Opinion on foam cove and bottom

[jgresham75]

Built my first AG pool. Wanted to do foam coves and Gorilla bottom to save "time" and save the liner. Total cost for my 15x30 for both was around $300.

Foam cove - Not recommended. Was easy to build but only gave about 3 inch bottom/side coverage. Self adhesive backing was nice but in hot sun during install, constantly came off and had to keep pressing on. Was very difficult to keep cove piecese flush against one-another. When liner was installed, any gaps between sections became pronounced and I wonder if the liner will push through?! My pool is oval and the straight side aren't straight but curve in and out the the cove didn't follow very well and had to keep pressing against wall. More work than it was worth. Next time will try just using sand.

Gorilla bottom - I would not use again but I can't say not to use it. It was good quality material: thick felt type. It came plenty big and had to cut so no worries about being too short. However, could not get the liner to keep it flat. would pull flat and them where creases were seemed to pull in. I put in liner and started to fill. Still couldn't get flat and then it would not move. Did make and smooth surface but had ridges here and there. Overall nice product but very difficult to put in correctly. It seems sand alone would allow for a smoother more even surface.

My two cents worth. Please feel free to ask questions and I will give more detail. Thanks again to all who helped me build my pool at TFP! :-D

 

[No P in my ool]

I didn't us the cove or the flooring, just used the sand.Everyone of my friends has commented that they like the way the bottom of my pool feels. Also my liner has no wrinkles. I felt the cove and the flooring was'nt a needed expense and I haven't any regrets.

 

[matt4x4]

When I researched this before building my pool, the pool stores tried to sell me on it (of course), everyone else on the forums advised against it from experiences similar to yours, I just used sand and it's excellent - modified it a bit from the standard to guard against possible wash out by placing vapor barrier about 1 foot up the wall, hanging down and then coming about 1-2 feet along the hardpacked soil under the floor (pre sand), then building my cove on that and levelling the sand floor.
I advise against it too, only because it saved me a ton of money and those who helped me make the decision were bang on and I'll continue to pass along good advice.