First time installing a unibead liner or a 24' AG pool for that matter. I scoured the net and followed directions to lay the liner out in the sun, install in 80 degree day and vacuum through the skimmer opening. I'm slowly filling with a garden hose @ 10 gpm to get the wrinkles out of the floor and it is filling evenly. I have roughly 3" of water in currently and will wait 3 days until a tanker arrives with 8,000 gallons (it will also be 85 degF and sunny). We seated the liner and had to shift the bottom several times yet the liner is still 4-6" away from the wall at the bottom around 2/3 of the pool. Significant pressure is exerted to push the bottom of the liner to touch the wall. Should I drain & start over? Will the liner stretch that much?
AG liner fitment
- Thread starter sierradmax
- Start date
I guess pictures are worth a thousand words. East/West is 6"+/- away from pool wall at the cove and North/South is roughly 3". Pictures were taken at dusk and the liner obviously shrank a bit. I'm not concerned about North/South as during daytime temps, the liner expanded sufficiently enough with little effort to push against the pool wall. East/West is where the concern is.
The pool was measured and is within 1" of being perfectly round. Patio blocks and sand were shot with a laser and I verified that the pool is within 1/2" elevation (standing water to pool top rail).
My next 80+ degF day is Friday and H2O delivery of 8,000 gallons could only be scheduled in the AM. I'm concerned with the early AM delivery and the liner being cold. Should I drain, try to re-adjust the bottom of the liner on a hot day and fill slowly to 12" with well water. I estimate this will take 5-6 hours.
The pool was measured and is within 1" of being perfectly round. Patio blocks and sand were shot with a laser and I verified that the pool is within 1/2" elevation (standing water to pool top rail).
My next 80+ degF day is Friday and H2O delivery of 8,000 gallons could only be scheduled in the AM. I'm concerned with the early AM delivery and the liner being cold. Should I drain, try to re-adjust the bottom of the liner on a hot day and fill slowly to 12" with well water. I estimate this will take 5-6 hours.
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So, not much help here but thought I'd update and perhaps warrant discussion. Yesterday was another 80 DegF day so I added another 3" of water (@ 6" total). Liner was in the sun and vacuum on. The liner did not suck tight to the wall but did improve a bit. I shut the water off at 6pm and noticed in some locations, the pool wall was buckling in half way up the pool wall. Not much, maybe an inch or so. Is it possible my sand bottom needs to be higher? The sand was shot with a laser and dead level with the top of the pavers.
Well, I think I may have found my installation problem. I need more sand. My 2" sand bottom is flush with the top of the pavers. After installing the pool walls, I applied the 4" foam cove then laid out the armor shield mat with installation depicted per armor shields picture. Whereas, a 2"+/- sand base should have been laid out inside from wall to wall. Rookie, weekend warrior, mistake.. I also called GLI, the liner manufacturer. They gave me liner seam dimensions to confirm the liner is to spec and what my cove height should be to the top of the pool wall. So, time to start draining, tear down and figure out a way to put another 2+ yards of sand in the hole.
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So yesterday I drained water, pulled the liner and added roughly 2" of sand. Liner Manufacturer (GLI) said the liner wall seam must match the top of the pool cove and be around 46-1/2". After adding 2" of sand, I'm between 46-1/2" - 46-3/4". Liner was placed back in the hole and was real hot. Socks were needed when filling so the liner was nice and soft. Vac on and 3" of water, there are two areas that are still tight and their at opposite sides to each other. Everywhere else looks great. No wrinkles on the bottom. Since this is a unibead liner, I can only pull the bottom in opposite directions to help alleviate the tension on the walls. Which, this is now nearly impossible with 3" of cold water in the pool. My only assumption is the liner might not be perfectly round.
Mine looked just like that. I kept an eye on it and stopped filling when the sun went down. The liner was a very tight fit. I turned the hose on in the morning and it stretched into place very nicely and continued to fill until full.
I have 12" of water in it now and will hold off until Thursday as daytime temps are in the low 70's. I suspect the bottom of my liner is not perfectly round. Two area's (opposite sides), the liner seam is at the bottom of the cove. Elsewhere, it's perfectly at the top. I'll resume filling on Thursday as temps will be 80+.
So today's the day? Take pics. These liners will stretch. That's what they're made to do.