- Jun 1, 2013
- 8
We're planning to replace our liner this season. I have someone lined up to install it for us but want to buy the liner online if possible. Would appreciate advice from anyone who has purchased online.
Buying Vinyl Liner Online
- Thread starter bernieperry
- Start date
What kind of advice are you looking for? I have purchased online when we had our above ground pool, never had any issues. It is pretty heavy though....
There are two main options: stock (ready-made, off-the-shelf) liners and custom. I bought stock liners online for our pool build in Nicaragua. The pool was built (dimensioned) with stock liners in mind since they are considerably cheaper. The vendor shipped them to friends in the U.S. and the next time we visited them we packed them up as personal luggage a flew them back with us. Usually the vendor includes shipping in the price (or it's "free") or can arrange it.
You may already know some of this but here are some points I had to deal with. Some vendors list different thicknesses like 15 mil, 20 mil, etc. (where mil is 1/1000s not millimeters). They may also use the term gauge but be careful because as I recall (for example) 20 gauge is thinner than 20 mil. (Google gauge vs mil for pool liners). I think the main advantage of thicker liners is that they stand up to UV better if you have high sunlight exposure. From what I could find out most online vendors buy liners from a small number of manufactures (3-4?). Swimline and GLI seem to be two that pop up frequently. There are so many choices of online vendors but what helped me was looking at vendor ratings for customer satisfaction (reseller ratings is one; there are others).
I bought about the cheapest liner available (light blue walls, swirl blue floor) in the greatest thickness the vendor had (20 mil). I was quite impressed with the quality (no material blemishes; seams well formed) and the apparent "toughness" of the material, thinking that as a stock liner it would "feel" cheap: not at all. Make sure you have the correct dimensions for your pool and re-measure to verify them. You also have to know how the liner attaches to the rim/top of the pool (overlap or some sort of bead) and whether you may need an expandable liner if the bottom of the pool has variable depths. We installed the liner ourselves with no prior experience. There was a bit of trial and error and a whole heap of patience but the final result was great--no wrinkles at all, everything lined up as it should have, and returns and drains installed perfectly. This site has some good information about pool liners http://www.shadebuilder.com/pool-installation-support.html. (I have no affiliation with it).
Good luck.
You may already know some of this but here are some points I had to deal with. Some vendors list different thicknesses like 15 mil, 20 mil, etc. (where mil is 1/1000s not millimeters). They may also use the term gauge but be careful because as I recall (for example) 20 gauge is thinner than 20 mil. (Google gauge vs mil for pool liners). I think the main advantage of thicker liners is that they stand up to UV better if you have high sunlight exposure. From what I could find out most online vendors buy liners from a small number of manufactures (3-4?). Swimline and GLI seem to be two that pop up frequently. There are so many choices of online vendors but what helped me was looking at vendor ratings for customer satisfaction (reseller ratings is one; there are others).
I bought about the cheapest liner available (light blue walls, swirl blue floor) in the greatest thickness the vendor had (20 mil). I was quite impressed with the quality (no material blemishes; seams well formed) and the apparent "toughness" of the material, thinking that as a stock liner it would "feel" cheap: not at all. Make sure you have the correct dimensions for your pool and re-measure to verify them. You also have to know how the liner attaches to the rim/top of the pool (overlap or some sort of bead) and whether you may need an expandable liner if the bottom of the pool has variable depths. We installed the liner ourselves with no prior experience. There was a bit of trial and error and a whole heap of patience but the final result was great--no wrinkles at all, everything lined up as it should have, and returns and drains installed perfectly. This site has some good information about pool liners http://www.shadebuilder.com/pool-installation-support.html. (I have no affiliation with it).
Good luck.
- Jun 1, 2013
- 8
Thanks for the input.
Sorry I wasn't more specific ... we have an inground pool. I'd especially like to know if anyone can recommend from experience a good online source for buying the liner. There are a ton of sites out there.
Sorry I wasn't more specific ... we have an inground pool. I'd especially like to know if anyone can recommend from experience a good online source for buying the liner. There are a ton of sites out there.
Contact Josh at saltpoolguys.com. He can get you a liner through Vynall. Its a great price, and the service is excellent.
