Newbie here. Am I in trouble? HELP!

[Lowatter]

Hello. 1st post here. I just installed a 24' 25 gauge liner with a 52" wall height. When I installed the new return and skimmer basket I didn't stretch the liner down during their installs and I fear that it's not going to hold. Also, the liner I bought says 52" walls but doesn't say what the depth the middle can be. When I originally installed it I went down at least 12" in the center. Now that the pool is filling it looks like the liner is extremely tight already and it's only filled about 6" on the walls. I'm hoping the the vinyl has enough stretch to it. I have to truck in the water for $300 per 7,000 gallons because I'm on a bored well. I'm worried that when the water is pumped in from the truck that it will not hold. Any words of advise or wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
Here's the situation...


and here's the liner...
Amazon.com : Smartline Manor 24-Foot Round Pool Liner | UniBead Style | 52-Inch Wall Height | 25 Gauge Virgin Vinyl Material | Strong and Durable Liners | Designed for Steel Sided Above-Ground Swimming Pools : Garden & Outdoor

 

[setsailsoon]

This is way out of my league, @Texas Splash @kimkats @ajw22 any ideas?

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I think at this point you are committed to filling the liner and seeing how it holds. I think you have most of the stretch in already with the water in the bottom.

I don't think there is a way to fix those cuts and reposition the liner now. Note for the next liner whether it is sooner or later.

@jimmythegreek waddya think? Should she/he have added the water halfway and then made the skimmer and return cuts?

Give us an update how it turns out.

 

[setsailsoon]

L,

PS, welcome aboard! You're at the right place. We have experts that can advise on your current question and anything else related to pools. Plus we don't sell anything so rest assured you're getting the straight up advice you need.

Good luck with this issue and we really would like to follow up so please do let us know how it goes.

Chris

 

[Lowatter]

Thanks folks. I bookmarked this thread and will continue to keep in touch here. Has anyone reading do the same thing as I did and what was the end result? BTW I've had a rough time this year with my pool. Like an idiot I thought it was a 28' pool and ordered the wrong liner. I should've known better as I was the one that installed the pool originally 7 years ago. The 1st liner lasted well but I didn't prep the substrate very well and there was many voids on the bottom. I didn't want to risk using it for another season. Many boobtube videos later I thought I had a handle on things.
Save more on pool supplies were great to deal with. They had me just cut a 12" square from the 28' liner and send them a pick. They charged me a 20% restock fee and I wouldn't have to ship it back. I already removed the top lip of the unibead during the 1st attempt to install the wrong liner so I voided a return. Fine with me and I can now use that liner for my pond on the back of our property that doesn't hold water very well.
Also, the rails were peeling REALLY bad so I stripped them and primed/painted with an industrial oil enamel I scoured the web to see how to properly do this and couldn't find anything on doing this. I'll supply pics later if I get it up and running and the pool doesn't burst and take out my back yard. Again thanks for any input and I appreciate the welcome wagon! Best wishes-Dan
ALSO...I got this pool and decking material 7 years for free from a customer that got tired of caring for it and wasn't using it much. I disassembled and re-installed everything on my time off that summer. Lot's of work but my wife and I love heading out there during the hot summer months and listen to music, play cards, taking dips and drinking adult beverages. Life is good but it takes a lot of work.

 

[kimkats]

You are committed now so lets all hold our breath and see what happens. NEXT time......you should wait until the water is right under the lowest "hole" which is usually the return. Crossing my fingers for you!!!

 

[setsailsoon]

Nice! Hope the liner works well for you!

 

[zea3]

Keep an eye on it. I don't think it will burst and take out your yard, but you may see tearing at the bottom of the return or corners of the skimmer. I think what I would try would be to stop the fill, patch the liner at the skimmer and return, and re-cut those openings when the pool is 3/4 full.

 

[kimkats]

I wondered about that.........

