Liner replacement questions

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onewomanarmy

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Apr 8, 2011
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We've been in our house for 3 pool seasons (starting the 4th) and have been discussing replacing our liner for all three. Getting more serious about it now for several reasons. First of all, the pool is used by someone who is part fish (and who also has Multiple Sclerosis - so the pool is really important to her in the summer for multiple reasons) so the liner failing in mid-season would be a huge disappointment. She may call it catastrophic - but that seems a little extreme. :wink:

Second is a combination of aesthetics and noticing a few more irregularities in the last year. We had a hole to patch a little over a year ago, we've noticed a few textural differences (below the liner) in the floor in a few places (lines/divots - though nothing major), the liner pulling out of the coping by the steps which is exposing a few inches of the steel wall as well as allowing a place for water to get down into, and of course it's really bleached out (the part of the border that is mostly below water is completely worn away as well as any pattern on the main liner). These things, combined with the fear of a more serious issue developing mid-swim season is making us think about going ahead with the replacement. I'd guess the liner is AT LEAST 8-10 years old.

Of course, this means lots of questions. :?: LOTS.
(For what it's worth, I have been reading old posts in the forum to try to learn as much as I can, but am curious as to how things may have changed in the last 5 years or so from when some of those discussions were held, if at all.)

1. Thickness. 20 vs 27/28 or combo. I have seen a few people mention that a sound structure means that the thickness may not really be that important. Would that recommendation change for a pool that routinely has 3 border collies in and out? I know, not ideal, but they are part of the family and they love swimming.

2. Are there any brands that anyone would recommend - or recommend staying away from?

3. Is there a better time to replace (fall/spring)? I realize that temps are important in the install.

4. Does the pool have to be drained to measure accurately? If so, I'd think that this would make Spring a better time to do this since (around here) we never know what Fall will bring in three weeks (guess of time between drain, measure, order and shipped liner). Same with Spring - but at least we know it's going to get warmer sooner than later.

5. Any recs for someone to replace a liner in central Ky (Lexington/Louisville area)?

I've got more questions of course, but thought I'd start with these.

Thanks for any help! :cheers:
 
I would recommend 27 mil over 20 mil. Brand has more to do with whoever gives you the most confidence in their product. Spring to me is the better time to replace. No, it can be measured pretty accurately with clear water. Can't help with your area for installer.
 
I've basically copied pasted what i've written in other threads for you here....

You don't mention the depth of your pool.

For my liner i choose to cover the steps and swimouts with a matching the pattern non-slip version of my liner. The rest pool floor and walls was the slip on your butt version. They had actually not had anyone use the no-slip versions yet, so it was a first for them. IF i could do it all over again, and because my pool is shallow and built for volleyball, i would have had the whole liner made of non-slip version with no graphic border. Reason is two fold. 1) jumping around playing volley ball in shallow water you notice your feet slipping out alot. 2) I think the borders on liners, while close to realistic, still are a dead giveaway that it's a liner.

My words of wisdom....make sure that pool bottom is slicker than you know what before they install the liner, i'd even check it with a flashlight after dark to make sure you don't see any depression, footsteps etc. cause they show at night with pool lights on. The measurements of the pool have to be exact for a liner to fit exactly, i mean there is some stretch, but an exacting build will give great results on liner fit (referring to the steps mainly).

Have you seen the treadtex liner material? It has just the slightest texture to it vs. regular liner surface BUT it makes all the difference in the slipperiness of the steps. IF i could do my liner over i would get it ALL made out of tread-tex and have no border, we slip n slide all over the shallow end trying to play volleyball.

We chose the tread-tex pattern we liked, and that determined what choices we had for the rest of the liner to get them to match. We went with Blue Granite, it does not look like what it does in the picture below, it looks just like the blue granite liner material.

http://stcyrpoolandspa.com/vinyl-liners/options/ bottom of that page are two examples
http://elite.surfthepool.com/wp-content ... Liners.pdf page 31 shows more options in tread-tex.
 
Thanks for the info! That liner looks nice, Pooly1! Like that border more than most I've seen.

I've seen some liner companies mention that they use something to prohibit bacteria and such - is this something that will leach out into the water? Part of the reason I love TFP is because of the minimalist approach to the chems - I'd prefer to keep my water in good shape than to have a liner that is releasing anything into the water. I'm guessing that this is just some sort of protective coating put on the vinyl but just not clear on that. For example, looking at the AquaMax liner on Merlin's page says - "AQUA-Max vinyl also contains over twice as much anti-fungal and anti-bacterial protection than standard vinyl liners." (http://www.merlinindustries.com/aquaMax.html)

Interesting harleysilo - I believe, based on a piece of vinyl I found when we moved in - that the vinyl currently in the pool is the Dynasty/Blue Granite from the linked brochure (2nd link) in your post. I have no idea what it truly looks like in the water though because there's not a hint of the floor pattern left. Did determine that this liner was installed in 2000. Believe this was the second liner for this pool (pool built in 1989) so they got 11 years out of the first and this one will be about 13 years old. So I guess that's to be expected to a certain extent. I'm not completely convinced that the water was very well managed though by the previous owner. Was the treadtex very expensive?

I do agree with you somewhat re the border - still trying to work through whether we want one or not. The current border looks horrible - all bleached/washed out on the part that is in the water. And most feel a little more formal or fancy than we are (though I do love rocks and stones so those are more appealing to me). ANd look so fake. But I'm afraid without a border it will feel unfinished. Decisions, decisions.

As far as our floor, it seems to me (limited knowledge!) to be in pretty good shape - a few places that I notice that I'd like smoothed out. I have no idea how badly it will be disrupted with the old liner removal, but figure it will need some touching up at least after that. I'll be sure to look it over closely to make sure all depressions are smoothed out. With respect to the walls, I've seen a couple people mention sanding down and sealing rust spots. Is this necessary with any rust at all? Or only where rust is heavy enough to leave rough surface? I understand we certainly don't want any spots that have rusted through or even partially through. I figure the installer should know all of these things, but I like to understand the situation as well so I know if they know what they are talking about. :goodjob:

If anyone else has any advice or a favorite liner - feel free to chime in!

Thanks for the info so far!
 
Deciding on the liner pattern was difficult :lol: I went back and forth and even called the installer right before he ordered the liner to have him change it. I had rust on portions of my wall and they installer taped the portions of rust then attached foam to them. Seems like common practice and I was told it will extend the life of the liner. The foam if you are doing it yourself is relatively cheap.
 
I'm sorry we didn't price out the tread tex separately. We knew we wanted it on the steps and swim-outs because of small kids and old folks, be we didn't consider pricing out doing the whole pool in it. We didn't foresee traction on pool floor as an issue at the time.
 
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