrete has separated (or is about to) from the rest of the deck. We've gotten several quotes from contractors to have the concrete/coping removed and placed.

Heres my problem (sorry for this being so long, honestly) - Some of the contractors are telling me that I also need to replace the liner because, in their words, as soon as they remove the coping to replace it the liner will fall into the pool and not be able to be re-positioned properly, etc.

Are they right? Do I need to replace the liner (from what I understand these things are warranted for 15 years of so)? Its in good condition (it is pulling out of one of the corners very slightly but I would think that it could be re-positioned when they re-do the apron). I know it was replaced a few years before we bought the house and it seems like a scare-tactic to get me to shell out the cash for a new one.

Any thoughts/advice/experience would help. If I'm going to do this I want to do it right and I don't know if I'm getting straight answers from my contractors. Just to aid, we're planning on having the new surface be poured concrete with a cantilevered edge to it - I dont know if that makes a difference or not.

Thanks!!!

 

[duraleigh]

Hi, Danny,

Welcome to the forum. That's a pretty tough question. Usually, those are two seperate projects so I can't quite figure out why they think the liner will be affected by replacing the decking.

If you are going to cantilever the decking, then perhaps they are saying they can't reinstall the liner in the same place because of the new decking..

My reaction would be to talk to them again and see if they can help you understand why the two are intertwined. If it doesn't make sense, I wouldn't agree to it. Don't be surprised, tho, if one of them can't phrase it in such a way that it will become obvious it has to be done.

That was a long-winded way of saying "I'm not much help! "

 

[JasonLion]

The liner is held up by a track that runs just below the coping. Normally you can remove the coping and leave the track in place. However, it is possible that the track and coping are connected together in some way. For example, poured concrete coping is sometimes poured right over the mounting rim of the track to hold the track in place. If the coping and the track are connected, then removing the coping might well remove the track.

An older liner, say five years old or more, is not likely to survive being removed from the track and the installed into a new track. It might, but the odds are not good.