HELP Me Decide Vinyl vs Gunite!

[Jmbeebe0722]

We have decided to put in an inground pool and interviewed a few local builders.

We have narrowed our search down to two builders. One is Vinyl and another is Gunite.

Pools are relatively similar with just small changes between the two.

Vinyl:

16’ x 32’ Vinyl Pool
27 Mil Liner
6’ Full Width Sunshelf with Bubblers
Variable Speed Pump
Salt Chlorinator
LED Lights
Automation
Heat Pump with Chiller
Unilock Paver Deck with Stone Coping
Wall Block Retaining Wall

Gunite:

16’ x 32’ Gunite Pool
6 x 12’ Sunshelf (Outside The Pool - Making a Larger Pool)
Deck Jets
LED Lights
Variable Speed Pump
Salt Chlorinator
Heat Pump with Chiller
Automation
Stone Coping
Stamped Concrete
Poured Concrete Retaining Wall with Stone Facing

As you can see, the are nearly the same pool with the exceptions of material (Vinyl vs Gunite), Sun Shelf is outside the 16’ x 32’ on the Gunite, Pavers on the Vinyl and Stamped Concrete on Gunite and the retaining wall styles (block be concrete)

The gunite is around $15k more expensive. We are concerns about maintenance, longevity, chemical balance.. etc.

Which is the better pick here?

 

[sktn77a]

My preference is for gunite. No liner to leak and replace every 10 years, no walls to blister (fiberglass) or rust (metal). In 15-20 years you can replaster and it will look like new. I think any potential buyer (assuming you will eventually sell the house) will prefer gunite, too.

 

[TX2OBX]

I have had all three. Albeit fiberglass build is still in progress. But the pool itself is in the ground and up and running. My previous pool was gunite and before that was vinyl.

My next pool will be gunite no question. We plan to stay in the house were constructing the FG pool at for the next few years and most likely rent it out and build new when things aren't so crazy. This may be never but im not in a rush to leave lol. I wont get into why I wouldn't do fiberglass again as that isn't what your asking.

But on vinyl vs gunite. This is all personal preference, but a gunite pool just seems more substantial and permanent. I was hoping fiberglass would as well but it just doesn't, better than vinyl for sure. But at the end of the day Gunite pools look the most "natural" to me and seem more upscale. Plus as mentioned above, easy to make look new, ive seen pools on here form the 1960s look like a pool built this year with replastering.

I would also prefer the maintenance to a gunite pool over vinyl. The liners are super fragile and can rip or tear super easy, and its always coming off the track somewhere. Just seems like a big "bag" of water to me. If it were "only" 15k more to do gunite I absolutely would jump at that. I would have done gunite this time but was told it would be twice as expensive, had I know that in the year it took them to start on my pool that FG prices had caught up to gunite I would have gone gunite no question. However its a first world problem and I'm sure we will enjoy our pool for years to come. So either way, they all swim the same.

 

[ajw22]

To me it is a no brainer - gunite every time.

 

[Newdude]

What is the most common by you ? That's what you should do.

We were mostly vinyl by me forever, even in the multimillion dollar homes, but gunite is now taking over. The multimillion dollar homes now need gunite to keep up with the jones's. The rest of us can do what we want.

I don't like any form of plaster personally. All public pools have to be plaster and that's where my mind goes, from the gross hotel pool to the wave pool at the water park. and it's rough on the skin if anything rubs or bounces a wall.

 

[Lanzz]

I love my vinyl pool that came with the house I bought... but gunite for $15K more would be a no-brainer. I always feel like I am one freak rainstorm away from a ruined pool - there is so little room for error in terms of groundwater management, pets and installation variables that a vinyl pool is exhausting. And... as vinyl pools fall out of favor, there are fewer qualified technicians to replace liners and address issues.

 

[Kellyp]

Gunite for me, no question.

 

[PoolBrews]

I have had both. My 1st 3 pools were vinyl - started with an above ground vinyl for a couple of years, then put in a 42K gallon in-ground vinyl pool in Michigan. Move to GA and put in a 20K gallon in-ground vinyl pool, then finally to FL where we installed a gunite pool a little over 2 years ago. Maintenance wise, a vinyl pool with an SWG was by far the easiest to maintain with regards to balancing the water. The gunite pool looks far more up-scale, but I find maintaining it to be a little more work.

I have never had any structural issues with either. I had stamped concrete done in GA, and would not do that again. The end result was beautiful, but (as always happens with concrete), cracks appeared after one winter. Not bad - but noticeable, and there is no way to repair cracks in stamped concrete and have it look good. I would either get pavers (my choice), or standard concrete and have a coating applied like Kool deck. When cracks appear, it easy to reapply the coating over the repair

 

[Mcow]

I have only had gunite but in-ground vinyl pools are not really popular here in fact I have never even seen or swam in one in person. I just wanted to chime in and echo on what @PoolBrews said and recommend getting pavers estimated on the gunite option to compare apples to apples. Every stamped or bare concrete deck I have seen has cracks in it. Not structural most of the time but not attractive either.

 

[Cena_sea]

We did both concrete and pavers and I'm not sure I would've noticed but based on posts here I really inspected the concrete areas and yup, there are cracks. Not big but now I can't unsee them. The other positive on pavers (concrete ones) is that they are noticeably cooler than the poured concrete even though they are the same color.

 

[TX2OBX]

I have only had gunite but in-ground vinyl pools are not really popular here in fact I have never even seen or swam in one in person. I just wanted to chime in and echo on what @PoolBrews said and recommend getting pavers estimated on the gunite option to compare apples to apples. Every stamped or bare concrete deck I have seen has cracks in it. Not structural most of the time but not attractive either.

In my vinyl pool I owned previously, I lived with the concrete and cracks that went with it, then ended up putting pavers over the concrete and it transformed my back yard. I was a little miffed we did that right before selling and moving out west lol. I seem to do this a lot, get something nice just in time for someone else to enjoy it. But we got about a years use out of it. It wasn't cheap, about 25k back in 2016, but it hid a lot of (non structural) sins, and really upgraded the look of the pool. IM not sure how this would work with gunite (or fiberglass) however. This worked in my favor as the extra inch or so in hight hid the cheap coping around the pool.


Before and after just for reference.

 

[offtheclock]

We love the color and design of our liner. Also we love how smooth and soft the pool feels on our feet. Our pool goes from 3.5 to 5.5 so your feet are always on the ground. We have been to friends pools that are plastered and our feet get raw. What I do not like is the constant fear of damaging the liner or denting the bottom. Thinking I would keep liner pool but make it look richer with pavers and a water feature.

 

[PoolBrews]

One more plus to pavers... if you ever get a leak in your plumbing and need to dig to repair it, you can easily lift up the pavers, dig, repair, repack the substrate, and replace the pavers. No one will ever know you had to repair something underground.

With concrete, you would need to cut out a section of concrete, make the repair, and then repour concrete. The new concrete will look different, and all of the cut lines will show. (Unless you have a deck paint or coating applied over everything.)