Looking for some advice from people that have used the Extruded Polyethylene foam boards under their pool liners!!! I'm looking at the pink boards from Home Depot and the blue boards from Lowe's... Does anyone prefer one over the other? How does it hold up? Does it leave indentions? What size do you prefer? Did you still or need to use a liner pad such as gorilla pad or happy bottom etc. with it? At Home Depot they only carry the 2", 3/4" and 1/2" and at Lowe's they only carry the 3/4" and 1/2"... I was messing around with it and when pressed with my fingers it left a small indention so I'm curious as to know if it leaves footprints etc... Thank You In Advance For Your Advice... looking to finish setting up my pool this weekend 24' Saltwater LX buried 27" in the ground...
Extruded polyethylene foam board
- Thread starter bagd98rt
- Start date
CJadamec
TFP Expert
Pink or blue they are the same product. 3/4 inch thick is plenty. Once the static pressure of the pool water is on the foam it won't indent unless you pound you heal into it. Any other base material won't hold up to someone doing that tho. The ridgid foam is rated to hold up against 25psi of compression.
Lots of people love the feel of the foam under the liner.
You can still use a pad over the foam if you want to it won't hurt.
The main trick to using foam is to triple tape the seams where the edges of the boards meet. Use the best duct tape you can get your hands on. Gorilla tape is good stuff but it's pricey. If the seams aren't taped well the liner can push it's way down in between the boards.
Lots of people love the feel of the foam under the liner.
You can still use a pad over the foam if you want to it won't hurt.
The main trick to using foam is to triple tape the seams where the edges of the boards meet. Use the best duct tape you can get your hands on. Gorilla tape is good stuff but it's pricey. If the seams aren't taped well the liner can push it's way down in between the boards.
Yes the foam floor is awesome and so smooth and nice on the feet. One thing I'll add is when installing it make sure you cut it so it is a tight fit around the edges. I speak from experience as I had one triangular pie shaped piece that I kinda didn't cut exactly so it wasn't a tight fit against the edge. I figured the foam cove was covering it so why go buy another panel to fix this one small piece. That and I banked on the gorilla tape holding it.
Well I was wrong and that small gap at the wall allowed that piece to shift by the end of that summer. I now have a nice little line in the floor where the liner slipped into that little space. It's about 2ft long out from the wall and not quite 1/4" wide. I call it the grand canyon lol. That is where all the dirt now collects, in that little crevice.
So make sure you get that foam in there nice and tight.
Well I was wrong and that small gap at the wall allowed that piece to shift by the end of that summer. I now have a nice little line in the floor where the liner slipped into that little space. It's about 2ft long out from the wall and not quite 1/4" wide. I call it the grand canyon lol. That is where all the dirt now collects, in that little crevice.
So make sure you get that foam in there nice and tight.
We used the 3/4" blue foam from Lowes and love it so far! Ours was tongue and groove, so Mike fit it all nice and tight and then used blue Tuck Tape to tape the seams and it looks great so far....no seams (yet). 
Awesome!!! That's one of the reasons we are thinking of using it cause people say how good it feels to the feet instead of just walking on hard sand... did any of y'all glue your boards together before taping them? That's something else I'm debating hoping it might help hold them together a little better and not create a seam... also are the tape lines really noticeable in the liner when pool is full and settled?
CJadamec
TFP Expert
If you end up using glue which actually isn't a bad idea, they make a specific adhesive for the foam boards that will bond to the foam and not dissolve it.
We used the blue boards with blue tape.....our liner is a darker blue, and you can't see the tape at all. That being said, my inlaws used white foam and taped with silver duct tape under a light blue liner, and they complain that they can see the tape lines through the liner, so, possibly if you don't use a similar colour tape, or if your liner is light in colour, you might see the tape lines.
+ 1 for the pink foam. I believe I used 3/4". Absolutely love the feel of the bottom. No other pad was used by me.
philc
0
I used the 11/2 inch thick white foam boards and 3 layers of gorilla tape, and it worked out well. My wife loves how it feels under her feet.