 

[Lowatter]

Keep an eye on it. I don't think it will burst and take out your yard, but you may see tearing at the bottom of the return or corners of the skimmer. I think what I would try would be to stop the fill, patch the liner at the skimmer and return, and re-cut those openings when the pool is 3/4 full.

Looks like I need to boobtube about making large patches in liners unless there's a thread on doing this here on the forum. I think I'd feel better doing this than just a wait and see situation.

 

[Casey]

Yea... uhhhh... that doesn't look good. I'd cut a patch from the other liner n patch it. I don't think it's going to make it through a fill up. You can see the liner become discolored from the stretch.

 

[Casey]

Looks like I need to boobtube about making large patches in liners unless there's a thread on doing this here on the forum. I think I'd feel better doing this than just a wait and see situation.

When you do this I'd get boxer glue for pools. Add 3 patches. Go a couple inches bigger than the last patch. This will reinforce your patch and if the first one fails, you have the second one. You're going to have to do this for both return and skimmer cut outs.

 

[Lowatter]

Thanks Casey. Never heard of boxer glue for pools. I'm looking into it.

EDIT: 8oz. of Union labs boxer 104 vinyl adhesive 100 ordered. Before I make the patch repairs I'm going to have the pool filled 1st up to near where I make the repairs and re-install the skimmer and return port. Meanwhile I'm hoping the forecasted rain storms fills the pool considerably and I'll scour boobtube videos on making patch repairs. One step forward... two steps back I suppose. Thanks to you good folks.

 

[Casey]

We'll get ya through it.

I'm getting ready to install a liner myself. I've done this before but it never went as far as yours did. I ended up patching the skimmer and over the last 2 years, I destroyed my pool because I didn't fix it fast enough. I have a lot of repairs to do n treat rust now.

 

[jimmythegreek]

When you do a liner you make the cuts as the water nears the fittings never beforehand. That return isnt gonna hold long if it even does. Its not hard to vacuum a liner down any medium size shop vac works fine. Worst case you have to ruin a hose if the end needs to be cut off. They come out perfect when vacuumed

 

[Lowatter]

Allrighty then. I cut the patches for 2 layers with the larger ones 2" larger. My question now is do I wait for the pool to be filled close to the level of the return and skimmer or do I patch them now? Also should I wait for the liner to stretch in those areas before I apply the patches if I should apply them before it's filled? I already have 16" of water in the pool. Thanks again folks for any help.

 

[zea3]

@Casey @jimmythegreek
I think you would patch first, but let me get a second opinion.

 

[Casey]

I would fill the pool n see how it stretches before patching it. My theory is that if you patch now and fill, it may pull the patch from the liner.

Anyone else wanna take a stab at this?

 

[Lowatter]

Thanks for the quick replies. It's a moot point now because within a couple of hours in the SC 80 degree weather after removing the return and skimmer the cut openings were starting to stretch and distort the openings. I felt it was now or never to save the liner. I wasn't happy with how the glue held the layers down around the edges and there's some lifting but I'm pretty sure that there's plenty of glued surface to make a good seal. I used 2 layers of patch and I suppose this could be a sticky on how things can go well or terribly wrong for novices like me. Mind you I've been pool certified since '89 in AZ and SC but above ground liners are new to me obviously. What do you folks think...do I stand a chance?

 

[Casey]

Thanks for the quick replies. It's a moot point now because within a couple of hours in the SC 80 degree weather after removing the return and skimmer the cut openings were starting to stretch and distort the openings. I felt it was now or never to save the liner. I wasn't happy with how the glue held the layers down around the edges and there's some lifting but I'm pretty sure that there's plenty of glued surface to make a good seal. I used 2 layers of patch and I suppose this could be a sticky on how things can go well or terribly wrong for novices like me. Mind you I've been pool certified since '89 in AZ and SC but above ground liners are new to me obviously. What do you folks think...do I stand a chance?
View attachment 134921

It looks good. You should be fine. I did this on a brand new pool n could've kicked myself.