This is long, sorry. Small pool, maybe 8000 gallons. 24 x 14 or so. Small yard, perfect FOP pool.
I replaced mine for the first time. The old one was at least 12 yrs old since it was in the day I bought the house. No idea how long it had been there.
Over the last few years I had drained the pool to do some repairs. I now know that's generally a bad idea because you'll never get the liner properly back in place no matter how carefully you try. Liner guy says you can get away with it for the first 3-5 years IF you leave it empty for a very short time and then use their vacuum which draws the liner tight to the frame. I had no idea about any of this.
My liner looked like heck and was leaking, along with the stairs. They (fiberglass) had formed blisters and many of these had split, allowing water to escape under pressure. I was adding water every week and had never had this issue before. Along with the water I had to keep adding salt. It was time. The liner quote was $4200. It was inline with several other quotes.
Quote to fix the stairs alone was $6000. Yeah, no. I bought a gallon of poly resin, some silica, some cloth, etc and had at it. Ground the blisters down, filled the voids and then glassed over the mess. It was a lot of work, but not 6K worth in my view. Besides, I am retired and have minimal income. This was a job I felt I could do and money I could use elsewhere....hookers, crack, what have you. Maybe 150 bucks in supplies.
I then painted over the repairs with a gallon of epoxy paint and am VERY happy with the result. This is what I used. $85 bucks.
The liner was $4200. BUT, before the liner could go in I had to repair the walls and have the bottom redone. The walls had significant rust. I had no idea that they were made of galvanized metal. Well, galvanized metal and salt water is a heck of a combo. They were in pretty bad shape. The wall quote was $2500. It involved a lot of heavy duty grinding but seemed like something I could do so I jumped in. The best results were achieved in chucking a heavy duty wire wheel or grinding disc into an angle grinder and just wailing on it. I also used very aggressive heavy duty grinding discs on the angle grinder. Like 40 grit heavy. Gloves are essential. So was a dust mask and safety(geek) glasses. And eventually a full face shield after I got tired of pulling high speed bits out of my cheeks. This was followed up with OSPHO to "slow" the rust. Well, maybe for a week or two..... I bought a new grinder after my original one died after the first hour. Various supplies also required. That was prob another 150 bucks.
This was followed up with special primer.....https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/products/kem-kromik-universal-metal-primer. $120/gal. Pool guy says this is what they use. And also what the USN uses.
The floor was another story. I had no idea but the sole of the pool is a special blend of "stuff". It's mixed just like concrete but it contains vermiculite and bits of cork (I think). It gets troweled over the old Crud that was in there. Mine was falling apart. Pool guys says, "I won't warranty your liner unless I fix the bottom first". It was a mess. His explanation is that the water pressure is so great, it will cause the liner to rupture anywhere there is a void. And I had some voids. The floor took a beating when I was in the pool repairing the stairs and the walls. I don't know how much material they used but it appeared to be at least 10-12 bags. The new layer is about 2 inches thick. V shaped bottom with stairs at each end. Bevelled floors added complexity to this job. His crew was 5 guys, and they all busted their rears getting the job done. It was clear they had done a million of them. They were thrilled with my stair and wall work. The floor cost me $4000.
So I ended up spending about $8400 to the pool guy on top of what I listed above.
Had I paid for the stairs and walls? Another $8500.
His advice, replace your liner early. Say 7-8 yrs or so and you'll likely not require the bottom work I needed.
From what I have spent over the last decade, I'd say you ought to budget about a grand per year for maintenance and upkeep. I still love it, so there's that.
Good luck to all of us.
I replaced mine for the first time. The old one was at least 12 yrs old since it was in the day I bought the house. No idea how long it had been there.
Over the last few years I had drained the pool to do some repairs. I now know that's generally a bad idea because you'll never get the liner properly back in place no matter how carefully you try. Liner guy says you can get away with it for the first 3-5 years IF you leave it empty for a very short time and then use their vacuum which draws the liner tight to the frame. I had no idea about any of this.
My liner looked like heck and was leaking, along with the stairs. They (fiberglass) had formed blisters and many of these had split, allowing water to escape under pressure. I was adding water every week and had never had this issue before. Along with the water I had to keep adding salt. It was time. The liner quote was $4200. It was inline with several other quotes.
Quote to fix the stairs alone was $6000. Yeah, no. I bought a gallon of poly resin, some silica, some cloth, etc and had at it. Ground the blisters down, filled the voids and then glassed over the mess. It was a lot of work, but not 6K worth in my view. Besides, I am retired and have minimal income. This was a job I felt I could do and money I could use elsewhere....hookers, crack, what have you. Maybe 150 bucks in supplies.
I then painted over the repairs with a gallon of epoxy paint and am VERY happy with the result. This is what I used. $85 bucks.
The liner was $4200. BUT, before the liner could go in I had to repair the walls and have the bottom redone. The walls had significant rust. I had no idea that they were made of galvanized metal. Well, galvanized metal and salt water is a heck of a combo. They were in pretty bad shape. The wall quote was $2500. It involved a lot of heavy duty grinding but seemed like something I could do so I jumped in. The best results were achieved in chucking a heavy duty wire wheel or grinding disc into an angle grinder and just wailing on it. I also used very aggressive heavy duty grinding discs on the angle grinder. Like 40 grit heavy. Gloves are essential. So was a dust mask and safety(geek) glasses. And eventually a full face shield after I got tired of pulling high speed bits out of my cheeks. This was followed up with OSPHO to "slow" the rust. Well, maybe for a week or two..... I bought a new grinder after my original one died after the first hour. Various supplies also required. That was prob another 150 bucks.
This was followed up with special primer.....https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/products/kem-kromik-universal-metal-primer. $120/gal. Pool guy says this is what they use. And also what the USN uses.
The floor was another story. I had no idea but the sole of the pool is a special blend of "stuff". It's mixed just like concrete but it contains vermiculite and bits of cork (I think). It gets troweled over the old Crud that was in there. Mine was falling apart. Pool guys says, "I won't warranty your liner unless I fix the bottom first". It was a mess. His explanation is that the water pressure is so great, it will cause the liner to rupture anywhere there is a void. And I had some voids. The floor took a beating when I was in the pool repairing the stairs and the walls. I don't know how much material they used but it appeared to be at least 10-12 bags. The new layer is about 2 inches thick. V shaped bottom with stairs at each end. Bevelled floors added complexity to this job. His crew was 5 guys, and they all busted their rears getting the job done. It was clear they had done a million of them. They were thrilled with my stair and wall work. The floor cost me $4000.
So I ended up spending about $8400 to the pool guy on top of what I listed above.
Had I paid for the stairs and walls? Another $8500.
His advice, replace your liner early. Say 7-8 yrs or so and you'll likely not require the bottom work I needed.
From what I have spent over the last decade, I'd say you ought to budget about a grand per year for maintenance and upkeep. I still love it, so there's that.
Good luck to all of us.
