Hi folks,
About two weeks ago we had a crew come in and replace the liner. When they ripped the old liner, they uncovered a lot of areas where the surface was either eroded or damaged and this they explained could easily be repaired with additional coats of vermiculite. They did the entire job (leveling/repairing the surface and installing the new liner) in a single day and we were so impressed by the amount of work performed in such quick order.
Well, fast forward to my wife and I finally being able to use the pool and we are finding LOTS of imperfections on the pool floor. Some of these issues don’t take an expert to deem them unacceptable but some of the others we just don’t know- we are first time pool owners and really new to this whole thing and really never paid attention to pool floors. So I just need to understand better what is a good quality outcome to the type of work we had performed, and what constitutes sub par work. So, here are the issues. By the way, we are awaiting the crew to come back at night to be able to see better the issues we’ve found.
1. There are areas in the shallow end, at the very corner of the pool where there is a cluster of what feel like 10-12 large rocks under the liner. Clearly this is unacceptable- the contractor has agreed but is confident he can resolve it by pressing what looks like a trowel with a soft (rubber? Sponge?) bottom to flatten out these areas. My concern is - there are A LOT of rocks; won’t continued pressure on the liner risk creating tears in it when mashing it against these clumps of vermiculite?
2. There are lots of wrinkles. The contractor claims that we are noticing this only because the liner is dark (it is almost black), and that it’s impossible to get all wrinkles out. He said he will try to remove with a plunger but won’t guarantee that all will be removed.
3. The pool bottom just doesn’t feel perfectly even. There are lots of small areas where there are either divets, small bumps, wrinkles, or other similar imperfections. Here is where I need a bit of guidance- are these floors ever even? Do I have unrealistic expectations? Contractor has told us that because this was a manually troweled job, it’ll never be perfectly flat. Also stated that when the liner gets installed, during the course of the install the pulling may shift the vermiculite and that results in some uneven areas.
I also would like to ask a general question- is it appropriate to fix the pool bottom AND install the liner before the vermiculite has fully dried/set? Again, readily admit that I am a novice here but wonder if some of our problems are due to the job being rushed and not waiting until the vermiculite has set/cured? When I questioned the contractor, he said you always want to lay the liner asap otherwise the floor bottom can crack?
I will now also add pictures but wanted to get the text saved. Looking forward to your feedbacK. Thanks a lot in advance.
About two weeks ago we had a crew come in and replace the liner. When they ripped the old liner, they uncovered a lot of areas where the surface was either eroded or damaged and this they explained could easily be repaired with additional coats of vermiculite. They did the entire job (leveling/repairing the surface and installing the new liner) in a single day and we were so impressed by the amount of work performed in such quick order.
Well, fast forward to my wife and I finally being able to use the pool and we are finding LOTS of imperfections on the pool floor. Some of these issues don’t take an expert to deem them unacceptable but some of the others we just don’t know- we are first time pool owners and really new to this whole thing and really never paid attention to pool floors. So I just need to understand better what is a good quality outcome to the type of work we had performed, and what constitutes sub par work. So, here are the issues. By the way, we are awaiting the crew to come back at night to be able to see better the issues we’ve found.
1. There are areas in the shallow end, at the very corner of the pool where there is a cluster of what feel like 10-12 large rocks under the liner. Clearly this is unacceptable- the contractor has agreed but is confident he can resolve it by pressing what looks like a trowel with a soft (rubber? Sponge?) bottom to flatten out these areas. My concern is - there are A LOT of rocks; won’t continued pressure on the liner risk creating tears in it when mashing it against these clumps of vermiculite?
2. There are lots of wrinkles. The contractor claims that we are noticing this only because the liner is dark (it is almost black), and that it’s impossible to get all wrinkles out. He said he will try to remove with a plunger but won’t guarantee that all will be removed.
3. The pool bottom just doesn’t feel perfectly even. There are lots of small areas where there are either divets, small bumps, wrinkles, or other similar imperfections. Here is where I need a bit of guidance- are these floors ever even? Do I have unrealistic expectations? Contractor has told us that because this was a manually troweled job, it’ll never be perfectly flat. Also stated that when the liner gets installed, during the course of the install the pulling may shift the vermiculite and that results in some uneven areas.
I also would like to ask a general question- is it appropriate to fix the pool bottom AND install the liner before the vermiculite has fully dried/set? Again, readily admit that I am a novice here but wonder if some of our problems are due to the job being rushed and not waiting until the vermiculite has set/cured? When I questioned the contractor, he said you always want to lay the liner asap otherwise the floor bottom can crack?
I will now also add pictures but wanted to get the text saved. Looking forward to your feedbacK. Thanks a lot in advance.
